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| - Before the memorial service, Jesse Jackson Jr. had asked people not to bring their politics to "homegoing" ceremonies, as some Black communities refer to funeral and memorial services. During the public celebration of life for Jesse Jackson on March 6, 2026, Obama and Biden both made remarks many saw as critical of the current administration of Republican President Donald Trump, while Clinton did not mention Trump. The following day, Jackson said the three presidents did "not know" his father.
In March 2026, a rumor spread that Jesse Jackson Jr., a former congressman, had "called out" Democratic former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, saying they "do not know" his father, the late civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, who died Feb. 17.
Several posts made that claim, some including a video clip of Jackson. speaking. One X post said he was accusing the former presidents of "hijacking the funeral" (
BREAKING: Jesse Jackson's son just called out Obama, Joe Biden and Clinton for not knowing his father and hijacking the funeral
"Yesterday, I listened for several hours to 3 United States presidents who do not know Jesse Jackson"
MIC DROP
(X user @MAGAVoice)
Posts on Facebook and YouTube videos made the same claim.
The quote was correctly attributed to Jackson. On March 7, 2026, while speaking at a private memorial service for his father, Jackson said, "I listened for several hours of three United States presidents who do not know Jesse Jackson." His comments came a day after Clinton, Obama and Biden spoke at the public celebration of life for the reverend. Jackson said:
Yesterday I listened for several hours of three United States presidents who do not know Jesse Jackson.
He maintained a tense relationship with the political order, not because the presidents were white or Black, but the demands of our message — the demands of speaking for the least of these, those who were disinherited, the damned, the dispossessed, the disrespected — demanded not Democratic or Republican solutions, but demanded a consistent prophetic voice that at no point in time ever sold us out as a people.
The quote appears at the start of the following video from Chicago's WBBM-TV:
'Do not bring your politics': Context for the remarks
Jackson had previously asked that people "do not bring [their] politics" to memorial services for his father, who ran for president twice and served as a shadow senator for Washington, D.C., in the 1990s (shadow congresspeople do not vote, nor are they paid for serving).
The day after Jackson's death, his son made the request when he and his family spoke before the family house in Chicago. Jackson;s words begin around the 13:58 mark of the following video:
Do not bring your politics, out of respect to Rev. Jesse Jackson and the life that he lived, to these homegoing services. Come respectful and come to say thank you. But these homegoing services are welcome to all. Democrat, Republican, liberal and conservative, right-wing, left-wing, because his life is broad enough to cover the full spectrum of what it means to be an American.
We only ask people to come and be respectful in the context of the extraordinary life that he lived. Dad would have wanted us to have a great meeting to discuss our differences, to find ways of moving forward and moving together. And if his life becomes a turning point in our national political discourse, amen. Amen.
And so… Dad's homegoing services, which are difficult for all of us to accept, are just that: a national and international gathering and meeting of people. … And people, most importantly, from our community, who uplifted him and put him on a perch that allowed him to share a vision with the world and to share a vision with all people. And so the business again: Funerals are not for those of you who have an opinion.
(Jackson referred to funeral and memorial services as "homegoing services," as they are known in some Black communities. The term signifies a return to God as a person dies.)
What the three former presidents said on March 6
On March 6, 2026, Clinton, Obama and Biden were among hundreds of attendees at a celebration of life for the late reverend. Each of them spoke about Jackson at length.
Obama spoke the longest, for 28 minutes. In his remarks, he used language many saw as critical of the second administration of Republican President Donald Trump, without directly mentioning the president:
We are living in a time when it can be hard to hope. Each day we wake up to some new assault on our democratic institutions, another setback to the idea of the rule of law. An offense to common decency. Every day you wake up to it, to things you just didn't think were possible. Each day, we're told by those in high office to fear each other and to turn on each other — and that some Americans count more than others, and that some don't even count at all. Everywhere we see greed and bigotry being celebrated, and bullying and mockery masquerading as strength; we see science and expertise denigrated while ignorance and dishonesty, and cruelty and corruption, are reaping untold rewards.
Biden spoke for 21 minutes and more directly criticized the current Trump administration:
[…] there's bad times like now. We're in a tough spot, folks, we've got an administration that doesn't share any of the values that we have. I don't think I'm exaggerating a little bit.
Clinton spoke for nearly 17 minutes, focusing on his memories of Jackson. He did not voice his opinion on the Trump administration in his address.
For further reading, Snopes debunked the rumor that Jackson's family had barred Obama from attending the funeral.
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