On March 7, 2024, Sean Spicer — a White House press secretary during U.S. President Donald Trump's term in office — posted (archived) on X, "White House announces there will be 2 'intermissions' during tonight's State of the Union." The post was created in the hours ahead of President Joe Biden's televised State of the Union speech that was to be delivered in front of a joint session of Congress.
White House announces there will be 2 "intermissions" during tonight's State of the Union
— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) March 7, 2024
The post — which was not true — apparently referenced an oft-discussed topic in the 2024 election year: the mental acuity of the two major-party candidates. Biden will be 82 during his inauguration, should he be reelected. Trump will be 78 at the same time, should he win.
Users on X responded to the supposed news and appeared to believe the two-intermissions rumor was true. For example, the user @MarioNawfal — who has more than 1.2 million followers and whose bio reads, "Unfiltered Unbiased Verified 24x7 Breaking News" — posted (archived), "Biden's State of the Union for the first time will have two intermission breaks."
A different person posted (archived) on X, "Are you kidding me?? White House announces there will be 2 'intermissions' during tonight's State of the Union! ABSOLUTELY PATHETIC!"
Meanwhile, another user wrote (archived), "Two intermissions with the State of the Union, because Biden is not able to do it, he is cognitively declining, they have to do it in sections so that he can hold up, maybe he will last until November."
Other users also added jokes, such as one response (archived) to Spicer's post that said of the purported two intermissions, "Diaper change then ice cream cone reward."
Speaking of jokes, another user replied (archived) to Spicer, asking, "Is this a joke? Please say this is a joke." Spicer responded (archived), "Joke right now. But I won't put it past them."
In other words, it was not true that there were two planned intermissions for Biden's address. The rumor was nothing more than an attempt at humor.
Joke right now. But I won't put it past them
— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) March 7, 2024
As for how long Biden's 2024 State of the Union address might last, speeches from past years might provide some insight.
CBS News reported that Biden's 2023 speech before Congress lasted one hour and 13 minutes, citing The American Presidency Project. In 2022, the speech ran close to one hour and two minutes. His first speech before a joint session of Congress — which was not technically a State of the Union address — lasted around one hour and five minutes.