Joe Biden gets standing ovation at Oscars

Dylan Stableford
·Senior Writer

Vice President Joe Biden appeared at the Academy Awards on Sunday night to promote the White House administration’s initiative against sexual assault.

Biden received a standing ovation from the crowd inside the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles before asking everyone to recite the pledge against sexual assault:

To recognize that non-consensual sex is sexual assault.

To identify situations in which sexual assault may occur.

To intervene in situations where consent has not or cannot be given.

To create an environment in which sexual assault is unacceptable and survivors are supported.


“Too many women and men, on and off college campuses, are still victims of sexual abuse,” Biden said. “Let’s change the culture so that no abused woman or man … ever feels like they have to ask themselves, ‘What did I do?’ They did nothing wrong.”

The vice president then introduced his “friend” Lady Gaga, who performed “Til It Happens to You,” an Oscar-nominated song from the CNN documentary “The Hunting Ground.” (Gaga, who was joined on stage by survivors of sexual assault, received a standing ovation of her own.)

Biden also published a series of behind-the-scenes tweets via a newly launched Twitter feed: @VPLive.