Was the White House lit up red? Pink lights ahead of Biden's Ukraine speech explained

June 22, 2024

A volley of frenzied social media posts online suggested the White House was seemingly lit up red on Thursday, October 19. Netizens wildly speculated about the messaging behind the move that some claimed stemmed from Joe Bidens’ speech from the Oval Officer regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict and the Ukraine war.

Netizens online believed that the seemingly ominous Red hue represented a subliminal implication about the ongoing war as shortly before lighting up the White House, President Joe Biden, made an impassioned appeal to citizens. In his appeal, Biden asked Americans to support two democracies, Israel and Ukraine, that are facing existential threats. In his speech from the Oval, Biden tied the Israel and Ukraine crisis, stating that the two democracies are under direct threat from autocracies.

“Hamas and Putin represent different threats, but they share this in common: They both want to completely annihilate a neighboring democracy, completely annihilate it,” Biden said.”

Biden then requested that Americans rally behind Israel and Ukraine to build support for US funding for wars abroad as he claimed the outcome of the war would affect the future of American leadership and democracies across the world.

“American leadership is what holds the world together. American alliances are what keep us in America safe. American values are what make us a partner nation you want to work with,” he said. “To put all that at risk – we walk away from Ukraine, we turn our backs on Israel – it’s just not worth it.”

The ominous speech has led people to believe that the White House was lit up red as a message of a war cry. However, the White House was not lit up in red but was illuminated Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month and National Mammography Day.

In a statement on Thursday, October 19, the White House said that the structure will be illuminated in Pink in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and National Mammography Day.

White House was not lit up red on Thursday

On Thursday, several netizens took to the internet to comment that the White House was lit up red shortly before President Joe Biden, in a speech from the Oval, tied the Israel and Ukraine wars, stating that the two democracies were under threat from autocracies. Biden, while asking the American people to support US funding the war effort in Israel and Ukraine, added that the “terrorists' ' who threaten the democracy of the two nations should pay the price for the atrocities they commit.

“History has taught us that when terrorists don’t pay a price for their terror, when dictators don’t pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos and death and more destruction. They keep going. And the cost and the threat to America in the world keep rising,” Biden said, warning, “If we don’t stop Putin’s appetite for power and control in Ukraine, he won’t limit himself just to Ukraine.”

The warning prompted a volley of comments online where netizens tied Biden's warning with what they perceived as the White House being illuminated in red.

However, the president's residence was not lit up in red but was illuminated in pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Netizens were merely confused by the image where the color appeared slightly darker.

Meanwhile, Biden’s speech came on the heels of his visit to the Middle East, where he spent hours on the ground in Tel Aviv.

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