Senator Bernie Sanders is feeling Bern – and love – after a photo of him sitting alone in his face mask, winter coat and patchwork gloves in Wednesday’s presidential inauguration went viral.
In Thursday’s episode of “Late Night With Seth Meyers”, Sanders said he had fun with the now ubiquitous image, which made Twitter praise the Vermont senator for his commitment to social detachment and utilitarian fashion choices.
Sanders couldn’t help but laugh when Meyers produced one of his favorite versions of the meme, placing the Bernie opening on a couch with the women of “Sex and the City”, and asked if Sanders was tracking his fame on social media.
“Yes, I saw them,” said the 79-year-old. “What has been really cool is the woman who made the gloves lives in Essex Junction, Vermont. She is an elementary school teacher and a very, very nice person, and she is somewhat amazed at the kind of attention being paid to her gloves. “
Last year, the Vermont Seven Days alternative weekly confirmed that a second grade teacher named Jen Ellis was the maker of the cozy hand warmers, which she sent to Sanders for Christmas. The senator has been using them ever since.
“Thanks for all the interest in Bernie’s gloves!” Ellis tweeted hours after Wednesday’s event. “It was truly an incredible and historic day! I’m so flattered that Bernie used them at the opening. Unfortunately, I no longer have gloves on sale. There are many great artisans at ETSY who make them. “
Thanks for all the interest in Bernie’s gloves! It really was an incredible and historic day! I’m so flattered that Bernie used them at the opening. Unfortunately, I no longer have gloves on sale. There are many great artisans at ETSY who make them. -Jen Ellis,
– Jen Ellis (@vtawesomeness) January 21, 2021
Needless to say, Ellis’s gloves are now all over the internet, as are Sanders – showing off her beloved “grumpy” look at the “Friends” Central Perk cafe on the former Vice President’s Iron Throne “Game of Thrones” Throne Mike Pence’s hair and even on the moon.
Photographer Brendan Smialowski, from the news service Agence France-Presse, took the photo that was seen around the world. Sanders, of course, didn’t know he was being photographed and was destined to become the meme of the week as he immersed himself in the historic day’s proceedings in the icy air of Washington, DC.
“I was sitting there, trying to keep warm,” Sanders told Meyers, “trying to pay attention to what was going on.”
The staunch universal health advocate also addressed the buzz around the mysterious manila envelope he was seen carrying for the ceremony. Rampant online speculation about its content ranged from “executive orders for Biden to subscribe” to “an article Bernie clipped from a newspaper he thought Biden would find interesting.”
(According For BuzzFeed reporter Ruby Cramer, the envelope actually contained Sanders’ opening tickets. But this is not so much fun.)
“I would love to tell you, Seth,” Sanders said timidly in “Late Night” when asked about the package. “It is top secret.”
Jokes aside, the former 2020 presidential candidate told Meyers that he was “in tears at seeing the new president taking office and the former president leaving Washington” Even though the Senate already has a lot of work to do, he also defended the quick Donald Trump’s sentencing after the former president was ousted for the second time after the pro-Trump attack on the Capitol this month.
“We have to show the American people that we can walk and chew gum at the same time,” said Sanders. “We don’t have time to spend weeks and months in impeachment. People are hungry in America today. They are facing eviction. They have no income. They are concerned about the future. … We can move forward on all these issues simultaneously, if we are prepared to roll up our sleeves and start working ”.