Biden press plane delayed over 6 hours due to cicadas


A press charter plane for President Biden's first foreign trip abroad was held up for almost seven hours before finally departing on Wednesday — and it was all because of those pesky cicadas.
The press plane was set to leave Tuesday evening at around 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time, but CNN reports that a new plane needed to be dispatched "after airline officials informed White House travel aides that cicadas had invaded exterior sections of the plane late Tuesday afternoon."
The plane ended up leaving on Wednesday morning, which according to CNN was over six and a half hours behind schedule. It's just the press' latest cicada-related incident after video captured CNN's Manu Raju having one crawl on him during a live shot, and earlier this week, experts said a massive blot on a weather radar in Virginia was even thought to be because of the insects.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"I'm not surprised because the first thing I thought of: if it happened to me, it's gonna happen to you, too," Raju, who CNN has dubbed its "chief cicada correspondent," declared Wednesday in reaction to the news. "And it clearly did here with this press plane because those beasts are everywhere in Washington, D.C."
CNN's John Berman jokingly responded, "I don't know if these bugs have an issue with the First Amendment, but first to attack you, a congressional correspondent, and then to ground the White House press plane, certainly does raise questions."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
-
The new Gwada negative blood type
Under The Radar Rare discovery means a woman is the only person on the planet who's compatible solely with herself
-
June 29 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include the AI genie, Iran saving face, and bad language bombs
-
A tall ship adventure in the Mediterranean
The Week Recommends Sailing aboard this schooner and exploring Portugal, Spain and Monaco is a 'magical' experience
-
Canadian man dies in ICE custody
Speed Read A Canadian citizen with permanent US residency died at a federal detention center in Miami
-
GOP races to revise megabill after Senate rulings
Speed Read A Senate parliamentarian ruled that several changes to Medicaid included in Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" were not permissible
-
Supreme Court lets states ax Planned Parenthood funds
Speed Read The court ruled that Planned Parenthood cannot sue South Carolina over the state's effort to deny it funding
-
Trump plans Iran talks, insists nuke threat gone
Speed Read 'The war is done' and 'we destroyed the nuclear,' said President Trump
-
Trump embraces NATO after budget vow, charm offensive
Speed Read The president reversed course on his longstanding skepticism of the trans-Atlantic military alliance
-
Trump judge pick told DOJ to defy courts, lawyer says
Speed Read Emil Bove, a top Justice Department official nominated by Trump for a lifetime seat, stands accused of encouraging government lawyers to mislead the courts and defy judicial orders
-
Mamdani upsets Cuomo in NYC mayoral primary
Speed Read Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani beat out Andrew Cuomo in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary
-
Supreme Court clears third-country deportations
Speed Read The court allowed Trump to temporarily resume deporting migrants to countries they aren't from