The 35-year-old father who said “Let’s go, Brandon,” during a Christmas Eve call with President Biden now says it was an “innocent jest,” The Guardian reports.

President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden were answering calls to the North American Aerospace Defense Command’s Santa Tracker hotline when Jared Schmeck called in. Schmeck and the Bidens discussed how Schmeck planned to spend the holiday with his wife and four children, but as they prepared to end the call, Schmeck said “Merry Christmas, and let’s go, Brandon.”

Mrs. Biden winced, but the president repeated calmly, “Let’s go, Brandon. I agree.” The entire incident was being streamed live.

“Let’s go, Brandon” became a euphemism for “F–k Joe Biden” after a sportscaster mistook the latter for the former at an October NASCAR race. In a report on the Christmas Eve incident, NBC News referred to the phrase as a “right-wing slur.”

“At the end of the day I have nothing against Mr. Biden,” Schmeck told the Oregonian. “But I am frustrated because I think he can be doing a better job. I mean no disrespect to him.” Schmeck also said he is not a “Trumper.”

Some commentators have argued that Biden’s unruffled response is indicative of his level-headedness and self-confidence.

Others claim that Biden simply repeated Schmeck’s words back to him because he lacked the mental acuity to understand them.