No takers for Joe Biden's $300K speaking gigs after White House exit? Reports claims...

Joe Biden, the former US president who, in an unlikely win, defeated Donald Trump in the 2020 election race, is reportedly struggling to secure speaking engagements.

Usually, former presidents tend to have no dearth of speaking gigs and chalk up significant earnings from speeches, experiences based on their time in the White House. Former President Barack Obama, as per reports, would earn around 400,000 per appearance. Meanwhile, Biden's asking price as per The New York Post is 300,000, a 100,000 less (or 25 per cent less) but still steep, especially given his recent public gaffes and perceived decline.

In the final days of his presidency, Biden came to be known more for his gaffes than anything else.

The string of bad luck continues. Recently, speaking at a disability conference in Chicago, the 82-year-old ex-president used the term "coloured" - an offensive term to refer to African-American children.  

In what was his first speech since leaving office, Biden, while reminiscing about his childhood and the divisive forces that inspired his public career, said: "I'd never seen … hardly any black people in Scranton at the time, and I was only going to fourth grade."

"And I remember seeing the kids going by at the time, called coloured kids on a bus going by …," he added during the keynote speech in Chicago on Tuesday (Apr 15) night.

The term "coloured" is considered offensive as it reflects a world of white people vs everyone else. It dates back to the times when even drinking waters were segregated, with labels like "coloured only".

Former White House employees reportedly have voiced their unease after the disastrous speech: "This was hard to watch".

"It felt like seeing someone you care about start to regress. We just wanted him to enjoy retirement like other presidents — not go out like this," said an ex-aide, noting that Biden's minority staffers grew disillusioned even during his presidency.

The NY Post story suggests that the agency Biden has signed up for may also be to blame.

Citing sources, it reports that the Creative Artists Agency (CAA), which now reps Biden, isn't well connected in the business-conference circuit, unlike the Harry Walker Agency, which reps Obama and the Clintons.

While some insiders believe Biden's speaking appeal could rebound, especially if Trump continues to dominate the political scene, others argue he needs to exit the spotlight gracefully, before further incidents erode public goodwill.