— President Joe Biden spoke proudly of his Irish roots during his first day in Ireland – so much so that a gaffe he made at an Irish pub stirred controversy across the sea in Britain.

And it took people across all across Northern Ireland whoLoaded: 85.92%PauseCurrent Time 0:19/Duration 1:23QualitySettingsCaptionsFullscreenUSA TODAYPresident Joe Biden visits Northern Ireland to mark anniversary of Good Friday AgreementUnmute0View on Watch

Biden was paying tribute Wednesday to his cousin, Patrick Kearney, a rugby player whose Irish squad defeated the dominant All Blacks team of New Zealand in 2016. But he instead referred to "Black and Tans," the pejorative name given to British police recruits assigned to fight the Irish Republican Army in the 1920s. "He was a hell of a rugby player, and he beat the hell out of the Black and Tans," Biden said near the end of remarks at The Windsor Bar and Restaurant in Dunbalk, Ireland.