Former President Joe Biden drew attention Friday after making an off-the-cuff remark about his intelligence while speaking at the funeral of longtime civil rights activist Jesse Jackson during a memorial service in Chicago.

Biden delivered a eulogy at House of Hope, where mourners gathered to remember Jackson’s decades-long role in civil rights activism and national politics. During his remarks, Biden shared a personal story about growing up with a speech impediment and the challenges he faced as a child with a stutter.

While discussing how people sometimes perceive individuals with speech difficulties, Biden told the audience that stuttering can lead others to wrongly assume someone lacks intelligence.

“Now, if I told you all earlier, when I was a kid, I had a cleft palate or club foot, none of you would have laughed, but it’s okay to laugh at stuttering,” Biden said, according to a transcript reported by local media. “It’s the one place where people think you’re stupid. Oh, really? I’m a hell of a lot smarter than most of you.”

He quickly added, “All kidding aside, it makes you feel really small,” before continuing with the rest of the eulogy.

The remark circulated widely online following the service, drawing a range of reactions on social media. Some critics argued the comment was inappropriate for a memorial setting, while others interpreted the statement as a personal reflection about the stigma surrounding speech disorders.

Biden’s remarks were part of a longer address reflecting on Jackson’s influence and the broader civil rights movement. At one point in the speech, Biden referenced a conversation he said he once had with Jackson about traveling to meet Nelson Mandela in South Africa and discussed the future demographic growth of the African continent.

Jackson, a protégé of Martin Luther King Jr., died Feb. 17 at age 84 after a prolonged battle with progressive supranuclear palsy. Over several decades, he became one of the most prominent figures in the modern civil rights movement.