As Joe Biden's popularity soars in his bid to become the Democratic Presidential candidate, past videos of him being a "creep" have resurfaced online.
Biden has gained momentum in the past week, after fellow candidates Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar both pulled out of the race and gave the former Vice-President their endorsement.
He and Bernie Sanders are now the two favourites as the United States goes into Super Tuesday, a day where 14 states have primaries to vote on their preferred Democratic nominee.
But although he appears to be winning over many voters, his detractors have begun sharing old videos of him online, showing him being a little too touchy-feely for their liking.
"Daily reminder that Joe Biden is a creep who is unfit to hold public office," wrote one person on Reddit, posting a video showing various Biden interactions deemed to be unsuitable.
"He says inappropriate things, and cannot keep his hand to himself, even around children."
Another person weighed in saying: "you'd think he'd have the goddamn self-awareness not to grab little 12yo girls out of the crowd, breathe in their ears and talk about how good they look with a hundred cameras pointed at him by now".
"Biden is no less of a gropey pervert than Trump," someone else wrote on Twitter.
In one image circulating online, Biden can be seen kissing his 19-year-old granddaughter on the lips during a political rally in Iowa, a photo that drew sharp criticism.
But despite the criticism, many have jumped to the defence of Biden.
Longtime Democratic donor Susie Tompkins Buell told Politico she has met him several times and said he is merely affectionate.
"He’s just like a friendly grandpa, what can I say," Buell said.
David Axelrod, a former advisor to Barack Obama, also jumped to Biden's defence, telling Politico: "Anyone who knows Biden knows that he is a very warm and tactile personality. There are a million examples of it."
"It’s not lasciviousness. It’s just his style. The problem he has is that these gestures, which he and most of the recipients viewed as benign, are now being judged in a different time and through a different lens."
People also jumped on comments Biden made during a 2017 speech about how when he used to work as a lifeguard children would "jump on his lap".
"And by the way, you know I sit on the stand and it'd get hot. I got a lot of - I got hairy legs ... that turn blonde in the sun," Biden said in the speech.
"And the kids used to come up and reach in the pool and rub my leg down so it was straight and then watch the hair come back up again.
"So I learned about roaches and I learned about kids jumping on my lap," he said.
"I love kids jumping on my lap."
The gaffe-prone politician has also faced accusations of unwanted physical contact from numerous women.
In one case, a woman aide to US Representative Jim Himes last year said she felt uncomfortable when Biden approached her at a fundraiser for Himes.
"It wasn't sexual, but he did grab me by the head," she said at the time.
"He put his hand around my neck and pulled me in to rub noses with me. When he was pulling me in, I thought he was going to kiss me on the mouth."
Another woman accused him of kissing her on the back on the head at an event in 2014.
In a statement last year, Biden said he did not believe he had ever acted inappropriately.
"I have offered countless handshakes, hugs, expressions of affection, support and comfort. And not once - never - did I believe I acted inappropriately," Biden said in the statement.
"If it is suggested I did so, I will listen respectfully. But it was never my intention."
In a later episode he even joked about the accusations.
After inviting four children on stage during a speech at a conference, he put his arm around one young boy and told the crown "by the way, he gave me permission to touch him".
