Biden: 'I may be a white boy, but I can jump'

Vice President Biden in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, Monday, Dec. 16, 2013. ((AP))

Vice President Joe Biden defended his basketball skills at a Black History Month event in Washington on Tuesday, jokingly telling about 150 attendees, "I may be a white boy, but I can jump."

Biden, who hosted the reception at the Naval Observatory with his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, said that he wanted to team up with former NBA star and Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson to take on President Obama, The Washington Post reported.

"I told the president, next game, I've got him," Biden said.

Taking a more serious tone, Biden expressed his disappointment with Voter ID laws passed in Southern states, including North Carolina, Alabama and Texas, saying such laws are evidence of "zealotry" and "hatred," according to a White House pool report.

"These guys never go away. Hatred never, never goes away," Biden said. "The zealotry of those who wish to limit the franchise cannot be smothered by reason."

Fox News' Ed Henry contributed to this report.