You never got the criticism because it was not actual criticism, it was a malicious meme generated and amplified by the alt right to smear Biden.

I’m literally going to start at the Know Your Meme page and look up the people in the Spread section:

On February 17th, 2015, Redditor gaylord__focker uploaded a photograph of Biden whispering into the ear of Stephanie Carter

https://old.reddit.com/user/gaylord__focker/ (troll)

On February 18th, Redditor Bossman1086 posted a gif of the moment to /r/gifs.

https://old.reddit.com/user/Bossman1086/?sort=controversial (libertarian)

On November 22nd, 2017, YouTuber Paul Joseph Watson uploaded a video titled “Creepy Uncle Joe,”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Joseph_Watson (the entire Wikipedia intro)