 "Were Kamala Harris’ earrings during debate with Trump secret earphones?")
What’s the frequency, Madam Vice President?
Tuesday’s presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump saw several misleading claims being made, including one of Haitian immigrants eating pet cats and dogs in Ohio.
However, one claim that has gone viral on social media ever since the debate concluded is that the Democratic nominee, Kamala Harris, was wearing clip-on audio headphones disguised as pearl earrings.
This, according to many Trump supporters, gave Harris a secret and unfair advantage over the former US president during the debate .
Is this claim true? Did Harris receive help from her team during the debate by wearing headsets — which is a clear violation of the debate rules? We get you the truth.
What’s the noise all about?
Shortly after the US presidential debate concluded, wild rumours started circulating about Harris’ earrings being a Bluetooth device. Some netizens highlighted that the US vice president’s earrings, in fact, resembled the Nova H1 audio headset.
“It appears Kamala Harris was being coached by using earphones embedded in her earrings during the ABC presidential debate against President Trump,” one user wrote on X.
Another one commented, “I think Kamala did a great job tonight in the debate against Trump, who I think is a great orator and debater himself. But her earrings intrigued me a lot. Maybe because I got reminded of similar-looking ones from some tech article on an earphone that looks like earrings.”
Impact Shorts
More ShortsWithout providing any evidence for his theory, another user wrote, “If you think Kamala sounded a lot like Obama tonight…she probably did. BUSTED!”
“Apparently Kamala was wearing an earpiece. It’s not my picture, but someone found this is a near match to a mic earing earlier. Crazy stuff if true,” another user added.
Some took the conspiracy even further by saying, “The company went bankrupt. I suppose those could have been prototypes, but it seems REALLY UNLIKELY those earrings are related to that Kickstarter. Guarantee other sneaky earrings exist though.”
Far-right activist Laura Loomer also jumped on the bandwagon, claiming that Harris’ earrings were Nova H1 audio earphones, which are styled to look like pearl earrings.
Interesting choice of earrings tonight, @KamalaHarris… pic.twitter.com/z7SoB43UtB
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) September 11, 2024
At the point of writing this report, Loomer’s post received over five million views.
An X account called The Maverick Approach, which claims to be an “alternative news” source, also peddled this theory. “There’s a major issue with this debate,” the account tweeted. “I told myself she was fed what to say during the debate and my hunch was right. Nova is the world’s first and only wireless earphone earrings.”
Even Trump’s senior adviser Jason Miller seemed to be peddling this theory. He retweeted an article in which Icebach Sound Solutions, the developers of the audio earrings, said the resemblance between their audio earrings and Harris’ earrings “is striking,” along with the eyes emoji.
👀 Company responds to theory Harris wore audio earrings at debate: 'The resemblance is striking' | Just The News https://t.co/LeGQEdsL3V
— Jason Miller (@JasonMiller) September 11, 2024
Headphones or earrings?
But is there any truth to these claims? Did Harris actually receive help from her aides through headphones during the debate?
There seems to be no clear evidence that Harris flouted debate rules by wearing headphones rather than earrings and it seems that the claims are just that: claims.
Images show that Harris was wearing earrings with a pearl in them, resembling a pair of Tiffany’s earrings that retail for over $2,000. In fact a side-by-side comparison of the Nova headphones and Harris’ ear pieces have differences. For instance, the Nova H1 Audio Earrings feature a much thicker hoop, while Harris’ earrings very clearly have two thin loops that wrap around her earlobes.
Additionally, Susan Kelley, a journalist confirmed to The Verge that Harris has been spotted wearing these same earrings for months.
The Nova H1 Audio Earrings, created by German company Icebach Sound Solutions — are pegged as “the first and only wireless earphones embedded in a pair of pearl earrings on a gold- or silver-plated clip”, as per its Kickstarter page. The site adds that these earrings are fully packed with the latest technology embedded in real pearls to provide you with music, phone calls and digital assistants all day long.
The headphones are not being sold with the company’s CEO Malte Iversen telling USA Today that the company is seeking investors to “ramp up operations accordingly.”
Have such claims been made before?
The claim that Harris received help from an earpiece during the debate against Trump isn’t a new one; it has been repeated after several presidential debates. In June, several people had made claims that Joe Biden had made use of headphones when he debated Trump.
And that’s not the only time. In 2020, Trump’s campaign ran Facebook advertisements, claiming Biden used an earpiece during their September 2020 debate, with several of his supporters reiterating those false theories. High-resolution images from the debate then showed that the so-called wires were creases in Biden’s clothing.
In 2016, the conspiracy website True Pundit and others falsely claimed Hillary Clinton was wearing an earpiece to get “stealth communications”s during an NBC News forum. Fact checkers found these claims to be false.
Notably in 2004, the internet was abuzz with rumours that a rectangular bulge on then-President George W Bush’s shoulder was a radio receiver during his presidential debate in Miami. Later, a Bush campaign spokesperson had told the New York Times that it was “most likely a rumpling of that portion of his suit jacket, or a wrinkle in the fabric”.
With inputs from agencies
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