Following Tuesday night’s presidential debate, a right-wing social media started a rumor that Vice President Kamala Harris was wearing an earpiece disguised as an earring, which was promoted by prominent accounts on X and other platforms, but has since been determined to be a false accusation.
Conspiracy theorist and far-right activist Laura Loomer, along with numerous other social media users, claimed Harris’s earrings were Nova H1 audio earphones, which are styled to look like pearl earrings, on Tuesday night. Loomer’s post received more than 1.3 million views by Wednesday morning.
Earpieces are not permitted in presidential debates. In the ABC debate, candidates were not allowed to bring notes or props on stage.
However, the earphones referenced by Loomer do not match Harris’s earrings. A photograph from the original product review shows the Nova H1 earphones wrap around the earlobe, whereas Harris’s earrings dangle and are for pierced earlobes.
The earrings Harris wore appear to be a pair of Tiffany & Co. South Sea Pearl Earrings from the Hardwear collection, which she has also worn during previous events. She wore the gold pearls during an Aug. 6 rally in Pennsylvania and the White House Juneteenth concert this summer.
This type of wild and baseless accusation has previously been raised by supporters of Trump after a debate–especially when he does as badly as he did on Tuesday evening. Social media users claimed that President Biden was wearing an earpiece when he debated Trump in the NBC presidential debate in June without any actual evidence. After the September 2020 debate, Trump’s campaign ran Facebook ads accusing Biden of wearing an earpiece, and the claims were also widely shared on social media.
Biden’s campaign rejected the claims, and high quality images from the debate showed the alleged wires were likely creases in his clothing and a watch or rosary.
In 2016, a conspiracy website called True Pundit and others falsely claimed Hillary Clinton was wearing an earpiece to get “stealth communications” during an NBC News forum. Fact checkers found these claims to be false. It’s a ploy that has become standard for Trump allies and supporters to denigrate their debate opponents and given the number of times that it has been disproven, has lost all credibility.
