With even Fox Information and senior Republican figures admitting that Vice President Kamala Harris gained Tuesday night time’s presidential debate, some supporters of former president Donald Trump are desperately searching for crumbs of consolation. Cue the predictable conspiracy theories.
A frequent chorus that has emerged from conservatives (however curiously, not Democrats) during the last decade or so is that their man’s opponent was sporting an earpiece throughout debates. These baseless accusations had been slung at President Joe Biden in 2020, at Hillary Clinton in 2016 and at Barack Obama in 2012. The idea was debunked on every event.
In Harris’ case, conspiracy theorists have claimed on X and different social media platforms that her earrings had earpieces in-built. Seeking an earpiece that resembles pearl studs, these sore losers declared Harris was utilizing Nova’s H1 Audio Earrings.
The earrings are stated to have directional sound that continues to be audible solely to the wearer. Per their Kickstarter web page, they “are placed on the earlobes and project the sound from inside the pearl straight into your ear canal.” Certain, they give the impression of being a bit just like the pearl earrings Harris wore on stage however they don’t seem to be the identical. Model bloggers have already recognized the pair of Tiffany earrings Harris wore to the talk and at earlier occasions (in addition to noting that she has worn a sequence from the identical assortment).
The primary hassle is that the Nova H1 Audio Earrings barely exist.
As Newsweek identified, the system was a part of a Kickstarter venture that light into the ether. The earrings aren’t that can be purchased wherever on-line and by no means have been. Nova Merchandise, the corporate behind the marketing campaign, hasn’t logged into Kickstarter since Could 2023, and backers have posted on the web page asking for a standing replace on the earrings they had been presupposed to obtain in alternate for his or her pledge.
The URL for Nova Merchandise’ web site, as listed on Kickstarter, now redirects to that of one other firm, Icebach Sound Options. That web site showcases a pair of audio earrings with a distinct design and, within the wake of the talk, a message stating “special edition for presidential debates — soon available to everyone” was added to the positioning someday between 7AM and 11:25AM ET, in line with caches on The Wayback Machine. That presumably tongue-in-cheek declare added hyperlinks to the CES 2025 web site.
Each Icebach and Nova’s web site’s listing their area registrar as one Stephan Berendsen of BBG Leisure GmbH, an obvious cellular video games developer primarily based in Germany. What such an organization has to do with audio merchandise or the US presidential election stays a thriller, however we have reached out to BBG — in addition to the Harris marketing campaign — for remark.
“We do not know whether Mrs. Harris wore one of our products. The resemblance is striking and while our product was not specifically developed for the use at presidential debates, it is nonetheless suited for it,” Icebach Sound Options managing director Malte Iversen advised Engadget in a press release, in what we assume is an try to money in on some sudden if uncommon publicity. “To ensure a level playing field for both candidates, we are currently developing a male version and will soon be able to offer it to the Trump campaign. The choice of color is a bit challenging though as orange does not go well with a lot of colors.”
In any case, this looks as if one other easy job for Occam’s razor. Harris nearly definitely didn’t put on an earpiece as a result of the earrings she wore look noticeably totally different and the product she’s accused of sporting would not exist. By the identical token, it is merely extra believable a seasoned politician can win a debate being extraordinarily well-prepared and able to throw an opponent with a notoriously fragile ego off their sport with out requiring a group to feed them info by way of an earpiece.
The Nova H1 Audio Earrings present all of the basic indicators of being vaporware, proper right down to being proven off for the primary time at CES 2023, although maybe we’ll see a brand new model below totally different branding someplace on the present ground in January.
