Buttigieg Campaign Called Out for Inserting Audience Applause Into CNN Town Hall Clip

Zachary PetrizzoFeb 7th, 2020, 9:53 am
 

Buttigieg Campaign Busted for Adding Fake Cheers to CNN Town Hall Clip of Mayor Pete

Pete Buttigieg’s Campaign was blasted on Twitter Thursday night after taking the stage at the CNN Townhall. The issue was not what the former South Bend Mayor said, but rather how his campaign editing a clip from his remarks in one might call a disingenuous manner.

The video segment promoted by the campaign on Twitter cut Buttigieg comments midstream and featured a track of audience clapping, where none actually happened

The Center for Popular Democracy Action the organization caught the additional audio, and  tweeted out examples of the original source video alongside that which was sent out by the campaign with the hashtag “#SneakyPete.  CPD Action are outspoken supporters of candidate Bernie Sanders (I-VT) who is notably a rival of Buttigieg’s.

As the two videos play, Mayor Pete answered a question about his age would affect his run for the presidency.

“Statistically, we run the risk of being the first generation in American history to actually be worse off economically than our parents if nothing is done to change the trajectory of this,” Buttigieg said. “That’s not just a concern for our generation, it’s a concern that calls on us to build an alliance among generations to try to make sure the future really is better than the past.”

At that point, the town hall footage in the Buttigieg campaign video cuts off and a barrage of cheers erupt as the screen turns into an ad listing the time and network for the New Hampshire town hall. But the applause that continues through the notification portion of the campaign’s version clearly implies it was the original CNN audio from the event.

CNN’s actual feed, however, continues on past that point and is notably free of any crowd noise. Once Buttigieg finally finishes his answer 10 seconds later, he receives polite applause, but it is clearly less enthusiastic and not the same cheering featured in the campaign’s video.

Twitter reacted to this in a predictably Twitter way:

Twitter took aim at Buttigieg’s campaign Twitter game Thursday night blasting it “as fake as his victory” in the Iowa caucuses.

Watch the clips above, via Twitter.

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