Democratic Debate: NBC Botches Mic Sound During Gun Control Question, and We’re All Cringing

Those who tuned in for the first debate of the 2020 presidential primary election expected to hear from 10 of the leading Democrat politicians, but did not expect the awkward audio issue that left debate moderators Rachel Maddow and Chuck Todd flummoxed.

The issue arose just as the debate’s second hour on NBC and affiliated programs, began at 10 p.m. It seemed to create a confusing second layer of sound in the room where the debate was being broadcast in Miami. Todd said live that it appeared to be the result of the microphones being left on for the moderators from the debate’s first hour.

The mysterious sound appeared to be coming from previous moderators’ microphones which were accidentally left on, which led to plenty of awkward conversation snippets like “I need to go to the restroom” and “Someone’s got my binder.”

Todd was partway through the first question of the second hour when he stopped and announced that there was an issue. He and Maddow called out for the control room to turn off the microphones that were picking up the extraneous audio, but the issue persisted.

After he explained the issue, the entire arena, including the candidates, broke into laughter.

“We prepared for everything. We did not prepare for this,” Maddow chimed in before the debate cut to a commercial break while the technical issue was sorted out.

Candidates onstage looked confused when Todd again tried to ask his question about gun violence in schools, seemingly unable to make out everything that was being said.

The moderators took the problem in stride and again asked for the control room to fix the problem and turn off the extra microphones. When the issue wasn’t resolved, Todd threw into an abrupt commercial break, telling the audience they’d resolve the issue in the meantime.

“We believe we have the technical difficulties fixed,” he told the audience and viewers at home when the debate returned from commercial.

Meadows quipped, “Never say that!”

Plenty of viewers at home, including President Donald Trump, took to social media to react to the unexpected gaffe.