Debate crowd breaks into laughter after hot mic snafu

The crowd at the first 2020 Democratic presidential primary debate on Wednesday night broke into laughter during an awkward technical glitch that resulted in some NBC moderators’ microphones being left on while they were backstage.

As candidates were asked a question about gun control from NBC’s Chuck Todd, the previous moderators could be heard in the background saying, “I need to go to the restroom” and “Someone’s got my binder.” 

{mosads}The candidates, Todd and fellow moderator Rachel Maddow briefly appeared confused as the comments were broadcast over the speakers in the entire arena before realizing it was a hot mic issue.

“We are hearing our colleagues’ audio. If the control room could turn off the mics of our previous moderators,” Todd said while laughing.

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.

NBC can’t get the moderators’ mics turned off at #DemocraticDebate pic.twitter.com/78QtJokAUt

— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) June 27, 2019 

The issue was quickly fixed, and the debate continued, but social media users quickly jumped on the mistake, which marked a lighter moment in the midst of some more heated policy discussions. 

Democracy dies when you don’t turn off the mics of the prior moderators

— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) June 27, 2019

What if everyone on stage just got real quiet and we all got to eavesdrop on the live mics for a few minutes

— James Poniewozik (@poniewozik) June 27, 2019

Lol, live look at whoever is in charge of cutting candidates mics. pic.twitter.com/xVcgbRVFIh

— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) June 27, 2019

The hot mics Elizabeth Warren pic.twitter.com/pMxYCM4lNs

— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) June 27, 2019

The issue was also noticed by President Trump, who ripped it as evidence that NBC is a “fake news organization.”

.@NBCNews and @MSNBC should be ashamed of themselves for having such a horrible technical breakdown in the middle of the debate. Truly unprofessional and only worthy of a FAKE NEWS Organization, which they are!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2019