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