Andrew Yang’s Mic Was Mysteriously Cut Off When He Tried Speaking During the Debate

According to an analysis by The Hill, Yang received the least amount of airtime last night out of all 20 Democrats on stage during both nights of the debates, with just two minutes and 50 seconds of speaking time. This is far less compared to the other presidential hopefuls who were also among those granted the least amount time last night: author Marianne Williamson clocked in at four minutes and 49 seconds and Rep. Eric Swalwell at four minutes and 24 seconds, still nearly twice as much time compared to Yang.

On the other hand, former Vice President Joe Biden spoke for the longest amount of time at 12 minutes and 53 seconds and Sen. Kamala Harris followed up with 11 minutes and 37 seconds. The only other candidates to speak for more than 10 minutes were Sen. Bernie Sanders and Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

However, Yang spoke to his supporters following the debate, stating that his limited airtime was actually due to technical difficulties.

“There were also a few times, FYI, where I just started talking, being like, ‘Hey, I’d like to add something there,’ and my mic was not on,” Yang said to the group. “It’s not like if you start talking it all of a sudden takes over the convo. It’s like I was talking and nothing was happening.”

NBC later pushed back stating, “At no point during the debate was any candidate’s microphone turned off or muted.”

While the network is denying Yang’s accusations, it does appear the debates experienced some level of audio issues on both nights of the debates. For example, during Night One when moderators were switched partway through but they failed to turn off the mics of the previous group of moderators who were off screen. And also on Night Two when several candidates seemed to experience trouble hearing the questions.

The presidential hopeful was not deterred by the apparent setback and also took to Twitter to address his concerns while also expressing his gratitude for his fans. Writing, “I feel bad for those who tuned in to see and support me that I didn’t get more airtime. Will do better (my mic being off unless called on didn’t help) and glad to have another opportunity in July (and afterwards)!”

Yang also noted that despite his limited speaking time, he gained 50,000 Twitter followers in just one day. He wrote, “I went up 50k followers in one day. I must have been on TV.”

Following the events of Night Two of the Democratic Presidential Debates, Yang’s supporters stood behind their candidate by driving #LetYangSpeak to Twitter’s list of top trending topics in the U.S.

Featured image via YouTube / CNBC