2020 Presidential Debate Memes: Who Muted The Mute Button
id="article-body" class="row" section="article-body">
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
President and former Vice President Joe Biden faced off in Nashville Thursday night for their before the election. After a torrent of interruptions turned the first debate chaotic, the Commission on Presidential Debates stipulated that each candidate's microphone during the other's initial two-minute response to each topic but left on during the open discussion that followed.
Who's working the mute?How did mute work exactly? Pretty straightforward. It's not actually that there was a giant red button marked MUTE that debate moderator Kristen Welker, NBC News' White House correspondent, could punch when the candidates talked over each other. Each got two minutes to answer a question, and during that time, the other was muted. At points, there was opportunity for kickasstorrent crosstalk, but there was no real discretionary mute button per se.
, it was actually a member of the production crew who works for the Commission on Presidential Debates who turned off the respective microphones at the specified time.
CNET Culture
Entertain your brain with the coolest news from streaming to superheroes, memes to video games.
But that didn't stop viewers from imagining who might have really been behind the button, and suggesting they weren't doing their job aggressively enough. Was it Baby Yoda on button duty? SpongeBob SquarePants? Aaron Burr? Maybe!
Shared one Twitter user: "Bigfoot. Nessie. Chupracabra. Mute Button Guy. All myths!"
Bigfoot. Nessie. Chupracabra. Mute Button Guy. All myths!
— Brian (@briandaly473)
window.CnetFunctions.logWithLabel('%c One Trust ', "Service loaded: script_twitterwidget with class optanon-category-5");
live footage of whoever's in charge of the mute button right now
— emma lord (@dilemmalord)
window.CnetFunctions.logWithLabel('%c One Trust ', "Service loaded: script_twitterwidget with class optanon-category-5");
Actual footage of the "Mute Mic" guy attempting to do his job.
— Andrew Bain (@AndrewTheScribe)
window.CnetFunctions.logWithLabel('%c One Trust ', "Service loaded: script_twitterwidget with class optanon-category-5");
Is Aaron Burr the one choosing when to mute the mics?
— Ben Schwartz (@rejectedjokes)
window.CnetFunctions.logWithLabel('%c One Trust ', "Service loaded: script_twitterwidget with class optanon-category-5");
Live shot of the mute button guy
— Mike-ghoul 👻 (@michaelcollado)
window.CnetFunctions.logWithLabel('%c One Trust ', "Service loaded: script_twitterwidget with class optanon-category-5");
mute button guy backstage:
— Steve (@SeeSteve)
window.CnetFunctions.logWithLabel('%c One Trust ', "Service loaded: script_twitterwidget with class optanon-category-5");
America looking for the mute button tonight like
— Houston's XFactor (@messi0103)
window.CnetFunctions.logWithLabel('%c One Trust ', "Service loaded: script_twitterwidget with class optanon-category-5");
The person with their finger on the mute button needs to be replaced.
— Ahmed Ali (@MrAhmednurAli)
window.CnetFunctions.logWithLabel('%c One Trust ', "Service loaded: script_twitterwidget with class optanon-category-5");
BREAKING
FOOTAGE LEAKED of the Mute Button operator being kidnapped.
FBI are investigating.
— Teddi Turnbuckle (@TeddiTurnbuckle)
window.CnetFunctions.logWithLabel('%c One Trust ', "Service loaded: script_twitterwidget with class optanon-category-5");
More muting wanted
Regardless of how the rules said the button would be used, social media wanted more of it. "This debate has a fever and the only prescription is more mute button," one wrote. Wrote another, "I hoped the mute button would win the debate."
This debate has a fever and the only prescription is more mute button
— Jay Smooth (@jsmooth995)
window.CnetFunctions.logWithLabel('%c One Trust ', "Service loaded: script_twitterwidget with class optanon-category-5");
mute the mics
mute the mic
mute the mi
mute the m
mute the
mute th
mute t
mute
mut
mu
m
ma
mak
make
make a
make a p
make a pl
make a pla
make a pl
window.CnetFunctions.logWithLabel('%c One Trust ', "Service loaded: script_twitterwidget with class optanon-category-5");
Is the mute button too far to reach?
— Jerbur. (@jerehmeee)
window.CnetFunctions.logWithLabel('%c One Trust ', "Service loaded: script_twitterwidget with class optanon-category-5");
I hoped the mute button would win the debate.
— 🍬🎃 presidential push 2 talk button ✊🏽 (@Vergiliaux)
window.CnetFunctions.logWithLabel('%c One Trust ', "Service loaded: script_twitterwidget with class optanon-category-5");
More on the debates and town halls
The first debate, held on Sept. 29, was a filled with the interruptions that led to the microphone muting rule. , pulled out of the second debate . were held instead.
Thursday's event was the last presidential debate planned. The US presidential election is Nov. 3. .