California Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell lit the internet on fire Monday night after an audible…how to say this politely…”fart noise” could be heard during his live interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews.
The clip from Matthews’ nightly Hardball show quickly made the rounds on Twitter after either Swalwell or Matthews appeared to expel gas during Swalwell’s on-air statement. (Don’t ask me what he was talking about in the moment. I’ve watched the clip at least 25 times and still couldn’t tell you.)
During the clip, and its noisy interruption, Swalwell appears to tense up and pause just before the flatulence sounds off, though it’s not clear if He Who Smelt It Dealt It, or if the congressman was simply reacting to someone else (Matthews?) letting one rip.
Here’s the clip, judge for yourself.
Eric Swalwell appears to drop a massive fart during live on television
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) November 19, 2019
Turn the sound on, this is real pic.twitter.com/DyElNSwYog
Of course, the internet immediately went wild with all manner of jokes, memes and speculation as to who’d fired the shot.
Most intelligible thing to come out of Swalwell in years. #fartgate https://t.co/LT7MXAkIRB
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) November 19, 2019
Eric Swalwell's farts are currently polling higher than @KamalaHarris in Iowa#fartgate
— Michael Malice (@michaelmalice) November 19, 2019
Eric Swalwell #Fartgate pic.twitter.com/Px3bjlSQEp
— Jeremy Bell (@thejeremybell) November 19, 2019
In all fairness, we’ve always known @ericswalwell talks out of his ass. pic.twitter.com/3fMRz6XXNQ
— Brittany Hughes (@RealBrittHughes) November 19, 2019
Well Swalwell did say he was going to nuke everyone.
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) November 19, 2019
MSNBC responded to Fartgate by claiming the noise was a “Hardball mug scraping across the desk,” and telling users to buy a coffee cup.
Sorry to disappoint the conspiracy theorists - it was the #hardball mug scraping across the desk. Get yours today and let’s get back to the news! https://t.co/SG8Owm2IBw
— Hardball (@hardball) November 19, 2019
But unless a mug sliding over plastic can sound like a human cutting the cheese, that’s fake news and we all know it. Guess MNSBC really is the enema of the people.