No, Kamala Harris wasn’t wearing these audio earrings

Following final night time’s debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, a number of customers on X homed in on the vp’s earrings — speculating that she was utilizing them to get her speaking factors. Echoing a protracted historical past of political conspiracy theories, X customers claimed she wore the Nova H1 Audio Earrings, which double as wi-fi earpieces. However anybody who seems carefully can inform these aren’t what Harris was carrying.

The Nova H1 Audio Earrings have been introduced final yr as a part of a Kickstarter marketing campaign. They function actual pearls that conceal a pair of wi-fi audio system, which transmit audio up and into your ears. They’re additionally virtually definitely not what Harris was carrying.

Other than the massive pearls on each Harris’ earrings and the Nova H1 Audio Earrings, there are clear visible variations. The Nova H1 Audio Earrings function a a lot thicker hoop, whereas Harris’ earrings very clearly have two skinny loops that wrap round her earlobes. Harris seems to be carrying the Tiffany South Sea Pearl Earrings, as beforehand recognized by the positioning What Kamala Wore. Susan Kelley, the journalist behind the model monitoring weblog, confirmed to The Verge that Harris has been noticed carrying these similar Tiffany earrings for months.

The Harris marketing campaign declined to remark, and Tiffany didn’t instantly return an e mail from The Verge.

It’s additionally not clear if the Nova H1 Audio Earrings ever made it into the fingers of backers. Some individuals on the Kickstarter marketing campaign from final yr referred to as it a “rip-off” and requested if they’d ever get their a reimbursement. The earrings aren’t on the market on the corporate’s web site, both. Icebach Sound Options, the corporate behind them, didn’t reply to a request for remark.

Regardless of the apparent variations, conspiracy theorists are leaning into the speculation — and so is Icebach. The corporate up to date its homepage with a graphic of the 2024 presidential election with a caption that claims a “particular version” of the earrings for presidential debates (arguably the one version, since you may’t order anything) will quickly be “obtainable for everybody.” In a now-deleted submit on LinkedIn, Icebach Sound Options CEO Malte Iversen additionally reposted a narrative concerning the declare, saying, “We are able to neither verify nor deny.”

That is removed from the primary time that Republicans and right-wing conspiracy theorists have unfold claims about Democrats carrying earpieces. In 2016, Hillary Clinton was accused of carrying a wire throughout her presidential debate efficiency, and Trump pushed comparable claims in opposition to President Joe Biden in 2020. If Harris have been carrying earring audio system, she most likely would have discovered a barely extra trendy resolution — however once more, there’s completely no indication she did.