Fartgate

Submission 17,494

Overview

Fartgate, also known by the hashtag, refers to an online debate as to whether or not United States Representative Eric Swalwell farted during a televised interview. Producers for MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, who hosted Swalwell, blamed a mug being dragged across a desk for the sound.

Background

On November 18th, 2019, Representative Swalwell appeared on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews. During the interview, a loud, rumbling sound interrupted the discussion.

That day, Twitter user @ndrew_lawrence shared the clip with the caption "OMFG SOUND ON." The tweet received more than 3.9 million views, 20,000 likes and 4,000 retweets in less than 24 hours (shown below).

Developments

Online Reaction

Following the spread of the video, people began joking about the sound online, arguing that it was a fart. Comedian Mike Drucker tweeted a series of screenshots of flatulence heard on Hardball (shown below, left).^[1] Twitter^[2] user @Walldo tweeted, "condolences to whoever is running the Hardball Twitter account that had to delete the fart meme tweet for a SECOND time, would love to know what that phone call was like" (shown below, center).

Others disagreed with the consensus that it was a fart. Presidential candidate Andrew Yang tweeted,^[3] "I believe in Eric Swalwell." The tweet received more than 17,000 likes and 900 retweets in less than 24 hours (shown below, right).

In response to a person defending Swalwell, model Chrissy Teigen tweeted,^[4] "no it’s a fart don’t ruin this." The tweet received more than 83,000 likes and 7,000 retweets in less than 24 hours (shown below).

Conservative memer Carpe Donktum remixed the video with a clip from Greta Thunberg's UN Speech. Donald Trump Jr retweeted^[5] the video and commented, "We always knew Swalwell was full of shit… #fartgate." Within 24 hours, the tweet received 17,000 likes and 5,000 retweets (shown below).

Hardball Explanation

That night, the official Twitter account for Hardball tweeted,^[6] "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!" The tweet received more than 3,600 likes and 500 retweets in less than 24 hours (shown below, left).

Swalwell responded to the tweet,^[7] "TOTAL EXONERATION!" The tweet received more than 42,000 likes and 4,000 retweets in less than 24 hours (shown below, right).