Hot Debate Guy

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Part of a series on 2016 Republican Presidential Primary. [View Related Entries]

About

Hot Debate Guy is the nickname given to Los Angeles resident Greg Caruso who became a subject of admiration on social media after being spotted in the audience several times during the live broadcast of CNN's Republican presidential primary debate in September 2015.

Origin

During the second round of the Republican primary debate held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on September 16th, 2015, Twitter user @thisisjorge tweeted an animated GIF of a well-dressed audience member sitting behind CNN journalist and moderator Jake Tapper, along with a flashing heart around his head (shown below).

Hottest audience member at the #GOPDebate pic.twitter.com/HfJii0q6oS
— Jorge Rivas (@thisisjorge) September 17, 2015

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That evening, many other Twitter users commented on the mystery man, many of which featured the hashtag "#HotDebateGuy"^[2] (shown below).^[7]^[8]

Meanwhile, CBS^[4] identified the man as aspiring filmmaker Greg Caruso. Also on September 16th, BuzzFeed^[5] revealed Caruso was the director of a 2014 independent documentary about "American masculinity" titled Making the American Man (shown below), which raised $21,870 of it's $55,320 goal before ending a campaign on Indiegogo.^[6]

On September 17th, 2015, CNN^[3] published an interview with Caruso, who revealed he was a fan of former presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush but had yet to decide on a Republican presidential candidate for the upcoming election.