Kamala Harris Nova Earbuds or Tiffany Earrings Conspiracy Theory

Submission 992

Part of a series on September 2024 U.S. Presidential Debate. [View Related Entries]

About

Kamala Harris Nova Earbuds or Tiffany Earrings Conspiracy Theory refers to a controversy and conspiracy theory about Vice President and Democratic Presidential nominee Kamala Harris supposedly wearing Nova Earbuds during the September 2024 Presidential Debate that were used to coach her on answers and responses. The theory began in right-wing circles on X / Twitter before it was adopted by conservative influencers like Laura Loomer and Alex Jones. The theory was debunked by fact-checkers, who revealed that Kamala Harris was actually wearing $800 Tiffany & Co. earrings instead.

Origin

On September 10th, 2024, ABC News held the second official presidential debate ahead of the upcoming election, this time featuring Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump and Democratic candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris. The debate was livestreamed on ABC's YouTube^[1] channel, where it gathered over 10 million views in five hours.

Late in the evening on September 10th, X^[2] user @TTAVOfficial posted a series of images comparing Kamala Harris's pearl earrings to a product called "Nova Earbuds," claiming that Harris was "busted" for having debate answers fed to her through secret earbuds. The post gathered over 73,000 likes in two days. X^[5] user @ShadowofEzra reposted the contents of the tweet soon after, gathering over 60,000 likes in two days.

Nova Earbuds are made by a Germany-based tech company that previously started a Kickstarter^[3] campaign to fund the production of their signature pearl hidden earbud earrings. The company last posted to its social media profiles^[4] in May 2023, and it is unclear if it still produces the product.

Soon after the conspiracy theory about Harris wearing Nova Earbuds gained traction, several Instagram users made comments in reference to the news on Nova's Instagram posts (shown below).

Spread

On September 11th, 2024, conservative influencer and conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer reposted the theory on her X^[6] profile, writing, "Interesting choice of earrings tonight, ⁦@KamalaHarris," and gathering over 74,000 likes in a day.

Also on September 11th, conspiracy theorist and podcaster Alex Jones reposted the conspiracy theory on his X^[7] account, writing, "Look at these Earpieces that look like earrings. Looks a lot like what Cackling Kamala was wearing. What do you think?" and gathering over 42,000 likes in a day.

Notably, right-wing political commentator Ian Miles Cheong was one of the first X^[8] users to debunk the conspiracy theory that Harris was wearing earbuds disguised as earrings, writing "Kamala Harris didn’t wear a hidden earpiece. Her earrings are a pair of Tiffany’s that she wears a lot," on September 11th and gathering over 2,000 likes in a day.

Later on September 11th, 2024, X^[9] user @endofanerajc fact-checked the conspiracy theory about Harris wearing earbuds, and asserting that she was wearing Tiffany & Co pearls. The user wrote, "instead of pushing conspiracies how about we point out that most americans would kill for $800 in their savings, not on their ears, and she’s out of touch that way." The post gathered over 8,000 likes in a day.

X^[10] user @revhowardarson quoted the post on September 11th as well, writing, "I think that $800 earrings are a perfectly normal thing for a successful late-career professional to wear to one of the most important events of her life," and gathering over 570,000 likes in a day.