Was Andrew Yang's Mic Actually Muted?

As Thursday night’s debate raged on, Andrew Yang supporters’ hope and excitement quickly vanished as the 2020 Democratic hopeful received virtually no questions and hardly spoke up to challenge his opponents.

Yang was largely seen as passive, unwilling to enter the fray, but he has an excuse. Yang claims his microphone was kept off for most of the debate, mainly coming on only when he was directly addressed by moderators.

“There were also a few times, FYI, where I just started talking, to be like, ‘hey, I wanna add something there,’ and my mic was not on,” Yang said to a group of supporters, adding, “I was talking and nothing was happening, and I was like, ah, f***.”

Yang continued, “...[T]here were times when I was like, I wanna make a contribution on Climate Change, or education, or other things and my mic didn’t work — your mic is actually not on.” Yang claimed. “So I would just started talking, and then like the moderators were just like, ignore him, it doesn’t matter."

While many may see this as an attempt by Yang to excuse his poor performance, there seems to be some video evidence substantiating his claim:

While one clip doesn’t speak for the whole debate, it is indeed suspicious.

With the tag #LetYangSpeak trending Friday morning, one must wonder if ‘technical difficulties’ will again plague Yang, assuming he qualifies for the next debate.