Debate Host FIRES BACK After John Fetterman's Campaign Team Claims Candidate's Closed Captions Were 'Delayed' & 'Filled With Errors'
Oct. 26 2022, Published 2:00 p.m. ET
The organization that hosted this week’s debate between Senate candidates John Fetterman and Dr. Mehmet Oz has fired back after Fetterman’s campaign team accused the closed captioning system of being “filled with errors,” RadarOnline.com has learned.
Fetterman’s team first made the accusation Tuesday night, shortly after the sole debate between the Democratic Senate candidate and his rival, GOP candidate Dr. Oz, came to a close.
“We are thrilled with John’s performance. He did remarkably well tonight – especially when you consider that he’s still recovering from a stroke and was working off of delayed captions filled with errors,” Joe Calvello, who serves as Fetterman’s communications director, told reporters.
“John won countless exchanges, counter-punched aggressively, and pushed back on Oz’s cruelty and attacks,” Calvello added.
Nexstar Media Group, who hosted the debate, disagreed with Fetterman’s campaign team’s claims and argued the closed captioning system not only worked properly and “as expected,” but the fault was in Fetterman’s failure to adequately practice ahead of the debate.
“It is unfortunate that Mr. Fetterman is now criticizing the closed captioning process employed by Nexstar during tonight’s debate,” Gary Weitman, Nexstar’s communications chief, said in a newly released statement.
“Both candidates agreed to the technical set-up for the closed captioning process weeks ago, which was implemented at the request of the Fetterman campaign. Both candidates were offered the opportunity for two full rehearsals with the same equipment used in tonight’s debate; Mr. Fetterman chose to do only one,” Weitman’s statement continued.
“The closed captioning process functioned as expected during rehearsal and again during tonight’s debate,” Nexstar’s communication chief concluded. “We regret that Mr. Fetterman and his campaign feel otherwise.”
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Fetterman has been forced to use closed captioning monitors as a result of a stroke he suffered in May.
Human captioners were put in place to transcribe everything the debate’s moderators, Dr. Oz and Fetterman said. The transcriptions were then displayed on two 70-inch monitors placed behind the moderators.
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Despite the closed captioning system being put in place to help Fetterman process the questions he was being asked, the 53-year-old Pennsylvania lieutenant governor-turned-Senate candidate still struggled to communicate effectively throughout the debate.
Not only did Fetterman regularly miss words while sparring with Dr. Oz on issues such as abortion, crime, and inflation, but he also paused awkwardly time and stopped speaking altogether despite being in the middle of a sentence.
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