Kamala Harris’s desperately ‘youthful’ pandering is too cringeworthy to be presidential
Kamala Harris had a cringeworthy cameo during this year's BET Awards. Bet.com
In a desperate attempt to appear hip and appeal to young voters, Kamala Harris instead made everyone cringe with a cameo at the BET Awards Sunday — throwing around outdated slang and affecting a forced tone that sounded nothing like her normal speaking voice.
“Girl, I’m out here on these streets,” she told show host Taraji P. Henson, very unconvincingly.
It’s just the latest spin from the Biden administration, which has desperately welcomed “Queer Eye” stars and TikTok influencers to the White House to appeal to increasingly disillusioned young Americans. But rolling out the vice-president to cosplay as a relatable, cool candidate is pandering and embarrassing.
Harris interrupted the BET Awards with a pre-recorded segment in which she FaceTimed Henson to talk about the upcoming election.
Taraji P. Henson told the vice-president about her concerns heading into the 2024 election. Bet.com
The “Empire” actress sat in a makeup chair and told “Madam V.P. Harris” about her concerns for the upcoming election, claiming that “our basic freedoms are being tested” in November.
“Let me tell you, you’re right, Taraji, there is so much at stake at the moment,” Harris responded, stoking fear.
“There’s a full-on attack on our fundamental freedoms,” the VP claimed. “The freedom to vote, the freedom to love who you love, the freedom to be safe from gun violence, the freedom for a woman to make decisions about her own body and not having her government tell her what to do.”
Harris dropped a Kendrick Lamar reference and said she was “out here on these streets.” Bet.com
Harris went on to say that “The majority of us believe in freedom and equality, but these extremists, as they say, ‘They not like us’” — a reference to Kendrick Lamar’s Drake-dissing song “Not Like Us.”
This didn’t sit well with viewers, either. “BET really got Kamala Harris pandering to the black community talking bout ‘They not like us’….ummm Ms. Harris YOU not like us either,” one X user quipped.
According to an on-screen chyron, the two-minute segment was paid for by the Biden-Harris campaign. It concluded with a call to register to vote and “head to the ballot box on November 5th.”
Kamala Harris and Taraji P. Henson did a mock FaceTime call during the sponsored segment. Bet.com
It was all yet another desperate attempt by the campaign to appeal to young voters and black voters, and it simply didn’t fly.
Elon Musk even weighed in, calling the segment “toenail curling level of cringe.” (Soon after, he called Harris out for claiming that Trump would ban abortion nationwide, even though the former president explicitly said during Thursday’s debate that he would not do so.)
On one hand, the campaign’s strategy with the BET drop-in is right: They do have an issue with young voters and with black voters, prompting Democrats to ring the alarm bells.
Joe Biden has been losing ground with young voters. Getty Images
The latest New York Times-Siena poll, which was conducted before Biden’s disastrous debate performance last week, found just 43% of Black voters would vote for Joe Biden if the election was today. Less than a quarter (21%) said the country was headed in the right direction.
Meanwhile, only 27% of Americans under the age of 30 are throwing their support behind Biden, according to the Times-Siena poll, and an eye-watering 15% say the country is on the right track.
No wonder, considering candidate age is a primary concern among young voters, and Biden just absolutely bungled the last debate with many senior moments.
The Biden-Harris administration has welcomed reality TV stars and TikTok influencers to the White House, including “Queer Eye” star Jonathan van Ness (above). X / @VP
Harris meeting with Jonathan van Ness. X / @VP
But trotting out Harris with over-produced, condescending and seemingly insincere appearances will not save the Biden-Harris campaign.
Voters want a candidate that addresses the issues that matter to them and actually executes, not someone to pop onto the BET Awards to sprinkle in some unnatural cultural references and desperate pandering.