Did Univision "accidentally broadcast proof" that Kamala Harris was reading scripted responses from a teleprompter during her live town hall on the network? No, that's not true: Univision's footage repeatedly shows Harris responding to questions from the audience when there was no teleprompter nearby. Both the town hall moderator, Enrique Acevedo, and Univision News President Daniel Coronell have posted statements clarifying that the teleprompter was displaying Spanish-language text for the moderator. The cherry-picked video clip used to say she had used a teleprompter was followed by footage that shows Harris speaking (in English) while the teleprompter is blank.
🚨 BREAKING: Univision accidentally broadcast proof that Kamala used a teleprompter at her town hall
Watch them panic when they realized they were showing the prompter live on-air
This is how the post appeared at the time of the writing of this fact check:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Fri Oct 11 15:24:41 2024 UTC)
The full 1:06:25-long broadcast, titled "Live Town hall: Latinos Ask... Kamala Harris Responds," was streamed live on the Univision Noticias YouTube channel on October 10, 2024. The short clip in question was pulled from early in the program, at about the 5:54 mark in a video of the town hall Univision Noticias (Univision News) posted on YouTube.
A man in a light green shirt who was standing behind the teleprompter posed the first question to Harris (at 4:17). Her response can be seen from various camera angles. In order to face the person she was addressing, she also had to face the teleprompter.
At the 6:04 mark, the teleprompter screens are visible although the text displayed is not legible (pictured below). At 6:07, the camera shows the teleprompter screen go dark, while Harris continues to speak.
(Source: YouTube screenshot taken on Fri Oct 11 19:47:05 2024 UTC)
Shortly after the rumor that Harris had used a teleprompter during the town hall began to circulate, Univision News President Daniel Coronell posted a response (archived here) on X at 11:15 p.m. on October 10, 2024:
That's not true. The teleprompter that displays a text written in Spanish was a support element for the town hall moderator. I can tell you this with first-hand knowledge because I was in charge of the television program.
Then, at 11:42 p.m. on October 10, 2024, the town hall's moderator, Enrique Acevedo, also responded in a post on X (archived here):
The prompter displayed my introduction (in Spanish) and then it switched to a timer. Any claim to the contrary is simply untrue.
At the 7:44 mark, Harris is concluding her first answer and no text is on the teleprompter, as the screenshot below shows.
A countdown timer is visible on the floor-level screen. In the Lead Stories composite image below, an enlarged detail of the timer has been added for clarity
(Source: Lead Stories composite image with YouTube screenshot taken on Fri Oct 11 19:47:05 2024 UTC)
During the broadcast, Harris moved around the set and responded to questions from the audience. The Lead Stories composite image below shows some additional moments where the question to Harris came from a person who was not seated near the teleprompter.
These screenshots are from the timestamps at the 10:55, 19:38, 26:56, and 49:54 marks:
(Source: Lead Stories composite image with YouTube screenshots taken on Fri Oct 11 20:10:05 2024 UTC)
Other fact check agencies also have reviewed this claim, including AFP Fact Check and PolitiFact.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks of claims about Vice President Kamala Harris can be read here. Our fact checks of claims concerning the 2024 U.S. general election can be found here.
