Does an authentic video show Kamala Harris slurring her words during a campaign speech as if she were drunk? No, that's not true: The clip was altered and slowed down, giving the impression that the Democratic presidential nominee was speaking abnormally slowly. C-SPAN posted her original speech, at a rally in Philadelphia, which was at normal speed with no slurring.
The claim appeared in a video on Instagram on November 3, 2024, (archived here) with a text overlay that read:
Coke - beer - wine
what ever she loves it
A second text overlay read:
Let's talk about her drinking problem.
This is what the post looked like on Instagram at the time of writing:
(Source: Instagram screenshot taken Tue Nov 5 01:41:47 2024 UTC)
In the clip, Harris is heard saying slowly:
You know what ...? Hold, hold on a second. Listen. Look now, hold on. Hold on. Let's ... I wanna talk about Gaza for a minute. I wanna talk about Gaza for a minute. OK?
This clip was altered to give the impression that Harris was slurring her words.
The original clip was recorded at a campaign rally in Philadelphia on October 27, 2024. C-SPAN posted (archived here) the video at its actual speed online. Harris can be heard making the Gaza comments at the 7:06 mark in the video without a detectable slur and a normal rate of speed.
A closer examination of the slowed-down version of the video on Instagram also showed that people in the background were moving at an abnormally slow pace, further proving that it was an alteration of other footage.
At the time this was written, PolitiFact had debunked the same claim.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks of claims related to the 2024 U.S. general election are here.
