Kara Kovalchik
Fun With Live Microphones
by Kara Kovalchik - September 23, 2009 - 2:40 PM

Much has been made in the press of President Obama’s off-the-cuff, off-the-record remark about Kanye West and his upstaging of Taylor Swift at the Video Music Awards ceremony. Even though Obama simply voiced what most viewers were thinking, there was a lot of media criticism/analysis after the fact as to whether his remark should’ve been made public. Of course, he’s not the first public figure to be foiled by a microphone. Here are four other examples…

1. Michael D. Duvall, 2009

duvallOver in Sacramento, California, Michael D. Duvall, assemblyman for California’s 72nd District, was apparently unaware that his microphone had already gone live in preparation for a televised committee hearing. Duvall, who had recently been placed on the Rules Committee that oversees member ethics, couldn’t resist sharing some gossip with the colleague seated next to him. “She wears little eye-patch underwear,” the married assemblyman confided, “And so, we had made love Wednesday–a lot!” The “she” in question was lobbyist Heidi DeJong Barsuglia, who was also married. Duvall went on to describe the more intimate details of his relationship with Ms. Barsuglia, unaware that his boasts were being broadcast. He resigned from the California State Assembly on September 9, 2009.

2. Jesse Jackson, 1984

jackson-presWhile he was on the campaign trail in 1984, presidential candidate Jesse Jackson sat down with Washington Post reporter Milton Coleman for an interview. During the course of their conversation, Jackson referred to Jews as “Hymies” and described New York City as “Hymietown.” Jackson presumed that the reporter, who was also African-American, would not print these incendiary remarks—and Coleman himself didn’t. But he shared his notes with another Post reporter who did. Louis Farrakhan used his Chicago-based radio show to call Coleman a traitor who’d violated black solidarity and went so far as to make death threats against the reporter and his family. Jackson eventually kinda, sort-of apologized for his remarks (though he kept mum about Farrakhan’s comments), and Milton Coleman is now the Deputy Managing Editor of the Washington Post.

3. Newt Gingrich’s Mom, 1995

In January 1995, veteran broadcaster Connie Chung interviewed Kathleen Gingrich, mother of Newt, who was then the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The interview was to be broadcast on the weekly magazine-style show Eye to Eye with Connie Chung, which was struggling in the ratings. She and her crew arrived at Mrs. Gingrich’s home early in the day and Connie spent several hours just chatting with 68 year old Kathleen in a cozy, woman-to-woman manner. Once the cameras started rolling, Chung kept up the “best girlfriends” ploy and asked Mrs. Gingrich what her son thought of First Lady Hillary Clinton. When Newt’s mom hesitated, Connie leaned forward and urged her to “whisper it, just between you and me.” A more media-savvy interviewee would’ve spotted that trap a mile away, but Kathleen Gingrich was not a seasoned veteran when it came to the press. Besides, this nice lady wouldn’t betray he, would she? So a guileless Gingrich scooted closer to Chung and uttered “She’s a bitch” under her breath. This “scoop” did boost Chung’s ratings for one week, but the backlash ultimately did more harm than good when it came to her career.

4. Nancy Kerrigan, 1994

time-nancykerriganFigure skater Nancy Kerrigan became America’s Sweetheart after she was bashed in the knee backstage after an exhibition by a thug reportedly hired by her opponent, Tonya Harding. All eyes were on Kerrigan and Harding during the 1994 Winter Olympics, which had been hyped as “the ultimate showdown.” In the end, Tonya broke a lace on her skate, which hampered her concentration, and even though Nancy looked like an angel in her white sequined costume, she was bested by 16-year-old Ukrainian Oksana Baiul. Nancy and her silver medal were whisked off to Florida so she could take part in a Disney World parade. Seated next to Mickey Mouse while smiling and waving to the throng of admirers, she muttered under her breath (apparently unaware that a microphone was picking up her comments): “This is so corny. This is so dumb. I hate it. This is the most corny thing I’ve ever done.”

Of course her remarks were broadcast ad nauseum on TV news programs, so that the public could relish in the lack of gratitude the ice princess was showing toward her $2 million sponsor.
* * * * *
We also could have included another Jesse Jackson moment from the 2008 campaign (his remark about castrating the Democratic nominee), or the time former President George W. Bush called a New York Times reporter a “Major league a**-hole.” What other not-really-off-the-record moments do you remember?

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Comments (24)

  1. Not necessarily a live mic mishap, but it was on a live mic.

    “Keep ****ing that chicken!”

    posted by Steven on 9-23-2009 at 3:19 pm

  2. not a real moment, but there was a great scene in the police force movies where det. frank drumond wears his lapel mic into the bathroom. hiliarity, pee sounds, and fart noises ensue.

    posted by ee the c on 9-23-2009 at 3:32 pm

  3. You forgot Kerrigan’s open mike mistake while still at the Olympics. Waiting off-ice to ascend the podium to get their medals, she and the bronze-winner had to wait while Baiul repaired her makeup, because she started crying when her scores were announced. An impatient Kerrigan was caught saying “I don’t know why they’re bothering reapplying her makeup. she’s only going to start crying again.” CBS replayed that clip endlessly.

    posted by Constance Reader on 9-23-2009 at 3:35 pm

  4. I do love Barack’s recent off-the-record Kanye remarks…

    posted by jenny on 9-23-2009 at 3:38 pm

  5. Not sure how you could have left out Ronald Reagan’s August 11, 1984 “joke”: “My fellow Americans, I’m pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.”

    posted by Steven on 9-23-2009 at 3:42 pm

  6. Constance–I was going to post the same thing. Nancy Kerrigan is not very mic-savvy….or nice.

    posted by Kate on 9-23-2009 at 4:00 pm

  7. Jesse Jackson apparently has a problem with live mics. In 2008 he remarked to Dr. Reed Tuckson on Fox News, “I want to cut [Obama's] nuts out” for Obama’s controversial speech chastising black fathers that abandon their children for a gangster lifestyle. Also, supposedly later in the interview he referred to Obama as an N-word– but Fox News did not release that portion of the interview.
    SCANDALOUS!

    posted by Joel on 9-23-2009 at 4:05 pm

  8. I just watched, last night, the episode of The West Wing where Pres. Bartlet calls his opponent in the race stupid on a live mic. Great show. Great episode.

    posted by Nora on 9-23-2009 at 4:11 pm

  9. back in the 50′s or 60′s there was a live children’s TV show in which the host thought they had gone off-air and made a comment something like “that oughtta hold the little ????. Anyone remember who it was?

    posted by Newcastle, CA on 9-23-2009 at 4:24 pm

  10. Britney Spears is queen of mic mishaps.

    - Preparing backstage at the Rock in Rio festival, 2001: “Don’t tell me they’re gonna let the audience just f*cking stand out there like that. Oooh my God…let’s hurry y’all, seriously. This is retarded. They told me they were gonna do a vamp. Oooh, sh*t. Oh, my pants are too short, I grew!…I didn’t think they would make them just stand there like that, I thought they were gonna f*cking vamp. OK. This is retarded.”

    - Right after a number during her “Circus” tour, 2009: “OK. My p*ssy is hanging out of my f*cking costume.”

    posted by Chris on 9-23-2009 at 4:37 pm

  11. How about CNN’s Kyra Phillips in the bathroom a couple of years ago?

    posted by Betsy on 9-23-2009 at 5:07 pm

  12. what about george w. calling a reporter a “major league a-hole”? isn’t that the most famous live mic incident…?

    posted by dcmatt on 9-23-2009 at 5:50 pm

  13. Hewcastle, the quote was attributed to Uncle Don, a NY based kid show host. Snopes found no basis for the claim

    posted by Tom on 9-23-2009 at 5:54 pm

  14. “what about george w. calling a reporter a “major league a-hole”? isn’t that the most famous live mic incident…?”

    ‘Most famous’ only to those who need any more reason to hate W.

    posted by Admiral Byrd on 9-23-2009 at 6:45 pm

  15. Newcastle, I don’t know if Uncle Don ever said it or not, but I know Gabbo on the Simpsons did!

    posted by Kate on 9-23-2009 at 7:07 pm

  16. I was watching Saturday Night Live the night Norm Mcdonald accidendly let the F bomb slip out.
    He realized the mistake almost as quick as he said it and didn’t miss a beat, adding(paraphrasing) “Thanks for watching on my final show.”

    posted by holly on 9-23-2009 at 8:53 pm

  17. Didn’t Reagen utter the famous “…The bombing starts in 5 minutes…” during a mic check.

    posted by Seamus on 9-24-2009 at 8:40 am

  18. Seamus–

    the Reagan incident happened because he thought it was a mic check, he didn’t realize they were on the air.

    posted by Wayne on 9-24-2009 at 9:40 am

  19. George W. Bush’s entire presidency was a live mic incident.

    posted by nikki on 9-24-2009 at 10:16 am

  20. dcmatt: The Bush comment was indeed “major league”, which is why the article does mention it at the end. Let’s all read intros and concluding statements, not just the numbered stuff, before chiming in.

    posted by VM on 9-24-2009 at 11:45 am

  21. “Family Values” California state assemblyman representing Orange County, Republican Michael D. Duvall, resigns for apparently not cheating on his wife with a lobbyist or two. Well you have to take his word for it, or maybe believe that hypocrisy has been bred in. In my opinion the Republican Party has been taken over the most extreme religious right (people who love to push their beliefs on others while trying to take away rights of those they just hate) and that’s who they need to extract from their party if they real want to win. Good Luck, because as they said in WACO, “We Ain’t Coming Out”. He is just another name that can be added to the list of “Republican 2009 Summer of Love”: Senator John Ensign (NV), Senator Paul Stanley (TN), Governor Mark Stanford (SC), SC Board of Ed Chair, Kristin Maguire (AKA Bridget Keeney). But let’s get back to the real problem of political corruption, does anyone think this will get investigated and that things he voted on will need to be affirmed by the remaining members or will nothing happen? Do I hear Tammy Wynette, “Stand By Your Man” playing in the background? I remember not so long ago that other Orange County song favorite, “Stand By Your Tan” (for Tan Nguyen). But that’s another Orange County fool.

    posted by Paul on 9-24-2009 at 12:51 pm

  22. Paul, it’s kinda like Charles Rangel’s ability to write tax laws and then commit tax evasion – all while his party’s leadership, claiming to support transparent government, turns a blind eye.

    The Democrats ability to exploit the poor has to match the Republicans moral lapses… but then again, maybe you and I should focus on the topic of this article and not hijack it for our own political push.

    So back to the topic at hand, there is the famous incident of Kyra Phillips’ mic being left on during a speech by GW Bush where she criticizes her sister-in-law.

    posted by Matt on 9-24-2009 at 1:08 pm

  23. Wasn’t there an a few mishaps with Prince Charles? I recall a few years ago he said something about, \I can’t stand that man\ when a reporter asked him something.

    posted by Lindsey on 9-24-2009 at 1:53 pm

  24. A famous Hawaiian activist called our beloved Senator Daniel Inouye a “one armed bandit.” Sen. Inouye did in fact lose his arm while serving with the famous and highly decorated 442 in WWII.

    posted by jon on 9-27-2009 at 3:21 pm

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