No, Kamala Harris wasn’t wearing these audio earrings

Following last night’s debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, several users on X homed in on the Vice President’s earrings — speculating that she was using them to get her talking points. Echoing a long history of political conspiracy theories, they claimed she wore the Nova H1 Audio Earrings, which double as wireless earpieces. But anyone who looks closely enough can tell they’re not the same.

The Nova H1 Audio earrings were announced last year as part of a Kickstarter campaign. They feature real pearls that hide a pair of wireless speakers, which transmit audio up and into your ears. They’re also almost certainly not what Harris was wearing.

To start with, beyond the large pearls on both Harris’ earrings and the Nova H1 Audio Earrings, there are clear visual differences. The Nova H1 Audio Earrings feature a much thicker hoop, while Harris’ earrings very clearly have two thin loops that wrap around her earlobe. Harris appears to be wearing Tiffany South Sea Pearl Earrings, as previously identified by the site What Kamala Wore. Susan E. Kelley, the journalist behind the style-tracking blog, confirmed to The Verge that Harris has been spotted wearing these same Tiffany earrings for months.

Image: Icebach Sound Solutions

The Harris campaign declined to comment, and Tiffany didn’t immediately return an email from The Verge.

For another, it’s not clear if the Nova H1 Audio Earrings ever made it into the hands of backers. Some comments on the Kickstarter campaign from last year call it a “scam” and ask if they’ll ever get their money back. The earrings aren’t for sale on the company’s website, either. Icebach Sound Solutions, the company behind them, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Screenshot: The Verge

Despite the obvious differences, conspiracy theorists are leaning into the theory — and so is Icebach. The company updated its homepage with a graphic for the 2024 presidential election and a caption that says a “special edition” of the earrings for presidential debates (arguably the only edition, since you can’t order anything else) will soon be “available for everyone.” In a now-deleted post on LinkedIn, Icebach Sound Solutions CEO Malte Iversen also reposted a story about the claim, saying “We can neither confirm nor deny.”

This is far from the first time that Republicans and right-wing conspiracy theorists have spread claims about Democrats wearing earpieces. In 2016, Hillary Clinton was accused of wearing a wire during her 2016 presidential debate performance. Trump pushed similar claims against President Joe Biden in 2020. If Harris were wearing earring speakers, she’d have found a slightly more stylish solution — but, again, there’s absolutely no indication she did.