Please clap: DNC mocked for failing to find 30 people to cheer for Kamala Harris as duplicates spotted on live feed

When Kamala Harris was receiving applause at the end of her DNC speech, it became apparent that some of the virtual clappers seemed just to have been duplicated images of the same audience members, leading to a laugh riot online.

The vice presidential nominee’s address to the Democratic National Convention was supposed to be the grand finale of Wednesday's event as she accepted the much-hyped vice-presidential nomination. Because the gathering was virtual, due to Covid-19 safety measures, Harris was provided with an online video audience to applaud and underscore the speech’s importance.

Having delivered it, the senator turned around to clap along with her 30 supposed listeners, whose images were projected onto a giant screen in a grid.

However, three of the virtual clappers appear to have been simply screen duplicates of other applauding viewers.

Comedically minded netizens could not let go of this incident, and found much mirth riffing on the idea that the Democratic Party was unable to “find enough [people] that like Kamala.”

Joe Biden’s VP pick did have her fair share of defenders, though, with some Twitter users trying to make light of the entire situation.

It’s unclear what prompted one of the two major US political parties to add what amounted to three duplicated audience members onto the screen. At the same time Twitter jokes may not have been entirely unwarranted, as lack of voter enthusiasm has been a recognized problem for Biden’s campaign since the Democratic primaries. 

Even though the convention seems to have given the Biden/Harris ticket a boost in that regard, they are still more than 10 points below their opponent, President Donald Trump.

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