White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called the suggestion that Kamala Harris would use different accents “insanity.”
“Do you think Americans really care about this? Do you know what they care about?” she told Fox News’ Peter Doocy when he asked her about it during Tuesday’s press briefing. “They care about the economy, they care about lower costs, they care about health care, that’s what Americans care about.”
“I’m not even going to answer a question about — it sounds so ridiculous.”
“It’s madness,” she added.
Social media was abuzz on Monday with claims that Harris used a “fake accent” while speaking to a teachers union at a campaign rally in Michigan.
The Internet erupted with accusations that the Democratic presidential candidate changed her voice during her speech praising teachers’ union members at a Detroit high school.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre called suggestions that Kamala Harris uses different accents “insanity”
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Social media users allege in her comments that Harris adopted an urban accent to connect with the working class.
“You may not be a union member, but you might as well thank a union member for the five-day workweek,” Harris said in a tone that was not typical of the one she usually uses in her campaign speeches.
She continued, “You’re better off thanking a union member for sick leave. You’re better off thanking a union member for paid time off. You’re better off thanking a union member for vacation time.”
Harris faced accusations and ridicule over this topic earlier in her career, and they surfaced again as she campaigned against Donald Trump for the White House.
“The new Kamala accent just came out,” one X user wrote in response to a clip of Harris speaking at a high school event in Detroit, Michigan on Monday.
“I’m from California. We all talk like this,” one X user sarcastically wrote alongside a phonetic spelling of how Harris spoke in her comments, “I’m going to make sure I thank the union members today.”
Harris was born in California and represented the state in the Senate before becoming vice president.
At another point, someone from the audience shouted something about her future, beyond just the 2024 elections.
Harris, still sporting this new accent, responded with a broad smile and a laugh before leaning across the stage and saying, “Let’s just get through the next 64 days.”
“New Kamala accent just released,” wrote one X user.
Harris was in Detroit on Labor Day to speak to union members in the Northwestern High School gymnasium about the contribution of unions to the workforce.
The vice president is half Jamaican and half Indian. Trump’s campaign has accused her of using her blackness to her advantage when it suits her and has pointed to the fact that she touted her Indian-American heritage when she ran for senator in 2017.
Trump also said during a hostile interview with the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago last month that Harris only began “promoting” her black identity when she ran for president.
“I didn’t know she was black until a few years ago, when she happened to become black and now she wants to be known as black,” he said at the annual convention. “So, I don’t know, is she Native American or black?”
Jonathan Choe, a journalist at the Discovery Institute, noted on X, formerly Twitter, that it was a codeswitch Harris used to better connect with the largely Black and urban audience that listened to her remarks on Monday.
“Kamala Harris uses her code language again as she uses a new accent at a rally in Detroit,” he wrote.
Kamala Harris has been accused in the past of using a more “urban accent” to appear more relatable when speaking to black and working class people
The latest criticism comes after Harris was also mocked in July for feigning a Southern accent at a campaign rally in Atlanta, Georgia.
“You all helped us win in 2020 and we’re going to do it again in 2024,” Harris told voters in her fake Southern accent.
Harris often uses a Southern accent when speaking to voters in Southern communities. The VP grew up in San Francisco, California and spent her high school years in Montreal, Canada.
She faced similar criticism during her 2020 campaign, when she extended her vowels at an event in Florida and said, “We’re going to tell them that Saturday afternoon we were hanging out in a parking lot with Kamala and all of our friends.”
Outkick writer Ian Miller wrote the following about the latest accent usage on Monday: “At some point Kamala is going to speak in England and adopt a completely British accent and everyone will act like it’s completely normal.”
Outkick writer Ian Miller wrote the following about the final accent usage: “At one point Kamala is going to speak in England and adopt a completely British accent and everyone will act like it’s completely normal.”
“BREAKING: Kamala Harris Reveals New Urban Accent in Detroit,” wrote the pro-MAGA account End Wokeness.
“This is shameful flattery,” wrote another. “Kamala is using her new ‘accent’ when speaking to a certain demographic.”