It’s tricky writing a piece about how Hillary Clinton lost the second debate without using the words “Hillary Clinton” and “lost” uncomfortably close to each other, but journalists found a way, thanks to town hall participant Ken Bone. His norm-core anti-style was just the antidote America needed in a poisonous campaign season.
The winner of tonight's presidential debate was: Ken Bone https://t.co/uzE25Rpmt8 pic.twitter.com/D1l4z2ZSXS
— Deadspin (@Deadspin) October 10, 2016
Winner of the presidential #debate Ken Bone: My red sweater "is more famous than me" https://t.co/43mflqqjov https://t.co/1kGVLWXMur
— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) October 10, 2016
And the winner of the second presidential #debate is… Ken Bone https://t.co/4Gbbw45j0x https://t.co/OfTk0eWjrg
— CNN (@CNN) October 10, 2016
The real winner of last night's debate was @KenBone18.https://t.co/VcnrNkH3v7
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) October 10, 2016
Jimmy's chat with the real winner of Sunday’s #debate – @KenBone18 https://t.co/9ygQXGBRcq
— Jimmy Kimmel Live (@JimmyKimmelLive) October 11, 2016
However, it looks like Bone might not be able to wring his full 15 minutes of fame out of that red sweater, and even his status as a Twitter Moment seems overlong in retrospect. In fact, people are starting to regret those think pieces faster than it took to regret ordering that official Bone T-shirt, or worse, that Sexy Kenneth Bone Halloween costume.
America, prepare to enter the #bonezone. My official shirt is available for 1 week. Get it at https://t.co/WKSP0H9p9i pic.twitter.com/ts7K0K5WUv
— Ken Bone (@kenbone18) October 13, 2016
Yes, you can buy a sexy Ken Bone Halloween costume online. https://t.co/vsWtKjY4KR pic.twitter.com/1xKWiChSDg
— Mashable (@mashable) October 12, 2016
So why is everyone suddenly being so bad to Bone? Well, it seems that as part of his whirlwind tour of every media outlet available, Bone agreed to participate in an “Ask Me Anything” session on Reddit. It’s not so much the answers he gave, though, that were problematic; rather, by participating in the session he revealed his Reddit alias, allowing anyone and everyone to look up his posting history on the site.
The Washington Post was among many outlets that gave a roundup of Bone’s online activities:
Bone occasionally commented in NSFW subreddits — including one called “preggoporn,” talked about his sex life after a vasectomy, described forging car insurance documents in the past “so I wouldn’t get fired from my pizza delivery job” while earning the money he needed to pay for his real insurance, commented on the stolen nude images released during Celebgate, and argued that the killing of Trayvon Martin was “justified” — but that George Zimmerman also seemed to be a “bad guy.”
The New York Times added that Bone “also commented on pictures of scantily clad women on the Bodyperfection and RealGirls subreddits.”
That’s all it took for some (well, most) media outlets to withdraw their endorsements of Bone overnight. Didn’t anyone vet this guy before elevating him to “the American Hero we need” status? How could seasoned journalists fall for a charismatic outsider and then turn tail so easily? Is the public culpable for giving him undue attention and thus foisting him on the press?
Ignore the sweater and check out this flip-flop:
Ken Bone is the American hero we need: pic.twitter.com/rv2xGLsbBN
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) October 11, 2016
Ken Bone's disturbing Reddit history shows he's not nearly as adorable as we thought: https://t.co/Sq9a59HEpX pic.twitter.com/2Ao6700OS7
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) October 14, 2016
Actually, Ken Bone is bad https://t.co/49bzNymHik pic.twitter.com/677bD94AH5
— Gizmodo (@Gizmodo) October 10, 2016
Ken Bone is actually kind of an awful guy https://t.co/y2a8HBuTxj
— New York Post (@nypost) October 15, 2016
For a few days, Ken Bone was America's sweetheart. Not anymore. https://t.co/6wd0Q829wR pic.twitter.com/Xh9n9D0pn5
— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 14, 2016
Even the New York Times reported that “we” might be leaving the Bone Zone, though it tried its best to let America down gently. Bone isn’t the apocalypse personified — he’s just a flawed human being like the rest of us under that red sweater.
It is Mr. Bone’s turn to show the world that he is a flawed person — a human, even — who decided to take the ride when insta-fame was given to him.
He might also now be forced to acknowledge that he has said and done things that are bad, unpopular or even illegal. And the rest of us, in our indignant perfection, will shake our heads and tweet about it.
Sad!
What did this private individual do to merit scrutiny of his internet commenting history in the NYT? Such a joke https://t.co/zpR0ZWch9M
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) October 14, 2016
https://twitter.com/FashyEconomics/status/787062477141970944
The idea that Bone should have to explain his comment history to the NYT, like he's on the witness stand, is gross.
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) October 14, 2016
Comment history? Hasn’t the guy heard of BleachBit?
https://twitter.com/EnemyWithinn/status/787062353602945024
https://twitter.com/TrumpDelivers/status/787063030597062656
Shameful. Apparently we give no quarter unless that person is a 30 yr political veteran, THEN we're worried about privacy
— Justin Osborn (@justin_osborn) October 14, 2016
https://twitter.com/TheVoiceOfPaulR/status/787354078020001792
Yet they wonder WHY they get boo'd, cursed & told that they suck. They just can't imagine why ppl are so angry. Keep pushing media.
— Its a dogs life ?? ? energy (@seniordogzrule) October 14, 2016
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