Congressman (D) Eric Swalwell Denies Ripping a Massive Fart Live on MSNBC

[Adam Shipp's many visits to Ed Buck]

It was the fart heard ’round the Twitter world. On Monday night,
during an interview with MSNBC host Chris Matthews, Rep. Eric
Swalwell seemingly ripped a massive fart while discussing the
ongoing impeachment hearings. The “fart pas,” as it were,
immediately went viral, and Swalwell quickly insisted upon his
innocence, telling Buzzfeed News‘ Addy Baird, “It was not
me!!!!!” Late Monday night, MSNBC’s Hardball also attempted to
point the finger elsewhere with a tweet claiming that the fart
noise “was the Hardball mug scraping across the desk.” As
someone with a Jewish father and, therefore, a relatively high
fart IQ, let me tell you: that was no mug on a desk. That was a
full-on whoopee cushion-style human fart.

Frankly, there is no way to describe the fart situation without
listening to the full clip in all its glory (watch it above).
During the Hardball interview, Swalwell (D-CA) explains, “Chris,
so far the evidence is uncontradicted that the president used
taxpayer dollars to ask the Ukrainians to help him him cheat –”
A massive fart noise pierces the air, like a horn on a ship
leaving port. It’s beautiful in its simplicity. Swalwell briefly
pauses and appears to stifle a smile before continuing, “In an
election.”

The fart clip spread like wildfire — or, more specifically, like
a fat one ripped in a very crowded room. After watching the
viral video, many thought that Swalwell was the culprit, but in
a text to Buzzfeed News, the congressman disputed that
narrative. “It was not me!!!!!” said Swalwell. “Ha. And I didn’t
hear it when I was speaking.” When Baird pressed the question,
he again insisted that he “did not hear” the fart, but admitted,
“It’s funny tho.”

On Monday night, Matthews’ show Hardball posted (and then
quickly deleted) the Spiderman-pointing-at-Spiderman meme about
the incident. A few hours later, the MSNBC show released a
different explanation, saying, “Sorry to disappoint the
conspiracy theorists – it was the Hardball mug scraping across
the desk.” Swalwell retweeted Hardball‘s post a few minutes
later, adding, “Total exoneration!”

Sorry to disappoint the conspiracy theorists – it was the
#hardball mug scraping across the desk. Get yours today and
let’s get back to the news! https://t.co/SG8Owm2IBw

— Hardball (@hardball) November 19, 2019

TOTAL EXONERATION! https://t.co/JAuTsnCjAC

— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) November 19, 2019

While we may never know the true identity of the Hardball
farter, Slate’s Ashley Feinberg pointed out that “MSNBC has a
notorious farting problem.” Feinberg linked to a 2018 Blind
Gossip post about the in-house issue, which explains that
“producers have tried everything” to remove the stink from a
certain “cable news host’s” dressing room. “It has gotten so bad
that now when you get off the elevators at 30 Rock, you know if
this person is in the building!” said Blind Gossip at the time.

Could it be the same person? The plot (and the air) thickens.

https://decider.com/2019/11/19/eric-swalwell-denies-farting-
msnbc/