A moderator has gone viral for saying Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker would be “represented by an empty podium” when he failed to show up for a debate against his rivals.
Mr Walker’s no-show on Sunday night comes after he opted to take the stage on Friday in a separately controversy-stirring event which saw the former professional football player pull out a “prop” police badge after Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia accused him of lying about being a police officer.
“One thing I have not done I’ve never pretended to be a police officer. Yet, I’ve never I’ve never threatened a shootout with the police,” said Mr Warnock, drawing applause, which then prompted Mr Walker to pull out the badge.
“And you know what’s so funny,” said the Republican. “I am, worked with many police officers.”
He was later admonished by one of the moderators in that Friday debate, after they informed the GOP candidate that debates were to be conducted without the assistance of “props.”
On Sunday, the Atlanta Press Club was playing host to the pair of Georgia Senate candidates, except this time, Mr Walker declined to attend, leading the incumbent to criticise his challenger in the hours leading up to and after the debate.
“Herschel Walker is asking the people of Georgia for a job without showing up for the job interview,” tweeted Mr Warnock online ahead of the debate, which his other participant in the event, Libertarian Chase Oliver, accepted.
The event’s moderator, WSB radio host Scott Slade, began by introducing the present, and absent, candidates, highlighting Mr Walker’s lack of participation in what has since become a viral clip.
“They are, in alphabetical order: Chase Oliver, a Libertarian, he’s a businessman,” began Mr Slade. “Herschel Walker, a Republican, is a businessman and former professional athlete. Mr. Walker has declined to participate and is represented by an empty podium,” he said, with the camera holding in frame over the pulpit which was intended to be occupied by the Republican.
The image of Mr Walker’s empty pulpit has since transformed into a widely panned meme, with some – including Senator Warnock – coming to use the image as a symbol of the Republican’s commitment to the seat he is pursuing.
“Herschel Walker refused to show up because he is not ready to represent Georgia,” tweeted Sen Warnock’s campaign after the debate had wrapped, while sharing a clip that repeatedly showed the moment when the moderator said that his presence was being represented by an empty podium.
Commentators online were quick to jump on the bandwagon and began comparing the Sunday night podium absence to the former football player’s controversy-prone campaign.
“You’re not going to believe what Herschel Walker’s empty podium just did,” tweeted the official account for MeidasTouch, a liberal American political action committee that formed with the intent to halt the re-election of Donald Trump in 2020.
“An empty podium is honestly Herschel Walker at his best,” jibed another user, while activist Andrew Wortman compared the absence to the Republican’s performance on Friday night when he whipped out a police badge mid-debate: “The empty podium did far better at tonight’s debate than Herschel Walker did last time. It managed to just stand there silently without impersonating a police officer, lying compulsively, or getting into verbal battles with the moderators.”
Mr Walker is facing off against Sen Warnock in the November midterms and has faced an onslaught of bad press recently after it was reported by The Daily Beast that the former professional athlete paid an ex-girlfriend $750 to have an abortion, which was later updated to include a second report from The New York Times later that alleged he’d also tried to pressure that same woman into having a second procedure in 2011.
Mr Walker, for his part, has vehemently denied those reports, telling a crowded audience at the Senate debate in Savannah on Friday that it “was a lie and I’m not backing down”.
On Monday morning, NBC’s Today released an exclusive interview with the Republican hopeful in which he provided some of his most extensive comments to date about the allegation that he paid for that first abortion in 2009.
NBC Chief White House correspondent Kristen Walker, no relation to the GOP candidate, presented Mr Walker with a copy of the cheque from the ex-girlfriend that the news outlet had obtained and pressed whether he would confirm if it was indeed his signature on the dotted line.
“This is still a lie because she is the mother of my child,” Mr Walker said upon viewing the copy of the cheque that was reportedly used to pay for the abortion at a Georgia health clinic in 2009.
When pressed by the White House correspondent further, Mr Walker said “definitively” that the cheque was indeed his – “yes that’s my cheque” – but continued to deny that the funds had been used to pay for an abortion.
Later in that same interview with NBC, Mr Walker presented the same badge that had been used as a “prop” during the Friday night debate, which he claimed – and the news outlet confirmed with the sheriff’s office – was given to him by the Johnson County Sheriff.
That badge, the sheriff told the news outlet, allows him to assist with community support in a crisis.
