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Ciara O'Rourke
By Ciara O'Rourke September 13, 2023

This isn’t an authentic video of Vice President Kamala Harris saying how women should ‘get ahead’

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  • This video is altered.

  • In the original, then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris was commenting on whether to ban plastic straws in this video clip from a 2019 CNN town hall on climate change. She wasn’t discussing how women should "get ahead."

  • Learn more about PolitiFact's fact-checking process and rating system.

A video clip of a 2019 CNN town hall on climate change has been altered several years later to make it appear as though Vice President Kamala Harris commented on how women should "get ahead."

The chyron at the bottom of the clip suggests the topic under discussion is whether women should engage in oral sex to "get ahead."

Harris, then a 2020 presidential candidate, says: "I think we should, yes."

An Instagram post sharing the video was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

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In reality, Harris was answering a question about whether she would ban plastic straws. 

In the video in the post, remarks that Harris makes that would clarify that, such as "it’s really difficult to drink out of a paper straw," are bleeped out. 

The chyron was also altered. The original said: "Would you ban plastic straws?"

We rate claims she was commenting on how women should get ahead Pants on Fire!

 

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This isn’t an authentic video of Vice President Kamala Harris saying how women should ‘get ahead’

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