'Oh My God, I Was Joking!': Fox News Hits Audio Snag in Preview of Second Lady Usha Vance Interview
Key Takeaways
- •Audio cut out during a Fox & Friends Weekend preview of an exclusive interview with Second Lady Usha Vance, exposing off-air moments before a commercial break.
- •Host Rachel Campos-Duffy was heard loudly saying "Oh my God, I was joking!" after the audio went silent during the preview.
- •The clip circulated widely on social media, where hot-mic moments often draw more attention than planned segments.
- •The interview was billed as an exclusive, consistent with Fox's pattern of securing high-profile sit-downs with Trump administration figures.
- •The mishap adds to a history of on-air gaffes for the program, including airing incorrect footage and promoting debunked stories.
Fox News ran into apparent audio problems on Sunday during a preview of its interview with Second Lady Usha Vance, with one host heard loudly exclaiming as the mishap unfolded.
Just before a commercial break, the cast of “Fox & Friends Weekend” teased an upcoming exclusive segment with the second lady.
“What's the hardest part?” host Rachel Campos-Duffy is heard asking in the preview clip.
“The hardest part is the fishbowl that JD lives in, in particular,” the second lady responds, just before the audio cuts to silence.
Papers can be heard shuffling, followed by quiet murmuring. Campos-Duffy is then heard saying loudly: “Oh my God, I was joking!”
After another brief moment of awkward silence, Fox News' Griff Jenkins attempts to steer the broadcast into a commercial break.
“Fox & Friends Weekend, exclusive with the second lady,” Jenkins is heard saying.
While control-room misfires are an occasional hazard of live television, the clip quickly circulated on social media, where hot-mic moments and pre-break stumbles routinely draw outsized attention compared to the planned segments themselves. The interview was billed as an exclusive, part of the network's pattern of securing high-profile sit-downs with figures in the Trump administration, a White House the channel has generally covered with a friendlier posture than its cable rivals.
The incident adds to a history of on-air gaffes and mistakes for “Fox & Friends.” Among the most controversial was the program's recent airing of the wrong footage during coverage of the dignified transfer of U.S. service members killed in President Donald Trump's deeply unpopular war against Iran.
Last year, Fox News' Brian Kilmeade was forced to apologize after suggesting that homeless Americans should face “involuntary lethal injection” and that the U.S. government should “just kill 'em.”
The program has also drawn scrutiny for promoting false stories, including the debunked theory that officials in Nashville, Tennessee concealed the number of COVID-19 cases during the pandemic.
Fox News flubs a preview of its interview with Second Lady Usha Vance with some apparent audio problems Audio goes silent, papers are heard shuffling before Rachel Campos-Duffy is heard saying: "Oh my God, I was joking!" pic.twitter.com/W1QIj09sU9 — Alexander Willis (@ReporterWillis) August 30, 2026
