Democratic Pennsylvania Senate hopeful John Fetterman is struggling to understand why people are focusing on his use of closed captioning.
During an interview with Rolling Stone, Fetterman said, “I mean — if you’re offended, or you would not want to consider voting me, because I’m having our interview” using closed captioning “that’s kind of surreal to me, why anybody would want to make that an issue.”
He called the focus on it “just bizarre,” “kind of strange,” and added that he does not understand it.
His comments come after an interview with NBC News’ Dasha Burns — the first in-person conversation with a reporter since his stroke in May.
Burns has received criticism for sharing Fetterman has “a hard time understanding what he’s hearing.”
She also stated it seemed the Senate hopeful “had a hard time understanding” some small talk that occurred without the use of closed captioning.
MSNBC's Dasha Burns: Fetterman has "a hard time understanding what he's hearing…still has some problems, some challenges with speech… it did seem that he had a hard time understanding our conversations." pic.twitter.com/HNl6LYdfoX
— Kevin Tober (@KevinTober1776) October 11, 2022
Several journalists have criticized Burns for her comment about the small talk as they pointed out they did not have the same experience.
Whoopi Goldberg, a co-host of ABC’s “The View,” suggested the issue might have been with Burns, and perhaps she is “bad at small talk.”
In a tweet, Burns defended her decision as she wrote, “It’s possible for two different reporters to have two different experiences [with] a candidate. Our team was in the room [with] him [and] reported what happened in it, as journalists do. Before [and] after closed captioning was on.”
“We were happy to accommodate closed captioning. Our reporting did not and should not comment on fitness for office. This is for voters to decide. What we do push for as reporters is transparency. It’s our job. Fetterman sat down and answered our questions. That’s his job,” she added.
We were happy to accommodate closed captioning. Our reporting did not and should not comment on fitness for office. This is for voters to decide. What we do push for as reporters is transparency. It’s our job. Fetterman sat down and answered our questions. That’s his job. https://t.co/gFZ02hlUs5
— Dasha Burns (@DashaBurns) October 12, 2022
Rolling Stone noted it conducted its interview with Fetterman over Google Meet, which has a closed captioning feature.
“I hope I’m coming across as very lucid and having a normal conversation,” he told the magazine. “A normal person would think I’m normal — if I wasn’t running for Senate right now, and we didn’t have a doctor trying to make it a massive issue and trying to create something,” he added.
Additionally, Fetterman said he expects he will have to talk about his health “forever and ever.”
“I hope that people can understand that I’ve been very forthright about it and having regular conversations,” he continued.
During a rally, Fetterman said of his challenge with process words, “I might miss a word, I may mush two words together.”
However, he knocked the idea of being criticized for using closed captioning.
“I just could not ever imagine, just as a person, to object to somebody if they need captioning — or if you need to use a wheelchair, or you need to use a cane, or you needed to use glasses, or you needed to — anything! I don’t understand that,” he told Rolling Stone.
