‘Hot Ones’ Turned Down Kamala Harris as Guest Because Show Didn’t Want to ‘Delve Into Politics,’ Campaign Staffer Says

variety.com:

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Donald Duck got a spicy sit-down on “Hot Ones.” VP Kamala Harris had no such luck. Not that it would have changed the outcome of the election, but the Harris campaign had wanted the Democratic presidential candidate to appear on “Hot Ones,” the popular chicken-wing-eating show on YouTube that has featured an array of celebrities blinking back tears as they sample increasingly piquant sauces and banter with host Sean Evans.

But “Hot Ones” declined a request for the VP to appear on the show, because “if remember correctly, on ‘Hot Ones’ they didn’t want to delve into politics,” Harris campaign strategist Stephanie Cutter said on Tuesday’s episode of the “Pod Save America” podcast. “‘Hot Ones,’ which is a great show, they didn’t want to do any politics, so they weren’t going to take us or [Donald Trump],” Cutter said.

Reached by Variety, BuzzFeed, which produces “Hot Ones” under its First We Feast banner, declined to comment. Following Trump’s victory over Harris in the presidential election, there’s been a wealth of armchair-quarterbacking comparing Harris’ more traditional-media strategy to Trump’s focus on non-mainstream influencers popular with young men — with whistle stops that most notably included Joe Rogan.

On the “Pod Save America” episode, a post-mortem titled “Top Harris Campaign Staff Tell Us What Went Wrong In 2024 Election,” host Dan Pfeiffer cited Trump’s pursuit of appearances on “political-adjacent” podcasts — and asked members of Harris’ team why they didn’t do the same.