Californian politician Eric Swalwell received a lot of attention following his interview with US TV network MSNBC, although he'd probably prefer to skip over the reason why. Well, you would too if you were alleged to have let rip with a massive fart on live television. See for yourself:
Videos uploaded to social media show the Democrat congressman chatting to host Chris Matthews.
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Speaking from Capitol Hill, Mr Swalwell tells the host: "Chris, so far the evidence is uncontradicted that the president used taxpayer dollars to help him cheat an election."
But as he pauses mid-sentence, a very distinctive sound emerges.
Watching the footage, it's difficult to confirm whether Mr Swalwell looks ever so slightly embarrassed, or whether he's attempting to stifle a wry smile - but many viewers appear to have made up their minds, and it's bad news for the congressman.
The hashtag #fartgate started trending on Twitter, as many people shared video footage to confirm that the noise came from the interview taking place on TV, swatting away theories that the farting sound might have come from the person who posted the original clip.
Mr Swalwell has refuted the theory that he was the one who let rip, telling Buzzfeed: "It was not me! Ha. And I didn't hear it when I was speaking."
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But is it a case of 'he who denied it, supplied it'?
A Twitter user reckons the politician is the innocent party in all this, writing: "I hate to let the air out of these #fartgate theories, but the inimitable laws of physics clearly point to Chris as the culprit. For one, Swalwell's mic wouldn't likely have picked it up in the noisy liveshot location.
"Second, the fart conveniently manifests when it goes to a one-shot, where Chris is off camera to let it rip without anyone seeing. Finally, it was likely acoustically amplified after bouncing off the back of Matthews' chair.
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"Unless you're telling me that thing bounced through the echoey Capitol building, into Swalwell's lav mic, through control to the main audio, then that is one magic fart. There is also, of course, the possibility that there was a second farter."
Sounds plausible, although I doubt there will be someone who will put their hand up and admit they were the culprit.
The show in question, Hardball, posted a tweet trying to explain the whole situation, which read: "Sorry to disappoint the conspiracy theorists - it was the #hardball mug scraping across the desk. Get yours today and let's get back to the news!"
Hmmmm.
Topics: Funny, US News, US Entertainment, Politics
