TikToker claims he scrapped 'painful' Kamala Harris interview because he would have been blamed for election loss

Daily Mail​

3 days ago

Comedian and TikTok star Kareem Rahma is dishing more details on why he scrapped a sought-after interview with then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris days before the election.
He shared with Forbes reporter Steven Bertoni that the interview was so 'painful' that it could have resulted in her blaming him for losing the election.
Rahma had traveled to Pittsburgh to meet the vice president after her team said he could interview Harris for his online show Subway Takes, a series featuring travelers on a New York City subway who had a 'take' on a specific issue.
The Daily Mail reported in November that Rahma became wary of the opportunity after he was told he could not ask questions about the Israeli war in Gaza.
But despite the complications with organizing the interview topics, he ultimately went forward with it.
Rahma revealed in the New York Times that there was a dispute with Harris and her team about the 'take' that she was willing to share.
He said he was told by staffers that Harris would be giving a 'take' on whether people should remove their shoes on airplanes.
But when he sat down with Harris, Rahma said that she had a different idea.
'Bacon is a spice,' she insisted.
He said he was told by staffers that Harris would be giving a 'take' on whether people should remove their shoes on airplanes.
But when he sat down with Harris, Rahma said that she had a different idea.
'Bacon is a spice,' she insisted.
As a Muslim, Rahma does not eat pork for religious reasons, and responded skeptically to her position.
'Think about it, it's pure flavor,' Harris continued, talking about the various different dishes that could be enhanced by bacon bits.
When Rahma asked for a different take, Harris decided to declare her love of anchovies on pizza, after conferring with a staffer.
Ultimately, he admitted that the interview had gone so badly that he decided not to publish it.
'It was so complicated because I'm Muslim and there's something going on in the world that 100 percent of Muslims care about,' he said. 'And then they made it worse by talking about anchovies. Boring!'
Harris has revealed details about all three issues before, so his interview would not have been groundbreaking, had it been published.
By contrast, Walz was still relatively unknown in August when Rahma deviated from his norm of interviewing his subjects on the NYC subway to travel and meet him on the trail.
Walz's 'take' could not have come across as more Midwestern: home gutters.
'My take is the most neglected part of home ownership is the gutters,' Walz told Rahma. 'It's personal for me.'
Harris' belief that 'Bacon is a spice,' meanwhile, is a take she flaunted in Iowa on the campaign trail in 2019.
Her view about people removing shoes on airplanes is a take she revealed in April with the Had It or Hit It podcast and details about her love of anchovy pizza was celebrated in July as part of what fueled her process to seize the nomination after former President Joe Biden announced his decision to step down.
The story illustrates a new window into Harris' closely guarded media access especially ongoing attempts to control content from social media influencers with preconditions to access.
After catching a glimpse of the bizarre political world, he expressed his gratitude that he was not in the business of political media.