Former Vice-President-turned-perpetual-gaffe-machine Kamala Harris just added another entry to her blooper reel, and this one was apparently so disastrous that even her own handlers begged to deep-six it.
TikTok star Kareem Rahma, host of the series Subway Takes, revealed on Forbes’ “Top Creators” show that a 2024 sit-down with Harris was spiked after she unleashed a “really, really bad” hot-take: “Bacon is a spice.”
Rahma — a practicing Muslim who doesn’t eat pork — said the remark was so baffling, tone-deaf, and politically radioactive that both sides mutually agreed never to let America see the tape.
Kamala Harris gave an answer so bad, even a left-leaning influencer feared it would tank her campaign and ruin his reputation in the process.
Rahma told Forbes editor Steven Bertoni that Harris’ staff originally pitched a harmless gripe about people taking their shoes off on airplanes. At the last minute, campaign staffers hit the panic button, swapped topics, and forced the veep to riff on bacon instead — a decision Rahma tried to stop in real time.
The result, he said, was a nonsensical word-salad so awkward it risked alienating Muslim voters and anyone with basic culinary knowledge.
Kareem Rahma:
Her take was really confusing and weird—and not good. So, we mutually agreed that we shouldn’t publish it. I got lucky, because I didn’t want to be blamed for her losing.Steven Bertoni:
Her take was that bad?Kareem Rahma:
It was really, really bad. It didn’t make any sense. I can tell you.Steven Bertoni:
Yeah, tell me.Kareem Rahma:
It was “bacon as a spice.”Steven Bertoni:
Bacon as a spice? Do you think that was her opinion, or do you think she had a research group trying to figure something out—Kareem Rahma:
Research group. Originally, the take that I was pitched was great—it was that she doesn’t like to take her shoes off on airplanes… I was like, “100% disagree. You better be taking the shoes off.” I wear Birkenstocks and socks on an airplane so I can flip those mother-effers right off the minute I get on.[…]
Kareem Rahma:
No, that’s awful. That’s disgusting. That’s not even a take. I would never, ever, ever do that. But yeah, at the last minute, I think the research group said, “This makes you look rich and snobby, and you need to appeal to the American people.” So she went with the bacon. I tried to pause the interview and say, “Trust me, we shouldn’t do the bacon thing.” And I was overridden by this guy—maybe her Deputy Campaign Manager or something.
He said, “We’re doing bacon.” I said, “All right, we’ll do bacon.” An hour later, I got a call: “We can’t do bacon.” I said, “I know you can’t do bacon.” Then I tried to cut it into something else. It just wasn’t working. And I was like, “You know what…?”Steven Bertoni:
So they overrode the bacon themselves?Kareem Rahma:
First they rode the bacon, then they overrode the bacon. Then I tried to override their override by saying, “I didn’t just do all this work for no reason. I’m going to make it work.” And then I did make it work. Then they were like, “This makes her look—” And I said, “Whose fault is that?” Then I thought, “If I post this, a lot of people are going to be mad at me. If I don’t post it, I still have a cool photo with Kamala Harris.”
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