Beto O'Rourke, Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker

Beto O'Rourke was meme-worthy at Democratic debate, joins OZY Fest lineup

Minutes into the first Democratic debate of the 2020 presidential election, late-night host Trevor Noah said he suspected that “half of America thought they flipped to Univision by mistake.”

Why? Former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke had suddenly started speaking Spanish.

In the middle of his opening answer to a question about marginal tax rates during the live broadcast from Miami on Wednesday night, O’Rourke seamlessly transitioned from English to Spanish, catching viewers and even some of his fellow candidates off guard.

While O’Rourke flexed his language abilities, a camera captured Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) gawking wide-eyed. Next to Booker, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) also openly stared, and soon the moment became a viral meme. [Washington Post]

Former punk rocker, Fugazi fan and Cedric Bixler-Zavala bandmate, and current aspiring Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke made headlines with his performance at the first Democratic debate last night, where his segue into Spanish-speaking became one of the night’s most meme-worthy moments:

https://twitter.com/GraceParra360/status/1144050342390194176

While his road to candidacy from here remains unclear, Beto has announced a NYC appearance at music, comedy, food and idea festival OZY Fest, which happens at Central Park’s Great Lawn on July 20-21. There he’ll join Miguel, Trevor Noah, Spike Lee, Padma Lakshmi, Mark Cuban and others. Tickets for the festival are still on sale.