--- title: Ken Bone Becomes Internet's Hero After Presidential Debate description: Ken Bone made headlines when he asked a question during the second presidential debate while clad in a tomato red sweater. canonical: https://time.com/4525241/ken-bone-presidential-debate/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-10T18:39:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:37:28.896Z og:title: Internet Decides This Audience Member Won the Debate og:description: The Internet went wild for him og:url: https://time.com/4525241/ken-bone-presidential-debate/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1774d2733f33bd37/6988a961cf40a86053c451a6/ken-bone-second-presidential-debate.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Candidates Hillary Clinton And Donald Trump Hold Second Presidential Debate At Washington University og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Internet Decides This Audience Member Won the Debate twitter:description: The Internet went wild for him twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1774d2733f33bd37/6988a961cf40a86053c451a6/ken-bone-second-presidential-debate.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Debate Audience Member Ken Bone Is the Internet’s New Hero  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Oct 10, 2016 6:39 PM UTC  Democratic presidential nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton responds to a question during the town hall debate at Washington University on October 9, 2016 in St Louis, Missouri (Photo by Jim Bourg-Pool/Getty Images) Democratic presidential nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton responds to a question during the town hall debate at Washington University on October 9, 2016 in St Louis, Missouri (Photo by Jim Bourg-Pool/Getty Images)Pool—Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Oct 10, 2016 6:39 PM UTC During the [heated clash](http://time.com/4524589/second-presidential-debate-donald-trump-nuclear/) of [Sunday night’s presidential debate](http://time.com/4524525/social-media-presidential-debate-clinton-trump-st-louis/) between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, an unexpected winner emerged. It’s Ken Bone, an audience member with excellent taste in [knitwear](http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=93xLBvPhAeE&subid=0&offerid=461347.1&type=10&tmpid=1701&RD%5FPARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jcpenney.com%2Fizod-durham-sweater%2Fprod.jump%3F&RD%5FPARM2=ppId%3Dppr5007133448&u1=TIMEkenbone), who stepped forward to ask the candidates a question about meeting America’s energy needs while remaining environmentally friendly while minimizing job loss fossil power plant workers. Bone instantly won the hearts of the American public with his [bright red sweater](http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=93xLBvPhAeE&subid=0&offerid=461347.1&type=10&tmpid=1701&RD%5FPARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jcpenney.com%2Fizod-durham-sweater%2Fprod.jump%3F&RD%5FPARM2=ppId%3Dppr5007133448&u1=TIMEkenbone) ([_buy here_](http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=93xLBvPhAeE&subid=0&offerid=461347.1&type=10&tmpid=1701&RD%5FPARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jcpenney.com%2Fizod-durham-sweater%2Fprod.jump%3F&RD%5FPARM2=ppId%3Dppr5007133448&u1=TIMEkenbone)), a sartorial choice that almost didn’t happen. In an interview with [_CNN_](http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/10/10/ken-bone-presidential-debate-red-sweater-intv-nr.cnn) on Monday, the morning after the debate, Bone revealed that [the sweater](http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=93xLBvPhAeE&subid=0&offerid=461347.1&type=10&tmpid=1701&RD%5FPARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jcpenney.com%2Fizod-durham-sweater%2Fprod.jump%3F&RD%5FPARM2=ppId%3Dppr5007133448&u1=TIMEkenbone) was actually the solution to a fashion crisis he had had earlier. “I had a really nice olive suit, and my mother would have been very proud to see me wearing on television, but apparently I have gained about 30 pounds,” Bone said. “And when I went to get in my car the morning of the debate I split the seat of my pants all the way open. So the [red sweater](http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=93xLBvPhAeE&subid=0&offerid=461347.1&type=10&tmpid=1701&RD%5FPARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jcpenney.com%2Fizod-durham-sweater%2Fprod.jump%3F&RD%5FPARM2=ppId%3Dppr5007133448&u1=TIMEkenbone) is plan B. I’m glad it worked out.” He’s reportedly getting flooded with [Facebook friend requests](http://insidestl.com/tma-2-ken-bone-ken-hitchock-nitwittery/1974670), but as for the election, Bone says he is still undecided when it comes to who he’ll be voting for in the polls this November. “Well, I know people hate to hear this but I think I might be more undecided than ever,” he said. “I was leaning very heavily towards Donald Trump but Secretary Clinton impressed me with her composure and with a lot of her answers. So now I think I’m just going to wait for the last political debate and in this cycle you never know what could happen.” Undecided though he may be, Ken Bone remains a true American hero — at least to Twitter users across the nation. > [](https://twitter.com/BarstoolJordie/status/785306908357984256) > [](https://twitter.com/InfiniteRichIs/status/785307103728693248) > [](https://twitter.com/ryan%5Fs%5Fclark/status/785307053942312960) > [](https://twitter.com/tobyhuss/status/785306494287745024) > [](https://twitter.com/knguyen/status/785306471877795840) Watch the question here. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4525241/ken-bone-presidential-debate/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4525241/ken-bone-presidential-debate/"},"headline":"Why Debate Audience Member Ken Bone Is the Internet’s New Hero","datePublished":"2016-10-10T18:39:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:37:28.896Z","description":"The Internet went wild for him","url":"https://time.com/4525241/ken-bone-presidential-debate/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","Internet","Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1774d2733f33bd37/6988a961cf40a86053c451a6/ken-bone-second-presidential-debate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1774d2733f33bd37/6988a961cf40a86053c451a6/ken-bone-second-presidential-debate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Candidates Hillary Clinton And Donald Trump Hold Second Presidential Debate At Washington University","caption":"Candidates Hillary Clinton And Donald Trump Hold Second Presidential Debate At Washington University","creditText":"Pool—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4525241/ken-bone-presidential-debate/","name":"Why Debate Audience Member Ken Bone Is the Internet’s New Hero"}}]}] ```