What if Fox News, CNN or MSNBC had a Playboy model as part of the GOP debates?
That’s what Mexican voters were treated to last night at a presidential debate among four candidates running for office.
Julia Orayen, who posed for the Mexican edition of Playboy in 2008, was hired to work as an assistant. At the start of the debate — for a total of 24 seconds — Orayen walked across the stage and in front of the cameras in a tight-fitting, cleavage-bearing white dress, handing out cards to the candidates. Orayen’s appearance caused a social media stir and began trending on Twitter. But the stunt had elections officials apologizing, the debate’s producer explaining, and Mexican news anchors talking all day today.
Lorenzo Cordona, a counselor of the IFE, the Federal Electoral Institute apologized, saying, “it was lamentable that this stellar event was contaminated with an unfortunate stereotype.”
The president of the IFE blamed the independent producer they hired. The producer, Jesus Tapia, has “assumed all responsibility,” but says he was in the production truck “checking out the satellites” and not checking out Orayen. “We did not supervise her,” he says.
Mexico’s presidential election is July 1.