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SEEING RED: CNN slammed for altering blood-red background of Biden’s speech to softer pink

CNN is facing questions from critics after the network was busted altering the lighting for President Biden’s Thursday address

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA: As President Joe Biden stood outside Philadelphia's Independence Hall on Thursday night, making the case ahead of the midterm elections that "equality and democracy are under assault," he wasn't standing alone. For most Americans watching the prime-time speech, the uniformed Marines flanking him were just part of the setting for the address.

CNN is now facing questions from critics after the network was busted altering the lighting for President Biden’s Thursday address, softening the blood-red hues to calmer shades of pink. With a dramatic backdrop of red light hues, two Marines, and the American flag behind him, Biden said that Trump's influence on the GOP is a menace to the "very soul of this country."

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The president was subsequently bashed online for the harsh black and red backdrop, with many comparing the optics to 'Star Wars' and 'V for Vendetta'.

While feeds from networks like CNN, MSNBC, CBS and C-SPAN all originally appeared consistent, CNN noticeably changed the color of the background from red to pink in real-time.

Eagle-eyed cable news watchers pounced on the shift. The story was reported in Mediaite, which put the CNN footage up side-by-side against other networks, showing that the CNN switch was not a technical problem that hit all networks. “CNN appears to have tweaked the video of Biden’s speech from demonic red to Pepto-Bismol pink. Very helpful, as we needed a lot of Pepto-Bismol to get through this!,” said former Arkansas Gov Mike Huckabee.

A rep for CNN said the issue was caused by a technical glitch with the CBS pool feed.

Though Biden promised to deliver a unifying speech on the “battle for the soul of the nation,” he was blasted by partisans as divisive and fear-mongering. Many latched on to his claims that “MAGA Republicans” were a threat to the country.

"So what did happen? Did the audio/visual department not get briefed on the network’s new tone? Was it a tribute to the flashy hot pink backdrops of 1980s television? Did a flamingo do it? We asked CNN about the coloration, and it turns out that everyone had trouble with the pool feed, which was carried by CBS and was set up before the sun went down and the colored lights of Independence Hall came up," says Mediate.

The fiasco invited several scathing comments online. One user wrote, "If the President was already going to use that lighting, backdrop, and rhetoric he should have gone all the way and worn a colonel's uniform with a bunch of medals hanging off his chest. If you're going to do the bit do the bit. Otherwise don't do the bit." "SAME OLD, SAME OLD," said another. "The manipulators and disinformation spreaders are back at CNN!" journalist Luke Rudkowski wrote.