Reporter’s headband on morning politics show raises eyebrows

‘Is that medically necessary?’ asks one viewer

A reporter’s headgear on a Sunday TV appearance has drawn a mix of amused and baffled reactions on social media.

Jeff Horwitz, a technology reporter with The Wall Street Journal, wore a bizarre combination of a grey suit and matching grey headband for his interview on NBC’s Meet The Press.

His media appearance was originally meant to be about an internal dynamic at Facebook in which the company’s executives are pushing back against any suggestion that the company may be contributing to the negative discourse prevalent across the US and other countries where it is popular.

By the time it hit Twitter, however, his interview was only being talked about for one reason: the headband.

Some questioned whether he was doing it for charity, medical purpose, or whether Mr Horwitz had simply lost a bet.

“Is the headband medically necessary?” tweeted one commenter at Mr Horwitz. “Head injury?” added another.

Others saw more fantastical meanings behind the headband. Several remarked that Mr Horwitz looked like Luther, leader of rival gang “the Rogues” from the 1979 cult classic The Warriors.

Mr Horwitz explained the innocuous reason behind wearing the headband in tweets, quipping that he was glad the audience of Meet the Press had been entertained.

“The headband has been a pretty constant thing for me throughout a very long and weird Covid-time reporting project. Glad it was a bit of fun for folks at the show,” he said.

Thank you! The headband has been a pretty constant thing for me throughout a very long and weird Covid-time reporting project. Glad it was a bit of fun for folks at the show. https://t.co/TAgbp6VvQJ

— Jeff Horwitz (@JeffHorwitz) October 3, 2021

“When I woke up at 4am Pacific, I was motivated by two desires: to contribute to productive discourse about a world-altering technology company and to wear a sport-coat accessorized sweatband on national television. I am 100% confident I accomplished the latter.”

Within hours of Mr Horwitz debuting his look on NBC, it was already attracting copycats.

The New York Times’s media correspondent Ben Smith wore a white headband for the first few seconds of his interview with Brian Stelter on CNN’s Reliable Sources before joking about Mr Horowitz’s look and taking it off.

.@benyt does indeed wear a headband in honor of the Wall Street Journal's Jeff Horwitz -- who wore one on Meet the Press today -- at the start of his interview with Brian Stelter.

He takes it off after about a minute. pic.twitter.com/mVnsBHLdeG

— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) October 3, 2021