People Can’t Stop Cracking Jokes About Herschel Walker Whipping Out An Honorary Badge As A Debate Prop To Prove That He’s A Law Enforcement Officer Or Something

If someone ever decides to give Herschel Walker a key to their city, be forewarned that he very well may try to use it to open the doors to people’s home — or at the very least, whip it out at a debate to prove that he “owns” said city. That’s the big takeaway we got from Walker’s Friday night debate against Georgia senator Raphael Warnock, the Democratic incumbent the former football player is desperately attempting to oust.

At one point in the evening, Warnock brought up what he described as Walker’s “problem with the truth,” noting that, “One thing I have not done: I’ve never pretended to be a police officer, and I’ve never threatened a shootout with police.” As Forbes reports, Walker claimed to have “FBI clearance” during a 2017 speech and stated that he was an “FBI agent” in 2019. While he apparently did take part in a program at the FBI Academy back in 1989, there is no evidence to support any of his claims that he is a member of law enforcement — except for a toy badge he pulled from his jacket pocket while on stage — a move that got his promptly admonished by one of the debate’s moderators, who pointed to the event’s “no props allowed” rule.

Walker put up a pretty compelling defense when he stated that the badge was not a prop (it was) and that “I am work with many police officers.” Surprisingly, that wasn’t enough to call it case closed. And while it’s now been more than 24 hours since the unintentional hilarity ensued (yes, people in the audience were loudly laughing — and who can blame them?), the internet is still making jokes about the surreal bit of political theater.

The New York Times reported that the badge Walker flashed “was given to him in recognition of community service work he had done with the Cobb County sheriff’s department, according to his campaign spokesman, Will Kiley. Mr. Walker also has an honorary badge from the sheriff’s department in Johnson County in East Georgia, which includes his hometown, Wrightsville. Representatives for the sheriff’s departments in both counties were unavailable for comment.”

While handing celebrities honorary badges, degrees, etc. is nothing new, that the commendation would be bestowed on Walker — who has a history of alleged domestic abuse and once held a gun to his wife’s head — did not sit well with everyone.

Walker did, however, find at least one supporter: