A Timeline of Kari Lake’s Ridiculous Zoom Filter
A tense interview between the GOP Senate candidate and CNN's Kaitlan Collins was difficult to take seriously as viewers struggled to make sense of Lake's infamous digital filter.
Screenshot: CNN Politics 2024 ElectionOn Monday night, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins invited Kari Lake on her show, and the conversation quickly devolved into chaos over whether the GOP candidate for U.S. Senate in Arizona has accepted the results of the 2022 election. Lest you forget, Lake narrowly lost that election to Democrat Katie Hobbs… but still refuses to accept this. Throughout the frankly chilling back-and-forth, Lake repeatedly declined to admit that she lost the election, even though Hobbs has been serving her term as governor for about two years now.
When Collins further pressed Lake on the matter, Lake eventually began trying to interview herself. After Collins raised that all of Lake’s legal challenges regarding the 2022 election have been unsuccessful, Lake interjected, “Well, I think what you meant to ask is, ‘Kari, things are really tough right now—'” Collins, audibly frustrated, quickly shut her down: “With all due respect, I’m conducting this interview, but you’re not answering those questions. And if that’s your answer, that’s fine.”
Wow this interview is a disaster for Lake pic.twitter.com/nKk1pucc2w
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 29, 2024
But while Lake continues trying to figure out what happened in 2022, I’m still trying to figure out what was going on with her face throughout the interview. “why does nobody in the republican party know how to match a foundation undertone?” one Twitter user asked. We’re not here to dissect or critique a woman’s appearance, but we are here to laugh and frankly gawk at politicians using technology in extremely bizarre ways. And, on closer research, I learned this is actually Lake’s signature filter—the Kari Lake Filter, if you will—which she applies whenever she uses Zoom for interviews. The practice dates back to at least 2022.
“I’m pretty sure removing the gauzy filter would have the same effect on Kari Lake as sunlight has on a vampire,” one user wrote, quote-tweeting a video of Lake appearing on the far-right OANN in October 2022, during Lake’s gubernatorial campaign.
The filter appeared again in November of that year, as Lake revved up her cable media appearances to deny the results of her unsuccessful gubernatorial bid.
Kari Lake simply has to stop using this filter. It’s giving late 80’s rom com, which totally clashes with her psycho supremacist vibes. https://t.co/KfLYSD21Zp
— Renee 🪷 (@PettyLupone) November 15, 2022
taking a big L hasn’t prompted Kari Lake to reconsider her filter choices pic.twitter.com/UBbp0iw1mJ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 7, 2022
In January 2023, she used the filter to remotely join Steve Bannon’s podcast: “Kari Lake’s filter is on the fritz again,” one user wrote, sharing a clip of her.
Kari Lake’s filter is on the fritz again. pic.twitter.com/sstJ5yme0e
— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) January 28, 2023
For reference, here is a rare glimpse of Lake joining a cable show via Zoom without her trademark filter, from January 2023:
Kari Lake is on Fox News without the heavy filter pic.twitter.com/0n1bVCyXIk
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 8, 2023
By March 2023, Lake’s filter seems to have become famous enough to be a running internet gag. One user shared a semi-viral, edited photo of Lake smiling like the Joker with her facial features distorted by a similar, but only slightly more dramatic version of her signature filter of choice:
Kari Lake appears to have brought her filter with her to CPAC pic.twitter.com/1Z9nfdmQFD
— Will LeGate (@williamlegate) March 4, 2023
And, by July 2023, the filter in question was officially named after her. “[Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis rolling out the Kari Lake filter,” pundit Ron Filipkowski wrote in a tweet after DeSantis remotely appeared on Fox News. A range of other primarily right-wing politicians and personalities have been accused of donning the “Kari Lake Filter,” too:
oh he’s got the Kari Lake soft light filter on pic.twitter.com/Q6kwvjRS6P
— Liz Charboneau (@lizchar) September 13, 2024
Why does @mattgaetz dress like an illusionist? Is he trying to blend into the backdrop or hide behind his Kari Lake filter? https://t.co/B6T4eMCdKY
— Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) November 14, 2022
When you request the Kari Lake filter for your mug shot. pic.twitter.com/pUNA3KGrnC
— Jack E. Smith ⚖️ (@7Veritas4) August 23, 2023
Lara Trump’s filter game is giving Kari Lake a run for her money.
Original photo Lara Trump’s photo pic.twitter.com/LYXbFMTSDP
— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) October 4, 2024
Lake appeared to reintroduce her classic, digital face mask for the 2024 campaign trail in March this year. You’d think “new election, new filter,” but just as Lake clings on to her delusion that she didn’t lose in 2022, she seems to be clinging on to the equally bonkers notion that this specific filter is doing her any favors:
Kari Lake has brought back her classic filter for the 2024 cycle pic.twitter.com/QNKO5shmqi
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 26, 2024
And now, as of Monday night, Lake’s filter has yet again monopolized the political discourse, as the memes continue to roll in:
something about kari lake looked familiar, then it clicked… pic.twitter.com/7Wig82UAXS
— obamaatredrobin (@obamaatredrobin) October 29, 2024
I watch the show Brilliant Minds and one of the characters has a neurological condition called prosopagnosia. I swear that if Kari Lake ups that filter anymore, we are going to be seeing Kari’s face like people with that condition see faces. https://t.co/M7m4UlpJoj pic.twitter.com/ivQSXDfdUm
— Randy (@altyrandy) October 29, 2024
Kari Lake is using the wine guy’s filter this is stolen valor pic.twitter.com/sUFSMQ6BjG
— Robert Komaniecki (@Komaniecki_R) October 29, 2024
For those joining Kari Lake Filter Watch™ for the first time on Monday night, it raised questions. “what’s going on with the coloring here?” one user asked. Others offered their compliments—whether backhanded or sincere, you can be the judge: “Kari Lake’s filter deserves no taxes on overtime pay,” one user said. “Kari Lake’s soft-glow filter always puts in that WEERRRQQQ,” cheered (?) another. “Kari Lake and Callista Gingrich going filter for filter rn,” one user quipped.
At the end of the day, Lake’s obsessive need to blur her face via Zoom is the least off-putting thing about her. I’d probably need something to blur my aura, too, if I were an election denier who supported Arizona’s Civil War-era abortion ban and enjoyed stalking Donald Trump across Mar-a-Lago. But as the adage goes, “Your body, your choice,” or perhaps, in this case, “Your face, your (completely insane) filter.”