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Kari's Lake's contentious interview on CNN brought back memories of Donald Trump's blotchy tan fail during his presidential debate. The Republican nominee running for the Senate in Arizona appeared on "The Source with Kaitlan Collins" on October 28, where Lake evaded questions about her controversial response to losing the 2022 governor race in Arizona to Katie Hobbs. Lake, who is a loud Trump backer, did not concede the loss. "Why are we looking backward? I'm looking forward," she said to Kaitlan Collins when pressed on the matter. The tense exchange was not the only aspect of the interview that had people talking. Lake's appearance on CNN reminded many that members of the Trump family were not the only Republicans guilty of makeup fails.
I pressed Kari Lake tonight on her shifts on abortion and her refusal to concede the 2022 governor's race. pic.twitter.com/aZhNRpNosI
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) October 29, 2024
Lake conducted the interview remotely, where it appeared a makeup artist was not available, as her complexion was wildly uneven. Her skin tone was much darker around her forehead near her hairline than the rest of her face, which was a totally different color from her neck. This brought on a cavalcade of trolling from people online. "Why does nobody in the republican party know how to match a foundation undertone," one X, formerly Twitter, user snarkily wrote. Others believed the uneven appearance was an effect caused by a filter. "Kari Lake's filter deserves no taxes on overtime pay," a Twitterati member joked. "Love how lake is always photoshopped," another commented.
This was not the first time Lake was mocked for an on-air makeup fail. During a TV appearance in August, a Threads user compared her to a "Star Trek" character. To Lake's credit, she had owned up to makeup fails in the past.
Bill Clinton's comments about Kari Lake's appearance
Before entering the world of politics, back when she was an anchor on Fox 10 Phoenix, Kari Lake posted a couple of selfies to Facebook just prior to going on the air in September 2018. The former Fox News host shared she had made a mistake on her makeup that day. "I think I may have 'over-done' it with my eye makeup today," she wrote. "But there's no going back. I'll just have to own-it." At the time, the Facebook replies to her makeup semi-failure were positive and supportive, with several fans praising Lake for her beauty. Besides fans, Bill Clinton was another person who had high praise for Lake's looks.
Only days before Lake's makeup fail on CNN, Bill Clinton made an uncomfortable comment about the news anchor-turned-politician. While speaking at a rally on October 23, Clinton spoke about the difference between Ruben Gallego (Lake's opponent in the race for the Arizona Senate seat) and Lake, whom he referred to as "physically attractive," (via the New York Post).
The comment on Lake's looks made its way back to the Arizona politician, who addressed the bizarre remark while speaking at a rally for Donald Trump at Arizona State University on October 24. "Clinton, he paid me a compliment, he said that I was 'physically attractive' ... As a middle-aged woman, I'm flattered," Lake told the crowd before taking aim at the former president. "I thought I was a little too old for him, doesn't he like interns?"
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