Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump shouldn’t hold their breath in hopes for an endorsement from Internet sensation Ken Bone, who immediately captured the hearts of Americans watching him ask the candidates a question about energy during the debate Sunday.
“I’m not going to be doing any press for either campaign,” Bone said on MSNBC on Tuesday while adding that he hasn’t heard from either candidate’s campaign. “I’m happy to do as much media as people need to me to talk about the process and talk about getting people out to vote. I will state that I will not endorse either candidate and you will not hear me saying who I will be voting for before the election is over. If you hear that, it’s not me.”
Bone made his late-night debut on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on Monday, saying he is “more undecided than I was before.” He reiterated that on MSNBC, adding that he is torn because Trump is more connected to his career in the coal-mining industry but is a threat to the rights we’ve “fought so hard for.”
“The big issue is that Donald Trump represents my industry in a more positive light than Hillary Clinton,” he added. “I would have more career opportunities … under Donald Trump but with the Supreme Court vacancy that Donald Trump could possibly fill, there is a great risk that we could lose the rights we have fought so hard for, for marriage equality, for voting rights.”
Bone, who is a 34-year-old coal-plant operator from Illinois, according to the New York Times, became a viral sensation after he asked the candidates a question about energy policy at the town hall debate on Sunday.
While he asked a reasonable question about retaining energy jobs in the U.S. while upholding environmental standards, viewers online immediately seized on Bone’s appearance and pun-worthy name, with memes popping up almost immediately.
Watch the video below.