Republican U.S. Senator David Perdue and Democratic Candidate for U.S. Senate Jon Ossoff were supposed to go head-to-head in a debate on Sunday, but Purdue declined to attend the event at the Atlanta Press Club, leaving Ossoff debating with an empty podium.

Ossoff is hoping to replace Perdue as senator for Georiga in the January runoffs and has encouraged his supporters to vote early. However, rather than sparking a conversation about the candidates and their policies, yesterday’s debate had viewers talking for all the wrong reasons.

Viewers took to social media to share memes and jokes at Perdue’s expense, with many taking the lead from Ossoff who shared a photo of himself gesturing to an empty podium simply captioned with a chicken emoji.

Ossoff also tweeted: “I showed up to debate tonight. David Perdue pleaded the fifth.”

Twitter user @AdamTexDavis said: “Clint Eastwood interviewing David Perdue after tonight’s debate,” with a photo of Eastwood gesturing to an empty chair at the 2012 Republican National Convention when he pretended the empty chair was then-President Barack Obama.

Writer Charles Bethea said: “Live shot of David Perdue at the APC debate” with a photo of a microphone with nobody standing behind it.

Former director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics Walter Shaub simply said: “Here is a complete transcript of David Perdue’s remarks in his debate with Jon Ossoff:” with nothing following the statement.

A Twitter user replied to Shaub and said: “You missed the visual that went with Perdue’s performance at his debate with Jon Ossoff,” and attached a GIF of Dipsy from the Teletubbies running away.

Twitter user Jennifer D. Meglich said: “Visual representation of Perdue at tonight’s debate. @ossoff for the win,” and attached a photo of chickens.

Georgia Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler also had viewers talking about her debate against Democratic opponent Rev. Raphael Warnock on at the Atlanta Press Club on Sunday. Viewers were struck by how Loeffler dodged questions, continously repeated the term “radical liberal,” and appeared listless and robotic.

Loeffler’s performance was compared to Perdue’s no-show by some Twitter users, like Covie, who said: “Perdue’s empty podium was more life-like than Kelly Loeffler,” and Jo, who said: “David Perdue was livelier in his debate performance tonight than Kelly Loeffler was in hers. And Perdue didn’t even show up.”

David Perdue
Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) attends a rally with Vice President Mike Pence in support of both he and Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) on December 4, 2020 in Savannah, Georgia. Perdue skipped a debate with Jon Ossoff on Sunday, leaving the Democratic candidate for the U.S. senate to debate with an empty podium.
Spencer Platt/Getty

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