Kamala Harris said in an interview with Katie Couric posted Wednesday that she complains to her staff about online reports she is only 5’2″ tall, when she claims to be 5’4″ and a quarter and 5’7 and a half” in heal–which she says she always wears. Couric told Harris her height, 5’3″ and three quarters is also misreported as 5’1″. Harris replied, “It’s like laterally they just want to makes us smaller in every way.”
Screen images from the discussion show a sisterly bond of sympathy about their claimed misreporting on their height with Harris raising her hands in frustration:
Couric blamed Wikipedia for the controversy, however, Harris said she does not know where it started. It was a New York Times report dated February 6, 2023 on Harris’ struggles as vice president that quoted a former staffer about having to buy smaller chairs for the vice president’s office to accommodate Harris’s size that appears to be the source of her angst (excerpt):
Harris finds herself navigating the unique dynamics of being a woman of color in a job previously filled only by men. In planning meetings before she travels abroad, officials from foreign governments have proposed meetings or public appearances with the first lady of the country Harris is visiting. Her staff rebuffs those proposals, saying the vice president is not visiting as a spouse but as the second-ranking official of the United States, according to current and former White House officials.
There are more mundane hiccups, as well. Jamal Simmons, who recently stepped down as communications director for the vice president, said he learned that the desk chairs in her office needed to be changed to suit Harris — who stands about 5-foot-2 — instead of the “average male height” of her predecessors. “She forces us to recalibrate our assumptions,” Simmons said.
That tidbit from the Times was picked up by Business Insider with the blaring headline (excerpt):
Kamala Harris’ aides needed to buy her new desk chairs because they weren’t the right size for a 5-foot-2-inch woman
Kamala Harris’ aides had to replace the chairs in her office because they were too big for her.
The chairs had been the right size for her predecessors, all men of average height, the New York Times reported.
Harris, the first female Vice President, stands at just 5-feet-2-inches tall.
The conversation about height is at the start of the interview:
Excerpt from YouTube transcript (uncorrected):
hi everyone hello I recognize that voice and there you are how are you so nice to
0:09
see you vice president Harris how are you nice to see you thank you so much
0:15
for doing this of course I’m glad to be with you yeah and it’s a snow day I know and it’s beautiful in Washington can I
0:21
say the city looks so spectacular meanwhile I why did I think you were much taller I recently learned you’re
0:28
only 5’2 is that is absolutely incorrect okay I am 54 and A4 sometimes 54 and a
0:35
half and with heels which I always wear I’m 57 and a half thank you very much okay Wikipedia you’re wrong and we need
0:41
to correct that WR I’ve said this to my team like what I don’t know where it came from I’ve I was 5’2 when I was 12
0:48
they say I’m 51 on my Wikipedia page are you 53 and 3/4 right and shrinking it’s
0:55
like literally you they just want to just make a smaller in every way but I but I was excited cuz I’m short and I
1:02
was like oh Kam short I am not I am not just trying to take two and a half
1:08
inches off my you know we stand corrected yes make sure yes good all
1:14
right everyone okay here we go first of all thank you so much for being here for
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