Sen. JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, is standing firm on his controversial 2021 statements about “Childless Cat Ladies” running the country, despite the widespread backlash this week. These remarks have reignited debate and drawn criticism from various public figures.
In a recent interview on SiriusXM’s “The Megyn Kelly Show,” Vance addressed the resurfaced comments, initially made on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News program. He attempted to downplay the remarks, stating, “Obviously, it was a sarcastic comment. I’ve got nothing against cats.” However, he quickly shifted blame, accusing the media of sensationalizing his sarcasm and ignoring the underlying message.
Back in 2021, Vance’s criticism targeted prominent Democrats, including Vice President Kamala Harris, then a leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination. He categorized Harris, along with Pete Buttigieg and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), as examples of “childless cat ladies” who, in his view, were shaping the Democratic Party’s future and inflicting misery on the rest of the nation. “If you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC, the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children,” he asserted at the time.
Kamala Harris, targeted by JD Vance's 'childless cat ladies' remarks.
Despite the renewed scrutiny, Vance maintained his stance in the interview with Megyn Kelly. He clarified, “It’s not a criticism of people who don’t have children. I explicitly said in my remarks … this is not about criticizing people who for various reasons don’t have kids. This is about criticizing the Democratic Party for becoming anti-family and anti-child.” He further accused the media of deliberately targeting him and seeking to silence his opinions, reiterating his core argument that the Democratic Party has become “anti-family” in recent years.
The resurgence of Vance’s 2021 “childless” comments sparked immediate and widespread condemnation. Celebrities, political figures, and even members of Vice President Harris’s family voiced their disapproval. Critics were quick to draw parallels between Vance’s derogatory “childless cat ladies” remarks and his well-documented stance on abortion rights and reproductive health care, highlighting what they perceive as a consistent anti-women and anti-family narrative.
Actress Jennifer Aniston emerged as a prominent voice against Vance’s statements. In a strong rebuke on her Instagram Stories, Aniston expressed disbelief, stating, “I truly can’t believe this is coming from a potential VP of The United States.” She further added a personal note, addressing Vance directly: “Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day. I hope she will not need to turn to IVF as a second option. Because you are trying to take that away from her, too,” directly linking his comments to broader reproductive rights concerns.
Adding to the chorus of disapproval, Kamala Harris’s stepdaughter, Ella Emhoff, also responded publicly via Instagram. Emhoff challenged Vance’s narrow definition of family, questioning, “How can you be ‘childless’ when you have cutie pie kids like Cole and I?” referring to her brother Cole Emhoff. She affirmed her family structure, stating, “I love my three parents.” Ella Emhoff’s comments accompanied a statement from her mother, Kerstin Emhoff, emphasizing Vice President Harris’s long-standing role as a co-parent and her loving and supportive presence in their blended family. Kerstin Emhoff stated, “For over 10 years, since Cole and Ella were teenagers, Kamala has been a co-parent with Doug and I. She is loving, nurturing, fiercely protective, and always present. I love our blended family and am grateful to have her in it.”
The ongoing controversy surrounding Vance’s “childless cat ladies” remarks underscores the sensitivity of family and gender issues in contemporary political discourse, and highlights the potential for past statements to resurface and impact public perception of political figures.
