J.D. Vance Stands by His ‘Childless Cat Lady’ Comments

He told Megyn Kelly, “I’m sorry, it is true.”

It seems like J.D. Vance has no regrets about offending a large percentage of the U.S. electorate with his comments about “childless cat ladies.” Appearing on Megyn Kelly’s Sirius XM radio show, The Megyn Kelly Show, he clarified that he has “nothing against cats” — apparently, just women.

Ever since Donald Trump picked Vance as his running mate, the latter has faced backlash over resurfaced comments he made during a Fox News appearance in 2021. Speaking to Tucker Carlson, he said, “We’re effectively run, in this country — via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs — by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”

Unsurprisingly, these comments have not won Vance many fans. Jennifer Aniston called him out on her Instagram Story, reposting the clip and writing, “Truly can’t believe that this is coming from a potential VP of the United States.” Meanwhile, Taylor Swift fans posted en masse in defense of cat ownership, and even Tomi Lahren criticized Vance’s words.

But when Kelly brought Vance on to discuss the situation, he doubled down. “Obviously, it was a sarcastic comment. I’ve got nothing against cats, I’ve got nothing against dogs. I’ve got one dog at home, and I love him, Megyn. But, look, this is not … People are focusing so much on the sarcasm and not on the substance … and the substance of what I said, Megyn — I’m sorry, it is true.”

JD Vance responds to the backlash to his “childless cat ladies” comment by apologizing to cats and then doubling down on attacking women: “I’m sorry, it’s true” pic.twitter.com/JZjqZJOp5y

— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) July 26, 2024

In an attempt to help clarify the “substance” of his point, Vance spoke about a conversation he had with his wife — who, until he was selected as Trump’s VP, worked as an attorney — about the pressure she felt to have fewer children. “What a weird society that we’ve set up where moms who want to work, the thought that a lot of them are having is, I can’t have more babies because it’s gonna be bad for my career. How about we make the workplace more accommodating to working moms and working dads so that we can promote a real culture of life?” Not exactly what I expected to hear from a guy who previously called universal day care “class war against normal people.”