The last thing JD Vance probably wants to be associated with right now is a couch. But for some reason, he's still talking about it.

It's unclear if Vance meant it as a direct reference to viral memes on social media.

• Sen. JD Vance's 2024 campaign has been dogged by viral jokes that he once had sex with a couch.
• To be clear, he did not write about having intercourse with a couch in "Hillbilly Elegy."
• Instead of skirting all furniture mentions, Vance referenced a couch at his Nevada rally on Tuesday.

Sen. JD Vance of Ohio has had a rough start to his 2024 run.

For one, a joke that Vance may once have had intercourse with a couch has been going viral on social media platforms from X to TikTok.

It all started on July 15 when an X user, who later spoke to Business Insider, posted a joke about Vance and a couch.

To be clear, the pages of Vance's bestselling memoir "Hillbilly Elegy" don't describe such a sex act. The Associated Press even tried to debunk the claim — but ended up taking the article down, saying the fact-check didn't go through its "standard editing process."

So, one might wager that the last word that Vance might want to say out loud, let alone at a rally, would be "couch."

Not so. At a Tuesday event in Nevada, the senator talked about his wife, Usha Vance.

"I've been the beneficiary, I have to say, of a number of strong women in my life, especially my beautiful wife, who you guys saw earlier," Vance said. "I would call her up here to speak, but then I think I'd have to sleep on the couch tonight, so I'll leave her alone."

To be sure, the couch joke isn't the only thing plaguing Vance.

In the weeks since he was announced as former President Donald Trump's running mate at the Republican National Convention, he's had to contend with a slew of disparaging remarks he's made about people without children resurfacing in new reports.

These comments have ranged from his branding of Vice President Kamala Harris as one of the "childless cat ladies" running the US, to his argument in a 2021 fundraising email that Democratic leaders are "childless sociopaths."

Trump could replace Vance on the ticket, but he'll have to move fast if he plans to do that.

Representatives for Vance did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.