The Associated Press retracted a fact-checking article about droll internet rumors that Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, former President Donald Trump's running mate, had sex with a couch during his college days. To rebut the false claims, AP had conducted a comprehensive search of Vance's memoir, "Hillbilly Elegy," for any mentions of couch coitus — it found none — but by Thursday morning the story had been pulled.
In a statement to Salon, an AP spokesperson confirmed that the article had been retracted.
"The story, which did not go out on the wire to our customers, didn't go through our standard editing process," the spokesperson said. "We are looking into how that happened."
AP posted the fact-check on Wednesday as social media users circulated claims that Vance had mentioned an intimate knowledge of couches in his bestselling book. The rumor apparently started when X user @rickrudescalves posted on his now-private account: "Can’t say for sure but he might be the first vp pick to have admitted in a ny times bestseller to f***king an inside-out latex glove shoved between two couch cushions (vance, hillbilly elegy, pp. 179-181)."
The story quickly gained traction.
“In his dreadful novel, ‘Hillbilly Elegy,’ JD Vance described having sex with a rubber glove secured between cushions on his couch," another user posted on social media. "Republicans chose him to be one heartbeat away from becoming POTUS. Voters in NC, the U.S. furniture capital, should be particularly horrified.”
AP's fact check found that "Hillbilly Elegy" does indeed mention "couch" or "couches" 10 times, but only in reference to them being used for mundane reasons, such as sitting or sleeping. The words "glove" or "sofa" do not appear anywhere in the book, the AP noted.
A fact-check by Snopes, which is still up, states that one of the originators of the claim signaled that they were joking by posting a meme: "Go on the Internet and Tell Lies."
Neither Vance nor the Trump campaign have commented on the allegations.
