Sen. JD Vance reached back into the viral archives from 2007 to resurrect a clip of a befuddled Miss Teen USA contestant stumbling over a question to mock Vice President Kamala Harris' Thursday night CNN interview.
He followed it up Friday morning by refusing to apologize after being told that the contestant contemplated suicide when the interview attracted embarrassing, unwanted attention.
Vance, Donald Trump's running 2024 mate, posted the video of the then-Miss South Carolina answering the question at the beauty pageant to needle Harris about the interview she gave with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
"BREAKING: I have gotten ahold of the full Kamala Harris CNN interview," Vance mocked on X.
The former beauty contestant, Caitlin Upton, quickly addressed the attack on her and Harris on her X account, calling for bullying on social media to end.
"It's a shame that 17 years later this is still being brought up. There's not too much else to say about it at this point. Regardless of political beliefs, one thing I do know is that social media and online bullying needs to stop," she said in the posting, which has since been deleted, along with her X account.
In the years-old clip Vance posted, Upton delivered a rambling, word-salad response to a question about why many Americans are unable to locate the United States on a map.
"I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, um, some people out there in our nation don't have maps and, uh, I believe that our, uh, education like such as, uh, South Africa and, uh, the Iraq and everywhere like such as, and I believe that they should, uh, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S. ... so we will be able to build up our future," she said in an answer that immediately went viral.
Vance appeared to shrug off any culpability when CNN's John Berman informed him that Upton told New York Magazine in 2015 that she became "depressed," experienced some "dark moments" and even "thought about committing suicide."
Berman asked Vance whether he was aware that Upton had contemplated suicide because of the clip the vice presidential candidate had just shared on X.
"No, certainly not, John, and my heart goes out to her and I hope that she's doing well," he replied, adding: "I've said a lot of stupid things on camera."
Berman pressed again, asking Vance if he'd like to apologize for posting the interview now that he was aware of the effect it had on the woman.
"John, I'm not going to apologize for posting a joke," he answered.
Last weekend Vance also claimed it was merely a "joke" when he angrily blasted women without kids as "childless cat ladies."
BERMAN: Last night you posted a clip from Ms Teen US 2007 -- Caitlin Upton. When you posted that, were you aware she thought about committing suicide for the attention that received?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 30, 2024
JD VANCE: No, certainly not.
B: Would you like to apologize?
V: I'm not going to apologize pic.twitter.com/tn7FYTS3v4
