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Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance refused to apologize for posting a video of a Miss Teen USA contestant struggling with an answer to mock Vice President Kamala Harris - despite learning the viral clip caused the pageant contestant mental anguish.
On Thursday evening, Vance posted a clip of Miss Teen USA contestant Caitlin Upton giving a nonsensical answer to a question during the 2007 pageant. The viral video became a well-known meme and is often used to mock a person’s intelligence.
But on Friday morning, CNN’s John Berman informed Vance that the video he posted caused Upton to go into a depression and contemplate suicide.
“I’m not going to apologize for posting a joke,” Vance told Berman. He added that his “heart goes out” to Upton and he wishes “the best” for her.
The video of Upton, then 17 years old, shows her stumbling to create an answer to why 20 percent of Americans cannot locate the United States on a world map.
“I personally believe that US Americans are unable to do so because, some people out there in our nation don’t have maps and I believe that our education like such as, South Africa and, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and I believe that they should – our education over here in the US should help the US, should help South Africa and should help Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future,” Upton said at the time.
In an effort to taunt Harris’s tendency to give rambly, roundabout answers when unscripted, Vance posted the clip and wrote, “BREAKING: I have gotten ahold of the full Kamala Harris CNN interview,” on X.
Some found Vance’s post to be in poor taste because Upton told New York Magazine in 2015 that the mockery and shame that came from the viral video caused her mental health to suffer.
In response to the resurfaced clip, Upton wrote on X, “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.”
Vance told CNN that “one bad moment shouldn’t define anybody.”
“Look I’ve said a lot of things on camera, I’ve said a lot of stupid things on camera, sometimes when you’re in the public eye you make mistakes and again. I think the best way to deal with it is to laugh at ourselves, laugh at this stuff and try to have some fun in politics,” he said.
As the election draws closer, the tension between Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump is becoming more tangible. Both candidates have launched attack ads and made exaggerated statements about the other out in speeches and interviews.
