'It Was a Sarcastic Comment': J.D. Vance Defends Himself After His 'Childless Cat Ladies' Remark Went Viral

Former President Donald Trump's new running mate, J.D. Vance, addressed his viral controversial comments about the Democratic Party being run by "childless cat ladies" and doubled down on his past remarks.

Vance told Megyn Kelly, host of "The Megyn Kelly Show" podcast, “Obviously, it was a sarcastic comment. I’ve got nothing against cats" before he blamed the media for "focusing so much on the sarcasm and not on the substance of what I actually said.”

In an interview on the popular conservative show, the Ohio senator said, "I know the media wants to attack me and wants me to back down with this. But the simple point that I made is that having children, becoming a father, becoming a mother, I really do think it changes your perspective in a pretty profound way."

"This is something, of course, we've recognized for hundreds of years in this country that human civilization has always recognized. But there's a deeper point here. It's not a criticism of people who don't have children," he continued. "This is about criticizing the Democratic Party for becoming anti-family and anti-child."

Vance's original comment was made in 2021 during an appearance on Tucker Carlson's former Fox News show. The senator referred to Vice President Kamala Harris, now the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, as one of the “childless cat ladies” running the nation who “want to make the rest of the country miserable too."

He told Carlson, "If you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez], the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children.”

The controversial take resurfaced earlier this week, and several high-profile critics came out against Vance's sexist comments.

Friends actress Jennifer Aniston took to her Instagram Stories to share, "I truly can’t believe this is coming from a potential VP of The United States."

"All I can say is... Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day. I hope she will not need to turn to IVF as a second option. Because you are trying to take that away from her, too," she added.

The View host Whoopi Goldberg also attacked Trump's running mate, pointing out that he "never had a baby" and that he knows "nothing about this."

"Sir, there are people who have chosen not to have children for whatever reason. There are people who want to have children who cannot." She added, “How dare you! You never had a baby. Your wife had a baby, but you never had a baby. So you know nothing about this. And how dare you! And women, you heard how he thinks of you. Yeah. This is not good for you, J.D.!”