JD Vance Couch Story: How A Joke Turned Into Trending Topic And Was Fact-Checked

Tim Walz, named by US Democrat presidential nominee as her running mate, took a brutal swipe at his Republican opponent JD Vance over a baseless, but much-shared claim that Trump’s vice president pick admitted to having sex with a couch in his memoir. At a Democratic Party rally in Philadephia, with Ms Harris by his side, Mr Walz joked, “I can’t wait to debate the guy… that is, if he’s willing to get off the couch and show up.” The comment drew roars of laughter from the thousands of listening party supporters.

What is the couch joke?

Mr Walz’s comment referred to a story that spread like wildfire on social media after being first shared on X by user @rickrudescalves on July 15 (later deleted). “Can’t say for sure but he might be the first vp pick to have admitted in a ny times bestseller to f****** an inside-out latex glove shoved between two couch cushions.”

The story was swiftly debunked by The Associated Press in a fact-checking piece titles ‘No, JD Vance did not have sex with a couch’, but later retracted it prompting a barrage of memes on social media.

Google Trends data revealed that during the last week of July, people Googling ‘JD Vance couch’ blew past queries for ‘Trump shooting’. The volume around the trend is still very high.

Tim Walz jumps the bandwagon

Though Ms Harris’ running mate covered his own policy visions such as battling climate change and adopting a firm approach to gun control, he spared no efforts in disparaging Mr Trump and Mr Vance.

“These guys are creepy and, yes, just weird as hell,” he said. Mr Walz then highlighted his own education and career.

“Like all regular people I grew up with in the heartland, JD studied at Yale, had his career funded by Silicon Valley billionaires, and then wrote a bestseller trashing that community,” he said.

The Minnesota Governor continued even posted a clip of his jibe to his 604,000 followers on X.

Like all regular people in America’s heartland, JD Vance studied at Yale, had his career funded by Silicon Valley billionaires, and wrote a bestseller trashing that community.

Come on.

I can’t wait to debate the guy—that is, if he’s willing to get off the couch and show up. pic.twitter.com/4orv0v2xTZ

— Tim Walz (@Tim_Walz) August 6, 2024

The truth

Rick, the X user who first posted the comment on the social media platform, told Business Insider that he identifies with the political left and does not work in politics. He said he made up the joke because he does not like Vance and thought it was funny. However, Rick was not much concerned that he’s now viewed as peddling election misinformation, which, he said, was not his intent.

“I have really enjoyed thinking about his team and all of the idiots associated with him having to grapple with this,” Rick told the outlet.