Vance revisits 'dumb' cat lady comment
Vice President JD Vance admits his 'childless cat ladies' remark in 2021 was 'dumb' phrasing that offended people and distracted from his message on the 'Hang Out with Sean Hannity' podcast.
Vice President JD Vance admitted his controversial "childless cat ladies" comment was "dumb" phrasing that distracted from his message to American families.
Speaking on the "Hang Out with Sean Hannity" podcast, Vance revealed the impact the insult had and the message he was actually trying to convey with it.
"I mean, it was dumb, because it offended so many people they didn't actually listen to the point," Vance said.
"The point that I was making is like, when a politician, a political leader, when a media figure speaks, you're trying to illuminate and trying to make people think. It pissed so many people off that it turned off the thinking part of their brain," he added.
Vice President JD Vance visits "Hannity" with host Sean Hannity at Fox News Channel Studios on June 15, 2026 in New York City. (Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)
Vance originally made the remark in 2021 when he argued the country was being run by Democrats and "a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too."
He also called out then-Vice President Kamala Harris, then-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, arguing that the party's future was being shaped by people without children. Harris is the stepmother of two. Buttigieg welcomed twins later that year.
At the time, the comments sparked fierce backlash from liberal women, including Taylor Swift, who later endorsed Harris for president as a self-described "Childless Cat Lady."
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Vice President JD Vance and Usha Vance and their children walk across the stage during the celebration of the Army's 250th birthday on the National Mall on June 14, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Doug Mills - Pool/Getty Images)
Vance told Hannity that the point of the remark was that the country had become "very hostile to families, especially families with young kids." He referenced his own struggles being a parent, and the attitude he sees toward his young family in spaces like airplanes or restaurants.
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"You see how people scoff at young moms on an airplane, or I've seen this in a number of different ways. It's hard at this point to take, even with all of the benefits that we have being vice president, it's kind of a pain to take three kids to a restaurant," he said, adding, "It's [going to] be a lot harder to take four kids to a restaurant."
Vice President JD Vance and his family, including wife Usha Vance and their three children, pose for a photo outside the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, on April 23, 2025. (Kenny Holston/Pool via Reuters)
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The vice president also referenced mask mandates for young children during the COVID-19 pandemic, which were still prevalent at the time he made the original comment.
"Why did we keep on masking toddlers? Like, I'm not saying two months into it. A year and a half into the pandemic, when we knew it was affecting their developmental, their learning, their language. Why do we do it?" Vance asked. "Because we didn't have the perspective of young parents in our country's leadership."
