JD Vance & Jennifer Aniston's Viral Spat, Explained

Amid all the chaos of the 2024 presidential election and both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris' campaigns, there were a handful of comments that each candidate and their running mates made that were particularly notable, not the least of which was something JD Vance said in 2021.

JD Vance appeared on Tucker Carlson's Fox News show back in 2021, where he said, "[The US is run by] 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." JD Vance's comments were particularly pointed, as he originally named politicians like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Pete Buttigieg, and Kamala Harris as childless. Harris, however, is a stepmother to her husband's two children, and Pete Buttigieg and his husband Chasten had been dealing with adoption troubles up until that point.

The comment resurfaced shortly after Donald Trump named JD Vance as his running mate in the 2024 election, and his words didn't win anyone in Hollywood over. Unsurprisingly, the Swifties had it out for him, and one critic of Vance's comments was "Friends" star Jennifer Aniston, who, per the BBC, reposted the interview on her Instagram story with her own commentary. Aniston's comments resulted in a bit of a feud, as JD Vance took it upon himself to respond to the actress, resulting in a back and forth argument that had the internet reeling.

Jennifer Aniston took to Instagram to repost Vance's 2021 interview with the caption, "I truly can't believe that this is coming from a potential VP of the United States." Aniston went on to say, "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."

JD Vance appeared on SiriusXM's "The Megyn Kelly Show," where he responded to Aniston's comments directly. Vance started by arguing that criticism of his remarks lacked context, and went on to say, "You've got Hollywood celebrities saying, 'Oh, well, JD Vance, what if your daughter suffered fertility problems?' Well, first of all, that's disgusting because my daughter is 2 years old." After having missed the point, Vance continued on to clarify that if his daughter did experience said issues, he "Would try everything [he] could to try to help her," citing his belief that "Families and babies are a good thing."

Aniston later took to Instagram again shortly before Election Day. The actress posted a selfie in which she is rocking her "I Voted" sticker, part of her caption reading, "Today not only did I vote for access to health care, for reproductive freedom, for equal rights, for safe schools, and for a fair economy, but also for SANITY and HUMAN DECENCY."