Vance, confronted with the awful story behind the viral Miss Teen USA clip, says he won’t apologize

GOP vice presidential nominee JD Vance tried to mock Kamala Harris over some of her meandering responses in her CNN interview Thursday, posting a clip of a teenage pageant queen who faced years of ridicule after she verbally stumbled during the Miss Teen USA 2007 event.

The old viral clip shows 18-year-old Caitlin “Caite” Upton, who was Miss South Carolina Teen USA at the time, flubbing an answer after being asked about Americans’ knowledge of geography. Vance posted the video on X and wrote: “BREAKING: I have gotten ahold of the full Kamala Harris CNN interview.”

Upton, who has since appeared on “The Amazing Race” and in a number of commercials, has said that she dealt with depression and suicidal thoughts over the fallout from the incident. In 2015, she told New York Magazine that she “went through a period where I was very, very depressed.”

“I had some very dark moments where I thought about committing suicide,” she told the magazine, beginning to tear up. She added: “Sorry, it’s just really emotional. This is the first time I’ve actually been able to talk about it. It was awful, and it was every single day for a good two years.”

On Friday morning, Vance told CNN that he was not aware that Upton had contemplated suicide and said that he hoped she is doing well. The Ohio senator went on to say that it would be best to just laugh it off.

“Look, I’ve said a lot of things on camera; I’ve said a lot of stupid things on camera,” he said. “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.”

Vance also took issue with being asked about the post instead of the “real” crises facing American families, lamenting that “politics has gotten way too lame” and “way too boring.”

“You can have some fun while making a good argument to the American people about how you’re going to improve their lives,” he said.

When asked if he would apologize, given what he now knows about Upton, Vance replied:

Vance’s attempt at scoring internet points — and then his refusal to apologize — was not received well, including by Upton herself.

In a post on X on Friday morning, she wrote: “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.”

Upton’s account appears to have since been deleted.