Comedian Chelsea Handler mocked former President Donald Trump's running mate J.D. Vance over his 2021 criticism of "childless cat ladies" trying to make America "miserable."
At the time, Vance told then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson that the country is run by “Democrats… corporate oligarchs… a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices they made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too.”
Vance's sexist remarks continued:
“It’s just a basic fact — you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC — the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children. And how does it make any sense that we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it?”
Handler soon posted a video response to his statements, saying:
"As you may have heard, Donald Trump's running mate and future star of his own Dateline episode, J.D. Vance, is ruffling quite a few feathers this week."
"Listen up, you wingnut elegy. This country is still controlled by men in systems that were set up by men that are carefully crafted to continue to benefit men. So, to put it in women-hating terms you’ll understand, you’re being hysterical."
"But let's be clear: There's no correlation between childless people and the presidency. For example, our very first United States president, Mr. George Washington, didn't have children. In fact, he had two stepchildren."
Handler pointed out that Vice President Kamala Harris—who is the presumptive Democratic nominee after President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race and endorsed her—also has two stepchildren, a fact social conservatives like Vance have used to try to somehow discredit her.
She concluded with the following, including a quip about the now-debunked claim that Vance once had sex with a couch:
"And to your point about Kamala not being fit because she's not a "mother," I'd like to remind you that no president in the history of the United States has ever been a mother. But maybe if she had five kids with three different men, and a scandalous affair with a porn star, and was convicted felon, that would be more palatable to Republican men."
"My God, are we tired. You sad, diet, Mountain-Dew-drinking, couch-humping, dolphin-porn aficionado, all of us childless cat and dog ladies are gonna go from childless and crushing it to childless and crushing you in November."
"And before you tell me he didn’t really f**k a couch, spare me. I grew up in New Jersey in the 80s where everyone had a couch in their basement, and I know a couch f**ker when I see one.”
You can hear what she said in the video below.
Many praised her response and joined her in criticizing Vance.
Handler has criticized similar remarks before.
In early 2023, conservative podcast host Jesse Kelly complained on then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson's program that "feminists" like Handler have been deceived by society into believing that “you can be a girl boss and you can do anything a man can do" after she appeared in a Daily Show video about enjoying “a day in the life of a childless woman," which included doing “whatever the f**k I feel like.”
Kelly suggested Handler is "trying to pretend" to be happy while living the life of a single, childless woman. He suggested before they know it, misguided women will realize "your Valentine’s Day date for the 10th year in a row is a 10-year-old copy of Magic Mike and a half-full bottle of Xanax and you’re trying to pretend like you’re happy, but you’re not happy."
Handler later responded in a video asking her followers "why would I even need my own children when I get to hear these crybabies all the time?” She said Carlson and Kelly "seem so triggered by me" because they haven't "been able to take" her freedom away from her yet.
