Amid heavy backlash over his "childless cat ladies" remark, Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance has defended himself saying that it was obviously a "sarcastic comment".
Vance had made the "bunch of childless cat ladies with miserable lives" remark back in 2021 against Democratic politicians including Vice President Kamala Harris.
Donald Trump's running mate in the US Presidential week has been receiving heavy criticism over the remark in the past week, with Hollywood actor Jennifer Anniston also slamming the 39-year-old Ohio Senator.
"Obviously it was a sarcastic comment. People are focusing so much on the sarcasm and not on the substance of what I actually said," Vance told the host on the Megyn Kelly Show, adding that, "The substance of what I said, Megyn, I'm sorry, it's true."
Father to three children, Vance said that he was not criticising people who do not have children. He had made the comment during an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson while running for Senator, BBC reported.
"This is about criticising the Democratic Party for becoming anti-family and anti-children," he clarified. He noted that all he meant was that becoming a parent changes one's perspective in a "pretty profound way".
The Republican further said, "I'm making an argument that our entire society has become skeptical and even hateful towards the idea of having kids."
WHAT EXACTLY JD VANCE HAD SAID
Back in 2021, during the interview with Carlson, Vance had asked as to why some of the leading politicians did not have children.
Of those he named was Kamala Harris, now the Democratic presidential candidate, who is the stepmother to her husband Dough Emhoff's two children.
"The entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children. How does it make any sense we've turned out country over to people who don't really have a direct stake in it?" he had asked.
The Ohio Senator had remarked that the US was being 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".
Vance wished the very best for Kamala Harris, her step-children and her whole family, adding that the point is not that she's lesser, it is that her "party has pursued a set of policies that are profoundly anti-child", BBC report said.
While making similar comments against Democrats in 2021, Vance had said that his criticism was not against those who could not have children due to biological or medical reasons.
Jennifer Anniston, who has publicly talked about her own struggles while trying to have children through in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), slammed the Ohio Senator for his comments.
"I truly can't believe that this is coming from a potential VP of the United States," Anniston said on Thursday.
"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," the actor wrote on social media.
Another democrat, Pete Buttigieg, also named by Vance in the 2021 interview addressed the remark. "The really sad thing is he said that after Chasten and I had been through a fairly heart-breaking setback in our adoption journey, he told CNN's The Source.
Trump's co-campaign chairman, Chris La Civita, dismissed any regrets over Vance's nomination as running mate.
LaCivita told Fox News, "JD was the best pick. The president loves him. We love him."
