Some photos of JD Vance allegedly dressed in drag have resurfaced, and now people are viewing the US senator as a hypocrite. The photos are reportedly from his time at Yale Law School in 2012, when he was 28 years old. In the original resurfaced picture, which was posted by a Matt Bernstein on X (formerly known as Twitter), Vance is wearing a blonde wig and appears to be dressed in a shirt and skirt. The post was captioned, "new: i have obtained a photo of jd vance in drag while at yale law school."
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The source of the photo responded.
Travis Whitfill, an assistant professor at Yale, said the photo came from him. "Hi Matt I was the source of the photo (sent through friends to you). This was taken in 2012 (the same time I was at Yale )," he wrote. "Photo was taken by a classmate and sent to me. Thanks for sharing ."
Furthering where he obtained the picture from, Whitfill told the Daily Beast, “It’s from a group chat of Vance’s fellow classmates and is from a friend of a friend. I believe it was grabbed from Facebook and was taken at a Halloween party."
The X user was sent a second photo days later.
Some days later, the X user posted a second image, stating, "a second photo has hit my inbox."
People took the photos and ran with them, making jokes in their comments. “Feelin’ cute. Might run for Vice President later," one person wrote. "What better way to get on Trump’s good side than by trying to look like his Ivanka…," another user shared.
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Some people defended Vance.
Although the photos gained viral attention and many continued to crack jokes, others came to the defense of the Republican vice presidential candidate.
"People consider putting on a wig at a college party as drag?" one person said. "That's an insult to my drag friends at the balls and in the Houses."
Another person wrote, "I can’t tell which possibility is worse: you all not being able to distinguish a party costume from actual drag because you think it’s totally normal for men to dress like women OR you all knowing it’s a costume and being absurdly intellectually dishonest about it."
George Santos also came to his defense.
George Santos, who had a similar moment when drag photos of him resurfaced in 2023, defended Vance, saying it "definitely" isn't drag. "The guy went to a costume party, put on a freaking cheap wig from Party City or something similar," he said. "To call that drag is disingenuous, and I think most dudes at some point in their lives have played around with costumes that are gender-bender."
People made it clear that they were dragging Vance for hypocrisy.
Some people made sure to clarify that they weren't attacking Vance for allegedly dressing up in drag, but for his past negative comments on people who do dress in drag.
"Don’t call JD Vance weird because he wore drag. Call him a hypocrite and a bigot for demonizing others who wear drag," one X user posted.
"I don’t share this to shame those who do drag," another user tweeted, resharing the picture of Vance. "But rather to shame those who attack drag while having a history of enjoying the art form themselves. ."
