Did Ohio Republican Senator JD Vance describe having sex with a couch in his memoir, "Hillbilly Elegy," as a post on X claimed? No, that's not true: Lead Stories searched through Vance's book and watched the movie adaptation. There was no reference to or description of such an event in the book or movie.
The claim appeared in a post on X on July 15, 2024, that read:
can't say for sure but he might be the first vp pick to have admitted in a ny times bestseller to fucking an inside-out latex glove shoved between two couch cushions (vance, hillbilly elegy, pp. 179-181)
At the time of writing, the above user changed their account settings so only followers could see the post. However, Lead Stories archived and captured a screenshot of the post, shown below:
(Source: X screenshot taken Thu July 25 08:34:00 2024 UTC)
Lead Stories searched through Vance's book, "Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis," and watched the movie adaptation. There was no reference to or description of such an event in either.
Vance (archived here) was named former President Donald Trump's running mate during the 2024 presidential election season. His 2016 memoir (archived here) recalled his experience growing up in a low-income family in Ohio.
Internet Archive, a nonprofit digital library, hosts a free version of the book online. Lead Stories conducted a keyword search for "latex" (archived here) in the book, which returned no results:
(Source: Internet Archive screenshot taken Thu July 25 17:53:06 2024 UTC)
Lead Stories also searched for "couch" (archived here). Eight results were returned -- none that described Vance having sexual relations with a couch and none on pages 179 through 181:
Page 43: When Papaw passed out on the couch, she'd cut his pants with scissors so they'd burst at the seam when he next sat down.
Page 43: A week later, he came home drunk again and fell asleep on the couch. Mamaw, never one to tell a lie, calmly retrieved a gasoline canister from the garage, poured it all over her husband, lit a match, and dropped it on his chest.
Page 71: He walked over to the couch and sat down silently, staring at the wall; Mom and I meekly walked upstairs to bed.
Page 78: I was exhausted and wanted only to lie on the couch and watch TV. Lindsay went upstairs and took a nap. Papaw collected a food order for Wendy's. On his way to the front door, he stopped and stood over me on the couch.
Page 85: Mamaw turned to retire to her couch, where she would watch Law & Order, read the Bible, and fall asleep.
Page 131: Mom collapsed onto the couch, crying quietly, but Mamaw wouldn't give in so easily, even though I'd wounded her with my criticism.
Page 136: After one breakup, she spent a few months on Mamaw's couch, and we both enjoyed her company.
Page 145: The landlord arrived and found Pattie topless, stoned, and unconscious on her living room couch.
Below are photographs of book pages 179-181 taken by Lead Stories. Similarly, they show no reference to the scene described in the X post. (A note that Chapter 11, shown below, begins on 179, but no number is listed).
(Source: Hillbilly Elegy screenshot created Thu July 25 19:55:42 2024 UTC)
Finally, Lead Stories downloaded a digital version of the book through Apple Books (archived here). A keyword search of "couch" and "latex" yielded the same results as those in the Internet Archive, above.
Lead Stories watched the movie adaptation of "Hillbilly Elegy" (archived here) hosted on Netflix as of this writing -- no scene portrayed Vance having sexual relations with a couch.
Lead Stories contacted the original poster of the claim through X and will update this article if a response is received.
Other fact check agencies have reviewed this claim, including The Associated Press and Snopes.
