The source of the photo responded.
new: i have obtained a photo of jd vance in drag while at yale law school pic.twitter.com/jYf14Lwa4D — matt (@mattxiv) August 11, 2024
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.
a second photo has hit my inbox https://t.co/JRKIE9JHRD pic.twitter.com/4wIWF28mEU — matt (@mattxiv) August 12, 2024
Some days later, the X user posted a second image, stating, “a second photo has hit my inbox.”
Some people defended Vance.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by MeidasTouch (@meidastouch)
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.
Don’t call JD Vance weird because he wore drag. Call him a hypocrite and a bigot for demonizing others who wear drag. — Melanie D’Arrigo (@DarrigoMelanie) August 11, 2024
“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.
