An image of JD Vance allegedly dressed as a woman and wearing a blonde wig was posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, on Sunday. The unconfirmed image quickly picked up steam and began trending under the hashtag #SofaLoren, a reference to the iconic Italian actress Sophia Loren and false claims that the Republican senator had sex with a couch.
A spokesperson for the Republican vice presidential pick did not deny the photo’s authenticity when approached by the Daily Beast, and did not offer any further comment.
The source who surfaced the alleged photo, Travis Whitfill, says the picture was taken by a fellow Yale classmate in 2012, when Vance was attending law school at the university, and sent to him by another friend. Whitfill then sent it to podcast host Matt Bernstein, who posted it to X.
“It’s from a group chat of Vance’s fellow classmates and is from a friend of a friend,” he told the Daily Beast. “I believe it was grabbed from Facebook and was taken at a Halloween party.”
Whitfill also posted about his role in bringing the photo to light, sharing screenshots of the text conversation in which he first received the photo.
“I didn’t know him,” Whitfill wrote, “from all the sources I’ve heard, JD was actually a good guy in law school. Not sure what happened after though…”
“Doing my part for democracy 💁🏻♂️,” he added in another post.
Many commenters online connected Vance’s alleged history of cross-dressing with his legislative history—which has long been a point of concern for LGBTQ+ advocacy groups.
The Ohio senator introduced the “Protect Children’s Innocence Act,” which aims to criminalize medical institutions that provide gender-affirming care to minors.
The Republican vice presidential pick also supports measures to limit classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity, and labeled critics of so-called “don’t say gay” legislation “groomers.”
