UPDATE, with information on Upton’s X account: Hours after vice presidential nominee JD Vance appeared on CNN and refused to apologize to former Miss Teen USA contestant Caitlin Upton for tweeting an embarrassing 2007 video clip of her, Upton posted a message on X calling the resurfacing “a shame” and decrying online bullying.
“It’s a shame that 17 years later this is still being brought up,” wrote Upton, who in the past has retweeted Donald Trump tweets and anti-lockdown messages. “There’s not too much else to say about it at this point. Regardless of political beliefs, one thing I do know is that social media and online bullying needs to stop.”
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Since Upton’s statement was posted this morning, her X account has been deleted. Responses to her post had included many critical comments from X users pointing out what they said was her longtime support of Trump (he owned the pageant from 1996 to 2015). A 2007 photo of Upton and other contestants posing with Trump and Donald Trump Jr. at a pageant party was widely circulated on X.
Last night, Vance posted a message on social media that resurrected the old Upton clip and captioned it, “I have gotten ahold of the full Kamala Harris CNN interview.” In the 2007 clip of Upton’s appearance at the pageant, the contestant fumbles badly in answering the question, “Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can’t locate the U.S. on a world map. Why do you think this is?”
“I personally believe,” a flustered Upton answered, “that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, um, some people out there in our nation don’t have maps and, uh, I believe that our, uh, education like such as, uh, South Africa and, uh, the Iraq and everywhere like such as, and I believe that they should, uh, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., uh, should help South Africa and should help Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future.”
The clip of her humiliating, rambling answer went viral, plunging what Upton later described as “dark moments” and suicidal thoughts. In a 2015 interview with New York Magazine, Upton, who modeled after the pageant and competed on The Amazing Race in 2010, said, “I definitely went through a period where I was very, very depressed. But I never let anybody see that stuff, except for people I could trust. I had some very dark moments where I thought about committing suicide.”
Appearing on CNN this morning, Vance was asked by the network’s John Berman if he knew about Upton’s disclosure.
“No certainly not,” Vance said, “and my heart goes out to her and I hope she’s doing well.” Vance went on to say he, like others, has “said a lot of stupid things on camera.” After attempting to pivot to subjects including health care and inflation, Vance circled back to the question and seemed to offer Upton some unrequested advice, saying that “the best way to deal with it is to laugh at ourselves.”
Vance bemoaned, “Politics has gotten way too lame John, way too boring.”
Berman then gave Vance another opportunity to apologize. The candidate doubled down.
“John, I’m not going to apologize for posting a joke,” he said, “but I wish the best for Caitlin and I hope she’s doing well.”
Watch Vance’s appearance on CNN here.
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