Claim:
An image authentically displays a page from a first edition or galley proof of JD Vance's 2016 memoir, in which the author wrote about having sex with couch cushions.
Rating:
Fake ( About this rating? )
In late July 2024, a false online rumor about Republican U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio and couches turned the page to a new chapter. In a new iteration of the rumor, online users shared and discussed a fake image, claiming it displayed a page from a first edition or galley proof of Vance's 2016 memoir, "Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis," featuring a passage about him mentioning the "eroticism" of having sex with couch cushions.
In this story, we'll dial through how we concluded the image was fake.
The Original Rumor
As we previously reported on July 23, the original rumor users posted about this matter claimed Vance's "Hillbilly Elegy" contained a passage about having sex with "an inside-out latex glove shoved between two couch cushions." This false rumor originated in a post from X user @rickrudescalves on July 15 – the same day former U.S. President Donald Trump announced Vance as his 2024 Republican vice-presidential running mate.
AP Retracts Vance-Couch Story
On July 24, The Associated Press also published a fact check about the Vance-couch rumor, displaying the headline, "No, JD Vance did not have sex with a couch" (as opposed to him simply not saying as much in the memoir).
Then, on July 25, The Verge and other publications correctly reported AP had removed its article. AP updated the live article page to read, "This story did not go through our standard editing process and has been removed." We contacted AP to ask for further details and will update this story if we receive a response. (The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine hosts an archived version of the story .)
New Rumor About First Edition or Galley Proof
Around the same time publications reported about AP retracting its article, users on Facebook and X began sharing and discussing a new iteration of the Vance-couch rumor.
The gist of the fresh rumor claimed an image showed a page from either the first edition or an earlier galley proof of Vance's "Hillbilly Elegy," supposedly containing a passage in which he had written about having sex with couch cushions.
For example, one reader emailed us a purported screenshot from the first edition of Vance's 2016 book along with the message, "About the JD Vance couch sex story: Well, someone posted that it WAS in the first edition, then removed, and the page numbers were correct for that edition. I do not know if this is true but could you investigate further?"
Another user on X posted , "It rocks that a galley proof of 'Hillbilly Elegy' surfaced with the story of JD Vance f***ing a couch. It was removed from the first edition. Story of the year."
Numerous other users on Facebook , Mastodon and X also shared and discussed the same new version of the rumor, including one X post receiving over 3 million views and, as of this writing, no publicly displayed community notes.
Photos of First Edition Copy
Author PJ McIlvaine posted on X, "We have a first edition of Vance's SHILLBILLY ELEGY and sadly, the passage of him shellacking a couch isn't in it. It doesn't mean that it never was – it could have been in a test run and then deleted or the initial paperback – but it's not in mine. I would've loved to say it was."
We traded emails with McIlvaine, asking her if she could capture pictures or video of her copy of Vance's book. She then followed up with a second post showing photos supposedly documenting the first edition, which, as expected, did not contain a passage about Vance having sex with couch cushions.
The Origins of the Fake Page
In our research, we noted that, on the evening of July 24, the user behind the X account @FalconryFinance — who told us via a direct message his name was Bernie Goldsmith — published images purportedly displaying two pages from Vance's book. The user wrote, "It's literally right here, I scanned it for you, he's obsessed."
According to the second image displaying the page number "180," Vance had purportedly written the following:
Years later, I looked at my wedding party of six groomsmen and realized that every single one of them had, like me, f***ed a couch. All of us had found ourselves beheld by the eroticism of two cushions, side-by-side, with that lush, inviting valley between. We all knew how to respect one too: With a rubber glove and any lubricant you had on hand. All of us were lonely at some point, pushed away by the women in our lives. It was our outlet and an unspoken-yet-open secret. To want for a couch is to be, and to lay with one as one does? It is a rite of passage into the chambers of manhood.
However, @FalconryFinance told us he had simply edited an e-book copy of "Hillbilly Elegy" to display the couch "eroticism" bits:
It was a simple edit of an e-book copy of JD Vance's book, "Hillbilly Elegy." I edited the raw file, which was easy, since it was a pirated copy. Then I imagined the great expanse of Mr. Vance's sweat-slickened back curving over the loveseat he made his wife buy for them, the hussy with four legs and every kind of hole, I imagined these things as possible futures, in a meditative fugue, much like a real life Dr. Strange. I pulled the most likely reality out of this haze and then wrote it into the file. Then I loaded it up in my e-reader and took screenshots. Then I sent it on the internet to hopefully complete the work of my dark master, Lucifer, the liberator and bringer of forbidden light.
In a later message, @FalconryFinance said he used the free Notepad++ editor to modify the e-book's .mobi file. He also posted videos about the Vance-couch matter on his TikTok channel .
On the morning after sharing the fake page image, @FalconryFinance posted on X, "You better be laughing with me today because my jokes are the kind that are funny tomorrow."
Sources:
Colvin, Jill, et al. "Trump Picks Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, a Once-Fierce Critic Turned Loyal Ally, as His GOP Running Mate."
The Associated Press , 15 July 2024, https://apnews.com/article/trump-vice-president-vance-rubio-burgum-rnc-6cc438a8370a21b2631f5a53b06b71d0. "Galley Proof."
Collins Dictionary , https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/galley-proof. Liles, Jordan. "No, JD Vance Did Not Say He Had Sex with Couch Cushions."
Snopes , 23 July 2024, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/jd-vance-couch-cushions/. McIlvaine, PJ. "I've Been Asked to Post the Pages/Book of My First Edition of HILLBILLY ELERGY to Quell..."
X , 26 July 2024, https://x.com/PJMcIlvaine/status/1816876140667023552. Sato, Mia. "The Associated Press Removes a Fact-Check Claiming JD Vance Has Not Had Sex with a Couch."
The Verge , 25 July 2024, https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/25/24206088/jd-vance-fact-check-sex-couch-rumor-associated-press-retraction. "Search with an Image on Google - Computer."
Google Search Help , https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/1325808. "Wayback Machine."
Internet Archive , https://web.archive.org/.
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