Beauty Pageant Contestant in JD Vance’s Attack on Harris Speaks Out

Former Miss Teen USA contestant Caite Upton spoke out on Friday after Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance shared an old viral clip of her to attack Kamala Harris.

“BREAKING: I have gotten ahold of the full Kamala Harris CNN interview,” Vance wrote on X Thursday evening ahead of Harris’s sitdown interview with Dana Bash. Vance posted his message alongside the 17-year-old clip of Upton flubbing a question during the pageant about why Americans are bad at geography.

“It’s a shame that 17 years later this is still being brought up. 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,” wrote Upton on X, adding:

HAVE A BEAUTIFUL AND SAFE LABOR DAY WEEKEND!

In 2015, Upton spoke about the difficulties of life after she went viral in all the wrong ways. “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,” Upton told New York Magazine in an interview.

“I had some very dark moments where I thought about committing suicide. The fact that I have such an amazing family and friends, it really, really helped,” she said.

Vance was asked on CNN Friday if he was aware Upton had suicidal thoughts over the clip he shared. Vance said he did not know but defended his jab at Harris, “Politics has gotten way too lame, John, way too boring. You can have some fun while making a good argument to the American people about how you’re going to improve their lives.”

CNN’s John Berman followed up, asking, “I just want to be clear, though. You said you didn’t know. Would you like to apologize to Caitlin Upton for posting that up there last night, given what you’ve now learned?”

“John, I’m not going to apologize for posting a joke, but I wish the best for Caitlin,” he concluded.

Source: Mediaite