AP Takes Down Fact-Check Of JD Vance Couch Claim After Article By-Passed ‘Editing Process’
(Photo by Zach D Roberts/NurPhoto via AP)
The Associated Press removed its fact-check debunking the claim that former President Donald Trump’s running mate Senator JD Vance (R-OH) once had sex with a couch just 24-hours after it was published after the article “didn’t go through” the outlet’s “standard editing process.”
A spokesperson for the Associated Press told Mediaite:
The story, which did not go out on the wire to our customers, didn’t go through our standard editing process. We are looking into how that happened.
In an article titled “No, JD Vance did not have sex with a couch”, the Associated Press addressed the bizarre rumor that in Vance’s 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, he mentioned having sex with “an inside-out latex glove shoved between two couch cushions.” The debunk article was first published on Wednesday as the claim was spreading widely online.
The fact check revealed that a PDF search of the book contained 10 references to “couch” or “couches,” but none implied any sexual activity with the furniture. Furthermore, the AP confirmed that the words “sofa” and “glove” do not appear anywhere in the book.
The rumor, it turns out, was first posted on July 15, the same day Trump announced Vance as his vice presidential pick, by X user @rickrudescalves.
The user later protected his account and, according to Snopes, an internet misinformation watchdog, indicated that the post was nonsense by sharing a meme that read: “You really think someone would do that, just go on the internet and tell lies?”
The Associated Press fact-check, however, was the subject of much amusement online – considered by some a little lowbrow for the international newswire.
Others argued that the story couldn’t be fact-checked, suggesting just because the admission wasn’t in the book doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
By Thursday morning, the article had been taken down from the outlet’s website entirely – the URL diverting to read “Page Unavailable.”
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