Person who made up JD Vance couch gag says he's enjoyed "the idiots having to grapple with this"

Despite being completely made up, the JD Vance couch gag has been one of the biggest online talking points in US politics over recent weeks.

In case you missed it, Donald Trump’s running mate has been facing countless memes and jokes about an unfortunate - and false - rumour involving a glove and a couch.

It all stems from a post on X/Twitter on July 15, which saw a user claim pages 179 to 181 of his 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy contains an anecdote about "f*****g an inside-out latex glove shoved between two couch cushions".

The fact-checking website Snopes have both debunked the claim but it became so prolific on social media that the Associated Press put out an official fact check before it was removed.

Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

It became one of the most searched-for subjects surrounding Vance – and Kamala Harris' campaign even made a cheeky reference to it online.

Now, the social media user in question has come clean about the whole thing and admitted it was completely made up.

The person, who has remained anonymous, told Business Insider: “I have really enjoyed thinking about his team and all of the idiots associated with him having to grapple with this.

“I think by the time the AP thing came out, I was talking to one of my sisters and saying, ‘Oh, yeah, Trump is already calling him a couch-f***er.’”

The unnamed man, who claimed he never had the intention of spreading misinformation, also said that the way the rumour took off made him worried about the gullibility of the electorate.

“In terms of media literacy, and those kinds of things, I guess I was already in the mud rolling around.”

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