JD Vance Blasted by Critics for Telling Young Son to ‘Shut the Hell Up’

Ohio Senator JD Vance is facing backlash from critics across social media this week for telling his young son to “shut the hell up” amid a phone call with former President Donald Trump.

In a podcast interview on Friday with YouTube comedians the NELK Boys on their Full Send Podcast, Vance spoke about the time when Trump called and asked him to be his running mate. The senator was publicly announced as the former president’s running mate last month at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee.

However, as Vance recounted the phone call he had with Trump, he pointed out his 7-year old son had attempted to interrupt it.

“My son, who is seven, is in the hotel room with me,” Vance told the political podcast, which regularly hosts conservatives. “And he is really into Pokémon cards right now. He’s going through a Pokémon phase…he’s really into it. So he’s trying to talk to me about Pikachu and I’m on the phone with Donald Trump and I’m like, ‘Son, shut the hell up for 30 seconds about Pikachu,'” Vance said. “This is the most important phone call of my life. Please just let me take this phone call.”

Newsweek has reached out to Vance’s spokesperson and Trump’s campaign via email for comment.

Vance’s comments have since made their way to X, formerly Twitter, as some users took to the social media platform to criticize him.

Representative Wiley Nickel, a North Carolina Democrat, wrote on X on Saturday, “What a truly horrible human being…J.D. Vance tells his 7 year-old son to ‘shut the hell up’ because he’s talking to Trump. I’ve got a simple rule in Congress. There’s no call that’s ever more important than my kids.”

Chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Jaime Harrison also took aim at Vance and shared the video of the podcast interview, which garnered 2 million views, and wrote on X, “In what world do you tell a 7-year-old to ‘shut the hell up?’ And this weirdo ‘sociopath’ wants to talk about parenting?! Maybe he needs to shut the hell up!”

After Friday’s podcast aired, the DNC wrote in a statement on its website, “If there’s one thing JD Vance is going to do, it’s full send being the weirdest, creepiest, and most unpopular running mate Donald Trump could have ever hoped for.”

Democratic influencer Harry Sisson wrote on X, “JD Vance is genuinely so weird. While on the phone with Trump, he told his son to ‘Shut the hell up for 30 seconds about Pikachu.’ Sheesh. And announcing this to the world? Real stellar parenting here…”

However, others on X pointed toward Vance’s comments as “pretty normal.”

Senior political reporter for Business Insider Bryan Metzger shared the video and wrote, “If you watch/listen it’s pretty normal.”

X user Elaine wrote: “Great casual discussion. The more I learn about Vance, the more I like him.”

Vance’s latest comments come after Democrats have taken aim at the Republican labeling him “weird and creepy” following resurfaced remarks he made saying the United States is run by “childless cat ladies” during an interview with Fox News in 2021 while running for U.S. Senate, pointing to Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee who began her bid for the White House after President Joe Biden stepped down from the 2024 race on July 21, as an example.

However, Vance has continued to defend himself amid the backlash. Taylor Van Kirk, a spokesperson for Vance, said in a previous statement to Newsweek, “Once again, the leftwing media have twisted Senator Vance’s words and spun up a false narrative about his position on the issues. The Democrats are in complete disarray with the most unpopular Vice President in history as their party’s nominee. The only childlessness we should be talking about are the childless parents who lost their kids to the murderous thugs and deadly fentanyl coming across Kamala’s southern border.”

Meanwhile, it comes as David B. Cohen, professor of political science at the University of Akron in Ohio, recently warned that Vance’s attempts to backtrack on those remarks might be harming his popularity, and by extension, the Trump campaign.

“While attacks on women who don’t have biological children—be that by choice or because of medical reasons—may go over well with most of the MAGA base, it’s offensive to many other Americans, including independents and disaffected Republicans—voters the Trump campaign desperately needs in order to win the crucial battleground states,” Cohen told previously Newsweek.