Associated Press deletes fact-check debunking story about J.D. Vance and the couch

Conspiracy theories continue to spread through the 2024 election cycle, but one that began as a joke turned into an internet explosion in which even the Association Press got caught up.

An X account under the user name @rickrudescalves posted a fake story that has since been deleted but remains on the Internet Wayback Machine. He claimed that J.D. Vance's book "Hillbilly Elegy" described a sexual indiscretion involving a couch. He even went so far as to cite the pages of the book.

The story was a joke, several reports including one by the AP stated, and was easily disproved with a search through the Vance autobiography.

The Vance book was a coming-of-age tale about his life in Kentucky as his nurse mother became a drug addict and he and his family were forced to move in with his grandparents.

Read Also: Inside J.D. Vance's 'Elegy' grift

Some who saw the tweet believed it, and the story exploded on Wednesday night with mockery, memes and innuendo about love seats, sectional sofas and various other furniture jokes.

The Associated Press produced a fact-check with the headline, "No, JD Vance did not have sex with a couch."

Hours later, the AP rewrote the headline.

"Posts spread baseless rumors about GOP vice presidential pick J.D. Vance having sex with a couch," was the new headline Wednesday night.

Theirs wasn't the only fact check. The debunking website Snopes had their own on the meme.

By Thursday afternoon, the AP deleted the story entirely.

Writer, producer and editor Manny Fidel speculated that the problem with the fact-check is that all they could do is say that the false tale is not from Vance's book. They can't say whether or not it actually happened.