Candice Bergen and Selena Gomez took aim at Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance’s widely-mocked “childless cat ladies” comment at the Emmys.
While presenting during the show, Bergen brought up her series “Murphy Brown,” saying: “In one classic moment, my character was attacked by Vice President Dan Quayle when Murphy became pregnant and decided to raise the baby as a single mother. Oh, how far we’ve come. Today a Republican candidate for vice president would never attack a woman for having kids. So as they say, my work here is done. Meow.”
While presenting an award with her “Only Murders in the Building” co-stars Steve Martin and Martin Short, Gomez zinged them by saying, “And let me say what an honor it is to work with two guys who are this far away from being childless cat ladies.”
In a 2021 interview with Tucker Carlson, Vance said, “We’re effectively run in this country, be it the Democrats, be it our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies, who are miserable at their own lives and the choices they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too.”
The comments have been widely criticized and mocked through pop culture, from late night jokes to Taylor Swift’s endorsement for Kamala Harris.
Harris herself does not have any biological children, but she has been the stepmother of her husband Doug Emhoff’s two children for a decade. Emhoff’s ex-wife, Kerstin Emhoff, quickly came to Harris’ defense after Vance’s statement resurfaced, saying, “She is loving, nurturing, fiercely protective, and always present. I love our blended family and am grateful to have her in it.”
