The Associated Press has removed an article fact-checking a wild claim about Donald Trump’s vice presidential nominee, JD Vance.
The news agency sparked a backlash after publishing an article on Wednesday titled: “No, JD Vance Didn’t Have Sex With a Couch.”
However, the next day, AP had removed the article from its archives and the website address indicated that it was no longer available.
An AP spokesman told Semafor editor Max Tani that the fact-checking on Vance “did not go through the news agency’s standard editing process.”
“AP is investigating how it was published,” Tani added on X.
The Associated Press has removed an article fact-checking a wild claim about Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick, JD Vance.
AP has removed the article from its archives and the website address indicates that it is no longer available.
“The spokesman also stressed that the piece was not mailed to AP clients.”
The now-deleted article appeared after memes began circulating on social media repeating a false rumor that claimed Vance wrote about having sex with a couch in his bestselling book Hillbilly Elegy.
High-profile names like comedian Kathy Griffin appeared to fall for the fake news, writing: “I don’t think we should have a couch potato as our VP. That’s me. Sorry JD.”
DailyMail.com has contacted the Associated Press for comment on this story.