With the US presidential election less than two months away, it seems that all jokes are pointed jokes. Or at least Selena Gomez's one about 'childless cat ladies' on stage at the Primetime Emmy Awards was.
Only Murders in the Building stars Selena Gomez, Steve Martin and Martin Short presented the first award of the night for best supporting actor in a comedy series, which went to Ebon Moss-Bachrach in The Bear. The trio quipped that Steve looks like 'someone who has fallen down and can't get up', that Martin looks like a 'former women's tennis champion' and Selena said, 'what an honour it is to work with two guys who are this far away from being childless cat ladies.'
The joke is, of course, a reference to vice presidential nominee JD Vance's now widely-lambasted comment about the Democrat's presidential nominee, Kamala Harris. '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,' he said to Tucker Carlson in 2021.
He continued, 'It's just a basic fact — you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC — the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children. And how does it make any sense that we've turned our country over to people who don't really have a direct stake in it?'
It's not hard to understand why this comment has caused offence - not least to people who don't have any children or those, like Kamala Harris, who are proud step-parents.
The now infamous comment received a second wind when JD Vance was chosen as former president Donald Trump's vice presidential candidate, with several famous faces weighing in on the discourse.
Taylor Swift, for one, announced her endorsement of Kamala Harris last week and referenced the cat lady joke in her statement. Sharing a photo of her and her cat on Instagram, the singer wrote, 'I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them. I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos.' She signed off, 'With love and hope, Taylor Swift, Childless Cat Lady.'
Journalist and podcast host Elizabeth Day offered her support for Kamala Harris via a similar post on Instagram in July. She shared a photo with her cat and wrote, 'Childless cat lady stepmother over here! Hi @kamalaharris you've got this.'
Jennifer Aniston also had something to say about JD Vance's misogynistic insights. She posted the comment on her Instagram story and wrote, 'I truly can’t believe this is coming from a potential VP of The United States.
‘All I can say is… Mr Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day.’ Adding, ‘I hope she will not need to turn to IVF as a second option, because you are trying to take that away from her, too.’
And now it seems the cast of the hit Netflix series Only Murders in the Building are poking fun at the ridiculous comment too. The series, which started in 2021 and follows three strangers who share an obsession with true crime and suddenly find themselves wrapped up in one, did not pick up any major awards at the Emmys. However, their joke went down a treat with the live audience (and, of course, the internet), which is a win in itself.
Nikki Peach is news and entertainment writer at Grazia UK, working across pop culture, TV and current affairs. She has also written for the i, i-D and the New Statesman Media Group and covers all things TV for Grazia (treating high and lowbrow shows with equal respect).