Ohio Senator and Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance went viral this week after a series of his side glances during the vice presidential debate drew comparisons with the character ‘Jim Halpert‘ from famous TV show ‘Office’. Vance however explained that his now-famous looks weren’t intentional.
JD Vance, who is Republican Donald Trump‘s vice presidential running mate, debated Minnesota governor Tim Walz, the Democratic pick of Kamala Harris, ahead of the November elections.During the debate, Vance frequently glanced at the CBS News camera, leading to comparisons with Jim’s character from the ‘Office’.
Vance explained on “The Ruthless Podcast” that he wasn’t intentionally looking at the camera and trying to channel Jim Halpert’s signature smirk into the CBS News camera. Instead, he was just checking a timer near it to manage his speaking turns.
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“This thing that has gone super viral of me kind of doing the Jim from ‘The Office’ thing… I wish I could take credit for it,” Vance said. “But it’s because I guess the timer is right by the camera.”
Despite it being unintentional, Vance took the attention in stride and appreciated the amusement his glances brought, saying, “It spawned a million viral memes. So, I’m glad they did it like that.”
On the Podcast, Vance also admitted to being “nervous as hell” during the debate. However, he said he knew he had done well when his wife, Usha Vance, joined him onstage afterwards. “I look at Usha’s face, and I just knew – I was like, oh s***, we must have done a very good job,” he recalled, adding that “Usha doesn’t lie to me, and her face especially doesn’t lie to me, and I knew that minute that we had a very good debate.”
As the November 5 election draws near, this debate may be the last time when they directly confront each other.
The host of the debate, CBS News, conducted a quick survey of the audience following the event. The results showed that 42 per cent of the viewers thought Vance was the winner, while 41 per cent supported Walz, and 17 per cent considered it a tie.