The source of the photo was later revealed to be Travis Whitfill, an assistant professor at Yale. Whitfill confirmed his involvement, saying: “Hi Matt, I was the source of the photo (sent through friends to you). This was taken in 2012 (the same time I was at Yale 🥴). Photo was taken by a classmate and sent to me. Thanks for sharing 😘.”

In an interview with the Daily Beast, Whitfill elaborated that the photo was from a group chat of Vance’s classmates and likely originated from Facebook. It was taken at a Halloween party.

A few days after the initial post, Bernstein shared a second image, captioning it, “a second photo has hit my inbox.”

As the images circulated, they quickly became the subject of mockery online. One user joked, “Feelin’ cute. Might run for Vice President later,” while another quipped, “What better way to get on Trump’s good side than by trying to look like his Ivanka….”

Despite the viral spread of the photos and the jokes that followed, some people defended Vance, arguing that the pictures were being misrepresented.

One user pointed out: “People consider putting on a wig at a college party as drag? That’s an insult to my drag friends at the balls and in the Houses.”

Another added: “I can’t tell which possibility is worse: you all not being able to distinguish a party costume from actual drag because you think it’s totally normal for men to dress like women OR you all knowing it’s a costume and being absurdly intellectually dishonest about it.”

One notable defense came from George Santos, who faced similar scrutiny in 2023 when photos of him in drag surfaced. Santos dismissed the accusations against Vance, saying it “definitely” wasn’t drag.

“The guy went to a costume party, put on a freaking cheap wig from Party City or something similar,” Santos said. “To call that drag is disingenuous, and I think most dudes at some point in their lives have played around with costumes that are gender-bender.”

However, critics of Vance were quick to clarify that their issue wasn’t with the act of dressing in drag itself but with the senator’s perceived hypocrisy. “Don’t call JD Vance weird because he wore drag. Call him a hypocrite and a bigot for demonizing others who wear drag,” one user posted on X.

Another echoed this sentiment, tweeting: “I don’t share this to shame those who do drag, but rather to shame those who attack drag while having a history of enjoying the art form themselves.”