Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) is being mocked on social media for his ignorance about menstruating people after he criticized Vice President Kamala Harris for discussing tampons on a podcast while victims of Hurricane Helene are still recovering from the storm’s devastation.
“Finally, last couple of days, the vice president goes on some show called Call Her Daddy or Call Your Daddy or Who’s Your Daddy or something … and among other things, she’s talking about tampons,” Kennedy said while speaking with Fox News’ Sean Hannity on October 7.
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Kennedy was referring to Harris’ recent appearance on Call Her Daddy, a massively popular women’s empowerment podcast.
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Though Harris mostly discussed reproductive rights on the podcast, at one point the show’s host Alex Cooper told Harris that some women on the video-sharing platform TikTok ask men questions about how tampons are used, and often the men don’t know. Harris laughed and then mentioned that she was the first vice president in history to visit a reproductive health clinic.
Cooper’s brief comment was the only mention of tampons during the entire podcast.
Nevertheless, continuing to criticize Harris, Kennedy said, “You know, the people of Appalachia right now don’t give a function about tampons. They need water. They need to get out. I’m sorry, I’ll say it again: You cannot make this stuff up.”
However, numerous commenters on X mocked Kennedy for not recognizing that people who menstruate still need associated hygiene products while recovering from a natural disaster.
Kennedy has made headlines recently for reading sexually explicit book passages to justify anti-LGBTQ+ book bans and telling Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute, to “hide your head in a bag” during a congressional hearing after insinuating that she supports Islamic terrorist organizations.
The category 4 hurricane has killed over 230 people and will cost over $230 billion in estimated damages along the eastern coastline. Helene is the deadliest hurricane to hit the mainland U.S. since Katrina in 2005. An estimated 50.4% of its victims are women, and even more may be menstruating people who need hygiene products during its aftermath.
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