While the photos did not appear to be manipulated, Snopes identified several red flags suggesting they may have been part of a hoax. However, we could not arrive at a true or false determination based on the available, inconclusive evidence.
On Aug. 17, 2024, images allegedly showing Trump supporters holding medical specimen jars labeled "JD Vance Full Family Kit" and filled with fake semen spread online. The photos generated several uncritical headlines accepting as fact the premise that this was a genuine political gesture.
According to the earliest shares of the claim on social media, the purpose of these specimen jars was expressly political — to "mock childless women" and/or families like that of Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, who conceived using medical fertilization procedures.
One post, by X account @UsaCamy, had amassed more than 1.4 million views as of this writing.
The post by @UsaCamy was the earliest version of the claim Snopes found, suggesting the account at least partially originated the claim. Those pictures were posted at 1:36 p.m. PDT on Aug. 17 — about 20 minutes before Trump was scheduled to speak at a rally in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania.
According to OSINT Analyst Elise Thomas on X, @UsaCamy's profile photo (at the time of the viral post, though it has since changed)
Reports on, and social media posts referencing, these "Vance Full Family Kits" — as far as Snopes could identify — included only six photographs to support the reality of the alleged phenomenon. Three of those photos appeared to have originated from @UsaCamy, while another three appeared to originate from a Reddit post by u/pellebeez that was published just three minutes after @UsaCamy's post.
Snopes identified several possible indicators these photos, while likely not manipulated, were part of an inauthentic effort to generate viral headlines.
While the evidence wasn't strong enough to provide a full false rating, we rated this claim "Unproven"
Early Social Media Timing Suggests Coordination
When Redditor u/pellebeez posted photos of "JD Vance [sperm] cups for sale to mock childless women," the user stated the photos were "pulled from Twitter." Only one of the four photos shared by pellebeez had previously been shared on X — by UsaCamy — as far as Snopes could identify.
The fact pellebeez posted a photo from @UsaCamy — an account with few followers up to that point — only three minutes later suggested pellebeez may have followed or was in some way aware of the person behind the account. Furthermore, given none of the other pictures purportedly "pulled from Twitter" by pellebeez appeared earlier than the Reddit post, this suggested pellebeez was the originator of the other three photos.
Additionally, the similarities between the objects labeled "JD Vance Full Family Kit" in the pellebeez photos and the @UsaCamy photos suggested they depicted the same "product." Pellebeez also did not respond to a request for comment made through Reddit's chat platform.
Pictures Are from an Atlanta Rally Held 2 Weeks Earlier
Though the photos were posted at a time that would lead a casual viewer to believe they came from an Aug. 17, 2024, Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, Trump rally, Snopes geolocated at least two of the photos to a parking lot at the Georgia State University Convocation Center, where Trump held a rally on Aug. 3, 2024:
A second photo from pellebeez matched a location roughly 50 feet away from the above photo in the same parking lot:
Pellebeez Was Associated with a Similar Claim from 4 Months Earlier
U/pellebeez was a prolific Redditor whose commenting history, like that of all users, was public. In April 2024, this user spammed several left-leaning or political subreddits with articles from a website named "Dispatches from Trumpland." This site had multiple articles highlighting the apparent trend of Trump supporters wearing diapers or sporting flags that read "Real Men Wear Diapers" at rallies.
In promoting Dispatches from Trumpland, pellebeez almost always referred to the posts on that website as either "our article" or "my on-the-ground reporting." Based on that observation, Snopes reached out to Dispatches via a contact email listed on its site. "Are you pellebeez?" we asked the owner of that inbox.
"I am not that user on reddit that you mentioned," someone who signed their email as Eric responded. "It's possible we're in some of the same reddit or discord circles," Eric later added.
Eric did tell us that Dispatches was responsible for bringing many of those earlier photos of Trump supporters allegedly embracing Trump diaper rumors to virality, but that the site only documented "wildest trends" emerging from Trump rallies, and that they did not produce or sell any of the items shown in the photos.
Eric explained that most of the pictures on Dispatches were taken by him, or friends he sent to rallies to take photographs on his behalf. Snopes asked if he sent anyone to photograph trends at the Aug. 3 Atlanta Trump rally from which at least some of the JD Vance semen cup photos originated, to which he replied: "I did have a friend go to the Atlanta rally."
What Does This All Mean?
There are several potential explanations for the facts Snopes has laid out here.
First, the photos could have depicted an actual phenomenon — p
Second, the photos could have been entirely staged — photographs taken of and by people dressed as Trump supporters who went to his rallies to make Trump supporters look "weird."
Finally, it could have been some combination of those two — the photos could depict actual Trump supporters who legitimately purchased JD Vance Full Family kits unironically, but did so from someone operating in bad faith with the intent to make them look foolish.
There was some suggestion a vendor — either related or unrelated to the entities promoting the photos — could have been at play. Viral photos involving both diaper content and JD Vance semen content showed a vendor with an identical cart in the background.
In sum, the photographs of the "JD Vance semen" phenomenon did not appear to be manipulated and were taken at actual Trump events, but because the circumstances under which these photos originated are opaque, we rated the claim "Unproven."
However, the limited number of photos showing the trend, their similarities and potential links to past viral headlines, and the timing of their virality should all be considered before describing this as a potential real or widespread phenomenon.