JD Vance’s Viral Photo With Wife’s Extended Indian American Family Divides Social Media
- While many appreciated the president-elect for adapting to Usha Vance’s heritage, some used the opportunity to dismiss racism allegations against him, while others criticized his liberal ways.
A photo of vice president-elect JD Vance with members of his Indian American wife Usha Chilukuri Vance’s family has sent social media in a tizzy. The photo, widely reported in the Indian media, is supposedly said to have been taken during Thanksgiving. While the photo isn’t posted on either couple’s social media accounts, it was first shared on X by Palo Alto, California-based entrepreneur Asha Jadeja Motwani. “JD Vance at Thanksgiving. Reminds me of the big fat Indian wedding,” she captioned the photograph.
In the photo, Vance is seen in a blue t-shirt and jeans, carrying his son on his shoulders, while Usha is wearing a brown outfit. She is seen carrying her daughter. The older members of the family are seated on chairs in the backyard, while others are standing. Vance’s elder son is seen playing with a light saber with his grandfather, Chilukuri Radhakrishna.
Usha and Vance met at Yale while they were both law students at Yale. In a 2017 interview with NBC News, she aid she was attracted to Vance in part because of his positive attitude. “He felt very different.” They married in 2014. The couple has three children — two boys and a girl — Ewan, 7, Vivek, 4, and Mirabel, 2.
Several X users commented on Jadeja Motwani’s photo and appreciated Vance for embracing his wife’s Indian heritage. Indian-American technology entrepreneur and academic Vivek Wadhwa wrote that it “blows his mind” that Vance’s “relatives look just like mine.” One user commented that “JD got a sense of real family,” while another wrote — “Lots of respect to Vance here for spending time with his wife’s fully Indian family.”
A user named Shaunak praised Vance for bonding with his children. “His son is sitting on his shoulder in a pure Indian way.” Another appreciated the saris wore by members of Usha’s extended family, while another one wrote: “That’s my family too.”
Some like user named Autism Capital used the photo as an opportunity to dismiss allegations against Vance of racism. “The right is racist,” the post said. “Meanwhile here’s JD Vance at Thanksgiving. This is the greatness of America.”
Vance received some criticism as well. Far-right political commentator Nick Fuentes wrote: “If you support JD Vance you are either bring paid by Peter Thiel or you’re ngmi.” Another user wondered asked — “Why do those guys support Hindu supremacy in India?”
Usha is the daughter of Indian immigrants and grew up in a San Diego suburb. Her parents, Chilukuri Radhakrishna (Krish) and Lakshmi Chilukuri are originally from Andhra Pradesh and moved to the U.S. in 1980. A marine molecular biologist and biochemist, Lakshmi Chilukuri is provost of the Sixth College at the University of California, San Diego. Radhakrishna Chilukuri is a lecturer, Academic Affairs, College of Engineering, Department of Aerospace Engineering at the San Diego State University. Usha is an attorney, and worked as an associate at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, a job she quit the day after Trump chose Vance as his running mate.
Usha was raised as a Hindu and continues to practice the faith. “I did grow up in a religious household, my parents are Hindu, and I think that was one of the things that made them such good parents, that makes them really very good people,” she told Fox News in a pre-election interview. Vance added during the same interview that his “wife’s faith was a key factor in his decision to re-engage with Christianity later in his life,” which he said Usha has been supportive of.
While this photo earned Vance praise on the internet, a Thanksgiving meme landed the Ohio senator at the center of a media storm. In the photo, that reimagined Norman Rockwell’s iconic painting Freedom From Want, Vance depicted himself as the matriarch serving a Thanksgiving turkey — replaced with a Republican-dominated electoral map — to a family, with President-elect Donald Trump grinning in the role of the patriarch standing behind him. “Happy Thanksgiving everyone,” he wrote. “Despite our challenges, we remain the greatest nation in the world, and I’m very grateful for it–and for all of you!
Vance received criticism form several liberals and progressives like broadcaster and writer Mehdi Hasan, founder of the media company Zeteo. ”JD Vance posting an image of himself as Trump’s wife, and also with a map that doesn’t show people he and Trump won by one of the lowest margins in American history,” Mehdi wrote.