Bloomberg Falsely Ties J.D. Vance’s Board Resignation to ‘Controversial’ Tweets

J.D. Vance, an Ohio-based venture capitalist and the author of the bestselling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” is pushing back against reports published in several prominent media outlets falsely linking his exit from a corporate board to two tweets the outlets deemed “controversial.”

The news outlets – including The Cincinnati Enquirer, The Lexington Herald Leader, the Associated Press, The New York Post and Bloomberg – all ran stories this week noting that Vance had exited the board of directors of AppHarvest, an East Kentucky-based green technology company.

But the various news stories all incorrectly stated that Vance resigned from board after publishing tweets about voting restrictions and Fox News host Tucker Carlson that the outlets found controversial. Bloomberg’s story ran with the headline: “Hillbilly Elegy Author Exits Board After Tweets on Voting, Fox.” The Enquirer ran with the headline: “J.D. Vance leaves AppHarvest board following controversial tweets.” The other headlines and stories were similar.

In fact, Vance’s departure from the board was in the works for weeks, and Vance had officially resigned from the board before publishing the two tweets. He said on Twitter that the “clear implication” from the stories was that he “was forced down because of my tweets.”

“Alright, here’s a story about how the media often shapes narratives instead of reporting the truth, and how a small untruth can morph into a lie that’s repeated again and again throughout the media bubble,” Vance said Friday, laying out his side of the story on Twitter.

Vance, who is considering a U.S. Senate run in Ohio, said that he got involved with AppHarvest four years ago, and has been a supporter and investor in the company ever since.

He said he started talking with other AppHarvest board members about stepping down last month. The company recently went public, so his “ability to be useful now that it’s a public company is limited,” he said. And considering that he may run for political office, and that he intends to keep speaking his mind, he said, “I’d rather do that unconstrained by the demands of a public board. And I thought the company would be better off too.”

Vance said he officially submitted his resignation at 3:13 p.m. on April 9. At 3:58 p.m., less than an hour later, he published a tweet praising Carlson on Fox News as “the only powerful figure who consistently challenges elite dogma.”

Then on Monday, in response to stories about large corporations protesting state voting laws, Vance tweeted in support of raising taxes on the companies, and doing “whatever else is necessary to fight these goons. We can have an American Republic or a global oligarchy, and it’s time for choosing.”

Vance noted on Friday that “the two ‘controversial’ tweets were posted on April 9, at 3:58, and on April 12. In other words, I resigned before I sent the tweets. And the suggestion that I was forced down is absurd.” He also noted that one of the reporters, Deena Shanker with Bloomberg, only reached out to him for comment through his LinkedIn account, “which is kind of like asking me for comment through MySpace.”

Vance declined additional comment when reached via email by National Review. A spokesperson for AppHarvest said in an email that the company can “confirm the timing of the events J.D. shared in his tweets” – he resigned April 9, and his last day was Monday. The company announced his resignation on Tuesday afternoon, along with the resignation of another board member, Dave Chen. The company also announced two new board members.

“We thank Dave and J.D. for being early investors who threw their full support into establishing AppHarvest as a mission-focused company doing good for people and planet,” Jonathan Webb, AppHarvest’s founder and CEO said in a prepared statement.

Vance called the idea that he was forced out of AppHarvest a “lie” and “obviously untrue.” Bloomberg published a story Friday afternoon clarifying the timing of Vance’s resignation and tweets, but it doesn’t appear that most of the other outlets that published stories about his exit from the AppHarvest board have followed up.

“This is how too many in our press operate, and it’s why the media is one of the least trusted institutions in society: gin up a story, run it without proper sourcing, and let it run through multiple outlets,” he wrote. “To everyone that’s run this lie: please do your stealth edits.”

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to note that Bloomberg published a story Friday clarifying the timing of J.D. Vance’s resignation and his tweets.