Cats On A Couch Instagram Creator Sues Over Alleged Free Speech Violations After Being Barred From JD Vance Event
Amanda McGonigle, who created the viral @Catsonacouch Instagram account, says she was told she wouldn’t be let in because they “know where you stand.”
The creator behind the Vice President JD Vance trolling Instagram account @CatsonaCouch, Amanda McGonigle, is suing the U.S. Secret Service and the Executive Office of the President, she and the ACLU of Maine announced Tuesday.
McGonigle, who co-wrote the children’s book There’s Always Room, said she initially created the account to mock the vice president and try to surpass him in followers on the platform.
The creator alleges that she was barred from a speaking event featuring Vance in May. She said she registered for an event that Vance would be speaking at, and followed all the necessary sign-up instructions. However, while she waited in line to be let into the event, she claimed she was called out and told she wouldn’t be allowed in. She said that Secret Service agents and other officials told her she wasn’t allowed in because they “know where you stand.”
In an ACLU of Maine press release published Tuesday, McGonigle said, “It’s absurd that the Secret Service is wasting their time tracking a satirical cat account on social media.”
She added: “The government can’t exclude me from official vice-presidential events just because I mock people in power on the internet. The Trump administration has routinely retaliated against people exercising their First Amendment rights, and this is just the latest example. But the First Amendment protects our right to criticize the government, and it’s well within my rights to say that I think JD Vance is an unlikeable idiot.”
The account was inspired by Vance’s infamous sexist “childless cat lady” remark during the 2024 presidential election.
Besides posting jokes about Vance, McGonigle also uses the account to highlight mutual aid support and other social justice initiatives.
“The First Amendment protects every person’s right to express their opinions and political views, free from fear of government retaliation or retribution,” the ACLU of Maine’s staff attorney Anahita Sotoohi said in the release. “Ms. McGonigle uses her platform to criticize and satirize elected officials, using humor to garner support for causes important to her and inform her followers about political developments. The freedom to mock has been a central tenet of American political discourse since the founding. The First Amendment cannot be revoked just because one of the country’s most powerful people can’t take a joke.”
