About

Bald J.D. Vance refers to an edited image and exploitable meme of U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance in which he has a bald head and rounder cheeks and is staring straight into the camera, typically in front of a blue background. The meme was a part of the J.D. Vance Babyface Edits, a subset of the J.D. Vance Edited Face Photoshops, which trended in late 2024 and early 2025. The Bald J.D. Vance meme was created in October 2024, using an image from the 2024 U.S. vice presidential debate in which Vance faced off against Democratic candidate Tim Walz. In June 2025, a 21-year-old Norwegian citizen named Mads Mikkelsen claimed that he was barred from entering the U.S. after he was stopped by immigration officials at Newark Airport in New Jersey, and during his questioning, the agents allegedly discovered the Bald J.D. Vance meme on his phone. The story and Mikkelsen's claims brought new attention to the Bald J.D. Vance meme on social media.

Origin

On October 17th, 2024, X^[1] user @mrgapingasshole tweeted a screenshot from the picture editing app FaceApp, showing U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance with a bald head and a rounder face. The edit used a still from the 2024 U.S. vice presidential debate.^[2] Over eight months, the tweet received over 137,000 likes (shown below).

A square-cropped version of the image (shown below) was notably used in viral posts in the following months.

Spread

On October 18th, 2024, X^[3] user @srothbell posted a tweet using a two-panel format, showing Tim Walz and Bald J.D. Vance captioned, "The debat," gaining over 102,000 likes in eight months (shown below).

On October 18th, X^[4] user @basedspinach captioned the Bald J.D. Vance meme, "When you Galaxy Gas on the Skibidi Toilet," gaining over 1,300 likes in eight months (shown below).

On March 1st, 2025, X^[6] user @KyleKulinski posted a new Bald J.D. Vance meme, adding a caption about Vance's quote, "Have You Said Thank You Once?" Over three months, the post received roughly 161,000 likes (shown below).

On March 6th, TikToker^[7] @helpijustpoopiedmypants posted a photo of a Bald J.D. Vance painting, gaining over 7,100 likes in three months (shown below).

On April 22nd, 2025, X^[5] user @kommanderkarl posted an Oblivion Remastered Character Creator version of Bald J.D. Vance, gaining over 8,500 likes in two months (shown below).

Norwegian Tourist Denied Entry to U.S. For J.D. Vance Meme Claim

On June 23rd, 2025, Norwegian news outlet Nordlys^[8] published an article about 21-year-old Norwegian Mads Mikkelsen, who claimed that he was denied entry into the U.S. at Newark Airport in New Jersey. Immigration officials purportedly stopped him for questioning and quizzed him "about drug trafficking, terrorist plots and right-wing extremism," according to Mikkelsen, per Nordlys and the Daily Beast.^[9]

According to the outlets, Mikkelsen claimed that the officials placed him in a holding cell and requested to search the contents of his smartphone. Mikkelsen stated that the officials discovered a photo of a homemade wooden pipe and the Bald J.D. Vance meme.^[8][9]

The Daily Beast,^[9] as well as the Daily Mail,^[10] translated some of Mikkelsen's quotes from Nordlys,^[8] such as, "Both pictures had been automatically saved to my camera roll from a chat app, but I really didn’t think that these innocent pictures would put a stop to my entry into the country."

According to the outlets, Mikkelsen claimed that they searched him, requested blood samples and documented his fingerprints, ultimately barring him from entering the U.S. after the full interaction.^[9]

Nordlys^[8] published photos of Mads Mikkelsen as part of the article. One of them showed Mikkelsen holding up the bald J.D. Vance meme on a phone (shown below).

On June 24th, 2025, Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), made a post to X^[12] / Twitter (@TriciaOhio) including an image of the Daily Mail article and stated that the claims about Mikkelsen being denied entry because of the Bald Vance meme were false, writing, "Mikkelsen was refused entry into the U.S. for his admitted drug use." Her tweet received over 558,000 views, 3,100 likes and 280 replies in 18 hours (seen below).

Also on June 24th, X^[11] user @brndxix quote-tweeted a post about the story, writing, "Bald J.D. Vance is going in the history books," receiving over 14,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Various Examples

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Search Interest

External References