Julia Louis-Dreyfus Says Kamala Harris Is Not Her Veep Character

As soon as Joe Biden pulled out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed Kamala Harris as his successor, connections were made to HBO’s Veep, a show about a fictional female vice-president, Selina Meyer, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. So, naturally, this week Louis-Dreyfus is at the DNC in Chicago to host a panel of Democratic governors and show her support for the Harris-Walz ticket, and she stopped by The Late Show to chat with Stephen Colbert about the connection.

Back in 2020, when Harris first became vice-president, Louis-Dreyfus tweeted her support, referencing the show:

“Madam Vice President” is no longer a fictional character. @KamalaHarris pic.twitter.com/rg1fErtHGX

— Julia Louis-Dreyfus (@OfficialJLD) November 7, 2020

Talking with Colbert on Monday, Louis-Dreyfus said the 2020 tweet was “based on my experience on the show Veep,” adding, “And I’m hoping that I can post a similar thing in November that says, ‘Madame President is no longer a fictional character.’” But she wanted to clarify that Harris is not the same person as her character. “Let me explain to you: On Veep I played a narcissistic, megalomaniac sociopath, and that is not Kamala Harris,” she said. “It might be another candidate in the race.”

She did, however, concede one real-life connection to the show: J.D. Vance, she said, reminds her of Jonah Ryan, the obnoxious White House liaison turned vice-president played by Timothy Simons who, on the show, became the first vice-president in history to be impeached. “I’m sure he’s made love to many couches,” she joked.