This week, the Daily Mail claimed that they had sources – friends of friends – who insisted that Doug Emhoff slapped his then-girlfriend in 2012. Allegedly, Doug and this girlfriend – a New York lawyer – attended the Cannes Film Festival and Doug “slapped” the woman out of jealousy, because she was flirting with another man. The whole thing sounded like a typical right-wing whisper campaign, especially galling because Doug’s wife Kamala Harris is running against an adjudicated rapist and serial sexual predator who was convicted of felonies in his attempt to cover up his affair with a p0rn star. In any case, Doug’s spokesperson has now denied the Mail’s story.

Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, has denied a report alleging that he slapped an ex-girlfriend across the face so hard that she spun around.

The Daily Mail reported Wednesday that three friends anonymously said that Emhoff had struck the woman—who was also not identified by name—while the two waited in a valet line at France’s Cannes Film Festival in May 2012.

In a statement to Semafor, a spokesperson for Emhoff denied the allegation, saying, “this report is untrue” and “any suggestion that he would or has ever hit a woman is false.”

[From The Daily Beast]

Much like the Mail’s years of “trust me, bro” character assassinations on the Duchess of Sussex, most reasonable people found it hard to believe that a sweet dork like Emhoff has some kind of secret past as a guy who slapped a girlfriend. Like, Emhoff’s brand is strong – most people have already formed an opinion on his character, and it’s not this. He’s the guy who does spin classes with his gay friends in WeHo. He’s the guy who told Kamala to buckle up on their first date because he’s a terrible driver.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.