Khloé Kardashian’s ex Tristan Thompson sparks backlash after posing with JD Vance

Khloé Kardashian’s ex-boyfriend, Tristan Thompson, has sparked quite the heated discussion online after sharing a photo to social media posing alongside United States Vice President JD Vance.

Thompson and reality TV star Kardashian, 41, began dating in 2016 and welcomed a daughter, True, in April 2018, days after his first cheating scandal surfaced, with further breakups following repeated infidelity in 2019 and 2021.

The former couple later welcomed a son named Tatum via surrogate in 2022 despite being separated, and have remained on and off while co-parenting. They are not in a romantic relationship, with Kardashian indicating that she is not dating at the moment, previously sharing that she is focused on raising her children.

A photo has circled on X showing the 35-year-old Canadian basketball player posing with Vance.

The snap in question, which appears to have been shared on Snapchat, shows the pair smiling for the camera alongside the overlay text caption reading: "I JUST MET JD VANCE!!!"

After catching light of the photo, one X user slammed: "Never was a Tristan Thompson fan but this seals it...Yuck."

"Embarrassing," hit out a second as a third chimed in: "What a clown."

Another penned: "That many exclamation marks is crazy."

And a final X user echoed: "Three exclamation marks!!!"

Former Cleveland Cavaliers player Thompson visited the James Brady Press Briefing Room earlier this week on Thursday (26 March) to speak on NIL compensation for college athletes.

During the White House visit, the father-of-two called for programmes to protect their earnings and prepare them for life after sports, noting most won't reach the pros and entry-level jobs pay far less than NIL deals.

A clip on X, shared by Special Assistant and Communications Advisor to US President Donald Trump, Margo Martin, and reposted by Thompson, shows him responding to a question asking how he was 'protecting' the students.

"We want to create a programme for them," the former college athlete said. "We need to create a system to protect them."

Replying to Martin's video, Thompson wrote: "Let’s protect these college athletes."

.@TThompson visits the White House briefing room 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/fgA6N23kKg

— Margo Martin (@MargoMartin47) March 26, 2026

Ahead of yesterday's White House visit (24 March), Thompson shared a political infographic posted by @LayoffAI, which made a series of claims about 'AI taking the jobs'.

Responding to the tweet, Thompson declared: "This is what happens when a country loses confidence in its own workforce. AI is supposed to increase American productivity, not become cover for replacing Americans and further gutting domestic capacity."

He concluded by writing: "Reindustrialize America."

Tyla has reached out to Tristan Thompson's representatives for comment.