Former vice president and 2024 Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris addressed criticism she has received about her laugh, stating that people are “not going” to take her joy from her.

During an appearance on the Baby, This Is Keke Palmer podcast with host Keke Palmer, Harris was asked how she balances “who Madame VP gets to be as a human and who she has to show up as.” Harris acknowledged that it “can be difficult,” and explained that she “was raised in a family that included very powerful women, who laughed from their bellies.”

“It can be difficult. It can be very difficult, Keke. I’m aware of the, whatever the memes are about my laugh,” Harris said. “Well, look. I was raised in a family that included very powerful women, who laughed from their bellies. And, powerful I mean, they were powerful in their space. They were powerful in their family, in their community. Not necessarily titles and money.”

Harris continued to explain that the women in her family “would sit around the kitchen table with their coffee, laughing loud laughs.”

“Those who try to take your joy are trying to make you weak, and that’s where my fight comes in,” Harris continued. “I know what you’re trying to do, you’re not going to take my joy. There is nothing you can do to me that will take my joy, you are not that powerful.”

While serving as vice president, Harris on several occasions laughed hysterically when delivering speeches, or even when responding to questions from reporters.

Breitbart News reported in August 2021 that Harris “burst into laughter during a speech at a community health center” after she had reminded Americans that “people live in every state”:

She urged more states to expand Medicaid, noting that she and President Joe Biden wanted to expand coverage to cover dental, vision, and hearing as part of his $3.5 trillion entitlement bill disguised as “infrastructure.”

“We also must work together to call on Congress to advance other components of our Build Back agenda. To expand Medicaid in every state … people live in every state.”

“People live in every state. That’s the logic,” she said, before bursting into laughter.

Breitbart News’s Katherine Hamilton reported in August 2021 that when reporters tried to “ask her about Afghanistan” she “busted out in a fit of laughter” and told reporters to “hold on.”