US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F Kennedy Jr (RFK Jr) is facing growing criticism and calls to resign after a startling comment during a recent podcast appearance.
“I’m not scared of a germ. I used to snort cocaine off of toilet seats,” RFK Jr had said on comedian Theo Von’s podcast ‘This Past Weekend’, following which backlash erupted from health advocacy groups and political figures, who deemed the comment “inappropriate”, The Guardian reported.
What did RFK Jr talk about in the podcast?
Kennedy used his conversation with Von to discuss his decades‑long history of substance abuse and recovery. The two first met at addiction recovery meetings, and Kennedy, now 72, has said he has maintained sobriety for more than 40 years.
By Kennedy’s own account, his first experience with drugs happened in the summer following the 1968 assassination of his father, ex-US Attorney General Robert F Kennedy. He said he took the hallucinogen LSD at a party, and was introduced to opioids by his neighbours while walking home later that day, USA Today reported.
‘He’s dangerous, over his head’
The backlash intensified when Protect Our Care, a prominent US healthcare advocacy organization, publicly called on Kennedy to step down, labelling him “the most dangerous, in over his head, ill‑suited person ever to lead such an important federal agency.”
Brad Woodhouse, the group’s president, responded to Kennedy’s comments with a blunt one‑word statement: “Resign.”
Critics argued that Kennedy’s past statements on vaccines and public health, including scepticism toward routine immunisations and changes to federal vaccine guidance, have already eroded trust in health agencies.
His remarks about cocaine use, they said, further undermined confidence in his leadership at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which plays a key role in managing health crises and setting national health policy, Sky News reported.
Kennedy’s opposition to COVID-19 vaccines
RFK Jr had repeatedly criticised COVID‑19 vaccines, questioning their safety and effectiveness and claiming they were overhyped or improperly mandated. He once stated that COVID‑19 vaccines were “inappropriate for six‑year‑old children”.
In various public appearances, he also described vaccine mandates and pandemic response policies in dramatic terms, such as comparing them to historical atrocities, TIME had previously reported.