RFK Jr. Criticized for Suggesting COVID is 'Ethnically Targeted'

Improve the News Foundation -

Facts

  • During remarks made at a gathering over the weekend and recorded on video, Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ("RFK Jr.") claimed that COVID disproportionately affected Caucasian and Black people compared to East Asians and Ashkenazi Jews.1
  • RFK Jr. claimed that COVID could have been "targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people" while saying that "Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese" were most immune. While he said it's unknown whether the disease was "deliberately targeted or not," he claimed that the US and China are developing "ethnic bioweapons."2
  • On Sunday, RFK Jr. released a video to clarify his remarks, saying that while he did not believe COVID was deliberately engineered to target certain races, the virus served as a "proof of concept" that ethnically-targeted bioweapons could be developed.3
  • The remarks received widespread condemnation from political figures — including from White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who called them "vile" and anti semitic. RFK Jr.'s sister, Kerry Kennedy, and nephew Joe Kennedy III also rebuked the claims.4
  • Health experts say the disparities in rates of COVID infections and deaths between ethnic groups are attributable to socioeconomic factors. RFK Jr. has faced controversy in the past for voicing concern over some vaccinations, especially for children.5
  • The candidate is scheduled to appear before the US House of Representatives subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government on Thursday. GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), while saying he disagrees with Kennedy about "everything" he's said, has rejected calls from House Democrats to rescind his invitation.6

Sources: 1New York Times, 2New York Post, 3CBS, 4Guardian, 5USA Today, and 6NBC.

Narratives

  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Atlantic. RFK Jr. has spent his career on the conspiratorial fringes of the political world, and it's only a matter of time before a figure on the margins wades into antisemitism. Centuries of hateful rhetoric about Jewish control of politics, medicine, and finance have become embedded in the DNA of conspiracy theories, and it's inevitable that a man who believes that antidepressants cause mass shootings and that Wi-Fi causes cancer will happen upon antisemitism. His conspiratorial thinking has pulled him into dark and hateful territory.
  • Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by The Forward. We must judge a person by their actions, not their words. RFK Jr. has been a steadfast supporter of the Jewish people and the state of Israel, and comments taken out of context for the sake of a headline do not change that commitment. The media, by and large, is ignoring Kennedy's real point about the disparities of the COVID pandemic, and the unanswered questions about why some groups suffered so greatly. Instead of focusing on the real issues, the media has gone full steam ahead with a baseless smear.

Predictions