Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defended himself Thursday, July 20, after being accused of being antisemitic and racist. In his opening statement at a hearing on alleged weaponization of the federal government, Kennedy said there is no evidence that he’s antisemitic and that the slurs in recent days are just an attempt to keep him quiet.
Kennedy is polling well behind President Biden after announcing he would challenge him for the presidential nomination in 2024.
The longtime anti-vaccine activist faced widespread backlash with offensive comments suggesting the coronavirus was engineered to spare Chinese and Jewish people. The New York Post was first to publish the comments, but Kennedy claims the article was mistaken.
Kennedy said he has never uttered a phrase that was racist or antisemitic and that he spent his life advocating for Israel. He said he was being censored through smear campaigns and misinterpretations of what he said.
“I didn’t say those things,” Kennedy said during the testimony. “There are fragments that I said, but I denounce anybody who uses the words that I have said to imply something that is negative about people who are Jewish.”
House Republicans invited Kennedy to testify before the judiciary select subcommittee on alleged social media censorship on Thursday, July 20. He testified despite calls from Democrats to disinvite him from speaking to the panel following his alleged remarks.
Kennedy said the country needs to set an example of respecting others and that censorship is not the way to end political polarization. He said it aggravates and amplifies the problem.
After Kennedy’s opening statement, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., made a motion to move the committee into executive session. She argued that Kennedy repeatedly made antisemitic and anti-Asian comments and was in violation of a rule against testimony that would defame or degrade.
The motion failed.
