‘What in the ...?’: Critics disgusted by RFK Jr. ‘barbecued’ dog allegations

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s controversial independent presidential campaign now has more scandals to confront, after Vanity Fair on Tuesday published a deep dive into the 70-year old anti-vaxxer and conspiracy theorist: among them, a photo of the candidate holding up what appears to be the carcass of a barbecued dog and pretending to eat from it.

"Last year Robert Kennedy Jr. texted a photograph to a friend. In the photo RFK Jr. was posing, alongside an unidentified woman, with the barbecued remains of what appears to be a dog. Kennedy told the person, who was traveling to Asia, that he might enjoy a restaurant in Korea that served dog on the menu, suggesting Kennedy had sampled dog," Vanity Fair's Joe Hagan reports.

"The photo was taken in 2010, according to the digital file’s metadata — the same year he was diagnosed with a dead tapeworm in his brain. (A veterinarian who examined the photograph says the carcass is a canine, pointing to the 13 pairs of ribs, which include the tell-tale 'floating rib' found in dogs,)" Vanity Fair continues.

"The picture’s intent seems to have been comedic — Kennedy and his companion are pantomiming — but for the recipient it was disturbing evidence of Kennedy’s poor judgment and thoughtlessness, simultaneously mocking Korean culture, reveling in animal cruelty, and needlessly risking his reputation and that of his family."

The dead dog carcass photo is not the only new allegation the RFK Jr. presidential campaign is now facing. The articles also includes details of alleged extreme drug use — including heroin — and an allegation of alleged sexual assault.

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"Theories about Kennedy’s reckless behaviors abound. Long before it was reported, members of the family knew about the brain worm, which in court testimonies Kennedy conjectured he’d picked up from food he ate in South Asia," Vanity Fair also reports.

"He said the tapeworm consumed a portion of his brain and led to protracted 'brain fog.' But more often his family points to Kennedy’s 14 years as a heroin user, which began when Kennedy was 15 and didn’t end until he was 29. Kennedy has made his history of addiction part of his campaign narrative, arguing that he is more equipped to fix America’s addiction problem.

"Critics in his family feel otherwise. One Kennedy has circulated a report from the National Institutes of Health on the impact of long-term heroin abuse, which surmises that the damage can alter the physiology of the brain, 'creating long-term imbalances in neuronal and hormonal systems that are not easily reversed' and 'which may affect decision-making abilities, the ability to regulate behavior, and responses to stressful situations.' "

The article alleges that while attending Harvard, "in the mid-1970s, Kennedy was regularly injecting speedballs, a mixture of heroin and cocaine, and became a pied piper to friends and family, regularly shooting up with his troubled brother David Kennedy, according to multiple friends from the era."

The funding of a super PAC supporting Kennedy, by a Trump donor, is also covered in the article.

After reporting RFK Jr.'s "body and face had become transfigured by what he has called a regimen of 'organic testosterone,'" Hagan writes: "His campaign also became pumped up, powered by cash infusions from his vice presidential pick, Nicole Shanahan, the ex-wife of Google cofounder Sergey Brin, and from Timothy Mellon, an heir to the Mellon banking fortune who has given $30 million to the super PAC supporting Kennedy while also giving $50 million to Donald Trump’s campaign — an alignment of interests that critics suspect is strategic, financing Kennedy’s campaign to draw votes from Joe Biden and thereby boost Trump."

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Critics were outraged about many of the revelations from Vanity' Fair's reporting, including the alleged dog carcass photo, which DNC spokesperson Matt Corridoni posted to social media.

Podcaster Jon Favreau responded, "what in the f--k is wrong with this man."

Democratic strategist Lis Smith, also responding to the photo, wrote: "Truly vile."

Several invoked Republican Governor Kristi Noem's recent book that reveals her dog-killing scandal in their criticism of RFK Jr.

MSNBC interviewed Vanity Fair's Joe Hagan Tuesday morning. Watch the interview below or at this link, and read the entire article here.

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