RFK Jr. Slammed for Pushing 'Abhorrent' COVID-19 Conspiracy Theory About Jews and Chinese People

The Democratic presidential candidate has a long-running history of touting conspiracy theories about vaccines and, more recently, the COVID-19 virus

Following a speech by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. riddled with conspiracy theories that the COVID-19 virus was engineered to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people, advocacy organizations are criticizing the Democratic presidential candidate’s reckless comments.

“COVID-19. There is an argument that it is ethnically targeted. COVID-19 attacks certain races disproportionately,” Kennedy said at a private New York event that was captured on video by The New York Post. “COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.”

Ashkenazi Jews generally have ancestors who settled in parts of Eastern Europe, and the majority of American Jews describe themselves as Ashkenazi.

Known for his track record of spouting debunked misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccinations, Kennedy’s comments echoes repeated antisemitic discourse that Jews engineered and spread the COVID-19 virus, according to the 2021 Antisemitism Worldwide Report by Tel Aviv University. Similar conspiracies about Jewish people and disease have been made for centuries.

Related: A Timeline of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Controversies

Kennedy’s comment about the virus as an “ethnic bioweapon” was also slammed as insensitive given the racist attacks against Asian Americans at the beginning of the pandemic by people who blamed Chinese people for the spread of the virus.

Ted Deutch, a former congressman and CEO of the American Jewish Committee, tweeted Saturday that Kennedy’s comments are “deeply offensive and incredibly dangerous.”

“Every aspect of his comments reflects some of the most abhorrent antisemitic conspiracy theories throughout history and contributes to today’s dangerous rise of antisemitism,” Deutch continued via Twitter.

Abraham Foxman, who worked as the head of the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights organization, told The New York Times that Kennedy’s comments perpetuate “antisemitic stereotypes going back to the Middle Ages that claimed Jews protected themselves from diseases.”

“It cannot be ignorance because he is not ignorant, so he must believe it,” Foxman told The New York Times.

The 2024 presidential hopeful responded to the backlash to his comments via Twitter in a lengthy video of a conversation with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, calling the insinuation that his comments were antisemitic “a disgusting fabrication.”

“I understand the emotional pain that these inaccurate distortions and fabrications have caused to many Jews who recall the blood libels of poison wells and the deliberate spread of disease as the pretext for genocidal programs against their ancestors,” Kennedy wrote in the tweet.

“My father and my uncles, John F. Kennedy and Senator Edward Kennedy, devoted enormous political energies during their careers to supporting Israel and fighting antisemitism. I intend to spend my political career making those family causes my priority," he continued.

Related: RFK Jr.’s Instagram Account Reinstated More than 2 Years After COVID-19 Misinformation Got Him Banned

Kennedy also cited a study from the Cleveland Clinic, which said the virus’ structure made Black and Caucasian people more susceptible, and “ethnic Chinese, Finns and Ashkenazi Jews” were less receptive. The July 2020 study did not mention any lower susceptibility for Chinese people and only stated that one receptor for the virus did not appear to be present in Amish and Ashkenazi Jews.

The ideas presented in the study — and in Kennedy’s comments — have been largely dismissed by scientists, and disparities in COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths among racial and ethnic groups have been attributed to differences in healthcare access and other health factors.

“Jewish or Chinese protease consensus sequences are not a thing in biochemistry, but they are in racism and antisemitism,” tweeted Angela Rasmussen, a prominent virologist at the University of Saskatchewan.

Related: Jessica Biel Lobbies with Anti-Vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Against New Vaccination Bill

The son of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy has previously had to respond to backlash from the Jewish community — and his own wife — after he compared vaccination requirements and COVID-19 restrictions to the plight of Jews in the Holocaust.

“Even in Hitler's Germany, you could cross the Alps to Switzerland. You could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did,” he said at an anti-vaccine rally in 2022. “Today the mechanisms are being put in place so none of us can run and none of us can hide.”

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Given his prior insensitive comments and conspiracy-pushing, the denouncement of his most recent comments from advocacy groups and political leaders was swift.

The Anti-Defamation League condemned Kennedy’s "ethnic targeting" remarks via a statement to multiple outlets, saying, “The claim that COVID-19 was a bioweapon created by the Chinese or Jews to attack Caucasians and Black people is deeply offensive and feeds into sinophobic and antisemitic conspiracy theories about COVID-19 that we have seen evolve over the last three years.”

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