‘Used to snort cocaine off toilet seat’: RFK Jr’s bizarre confession on drug abuse | WATCH
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Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Photograph: (AFP)
US HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. revealed on a podcast that he once “snorted cocaine off a toilet seat,” saying he wasn’t afraid of COVID germs. His remarks sparked backlash online, with critics questioning his role in public health leadership.
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday (Feb 12) made a bizarre confession related to his history of substance abuse during a recent episode of the podcast ‘This Past Weekend’. Detailing going to recovery meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic, Kennedy said that he was “not scared” of germs because he used to “snort cocaine off toilet seat.”
“They shut [the rehabilitation meetings] down during Covid,” Kennedy told podcaster Theo Von. “We still did live meetings every day during Covid, but it was kind of a pirate group... I said, ‘I don’t care what happens. I’m going to a meeting every day.’”
He added, “I said, ‘I’m not scared of a germ.’ You know, I used to snort cocaine off a toilet seat, and I know this disease [addiction] will kill me, right? If I don’t treat it, which means, for me, going to meetings every day. It’s just bad for my life. So for me, it was survival.”
Kennedy has a family history of substance abuse and has been public about his addiction to heroin. Last year in April, he recalled how his addiction started at the age of 15 after trying LSD.
Kennedy’s recent remarks come a month after he announced $100 million of funding for new grants as part of a pilot program targeting homelessness and substance use recovery in eight American cities following US President Donald Trump’s signing of an executive order titled ‘The Great American Recovery Initiative’.
Social media reacts
Kennedy’s candidness about his past use of drugs did not sit well with social media users.
“For some reason I don’t trust this guy on public health,” wrote Malcolm Kenyatta, a Democratic Rep. from Pennsylvania. Another user said, “How does anyone take this administration seriously?”
“Crazy that America has its health policy set by a guy who snorted cocaine off of toilet seats,” one person said.
“He needs to be arrested for admitting to being a criminal. If one admits to murder, they should be prosecuted. Same should go for cocaine too,” another user said in comments.
