Just when you thought U.S. politics couldn’t get any stranger (the presidential debate was only last week), a new story emerges that somehow outdoes the bizarreness of its predecessor.
This time, the story comes courtesy of Independent presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr., whose recent profile in a Vanity Fair article has raised more than a few eyebrows. The profile, which was published by Vanity Fair on July 2, revealed that RFK Jr. had texted a photo last year to a friend that showed him and an unidentified woman holding what appears to be a barbecued dog.
Unsurprisingly, the photo has prompted outrage online, resulting in responses from both veterinarians and RFK Jr. himself. It’s a puzzling and disturbing development in the presidential race, but is any of it true?
Did RFK Jr. actually barbecue a dog?
The Vanity Fair article argues that the barbecued animal pictured alongside RFK Jr. is, in fact, a dog. After sourcing the image, the outlet spoke to a veterinarian who said the skeleton was consistent with that of a canine, specifically mentioning its 13 pairs of ribs and the telltale “floating rib” found in dogs.
Making matters worse for RFK Jr., Vanity Fair found that the picture was texted last year to a friend who was visiting Asia, with the presidential candidate suggesting they might enjoy a Korean restaurant that serves dog on the menu. It was also revealed via metadata that the photo was taken in 2010, the same year RFK Jr. was diagnosed with a parasitic tapeworm, which can arise after eating raw or undercooked meats.
While this context seems to suggest the animal was a dog, RFK Jr. has fiercely denied the allegations. Responding to the article in an interview on Breaking Points, RFK Jr. described the profile as “garbage,” and claimed the pictured animal was actually a goat he’d eaten while in Patagonia.
He doubled-down on the goat claim on social media, refusing the claims of the veterinarians and metadata and writing on X that Vanity Fair has “joined the ranks of supermarket tabloids.” It wasn’t the only bombshell allegation in the profile, with Vanity Fair also detailing an alleged instance of sexual assault at the hands of RFK Jr., and speaking with family members about his years of heroin abuse.
What does it have to do with Kristi Noem?
The furore over the photo has involved more than just RFK Jr., with legions of social media users sharing their outrage while also connecting it to a recent story about Trump’s vice presidential candidate, Kristi Noem.
That case unfortunately also involves a dog, and came to light in April when Noem confusingly admitted to killing her family’s puppy in her book No Going Back: The Truth on What’s Wrong with Politics and How We Move America Forward.
Noem recounted the story over multiple pages, claiming her female dog Cricket had misbehaved, and revealing she shot the animal after it had ruined a hunt.
Perhaps the consensus should be that any aspiring politicians should be banned from being near dogs — or any animal, for that matter.