Robert F. Kennedy Jr. apologized on Sunday evening after a well-funded tremendous PAC backing his unbiased presidential marketing campaign ran an advert in the course of the Super Bowl that intently resembled a spot supporting John F. Kennedy, his uncle, throughout his 1960 bid for the White House.
The advert, which the tremendous PAC’s co-founder stated value $7 million, featured the identical jingle and the identical cheerful cartoons interspersed with candid pictures of the candidate, into which the youthful Mr. Kennedy’s face was superimposed.
Some of Mr. Kennedy’s relations, a lot of whom have denounced him due to his promotion of unsubstantiated theories about vaccines and different issues, rapidly criticized him over the advert.
Bobby Shriver, a nephew of John F. Kennedy, stated on X: “My cousin’s Super Bowl ad used our uncle’s faces — and my Mother’s. She would be appalled by his deadly health care views. Respect for science, vaccines, & health care equity were in her DNA.” His brother Mark Shriver wrote that he agreed.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. himself, who has invoked his storied political household and its legacy all through his candidacy, quickly responded.
“I’m so sorry if the Super Bowl advertisement caused anyone in my family pain,” he wrote on X on Sunday evening. “The ad was created and aired by the American Values Super PAC without any involvement or approval from my campaign. F.E.C. rules prohibit Super PACs from consulting with me or my staff. I love you all. God bless you.”
Separately, the Democratic National Committee filed a grievance on Friday accusing him and the tremendous PAC of unlawful coordination.
Mr. Kennedy is operating for president as an unbiased, having left the Democratic Party in October, arguing that the Democratic major system was rigged in opposition to him. His candidacy has frightened many Democrats who concern that Mr. Kennedy — an environmental lawyer who has turn into a outstanding purveyor of conspiracy theories — may siphon votes away from President Biden.
The tremendous PAC has heightened suspicions about Mr. Kennedy’s base of assist. A considerable portion of the PAC’s funding, about $15 million, got here from Timothy Mellon, a Republican who has additionally given $10 million to an excellent PAC backing former President Donald J. Trump.
“It’s fitting that the first national ad promoting Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s candidacy was bought and paid for by Donald Trump’s largest donor this cycle,” stated Alex Floyd, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee. “R.F.K. Jr. is nothing more than a Trump stalking horse in this race.”
Super Bowl advertisements are sometimes heavy on nostalgia. Commercials on Sunday evening featured classic Volkswagen footage, a “Scrubs” reunion, and Ben Affleck and Matt Damon in Boston.
But the Kennedy advert — which took about 36 hours to supply, in line with the tremendous PAC’s co-founder, Tony Lyons — hit a special notice. While John F. Kennedy was operating in 1960 as a 43-year-old Democrat, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is 70 years previous and operating as an unbiased — a self-described spoiler. (Despite Mr. Kennedy’s age, the advert nonetheless portrays him as youthful and athletic, together with a shot of him on skis.)
Mr. Kennedy has repeatedly confronted blowback from his household over his views.
In July, the previous president’s grandson, Jack Schlossberg, posted a video calling Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s marketing campaign “an embarrassment,” saying he was “trading in on Camelot, celebrity conspiracy theories and conflict for personal gain and fame.”
The Super Bowl advert acquired a combined reception on the social media platform X. Ben Shapiro, a right-wing author, known as it “shockingly politically astute.”
Robert Shrum, a longtime Democratic political advisor who labored with former Senator Edward M. Kennedy, wrote: “This RFK Jr. Super Bowl ad is a straight out plagiarism of JFK ad from 1960. What a fraud — and to quote Lloyd Bentsen with a slight amendment: ‘Bobby, you’re no John Kennedy.’ Instead you are a Trump ally.”
Source: www.nytimes.com