Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on June 2, 2023. Photo by y Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

By Jacob Kornbluh July 6, 2023

Political scion and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — and his anti-vaccine group — appear to be followers of a fringe Internet streamer known for promoting conspiracy theories about 9/11 and the 2021 Sandy Hook massacre as well as antisemitic claims about the Holocaust.

According to a report by Media Matters, a nonprofit group that monitors news outlets, Kennedy appeared on James Corbett’s show in 2021 and thanked him for what he deemed his “extraordinary work for keeping the public informed.” Corbett has also been featured in multiple videos and recently spoke at a symposium hosted by Kennedy’s anti-vaccine group, Children’s Health Defense, which has promoted falsehoods about vaccine safety.

Kennedy, 69, the son of former U.S Attorney General Robert Kennedy and nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy, is challenging President Joe Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination. He is polling around 20% among Democratic primary voters and has drawn support from libertarians and some in the tech world for his views on censorship and vaccines. 

The presidential candidate has a history of comparing vaccine and mask mandates to the Holocaust. Last month, Kennedy came under fire for tweeting his support for Roger Waters, the former Pink Floyd frontman known for his anti-Israel views, who dressed up as an SS soldier and used Holocaust imagery at a recent concert in Berlin. He later deleted the tweet. 

Kennedy’s group hosted Corbett at a March 4 symposium, in a session titled, “The Future Food False Flags.”

Corbett claimed in a 2013 broadcast that Adolf Hitler was a member of the Rothschilds, a Jewish banking family and the target of antisemitic conspiracy theories. He also said, “Hitler and the Nazis were 100% completely and utterly set up and made it into what they were by the international banking community and the international crony capitalists, including those in America.”

He produced a video titled “9/11 Suspects: Dancing Israelis,” that claimed Israeli intelligence had advanced knowledge of the attacks and openly celebrated them. 

Media Matters revealed last month that Children’s Health Defense sought support from users of Gab, a social media platform that caters to far-right extremists and circulates antisemitic tropes, and engaged with its founder, Andrew Torba, who has shared his antisemitic beliefs and anti-Jewish conspiracy theories on the site.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount