Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is facing accusations of antisemitism and racism after reportedly repeating unsubstantiated conspiracy theories linking COVID-19 to Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people.
According to audio obtained by the New York Post, Kennedy claimed during a press event at an Upper East Side restaurant last week that COVID-19 was a genetically engineered bioweapon that could have been “ethnically targeted” to prevent deaths of Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people.
“There is an argument that it is ethnically targeted. COVID-19 attacks certain races disproportionately,” Kennedy reportedly said. “COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.”
“We don’t know whether it was deliberately targeted or not but there are papers out there that show the racial or ethnic differential and impact,” Kennedy added, according to the Post.
Kennedy’s remarks met fierce backlash from members of his party.
Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison tweeted that Kennedy’s remarks did not reflect the views of the party.
“These are deeply troubling comments and I want to make clear that they do not represent the views of the Democratic Party,” Harrison said.
“Hard to imagine a son who has done more to dishonor his father’s name than RFK Jr.,” Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) tweeted.
And Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said on Twitter that Kennedy’s comments represented “Vile antisemitic tropes and Sinophobia” and insulted “countless families who lost loved ones to the virus.”
The Anti-Defamation League, meanwhile, slammed the remarks in a statement, writing, “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 anti-semitic conspiracy theories about COVID-19 that we have seen evolve over the last three years.”
After the criticism, Kennedy said on Twitter that the Post’s report was “mistaken” and he “never, ever suggested that the COVID-19 virus was targeted to spare Jews.”
“I do not believe and never implied that the ethnic effect was deliberately engineered,” Kennedy added.
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RFK Jr. accused of antisemitism, racism after remarks about COVID, Ashkenazi Jews - The Hill
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