Super Bowl ad for RFK Jr. stirs Democratic and family tension over his independent White House bid

Robert Kennedy Jr.'s presidential ambitions cause family drama after a Super Bowl ad compares him to JFK.

Robert Kennedy Jr.’s presidential ambitions resulted in public family drama after a political action committee aired a Super Bowl ad invoking the Democratic family’s legacy to implicitly compare the independent candidate to his assassinated uncle, President John F. Kennedy.

The 30-second spot, financed by the American Values 2024 Super PAC that is backing Kennedy, featured a shortened version of a campaign song that the 35th president used in his 1960 campaign. The spot also mimicked cartoon and newsreel effects using black-and-white pictures of Robert Kennedy Jr. similar to JFK. But in a notable departure from the Kennedy's bygone Democratic Party dynasty, the ad urged Americans to “Vote Independent.”

After the game, Mr. Kennedy responded to online criticism, including from one of his cousins, emphasising that his campaign did not produce the spot, which cost an estimated $7 million. “I’m so sorry if the Super Bowl advertisement caused anyone in my family pain,” he wrote late February 11 night on X, formerly Twitter. “The ad was created and aired by the American Values Super PAC without any involvement or approval from my campaign.”

However, Mr. Kennedy has the ad pinned to the top of his X profile. “Our momentum is growing,” he wrote. “It’s time for an Independent President to heal the divide in our country.”

Bobby Shriver, whose mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founded the Special Olympics, hammered his cousin over the spot and his opposition to vaccines for Covid-19 and other diseases. “My cousin’s Super Bowl ad used our uncle’s faces- and my Mother’s,” Mr. Shriver wrote. “She would be appalled by his deadly health care views. Respect for science, vaccines, & health care equity were in her DNA.”

Mr. Shriver, whose father, Sargent Shriver, founded the Peace Corps, also alluded to his own work in expanding health care access in the developing world.

Robert Kennedy Jr. responded separately to his cousin: “Bobby. I’m so sorry if that advertisement caused you pain...I send you and your family my sincerest apologies. God bless you.”