Bill Maher tore into Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after his disastrous testimony before the Senate this week.
“The knives are out for Bobby Kennedy, and I gotta say … I’m with the knives,” the HBO comedian said on Real Time With Bill Maher before playing a series of clips in which Kennedy lashed out at difficult questions from senators.
“Poor Bobby—he talked so long he gained his voice," the comic added in reference to the secretary’s voice. Kennedy has been diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia, a rare neurological condition that results in painful vocal cord spasms and a strained, hoarse voice.
Senators from both sides of the aisle grilled Kennedy over a slew of high-profile firings at the nation’s leading public health agency, including former Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director Susan Monarez; his decision to limit access to COVID-19 vaccines; and cancelling mRNA research—changes he’s described as “absolutely necessary” to reform the body.
Over three barely watchable hours, Kennedy repeatedly contradicted both himself and established facts about the pandemic—in particular, the U.S. death toll as well as how many lives the vaccine saved—while shrugging off an open letter from more than 1,000 current and former Health and Human Services (HHS) employees condemning his “reckless disregard for science and truth.”
Kennedy’s own family members, including his sister, Kerry Kennedy, and cousin, Joe Kennedy III, have joined in growing calls for him to resign, describing him as “misguided,” “incompetent,” and “a threat to the health and well-being of every American.”
Maher had prefaced his savaging of Kennedy on Friday by making further digs at a new executive order signed by President Donald Trump earlier in the day, which reverted the name of the Department of Defense to its former title of the “Department of War,” held between 1789 and 1947, the
Summarizing some of the other significant developments in global politics from the past week, Maher told his audience that “to recap, China had the scariest military parade ever, and America is changing our stationery.”
He further quipped the Justice Department will now be referred to as the “Bureau of Revenge,” that the State Department has been redubbed “marco.rubio@aol,” and that amid Secretary Kennedy’s much-panned reform of the agency, the CDC would henceforth be known by the title of “Disease.”
A HHS spokesperson told the Daily Beast that “Secretary Kennedy remains laser-focused on gold-standard science, radical transparency, and addressing the country’s chronic disease epidemic” and that “social media noise and coordinated attacks from special interest groups will not deter Secretary Kennedy from achieving President Trump’s mandate to Make America Healthy Again.”
