This is Totally Normal Quote of the Day, a feature highlighting a statement from the news that exemplifies just how extremely normal everything has become.
“I’m so sorry if the Super Bowl advertisement caused anyone in my family pain.” —Robert F. Kennedy Jr., writing on X at 8:30 p.m. Monday
If you’d happened to look at the X account of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. an hour into the Super Bowl, you would have seen hints that he was playing on the country’s nostalgia for the heyday of his family’s political power.
“The Super Bowl always reminds me of playing football with my parents and siblings growing up,” his account posted, with accompanying black-and-white photos of the Kennedy children playing football with Robert F. Kennedy Sr.
That turned out to be something of a teaser: Roughly half an hour later, amid commercials for Doritos and TurboTax, a rather unconventional ad for Kennedy aired. The spot essentially stole the format of John F. Kennedy’s 1960 political ads, with a cheerful jingle and vintage illustrations, and superimposed photos of his 70-year-old nephew.
RFK Jr. seemed pleased with the ad, which he had not produced. He retweeted praise for it, including a post from Ben Shapiro calling it “shockingly politically astute.”
An hour later, though, Bobby Shriver, another one of JFK’s nephews, weighed in. “My cousin’s Super Bowl ad used our uncle’s faces—and my Mother’s,” he wrote on X. “She would be appalled by his deadly health care views. Respect for science, vaccines, & health care equity were in her DNA.” Bobby’s brother Mark Shriver co-signed the sentiment.
Two hours later, RFK responded in a comment on the post.
Bobby. I’m so sorry if that advertisement caused you pain. The ad was created and aired by the American Values Superpac without any involvement or approvals from my campaign. Federal rules prohibit Superpacs from consulting with me or my staff. I send you and your family my sincerest apologies. God bless you.
In a separate post, he reiterated his apology.
I’m so sorry if the Super Bowl advertisement caused anyone in my family pain. The ad was created and aired by the American Values Super PAC without any involvement or approval from my campaign. FEC rules prohibit Super PACs from consulting with me or my staff. I love you all. God bless you.
It’s true that the 30-second ad, which cost $7 million to air during the game, was funded by the American Values super PAC, which is bankrolled largely by Tony Lyons, a Republican donor and publisher of “canceled” books. (The Democratic National Committee has accused Kennedy and the super PAC of illegally coordinating to get him on state ballots.) So it’s true that Kennedy himself didn’t make the ad. But the apology fell flat, given that the ad remains pinned atop his X account page.
It’s not as if unpinning the tweet would have done much, though, realistically. A good chunk of his family does appear to genuinely dislike him, so it seems unlikely that RFK Jr. was going to repair any relationships with a simple apology.
As of this writing, the RealClearPolitics polling average shows RFK Jr. pulling 13 percent of the popular vote against Donald Trump and Joe Biden. In the same polling average, Trump leads Biden by 4.8 points. With Kennedy’s strangely strong showing as a potential spoiler candidate, his Democratic family members might be wishing that he instead had asked what else he might do for his country.
