Robert F Kennedy Jr. has told podcaster Theo Von that he is “not scared” of germs because he used to “snort cocaine off toilet seats.”
The health secretary made the remarks during a recent episode of ‘This Past Weekend’, in which the pair discussed their shared history of drug addiction, which Kennedy has been candid about in the past. He detailed going to recovery meetings during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“They shut [the rehabilitation meetings] down during Covid,” Kennedy said. “We still did live meetings every day during Covid, but it was kind of a pirate group… I said, ‘I don’t care what happens. I’m going to a meeting every day.’
“I said, ‘I’m not scared of a germ.’ You know, I used to snort cocaine off a toilet seat, and I know this disease [addiction] will kill me, right? If I don’t treat it, which means, for me, going to meetings every day. It’s just bad for my life. So for me, it was survival.”
Kennedy has a family history of substance abuse and has spoken publicly about his addiction to heroin. Last April he recounted how he met the path of addiction at the age of 15-years-old after trying LSD.
The comments come after the health secretary announced $100 million of funding for new grants as part of a pilot program targeting homelessness and substance use recovery in eight cities earlier this month.
The funding followed on from an executive order signed by President Donald Trump, titled “The Great American Recovery Initiative,” late last month.
Social media users were unimpressed by Kennedy’s candidness over his prior experiences with using drugs in bathrooms. “It shows,” wrote the official X account of New York Governor Kathy Hochul in response to the clip.
“For some reason I don’t trust this guy on public health,” wrote Malcolm Kenyatta, a Democratic Rep. from Pennsylvania, while another social media user added: “The man who oversees our nation’s major health agencies.”
Elsewhere in the podcast Von mentioned that he had recently seen Kennedy with musician Kid Rock in Nashville, Tennessee, and said he had also heard stories of the MAGA acolyte snorting cocaine while eating oysters.
“Yeah, I’m saving a seat for him still [at rehabilitation meetings],” Kennedy replied.
