Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Sunday apologized for a campaign ad run by a political action committee supporting him during Sunday's Super Bowl that pulled from the 1960 campaign for his uncle, former president John F. Kennedy.
Kennedy, who is an independent, issued the apology following condemnation of the ad — which was disseminated by American Values 2024 — from his cousins Mark and Bobby Shriver, sons of Eunice Kennedy Shriver.
"I'm so sorry if the Super Bowl advertisement caused anyone in my family pain," Kennedy wrote on X/Twitter on Sunday night. "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."
Despite Kennedy's apology, however, the ad is still pinned to his account as of Monday afternoon.
As Mediaite noted, the ad sampled the "Kennedy For Me" theme that JFK used in his own campaign.
"My cousin’s Super Bowl ad used our uncle’s faces- and my Mother’s," Bobby Shriver tweeted on Sunday night. "She would be appalled by his deadly health care views. Respect for science, vaccines, & health care equity were in her DNA. She strongly supported my health care work at @ONECampaign & @RED which he opposes." Mark Shriver concurred with his brother's assessment, writing, "I agree with my brother @bobbyshriver simple as that." Kennedy is known for his strong anti-vaccine views and advancement of various conspiracy theories.
The Democratic National Committee on Friday filed a Federal Election Commission complaint against Kennedy's campaign and the American Values 2024 PAC, claiming that Kennedy is improperly benefiting from the PAC's efforts to see him on state ballots. The Kennedy campaign is "in the process of accepting a $15 million unlawful in-kind contribution by coordinating their efforts to get him on the ballot," DNC legal counsel Bob Lenhard said on a call Friday announcing the FEC complaint, per NBC News. "Rather than doing that hard work itself, using money raised in compliance with the candidate contribution limits, the campaign is taking a shortcut, outsourcing what is otherwise a core campaign function to a super PAC," Lenhard added. In response, American Values 2024 co-chair Tony Lyons said "the DNC wants to deny millions of people their basic constitutional voting rights in a relentless onslaught against democracy. This FEC complaint is just another of desperate DNC tactic to defame Kennedy, vilify him and drain his campaign funds. The American people are too smart to be fooled by these political games." Kennedy in his own statement claimed that the DNC "is in no position to assert morality over anyone — they refused to have a primary and have worked against the will of the people in the past few elections."
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