Podcast by RFK Jr. to be produced in-house at HHS |
Podcast by RFK Jr. to be produced in-house at HHS
RFK Jr. launching his own podcast
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is launching his own podcast which he says will focus on “telling the truth, especially when it’s uncomfortable.”
“For decades now, Americans have been told that we should trust the system, but our children are sicker. Chronic disease is exploding, and the answers that we’ve been given aren’t working. Many of us have come to the conclusion that government actually lies to us,” Kennedy said in a video posted on the social platform X.
According to an HHS official, the podcast is being produced inside the department.
“The Secretary Kennedy Podcast will provide a direct platform to engage with the public on the health issues that matter most to American families, from chronic disease and nutrition to food quality and health care costs, while bringing radical transparency to the conversations shaping those issues,” HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said in a statement to The Hill.
Kennedy is a regular on the podcast circuit, appearing on popular shows like “The Joe Rogan Experience,” “Club Random with Bill Maher” and “This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von.”
On these shows, Kennedy often speaks with hosts more sympathetic to his views or less willing to challenge his arguments, though hosts like Maher have pushed back on the secretary on multiple occasions.
According to Lawrence Gostin, director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, the appeal of podcasting for individuals like Kennedy is the absence of scientific knowledge.
“The reason he goes on those podcasts is because it gives him a platform where he isn’t constrained by agency scientists or isn’t constrained by evidence, and can talk from his personal opinion,” said Gostin.
“He wants to have it both ways. He wants it to be an official HHS platform with him as the secretary, but he wants to be able to pontificate on any subject, irrespective of what federal scientific agencies say or what the evidence shows,” Gostin said of Kennedy’s upcoming podcast.
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