An explosive new profile of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. accuses the presidential hopeful of sexually assaulting a former babysitter and features a photo that appears to show him posing with a barbecued dog.
Those are just some of the alarming claims made by Joe Hagan, a special correspondent for Vanity Fair, in a lengthy article published Tuesday about the independent presidential candidate.
The story suggests that while Kennedy Jr.’s siblings are “furious” and “heartbroken” over his candidacy, “even they may not know his darkest secrets.”
Those secrets include what the magazine claims is the diary entry of a woman hired as a part-time babysitter by the Kennedy family in 1998. The then-23-year-old woman accused Kennedy Jr. of rubbing her leg under a table, and later groping her while she was in his kitchen.
The story also gives more details about Kennedy Jr.’s past substance abuse issues, which is something he speaks openly about.
Hagan references an incident in which a “cavalier” Kennedy Jr. once did lines of cocaine in front of a reporter who was writing a book about the family, as well as an airplane overdose in 1983.
But perhaps the most shocking detail in the story is a now-viral photograph of the 70-year-old politician and anti-vaccine activist posing next to an unidentified woman with what appears to be the remains of a cooked dog.
The photograph was taken in 2010, Hagan writes, citing the digital file’s metadata.
Last year, Kennedy Jr. reportedly texted the disturbing image to a friend who was traveling to Asia, saying the person would probably enjoy a restaurant in Korea that had dog meat on the menu.
In a live interview streamed on YouTube early Tuesday afternoon, Kennedy Jr. slammed the article as “a lot of garbage” and said the picture was not of a dog, but of a goat which he ate in Patagonia.
According to Vanity Fair, a veterinarian confirmed the carcass was indeed of a dog, “pointing to the 13 pairs of ribs, which include the tell-tale ‘floating rib’ found in dogs.”
Kennedy Jr.’s campaign declined to comment on the allegations. Instead, a spokesperson pointed at a post shared on X in which the candidate says Vanity Fair has “joined the ranks of supermarket tabloids.”
“The DNC media’s garbage pail journalism may distract us from President Biden’s cognitive deficits but it does little to elevate the national debate or reduce the price of groceries,” he wrote next to the photo used by the magazine.