Michael Patrick Leahy, the CEO and Editor-in-Chief of The Tennessee Star, said Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recently-told story involving a deceased bear cub will be the “end of his campaign,” explaining how the story is a glimpse into the candidate’s troubling “personal behavior.”
On Sunday, Kennedy posted a video on X of him telling the story involving the bear cub to actress Roseanne Barr.
Looking forward to seeing how you spin this one, @NewYorker… pic.twitter.com/G13taEGzba
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) August 4, 2024
Kennedy said in 2014, he dumped a dead black bear cub and staged it to be under an old bicycle in New York City’s Central Park.
The bear, which attracted media headlines at the time, was hit by a woman driving in front of Kennedy, who said he proceeded to pull over and put the bear in the back of his van.
Kennedy said he intended to skin the bear, but did not have the time to drive the animal back to his home before attending to other obligations.
The presidential candidate said since he wasn’t able to transport the bear back to his home, he and a group of people “who were drinking” thought it would be a funny idea to put the bear under an old bicycle in Central Park.
“The bear was in my car and I didn’t want to leave the bear in the car because that would have been bad. So, then I thought you know at that time this was the little bit of the redneck me. There’d been a series of bicycle accidents in New York they had just put in the bike lanes and so a couple of people were getting killed and it was every day and people badly injured every day it was in the press,” Kennedy said in the video posted to X.
“I wasn’t drinking, of course, but people were drinking with me who thought this was a good idea…I said let’s go put the bear in Central Park and we’ll make it look like it got hit by a bike,” Kennedy added.
Leahy (pictured here), who attended Harvard University with Kennedy back in 1974, said the candidate’s involvement with the dead bear cub is “very bizarre behavior.”
“This is so bad. This is so bad. I think this is the end of his campaign,” Leahy said on Monday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
“Who does that? This is a kind of ridiculous thing that somebody with very bad judgment does,” Leahy added.
Leahy went on to add that Kennedy’s initial action of putting the bear in the back of his van in the suburbs of New York was “weird.”
“He’s driving along the Hudson Freeway and a woman hits a bear cub and kills it. If you’re driving along there and somebody hits a bear cub, the last thing you do is take the bear cub and put it in your trunk or the back of your van. Who does that? A very weird person,” Leahy said.
“He’s not in Appalachia. He’s in the suburbs of New York City. He puts a bear cub [in his van] and then he decides, ‘Oh, yeah, I’m going to take this dead bear cub and put him in Central Park, because that’ll be funny.’ This guy wants to be President of the United States? Let’s just say, he’s lost the Winnie the Pooh vote,” Leahy added.
Watch the full segment:
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “RFK and Roseanne” by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
It was 10 years ago when he was 60.
Oh for goodness sakes! He did NOT kill the bear. AND it was THIRTY years ago. He wanted to salvage what he could from its already dead carcase. Brought up to be thrifty? Why not?
Putting it in Central Park is just the kind of prank that college kids do. Totally harmless. Let’s not start condemning people for silly jokes.
(I would not vote for this man, but I hate to see the thought police jump all over him over a harmless prank.)
I sense the announcement of the RFK Jr. – Kristi Noem ticket.