(UnitedHeadlines.com) – Robert F Kennedy Jr., 70, apologized after an ad aired before the Super Bowl halftime show Feb. 11 that was similar to one used by former President John F. Kennedy, his uncle, in his 1960 presidential campaign.
The ad, created by the American Values 2024 Super PAC that supports Kennedy Jr.’s presidential bid, spliced images of Kennedy Jr. into the original ad from 1960 and repeated the Kennedy name 15 times in the 30-second ad.
The original ad portrayed his uncle, the youngest president ever elected, as having a balance of youth and experience, with the remade ad repeating the same lines about being “old enough to know and young enough to do?”
According to American Values 2024 co-founder Tony Lyons, the Super Bowl ad cost $7 million.
On Twitter, one of his cousins, Bobby Shriver, criticized the ad, his cousin and the use of Shriver’s mother in the ad. He stated his mother and sister of former President Kennedy, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, “would be appalled” by his cousin’s “deadly health care views.”
Bobby Shriver’s brother, Mark, also shared the post, writing that he agreed with his brother.
Kennedy Jr. responded with an apology to his family about the ad, stating it was “created and aired” by the Super PAC and was done “without any involvement or approval” from his campaign, which he added is against the rules of the Federal Election Commission.
Despite his apology, the ad was still pinned at the top of Kennedy Jr.’s Twitter page on Feb. 12 and, in a statement to CBS News, Kennedy Jr.’s Campaign spokesperson Stefanie Spear said his campaign was “pleasantly surprised and grateful” to the Super PAC for the ad.
An environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine activist, Kennedy Jr. is running for president in November as an independent. Polls show that he trails President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
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