RFK Jr. Sparks Outrage With Fabricated Thanksgiving Photo Amidst Family Health Crisis
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faces renewed criticism following his digital manipulation of a well-known image depicting a McDonald's meal aboard Air Force One.
On Thursday, November 27, the incumbent Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services disseminated a celebratory, yet obviously modified, photograph to mark Thanksgiving.
RFK Jr. accompanied his X post with the caption, “Happy Thanksgiving!” The post included a visibly manipulated picture showing the secretary alongside President Donald Trump, previous adviser Elon Musk, Donald Trump Jr., and sitting House Speaker Mike Johnson, all depicted inside Air Force One.
The original photograph, circulated in 2024 following the presidential election, showed the individuals gathered around a table laden with McDonald's fare. In the retouched version posted by RFK Jr. on Thanksgiving, the fast food was replaced by traditional holiday dishes, such as a turkey, Brussels sprouts, corn, a generous serving of mashed potatoes, cranberries, pumpkin pie, and other festive items.
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Many internet users swiftly condemned the secretary for disseminating an obviously manipulated picture, drawing parallels to his widely disputed public health statements, specifically the thoroughly discredited claim connecting vaccines to autism.
“As fabricated as your medical expertise,” one person commented on X.
“Next time, use an authentic photo, not one created with software,” another user posted on the platform. “This perfectly illustrates why individuals doubt reality. Who can be trusted?”
“How peculiar… What is the purpose of your existence?” yet another commenter questioned.
This manipulated image and the subsequent online backlash emerged just days after RFK Jr.'s cousin, Tatiana Schlossberg, disclosed her diagnosis with an incurable type of cancer, being given approximately one year to live at the age of 35.
“I simply couldn't — and wouldn't – accept that the conversation was about me,” she penned in an article for The New Yorker released on November 23. “The day prior, I had completed a mile swim while nine months pregnant. I wasn't ill. I didn't perceive myself as sick. In fact, I considered myself among the healthiest individuals I knew. I had a son I cherished above all else and a newborn requiring my care.”
The mother of two — sharing a 3-year-old son and a 1-year-old daughter with her spouse, George Moran — also expressed disapproval of her cousin's anti-vaccine assertions, contending that his vaccine conspiracy theories and related public policies are detrimental to individuals such as herself, even as she underwent cancer treatment in the hospital.
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“In August 2024, he halted his campaign and backed Donald Trump, who stated his intention to ‘let Bobby go wild’ regarding health matters,” Schlossberg recounted concerning her cousin. “My mother penned a letter to the Senate, attempting to prevent his confirmation; my brother had been vocally opposing his falsehoods for several months. From my hospital bed, I observed Bobby's confirmation to the role, defying both logic and common sense, despite his complete lack of experience in medicine, public health, or governmental service.”
The writer subsequently described perceiving the entire healthcare infrastructure as “overwhelmed [and] unstable” precisely when she depended on continuous, intensive care.
RFK Jr. has not, as of yet, publicly addressed his cousin’s incurable diagnosis or the ensuing critiques.
