As RFK Jr. attempts to lean on his family’s civil rights legacy and pitch himself as the continuation of that record, he is finding it hard to hide from his past. Now, in a new interview with Tasha K., he doubled down on racist rhetoric, tried to justify his past actions, and showed no remorse when confronted about a story published this week in TheGrio. 

Reporting on Thursday from TheGrio examined how RFK Jr. falsely accused two innocent men of color of the murder of a white woman in order to exonerate his white cousin who was convicted of the crime. Just like Donald Trump and the Central Park Five, RFK Jr. tried to ruin these men’s lives. In the process, RFK Jr. raked in money from book and TV deals while peddling racist stereotypes.  

In response, DNC Chair Jaime Harrison released the following statement: 

“Not only did RFK Jr. falsely accuse two men of color of murder, he’s now doubling down on racist rhetoric in his spoiler campaign for the presidency. His racist rhetoric was wrong when he first used it, and it’s worse now that he continues to lean into racist stereotypes like calling Black men ‘gangsters.’ RFK Jr. continues to show no remorse for his actions and just like Donald Trump, he is dangerous for the Black community and dangerous for America.”

CLIP AND TRANSCRIPT: 

[15:42:00] 

RFK Jr.: “And, and these two guys were kind of big, athletic, and they were kind of gangsters. One of them was white. One of them was Black. And Tony started bringing these kids up to Greenwich on weekends. And he was the one who introduced, um, these boys to Martha Moxley, to the girl. And then on Halloween Eve, he went up with them and they told him on the train on the way up here, ‘We’re going to get her and we’re going to rape her, and we’re going to we’re going to take her caveman style. We’re going to drag her in the woods and knock her on the head.’  And, um, and that’s what they did.” 

BACKGROUND: As RFK Jr. attempts to lean on his family’s history of strong civil rights leadership and pitch himself as the continuation of that legacy, he is finding it hard to hide from his past. Reporting from TheGrio examines how RFK Jr. falsely accused two innocent men – one of them Black, and one of them mixed race– of murdering a white woman to exonerate his white cousin who was convicted of the crime. Just like Donald Trump and the Central Park Five, RFK Jr. tried to ruin these men’s lives. In the process, RFK Jr. raked in money from book and TV deals while peddling racist stereotypes.