Robert Kennedy Jr. Apologizes to Family for PAC’s JFK-Style Campaign Ad During Super Bowl

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. apologized Sunday night to his family for any “pain” that a Super Bowl political advertisement – which was nearly identical to an ad from President John F. Kennedy’s 1960 campaign – caused them.

The ad, which was bought and paid for by the pro-Kennedy American Values 2024 super PAC and not his campaign, features images of the younger Kennedy where pictures of his uncle were in the 1960 ad, as ABC News noted.

Triumphant music begins the commercial, as narrators repeatedly sing the name “Kennedy” and declare, “Kennedy for me.”

“Do you want a man for president who’s seasoned through and through? A man who’s old enough to know and young enough to do? Well, it’s up to you, it’s up to you, it’s strictly up to you,” the jingle continues.

After the ad aired, Kennedy Jr. caught the ire of his cousin Bobby Shriver.

“My cousin’s Super Bowl ad used our uncle’s faces- and my Mother’s. She would be appalled by his deadly health care views,” Shriver wrote of his late mother, Eunice Shriver, Kennedy Jr.’s paternal aunt. “Respect for science, vaccines, & health care equity were in her DNA. She strongly supported my health care work at  @ONECampaign & @RED which he opposes.”

Kennedy, who Politico has called the “black sheep” of his family, responded with an apology for the “pain” the video may have caused Shriver but emphasized the super PAC was behind it, and he was unaware it planned to run the commercial as campaigns cannot coordinate with super PACs under federal election law.

“Bobby. I’m so sorry if that advertisement caused you pain. The ad was created and aired by the American Values Superpac without any involvement or approvals from my campaign,” he wrote.

He later posted a general apology to his family at large to his X account, although he has pinned the advertisement to the top of his page.

The YouTube account @tvdays appears to have published the original ad from the 1960 campaign to the platform more than a decade ago, with the same jingle:

ABC News reports the 30-second ad spot ran $7 million.

“RFK Jr. offers us real change along with freedom, trust and hope. Like his uncle and his father, Kennedy is a corruption-fighter, and it’s no wonder the DNC is trying every old trick and inventing new tricks to stop him,” American Values 2024 co-chair Tony Lyons said in a statement to the outlet. “The public sees through it all and won’t stand for it.”