'F**king Idiot': Critics Rip Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Over Bonkers Mass Shooting Remarks
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared to suggest that mass shootings in the U.S. are linked to antidepressants and video games in a resurfaced clip from a January interview.
The conspiracy theorist, in a video shared by Democratic strategist Keith Edwards, called on the National Institutes of Health to look into “the etiology” of gun violence in an interview with TRT World’s Tim Constantine.
“NIH needs to be studying them to see if there’s connections to some of the SSRI and psychiatric drugs people are taking, or there’s connections to video games,” Kennedy said in an appearance on the Turkish state broadcaster’s “Capitol Hill Show.”
His campaign previously shared a clip of the interview that highlights a Mayo Clinic definition of SSRIs ― a category of antidepressants ― and footage of kids playing video games.
Experts have found no “scientifically established” causal link between psychiatric drugs and mass shootings, PolitiFact noted in 2019.
There’s also no evidence to support the claim that violent video games cause mass shootings, experts told CNBC that year.
Wow.@RobertKennedyJr suggested the mass shooting problem in America isn't from guns, but from anti-depressants and video games pic.twitter.com/CjHAF3Hf87
— Keith Edwards (@keithedwards) April 3, 2024
Critics ripped Kennedy over his suggestion, including Parkland school shooting survivor David Hogg.
“Wow I had no idea America was the only country with anti-depressants and video games,” Hogg wrote.
Wow I had no idea America was the only country with anti-depressants and video games. https://t.co/T32eCMWrY8
— David Hogg 🟧 (@davidhogg111) April 4, 2024
You can check out more reactions to Kennedy’s suggestion below.
Sorry for my language, but @RobertKennedyJr is a fucking idiot.
— Jon Cooper (@joncoopertweets) April 4, 2024
Not sure how many times I need to repeat this, but Robert Kennedy Jr is a tin foil hat conspiracy theorist. And he and his MAGA donors are trying to get Donald Trump elected. But we are going to stop them both. https://t.co/oMLNUcZ6SL
— Robert Garcia (@RobertGarcia) April 3, 2024
I grew up playing Zelda, while taking antidepressants, and I've never stabbed anybody with a Master Sword. pic.twitter.com/RMwRwbaRhx
— thee nasty rougarou in the machine (@theerougarou) April 3, 2024
Couldn’t possibly be the AR’s?
— 𝑪𝒐𝒓𝒂 🥊🥊 𝙏𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙂𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙊𝙛𝙛 (@corabora5) April 3, 2024
I'm pretty sure no one in my area has ever done a mass shooting, but than again we're a median wealthy area that is pumped full of SSRI's & play lots of video games, so according to Kennedy we all must be murders ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
— ChudsOfTikTok 𓅜 🐀 (@ChudsOfTikTok) April 3, 2024