Whatever one may think of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (and the opinions on him do seem to vary widely), most onlookers should be able to universally agree that Kennedy is certainly … different from past HHS secretaries.
From his famous last name to his pro-life views to his dedication to battling processed foods and seed oils, Kennedy has blazed a trail for himself as HHS Secretary.
And that trail apparently includes the occasional snake-wrangling detour.
Kennedy went viral just a day after Memorial Day, when he took to X to post a video of how he spent some of his time hanging out with U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet “Dr.” Oz.
You can watch the bizarre video for yourself below:
Cheryl cheerleads the removal of a pair of Black Racers from Dr Oz’s patio. pic.twitter.com/A0iiRzOeIF
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) May 26, 2026
Noting that his wife, Cheryl Hines, was “cheerleading” his efforts, Kennedy shared a video of himself handling (in the most literal sense of the word) a pair of black racer snakes from Dr. Oz’s home patio.
Hines could be heard saying, “Bobby, Bobby, please!” as she tried to dissuade her husband from grabbing the snakes.
Kennedy, without skipping a beat, approached the two snakes, cornered them, and grabbed them both with his bare hands.
The HHS Secretary appeared completely unbothered and nonplussed as he spoke to the others present, even seemingly suffering a small snake bite in the process.
(Thankfully for Kennedy, black racers are nonvenomous.)
The video has been seen over six million times, per X’s publicly available metrics, and garnered over 85,000 likes, with many of the comments eschewing anything inherently political, but rather focused on the act itself:
Jeez! Sir, you are fearless! Haha, I can’t even dare to see something slither!
— Glenson Dsouza (@Glensonis) May 26, 2026
But while the internet may have been impressed, this is not exactly Kennedy’s first rodeo with animals … living or dead.
As many likely remember, Vanity Fair caused quite a stir when it wrote a story claiming that Kennedy had previously consumed a dog carcass in July 2024, based on a photo of him holding a charred animal carcass.
It’s an allegation that Kennedy has since denied — while also having some fun with it:
Because of some recent irresponsible journalism, I’m in the dog house 🐕#dogs #rfkjr pic.twitter.com/zFqryIQTI4
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) July 8, 2024
Hilariously, the dog story took on enough of a life of its own that Snopes actually fact-checked the entire ordeal, and found that the image of Kennedy holding a charred animal carcass appears to show him with a lamb, not a dog (or goat).
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