Bill Nye, the science educator who’s been a TV mainstay for decades, is not the kind of guy you’d expect would be friends with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the most prominent anti-science kook in the country. But apparently they go way back. And Nye is getting sick of all the texts he’s getting from Kennedy spouting absolute garbage.
Nye met Kennedy “many years ago,” according to a new profile of The Science Guy in Men’s Health magazine, after the two men were introduced by actor Ed Begley Jr. to talk about environmental issues. Nye told the magazine that Kennedy, who’s now the head of the Department of Health and Human Services, sends him endless texts.
“Just no self-awareness,” Nye said of Kennedy. “And if you read these articles he sent, they’re all this speculation about autism and just cause-and-effect, and mercury in vaccines, that maybe there’s a connection.”
Kennedy has long been an anti-vaccine extremist, working from 2015-2023 as chair of the Children’s Health Defense. The health secretary has previously said “there’s no vaccine that is safe and effective” and has worked to limit access to vaccines, risking the lives of millions of Americans.
Nye told Men’s Health that he responded to the texts by saying he’d read Kennedy’s book, though it’s not clear which one. Kennedy has contributed to quite a few anti-science screeds, including books like Vax-Unvax: Let the Science Speak, The Wuhan Cover-Up, and 2021’s The Real Anthony Fauci. That last one includes a section where Kennedy promotes “miasma theory” and rejects germ theory. Miasma theory was abandoned in the 19th century, while the germ theory of disease is foundational to our 21st-century understanding of how diseases spread.
Nye told the magazine that after he got “miles and miles” of texts from Kennedy, he finally said, “Okay, no more texts,” concluding Kennedy simply wasn’t suited for the job he’s holding in the Trump administration.
Kennedy is a dangerous lunatic who doesn’t even believe in germ theory. But he’s going to do a lot of damage before he leaves his job. And it’s already happening. Kennedy’s so-called Make America Healthy Again commission issued a report last month that was riddled with errors and cited studies that don’t exist. And earlier this week, Kennedy fired all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). Those are the folks who help steer the country’s vaccine policies.
The FDA under Kennedy is also reportedly using AI to help approve new drugs, something that boggles the mind when you remember just how unreliable AI can be. Kennedy has repeatedly touted “spirituality” as a fix to America’s health crisis, something Trump’s new pick to be Surgeon General has emphasized as well.
Kennedy has long claimed that vaccines cause autism, and promised during a White House event back in April that he would reveal the “cause” of autism by the fall. Science doesn’t work with that kind of certainty or timetable, announcing the cause of a given disease like you’re unveiling a new Star Wars show before the holidays. But we’re not dealing with serious people, as Trump has taken charge, booting scientific experts in favor of the weirdest people on the planet.
The Science Guy may try to be diplomatic when it comes to his old friend, “Bobby” Kennedy, as he calls him in the new Men’s Health article. But when even your friends are saying you don’t have “good judgment” in national magazines, something is way off.
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