Noted anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tried to get Jake Tapper to debate him about vaccine mandates, but the CNN anchor wasn’t having it.
Kennedy on Tuesday attempted to legitimize conspiracy theories about COVID-19 vaccinations by making the offer to Tapper and couching it in terms of “divergent opinions.”
“We both feel passionate about our views on vaccine mandates. Let’s have a debate for the benefit of Americans,” Kennedy wrote on Twitter. We can debate your enthusiastic support of censorship and our divergent opinions on Dr. Fauci’s effectiveness as the covid pandemic manager.”
Tapper declined the offer on Wednesday morning. He called Kennedy’s proposal “truly embarrassing” and said he’s “not going to lend credence to a conspiracy theorist whose views are so false, unhinged, and dangerous to public health his own siblings feel the need [to] publish op-eds against him.”
Kennedy has notoriously spread COVID-19 vaccine misinformation. For years, he’s been a prominent peddler of debunked conspiracy theories bashing childhood vaccines, such as claims that they cause autism.
Instagram permanently banned Kennedy in Feburary for spreading misinformation about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines.
Kennedy’s anti-vaccine push also has failed to convince his own wife, actor Cheryl Hines.
When the couple held a holiday party this month, guests were instructed to get vaccinated or tested for COVID-19 before attending.
“I guess I’m not always the boss at my own house,” Kennedy griped to Politico.
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