Robert F Kennedy Jr caught two snakes with his bare hands while his wife Cheryl Hines squealed as she watched on.
The Health and Human Services Secretary shared the video on his X account with the caption: ‘Cheryl cheerleads the removal of a pair of Black Racers from Dr Oz’s patio.’
The video depicted Kennedy, in suit pants and a tie, chasing two black snakes before snatching them up with his bare hands.
He then proudly displayed his catch to his wife Cheryl and Dr Mehmet Oz, the Administrator of the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Dr Oz can be heard saying: ‘They’re having sex!’
Kennedy told his audience that the snakes were moccasins, more commonly known as cottonmouths, to which his wife yelled: ‘Those are dangerous!’
He added that the snakes were biting him as Hines continued to beg her husband to release the writhing reptiles.
‘You are nuts!’ she continued, adding, ‘Honey, honey, let it go. I can’t watch. Bobby, please. Bobby, please!’
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr shared a video of himself wrangling two Black Racer snakes on Mehmet Oz’s beachfront patio
Kennedy was seen grabbing the snakes with his bare hands as his wife pleaded with him to put them down
Dr Oz was heard asking Kennedy if the snakes were biting him, to which he laughed and replied that they were
Dr Oz was heard laughing in the background as Hines grew increasingly distraught. Kennedy appeared unbothered by his wife’s concern and laughed as the snakes tried to bite him. Black racer snakes are not venomous.
It’s unclear where the video was filmed, but Dr Oz owns an $18 million mansion in Palm Beach, Florida.
The video has generated thousands of comments, with some questioning Kennedy’s wild decision and others praising his nonchalance.
‘The Bravery is Everything. I don’t think many can do that,’ one comment read.
‘This just makes me wonder what percentage of men would actually do this with their bare hands,’ another joked.
‘I’m pretty sure that’s not cheerleading …’ a third said, referencing Hines’ panicked reaction.
Kennedy has a long history of outlandish behavior with animals. Hines has been through the wringer with Kennedy’s animal fascination, telling the New York Times in 2024 that she was frequently charged at by her husband’s pet emu.
She confessed to waking up and wondering, ‘Is today going to be the day that I wake up and kill an emu in my backyard?’
Kennedy’s daughter, Kick, told Town & Country that her father brought home the head of a whale carcass while they were vacationing in Cape Cod, the Kennedys’ longtime go-to summer destination.
He also keeps multiple pet ravens and grew up with pet peacocks, grows, owls and pigeons.
Kennedy’s lawyers said during divorce proceedings from his second wife that he experienced brain fog and memory loss ’caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died,’ the New York Times previously reported.
The documents were publicized during his presidential campaign. A spokesperson then clarified that the worm entered his brain while he was traveling in Africa, South America and Asia.
Kennedy has a long and often bizarre history with animals. He has had multiple birds and reptiles as pets
Hines begged Kennedy to put the bird down as Oz could be heard laughing in the background
One of Kennedy’s most famous and controversial encounters with animals occurred when Vanity Fair published a 2010 photo of him holding up a dog carcass and appearing to take a bite out of it. He later said that the carcass was a goat’s and denied that he would eat a dog.
During his 2024 presidential election campaign, Kennedy announced that he had left a dead bear cub in Central Park ten years before.
The candidate tried to get in front of a negative New Yorker story, so in early August he posted a video where he told comedian Roseanne Barr about the dead bear.
Kennedy dug in telling reporters as he left court in New York, ‘I’ve been picking up roadkill my whole life. I have a freezer full of it.’
Kennedy also has a history with snakes. Jerry Oppenheimer wrote in a 2015 biography that he brought a sack of reptiles aboard a flight as a child.
