Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has come out with a campaign first: admitting to having left a dead bear cub in Central Park a decade ago.
You didn’t have that on your 2024 election bingo card, did you?
When following stories about individuals running for president of the United States, hearing confessions that solve years-old mysteries isn’t a common occurrence. But the country is getting a kick out of Kennedy’s recent social media video which does precisely that.
The independent candidate, nephew of former president John F. Kennedy, told followers on August 4 that, 10 years ago, he left a dead bear cub in Central Park as he tried to imply that the animal had been struck by a bicycle. The video portrays the unusual tale of how Kennedy witnessed a woman hit a bear cub with her car in upstate New York.
He reportedly stored the animal in his van, planning to skin and keep the meat since it was in “very good condition.” But the politician’s intentions did not unfold the way he had hoped. Between a falconry gathering with friends, a dinner that ran late, and a plane to catch, Kennedy never had time to bring the cub to his Westchester home.
So, rather than keeping the animal in his car, he decided—with the support of alcohol-influenced companions—to lay the cub in Central Park with a bike. His reasoning included that of a bunch of bike accidents occurring at that time, due to newly implemented bike lanes in Central Park.
Despite imagining a good laugh for whoever found it, the bear wound up on the front page the next day, with reports of plans to have fingerprints on the bike identified—which did, in fact, belong to Kennedy. The politician never said that he was the one who dumped the bear, though the excitement of the news subsided.
Kennedy’s video came ahead of an article published on August 5 by the New Yorker, which cites the bear incident as an example of the larger story that the independent candidate has a complicated past and what that means for his desire to run for president.
