Robert F. Kennedy TikTok Thirst Trap Comment Controversy
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Overview
Robert F. Kennedy TikTok Thirst Trap Comment Controversy refers to the drama surrounding a 2022 comment on a post from a TikTok fitness influencer purportedly made by presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., which was brought to wider attention on January 31st, 2024, through circulation and discussion on X / Twitter. Kennedy denied having commented on the post and said it was actually a staffer.
Background
On September 3rd, 2022, TikTok fitness influencer and OnlyFans content creator Tyler Idol posted a mirror selfie video without wearing pants, earning nearly half a million likes and over 5.3 million views in the course of 16 months.[1] On September 16th, the account of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. allegedly made a since-deleted comment on the video, saying "Wow" (seen below) alongside a series of emojis.
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7139156224699944238
A post from Reddit's /r/redscarepod, a subreddit devoted to the Red Scare podcast from January 24th, 2024, pointed out the Kennedy comment, receiving 380 upvotes over the course of nine days.[8]
On January 31st, a screen-recorded video of the original TikTok with Kennedy's purported comment gained traction on X, largely from a post made by X user @_JohnnyMAGA, which received over 5,700 likes over the course of two days and over 1,900 reposts.[2] This post was widely quote-tweeted and spread around political commentary accounts on that platform.
Developments
Kennedy Denial
On February 1st, 2024, Kennedy addressed the allegations through a statement on his X account, blaming the comment on an aide who controlled his TikTok account back in 2022 (seen below).[4] Kennedy's thread denying that he made the comment received 19,000 likes over the course of a day.
![Robert F. Kennedy Jr @Robert KennedyJr. 23h Do people really think I was TikToking in 2022? 2.4K 462 427 1.1K Robert F. Kennedy Jr @RobertKennedyJr Robert F. Kennedy Jr @Robert KennedyJr 23h The TikTok comment in question was made in 2022 long before I ever had a TikTok account. This comment now appears on my account because the account was previously owned by one of the campaign's young social media managers. 362 152 19K 3.4 ₁2.4M 2.7K ₁992K : K 口企 When I announced my run for the presidency in April of 2023 the team wanted it broadcasted on every social media platform, including TikTok. However, TikTok does not allow live streaming for accounts that have less than 1,000 followers. The social media manager decided to transfer his account, which had around 1,500 followers, to me in order to stream my announcement on TikTok. 12:17 PM. Feb 1, 2024 387.9K Views 52 : 口企 ←] : ↑](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/748/712/cb7.png "Kennedy Response")
Major political news outlets including Politico, Business Insider and The Hill ran stories about Kennedy's blaming of an aide for the TikTok comment.[6] The Daily Mail claimed that the social media manager was a young man named Rijoun Murphy, who had transferred his account over to Kennedy's name because it had over 1,000 followers and so would allow the candidate to livestream.[7]
Online Reactions
Tyler Idol posted a follow-up video describing her reaction to being "the RFK jr girl," earning over 6,100 likes and 83,000 views in one day on February 1st, 2024.[5]
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7330655393351224622
On X, posters joked about the documented womanizing of other members of the Kennedy family. For example, on January 31st, X user @soland_michael joked (seen below, left) that the incident proved RFK Jr.'s family inheritance, earning over 27,000 likes in two days.[3]
Another post (seen below, right) by user @_johnnymaga paired the RFK comment with the Donald Trump's Tennis Photo meme on February 1st, garnering almost 1,000 likes in a day.[9]
External References
[1] TikTok – @oftyleridol
[2] X – @johnnymaga
[3] X – @soland_michael
[4] X – @RobertKennedyJr
[5] TikTok – @oftyleridol
[6] Politico – RFK Jr. blames young campaign staffer for TikTok thirst trap comment
[7] Daily Mail – Robert F. Kennedy Jr. blames social media manager for resurfaced lusty comment on video of scantily-clad OnlyFans model posted from his verified TikTok account
[8] Reddit – /r/redscarepod
[9] X – @_johnnymaga
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![Robert F. Kennedy Jr @Robert KennedyJr. 23h Do people really think I was TikToking in 2022? 2.4K 462 427 1.1K Robert F. Kennedy Jr @RobertKennedyJr Robert F. Kennedy Jr @Robert KennedyJr 23h The TikTok comment in question was made in 2022 long before I ever had a TikTok account. This comment now appears on my account because the account was previously owned by one of the campaign's young social media managers. 362 152 19K 3.4 ₁2.4M 2.7K ₁992K : K 口企 When I announced my run for the presidency in April of 2023 the team wanted it broadcasted on every social media platform, including TikTok. However, TikTok does not allow live streaming for accounts that have less than 1,000 followers. The social media manager decided to transfer his account, which had around 1,500 followers, to me in order to stream my announcement on TikTok. 12:17 PM. Feb 1, 2024 387.9K Views 52 : 口企 ←] : ↑](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/list/002/748/712/cb7.png "Kennedy Response")
