We all know RFK Jr. is a bit of an odd duck.
Leaving aside his views on vaccines and whatnot, he’s obsessed with snakes, at one point believed he was suffering from brainworm, and staged a photo op with a dead bear. He also has a magnetic, Rasputin-esque charm with the ladies. During his confirmation process, I distinctly remember women cooing over his old pictures that resurfaced on social media.
We now have a new RFK Jr. anecdote to add to our collection of hilarious oddities: the time he tossed a live snake into a pool as kids were swimming in it.
Kerry Kennedy, his sister, shared the (unverified) details in a recent CNN interview.
Twenty-five years ago, Kerry decided to host a birthday pool party for her daughter. She noticed a snake in the garden, however, and made the mistake of asking her brother for help.
Of course, RFK Jr., the serpent specialist that he is, “rushed over” once he got wind. (If you have any doubts about his snake wrangling expertise, watch him handle two at Dr. Oz’s home in Florida. It’s a great video, and you can hear his wife, actress Cheryl Hines, begging him to cut it out.)
After arriving at the party, “he grabbed the snake and stuffed it into the pillowcase while he was holding his infant son. So that was a little scary,” Kerry recalled.
RFK Jr. then took a tiny rodent and fed it to the snake as all the kids screamed. The snake also latched onto his hand at one point.
Later, as a “ton of kids” were playing in the pool, RFK Jr. went full-on crazy funcle and released the snake into the water, Kerry said.
Snake! Snake in the water!
I can’t imagine the absolute bedlam. Kerry was probably like Chief Brody in Jaws. “Get out! Everybody out! Out of the water! Everyone out! Get outta there!”
Nevertheless, it’s objectively hilarious.
Kerry conceded during the interview that her brother has an admirable “fascination with nature.”
“But, on the other hand, [he] has, you know, a great lack of judgment when it comes to the safety and care of children.”
“Is this the person you want running [the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services]?” Kerry asked.
She had to make it about politics, didn’t she?
The Kennedys have many skeletons in the closet, and RFK Jr. has had a rocky personal life. But there is no doubt he is an awesome uncle.
Sadly, in today’s world, if the crazy funcle crashed the pool party with a harmless snake, parents would be up in arms. The police would get involved. Lawsuits would be filed. You would never hear the end of it.
But maybe to break this spell of helicopter parenting and bubble-wrap culture, the uncles of America need to step up and take a cue from RFK Jr. Act more like a kook, because kids love a kook.
In fact, my favorite part about being an uncle is that I can act like an immature kid again without being judged. I love being able to crawl around on the floor, imitating a Japanese man and making fart noises. I look like an idiot, but it entertains a toddler. That’s all that matters.
I always told my siblings I was going to be a weird uncle. They’d better buckle up for what’s to come. The only thing I can promise is that there won’t be any live snakes.
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