Tucker Carlson rewrites history with claim Big Pharma 'PR campaign' silenced RFK Jr.’s anti-vax lies

23 June 2023

Back in 2005, Salon published a highly controversial and widely criticized article by anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who claimed that there was a link between childhood vaccines and autism. RFK Jr.'s piece was debunked by countless medical experts, but in 2023, his claims have a passionate defender: far-right conspiracy theorist and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

RFK Jr., who is challenging President Joe Biden in the 2024 Democratic presidential primary, is as much of an anti-vaxxer in 2023 as he was when he wrote that Salon piece 18 years ago. And he is drawing praise from Carlson.

In an 18-minute "Tucker on Twitter" video posted on June 22, Carlson declares, "There's never been a candidate for president the media hated more than Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. You thought that title belonged to Donald Trump. Of course, it must. But go check the coverage. Trump got a gentle scalp massage by comparison when he announced."

Carlson goes on to claim that the 2005 Salon article came under attack because of a "ferocious public relations campaign" by big pharma.

"After almost 20 years of being silenced," Carlson claimed, "Bobby Kennedy Jr. is being heard. And why wouldn't he be?"

In response to Carlson's gushing praise of RFK Jr., liberal firebrand and former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann tweeted, in all caps, "SPEND TWO DOLLARS AND BUY SOME LIGHTS A**WIPE."

Carlson and liberal journalist Joan Walsh have radically different views on the merits of RFK Jr.'s widely debunked 2005 article.

Walsh, now with The Nation, was Salon's editor-in-chief back in 2005. And in an op-ed published by The Nation on June 22, Walsh makes it clear that she now deeply regrets her role in Salon publishing RFK Jr.'s piece.

Walsh writes, "I've been doing my best to ignore the farcical presidential candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. His noxious views on vaccines, the origin of AIDS, the alleged dangers of wi-fi and other forms of junk science deserve no wide hearing…. But I've come to believe I have a responsibility to write about Kennedy because of my own shameful role in sending his toxic vaccine views into public discourse."

The journalist continues, "I was the Salon editor, in partnership with Rolling Stone, who 18 years ago, published his mendacious, error-ridden piece on how thimerosal in childhood vaccines supposedly led to a rise in autism, and how public health officials covered it up…. It was the worst mistake of my career."

In 2023, Walsh laments, RFK Jr. "continues to peddle the lies he published and claim that dark forces cowed us and forced us to retract his story."

Watch Tucker Carlson's video below or at this link; read Walsh's op-ed for The Nation here.

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