Georgia Republican Representative Mike Collins faced criticism from his own party after making a disturbing joke about members of the Kennedy family after a New York Times report revealed 2024 presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. admitted in a 2012 deposition that doctors believed a parasite "got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died."
Kennedy reportedly consulted several of the nation's leading neurologists after experiencing significant memory loss and mental fogginess. These symptoms raised alarms in a friend who worried that Kennedy might have a brain tumor.
Shortly afterward, a doctor from New York-Presbyterian Hospital offered an alternative interpretation. Instead of a tumor, this doctor suggested that Kennedy's condition was the result of a dead parasite lodged in his brain.
Around the same time he discovered the parasite, Kennedy also learned he had mercury poisoning, likely from consuming fish with high levels of the toxic heavy metal. Mercury poisoning can lead to severe neurological problems, which Kennedy acknowledged during his deposition.
Medical professionals who have experience with parasitic infections and mercury poisoning noted that both conditions can sometimes cause lasting damage to brain function, although patients may also experience temporary symptoms and achieve full recovery.
Collins decided to remark on the report, making the following tasteless joke:
“You either die a Kennedy with a hole in the brain or live long enough to become a Kennedy with a hole in the brain."
Kennedy's father, former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated in 1968, and his uncle, former President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in 1963. The former president's death was marked by a gunshot wound to the back of his head.
You can see Collins' post below.
Collins' joke was so vile that even many on the right were disgusted by it.
In fact, Collins seemed to unite all sides in disgust for his tasteless joke.
But like his hero Trump, Collins was unrepentant, even cracking jokes in the comments of his post.
This is the second time Collins has courted controversy in the last week.
A few days ago, a Phi Delta Theta member at the University of Mississippi who made racist monkey noises at a Black student during a protest against Israel's military campaign and the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza was expelled from the fraternity.
The incident occurred on May 3, and the organization took action after video of the encounter went viral on social media. It was cheered on by Collins, who said the incident was simply “Ole Miss taking care of business."
When questioned about the video Collins posted, a spokesperson said that the lawmaker has "been pointing out several examples" of students who are “stepping up and pushing back” against pro-Palestinian protesters.
Elaine Miles/Facebook
@doctor_kristinm/Threads
@PeteHegseth/X
The White House