RFK Jr., West Virginia's governor and why you shouldn't comment on someone's weight
On Friday, West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey and Robert F. Kennedy held a joint event to announce a ban on certain food dyes. Morrisey also announced that his state had submitted a waiver to prohibit Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits from being used to purchase soda, which Kennedy has supported.
At the event, Kennedy didn't hold back from telling Morrisey to change his diet, too.
"The first time I saw him, I said, 'You look like you ate Governor Morrisey,'" Kennedy said during their joint appearance in Martinsburg, commenting on Morrisey's weight. "I am going to put him on a really rigorous regimen, and we're gonna put him on a carnivore diet."
"Raise your hand if you want Gov. Morrisey to do a public weigh-in once a month," he continued as the crowd applauded. "Then when he's lost 30 pounds, I'm going to come back to the state and do a celebration and a public weigh-in with him."
The comments were met with some harsh reactions online and were also dissected in several headlines that followed the event, with some decrying what they felt amounted to nothing more than fat shaming.
Morrisey took Kennedy's comments lightly, inviting the Health and Human Services Secretary to be his personal trainer. Later, he reaffirmed his commitment to health and weight loss with a post on X.
But body image experts say weight shaming doesn't only affect the intended target, and even well-intended comments on someone's body can do more harm than good.
Comments like Kennedy's can be seen as fat shaming, which experts say can lead to mental health issues like low self-esteem.
Online, people had mixed reactions.
'This isn't health policy, it's frat house bullying in a lab coat,' wrote one commenter. 'How do public weigh-ins fix structural health issues like poverty, food deserts, or underfunded healthcare? They don't. But they sure distract from real policy."
One RFK Jr. enthusiast added: "I really like RFK, and I think it's great that he wants to change the country and make it healthy again, but fat shaming people, regardless of the circumstances, not cool in my eyes … Do better RFK."
"This wasn't a fat shaming," another argued in RFK Jr.'s defense. "The governor himself began the event by talking about the need to be more healthy, challenging people in his state to walk a mile a day. He agreed to do the same. And jokingly (?) asked RFK to be his personal trainer. The 'weigh-in' stuff was a riff on that."
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Even if the governor wasn't outwardly bothered by the comments, body image experts say it's important for public figures to avoid statements like these.
Dr. Elizabeth Wassenaar, regional medical director at the Eating Recovery Center, previously told USA TODAY that comments about someone's body don't just impact that person, but "every single person that lives in a body."
And anyone can struggle with negative body image, no matter their size, Alexis Conason, a clinical psychologist and author of 'The Diet-Free Revolution,' previously told USA TODAY. Because of this, she says it's best to avoid commenting on people's bodies.
"Your body is no one else's business, and if someone comments on your body, it's more a reflection of them," she said.
Wassenaar said commenting on someone's weight promotes the idea that someone's appearance is the most important thing about them: "It just reinforces that sort of superficial, body-focused idea that we know is so painful and harmful for every single one of us because we are so much more than this vessel that carries us."
If you or someone you know is struggling with body image or eating concerns, the National Eating Disorders Association's toll-free and confidential helpline is available by phone or text at 1-800-931-2237 or by click-to-chat message at nationaleatingdisorders.org/helpline. For 24/7 crisis situations, text "NEDA" to 741-741.
Contributing: Charles Trepany
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: RFK Jr. fat shaming West Virginia's governor is a big deal. Here's why.
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The outbreak was stopped. In Dec. 2014, a measles outbreak began at Disneyland and spread in communities with low vaccination rates. Public health action stopped this large outbreak at 125 cases. To prevent further outbreaks in California, I authored Senate Bill 277, which eliminated non-medical exemptions for school vaccines. And with further U.S. measles outbreaks in 2019, I authored Senate Bill 276 to crack down on fraudulent medical exemptions. These laws — championed by California parents demanding safe schools for children — raised statewide vaccination rates and shielded our communities. As Congress waits, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is dismantling decades of public health achievement that will make America sicker. Kennedy reduced vaccine outreach, removed key public health officials, spread disinformation from his official post and suppressed data while elevating conspiracy theorists to top positions. Kennedy and the Department of Government Efficiency fired a quarter of Health and Human Services staff, gutting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Health teams vital to outbreak response. He installed anti-vaccine extremists as advisors, including David Grier, a discredited researcher disciplined for unethical experiments on children with autism, to 'research' if vaccines cause autism, despite decades of research debunking this myth. The CDC has been muzzled: An analysis showing high rates of measles in low vaccination areas was suppressed, and dozens of Texas vaccination clinics were forced to close. When Kennedy dismantled the CDC's communication team, his former anti-vaccine organization, Children's Health Defense, filled the void with disinformation by publishing a fake CDC-branded vaccine 'safety' website that falsely linked vaccines to autism. The site mimicked official CDC design and branding, deliberately misleading the public. After news reports exposed the deception and forced the site's removal, no federal action has been taken to investigate or prosecute this unlawful impersonation of a federal agency. Furthermore, Dr. Peter Marks, the nation's top vaccine regulator who led President Donald Trump's Operation Warp Speed, refused a demand for false data on brain swelling and death caused by the Measles-Mumps-Rubella vaccine, of which there are no credible cases. Kennedy forced him to resign. In his resignation letter, Marks wrote, 'it has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.' And what of the dead children from measles? Kennedy dismissed the first measles death, saying 'it's not unusual.' He blamed measles on poor nutrition, called vaccines a 'personal choice' that could cause 'adverse events' and claimed Vitamin A and cod liver oil treated measles. Subsequently, many Texas children hospitalized with measles also had Vitamin A toxicity. At his first Congressional hearing, Kennedy testified, 'I don't think people should be taking medical advice from me.' He then refused to answer whether he would vaccinate a child against polio. As Health and Human Services secretary, he cravenly refuses to save Americans in a public health crisis. How many children must get sick — and even die — before Congress demands that Kennedy and the Trump administration answer for these preventable deaths and the continued spread of a preventable disease? This flu season, as flu vaccination declined, 226 children died from influenza — the highest since the 2009-10 pandemic. Other preventable and deadly diseases, including polio and whooping cough, will also return when vaccination is hampered and discouraged. Our state has made progress in raising vaccination rates, but we are not immune to Kennedy's dangerous vaccine disinformation; California has communities with enough unvaccinated people to fuel a serious outbreak. Measles outbreaks in other states makes it imperative that California strengthen our public health defenses against sparks of infection. And California needs Congress to hold President Donald Trump and Kennedy accountable for not stopping preventable disease in America. Dr. Richard Pan is a pediatrician and former California state senator who authored landmark legislation to eliminate non-medical exemptions to school vaccination requirements in response to major measles outbreaks.
