Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was quizzed on his selection of an eyebrow-raising new crusader for the Make America Healthy Again agenda.
In an interview with Fox News’ Peter Doocy for The Sunday Briefing, the health secretary, 72, was cornered on the Super Bowl ad against processed food featuring legendary boxer Mike Tyson. The ad was paid for by the MAHA Center, an advocacy group aligned with Kennedy.
“The newest fighter in the war on processed food is the face of RealFood.gov, Mike Tyson. How did you settle on somebody who is most famous for eating Evander Holyfield’s ear?” Doocy said, referencing the infamous 1997 bout where Tyson, 59, bit off his opponent’s ear.
Kennedy chuckled before responding that Brett Ratner, the director of Melania and Rush Hour who has been accused of sexual misconduct, helped produce the ad.
“You know, it was really serendipitous,” he said. “The two guys, Brett Ratner, who helped produce the ad, had a lifelong friendship with him and understood and was aware of the struggle that Mike had—which he says [was] the biggest struggle, the biggest fight that he had in his lifetime—his fight with obesity.”
The 30-second black-and-white ad closes in on Tyson’s face as he opens up about his family’s history of obesity and his own unhealthy eating habits.
“I was so fat and nasty. I would eat anything. I was, like, 345 pounds, a quart of ice cream every hour. I had so much self-hate when I was like, I just wanted to kill myself,” he recalled. “We’re the most powerful country in the world, and we have the most obese, fudgy people. Something has to be done about processed food in this country.”
The ad concludes with Tyson biting into an apple as the words “Processed Food Kills” and “Eat Real Food” flash on the screen. It directs viewers to RealFood.gov, a website that outlines MAHA-friendly new dietary guidelines for Americans.
Kennedy said the entire ad was conceived and shot over a three-day period.
He sang praises for Tyson in an X post on Friday, writing: “Thank you for sharing your story Mike — and delivering the most important message in Super Bowl history. We don’t have to be the sickest country in the developed world. The answer is simple: EAT REAL FOOD."
“They gave him a script, the script was not working, and he just started talking, and it’s an extraordinary, powerful ad,” he said. “I think it’s the most important ad in Super Bowl history, because it’s a crisis, Peter, that’s existential for us now.”
Kennedy has long railed against processed foods, which he blames for many of America’s health woes. He said he plans to spend Super Bowl Sunday eating yogurt.
