Independent U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a video posted online Sunday that he dumped a dead bear in New York City’s Central Park a decade ago and presented it so it looked like it had been hit by a bike.
Kennedy said in a video posted on the social media platform X that he was trying to get ahead of an unpublished New Yorker story.
“I can’t wait to see how you put this out, @NewYorker…” Kennedy posted a video on his X account of himself talking to comedian Roseanne Barr at a kitchen table.
Kennedy said in the video that he was driving to the Hudson Valley in New York state when a woman in a van in front of him hit and killed a small bear. He put the bear’s carcass in the back of his car because he was going to skin the bear and store the meat at his home, he said.
But after a late-night meal at Peter Luger Steak House in New York City, they had to head straight to the airport and didn’t want to leave the bear in their vehicle.
“I had an old bike in my car that somebody told me to get rid of. I said, ‘Let’s put the bear in Central Park and make it look like he got hit by a bike,'” he said, then laughed and added that it would be “fun” for whoever found it.
The Kennedy campaign had no immediate comment on the incident.
In October 2014, the body of a black bear cub was found in bushes in Central Park and police launched a criminal investigation into the death.
Reuters reported at the time that foul play was suspected, and state wildlife officials later concluded the animal had likely been struck by a vehicle, causing its death.
Kennedy said in the video that The New Yorker had asked him about the incident and plans to write a “big article” about him.
The New Yorker did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Kennedy had the support of 8% of voters in a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll. He still has to qualify for the ballot in several states before the November 5 election.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
