Healthcare group urges RFK Jr to resign after remarks on cocaine and toilet seats

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Guardian

Fri 13 Feb 2026 18.17 EST
First published on Fri 13 Feb 2026 16.51 EST


A prominent healthcare advocacy group is calling for the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, to step down from his post after he downplayed Covid risks by saying: “I’m not scared of a germ. I used to snort cocaine off of toilet seats.” Kennedy, who was appointed secretary of the federal health and human services (HHS) department despite his avowed anti-vaccine activism, made that remark on the 12 February episode of Theo Von’s podcast This Past Weekend.

The president of Protect Our Care, Brad Woodhouse, issued a one-word statement on Kennedy’s comments: “Resign.” The group added that Kennedy’s comment about cocaine – which as recently as 2023 was involved in nearly 30,000 overdose deaths in a year in the US – “continues to lay bare why he is the most dangerous … person ever to lead such an important federal agency”.

Kennedy on the podcast mentioned the drug in reference to his continued attendance at in-person recovery meetings during the pandemic. “Like, if I don’t, if I don’t treat it, which means for me going to meetings every day, it’s just bad for my life,” said Kennedy, who has spoken publicly about past struggles with drug addiction.

The commentary marked another controversial moment for Kennedy during his first year as health secretary for the Donald Trump White House. He has also faced criticism over his handling of US measles outbreaks that have left several people dead from a disease that had been declared eliminated from the country in 2000.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/13/healthcare-groups-rfk-jr-resign-cocaine-toilet-seats

[Red Mountain]

1. Geez.....he said 'used to'.......

why do you guys have to be such buzz kills?

[travelingthrulife]

14. He probably meant 10 minutes before the interview as the last time he did it.

[UpInArms]

2. Iirc

Wasn’t Hunter Biden condemned for past drug use, even though he had been clean and gone through recovery?

There were many revelations for the jury in the Hunter Biden gun trial. Prosecutors offered a journey through Hunter Biden's crack addiction from 2015 to 2019, a time in which he introduced others to the drug and sought crack from just about anywhere he could find it.

[niyad]

13. Your memory is correct.

[Nululu]

3. Ewww. No wonder he has a brain worm

Yuck

[ironman99]

4. Ewww. No wonder he has a brain worm

No, he misheard his doctor. What the doctor actually said was that his brain looks like a dead worm.

[maptap22]

5. Hilarious that his wife was out trying to convince us what a normal guy he is

and then he goes and makes this admission. Why would he tell the world that disgusting fact? We need to bring shame back! I did many things in my youth that I am not proud of so I keep it to myself - geez.

Tim Walz was 100% correct - they are all just so weird!

[Botany]

6. How can a man who lacks the basic knowledge of biology and medicine be in charge of our Health Care?

RFK Jr., “I’m not scared of a germ.”

Modern Science, There are no such things as germs but we have bacteria, viruses, fungi, amoebas,
blue green algae aka Cyanobacteria, protozoans, and other things that are all around us by the
billions but we have no GERMS. They are called microbes.

If you wanted to fail microbiology @ The Ohio University you would talk about “germs.” Now
way back in the day of medical science with men called Leeuwenhoek who invented the microscope
and said, “Look @ all the little beasties” when he looked @ drop of water under his microscope
and a Dr. Joesph Lister who understood that having an antiseptic environment was critical for
people to survive surgery because people would survive the operation but would later die from some
kind of infection and modern “germ theory” was founded but we have moved on since then.

RFK Jr., “I’m not scared of a germ.” Good Kennedy skip your tetanus shot, your pneumonia vaccine, your
shingles vaccines, drink unpasteurized milk, and eat that 2 day old sushi that has been sitting out.

It is as if the rich fuckers like Tiel, Musk, Trump, and others want us to die.

[raccoon]

20. Stop the world. I want to get off.

[myohmy2]

7. and this...

...is what the fearless leader and the Republicans gave us for a US health secretary...

...toilet seat...?

...kinky...

[TheRickles]

8. Big difference whether the toilet seat incident happened last week or 40 years ago.

Why not give him credit for working every day to control his addiction? Of course it's easy to make fun of the extreme things he did decades ago, but if he's modeling successful recovery from substance abuse, that is to his credit. You don't need to agree with his stance on vaccines to acknowledge this aspect of him. Life, and people, are more complex than this black vs. white framing. He's not endorsing cocaine use, just admitting past mistakes.

And his statement about germs could be read as belief in his own immune system, though stated in somewhat macho terms. Germs are everywhere, but we don't need to live our lives in constant fear of them. Our natural protections usually work, unless we undermine them with lifestyle factors like poor nutrition, chronic stress, and substance abuse - and a whole range of socio-economic protections that Trump is busy undermining. So I admire some things about RFK Jr., and intensely dislike his boss's policies. Shades of gray....

[Dr. T]

12. I applaud anyone who successfully rehabs

but deterioration of white matter in the brain due to heroin use is irreversible. It affects decision-making ability and ability to control behavior, especially under stress.

If not for his family name and associated wealth, he wouldn't be where he is.

[niyad]

15. ummm, do you actually believe he is "working every day to control his addiction"??

On what evidence do you base this unique assertion?

[travelingthrulife]

16. But these incidents are not from decades ago. The whale head he cut off and the bear

carcass left in central park were not very long ago. I am guessing he was on some sort of drug then.

I think no one believes him because he's a liar.

[Torchlight]

18. I don't see a lot of evidence supporting a "successful recovery from substance abuse"

he goes farther and farther off the rails everyday... that's not a particularly succesful coping mechanism.

[Orrex]

9. Probably left the seat up afterwards, too

Why on Earth would he resign? He’s exactly where he thinks he deserves to be.

[Vinca]

10. Did this happen before or after he went swimming in polluted water?

[3Hotdogs]

11. Come on guys. This is comedy gold. It's funnier than Trump shitting himself on tv.

Everyone likes a fart joke but this is even better.

S.N.L tonight?

[niyad]

17. WHY would anyone "snort cocaine off a toilet seat"? I admit that I

am rather clueless when it comesnto cocaine habits, but I do not recall ever hearing of such. I do remember Billy Crystal talking about people snorting lines of real snow once when it snowed in Hollywood and they plowed the snow into nice piles. But then, Crystal is a comic.

[FakeNoose]

19. I predicted Chump would fire him before the end of last year

It's amazing that he has lasted this long. Chump loves crazy people, especially if they are also ineffective.
But getting more media coverage than Chump is a cardinal sin and Bob Kennedy Jr. is guilty x100!