RFK Jr. says he understands family anger but is focused on health efforts

People reports that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. weighed in on the Kennedy Center name change weeks after President Donald Trump added his name to the institution. Kennedy, 71 and the nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy, told CBS News on Jan. 8 that he understood his relatives' anger but had "bigger fish to fry." Kennedy said he was not involved in the renaming and had not advised against it, adding he was focused on "making America healthy again." He told CBS News, "If we lose any children in this country to obesity, heart disease — 77% of our kids can't qualify for the military.

Saving one life is more important to me than the name on a building." The Kennedy Center was dedicated by Congress as a living memorial to JFK one year after his 1963 assassination. Other Kennedy family members have publicly condemned the change. Jack Schlossberg, who has said changing the name would be illegal, wrote on X invoking his congressional campaign, "I'm told Trump explicitly motivated to act by JACK FOR NEW YORK." Kerry Kennedy posted on X that she planned to remove the letters herself, and Maria Shriver called the new name "downright weird." White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced on Dec.

18, 2025 that the center had been renamed after a unanimous board vote, but Rep. Joyce Beatty said she was muted during the call and alleged participants online were not allowed to voice concerns; a new sign was photographed on Dec.

Key Topics

Politics, Rfk Jr, Kennedy Center, Donald Trump, John F. Kennedy, Jack Schlossberg