Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. added a new chapter to his long history of unusual animal encounters this week, posting a video of himself bare-handedly capturing a pair of mating snakes at the beachfront home of Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The footage, shared Tuesday on Kennedy's X account, shows the 72-year-old Cabinet official cornering two black racers on Oz's patio while his wife, actress Cheryl Hines, looks on in visible distress. “Cheryl cheerleads the removal of a pair of Black Racers from Dr Oz’s patio,” Kennedy wrote in the caption, though the audio tells a different story.
As Kennedy lunges for the intertwined reptiles, Hines can be heard repeatedly exclaiming, “Bobby, why?” After he successfully grabs them, an off-camera voice asks, “They were having sex. So what were they?” Kennedy holds the writhing snakes up to the camera with a grin, even as one appears to bite his finger. “Oh my God,” Hines says, before calling him “nuts.” She then pleads, “Honey, honey, let them go! Oh my God. Bobby, please!” as Kennedy brings the snakes closer to the lens.
This isn't Kennedy's first brush with wildlife. In 2012, his daughter Kick recounted in a magazine interview that he once cut off the head of a whale that had washed ashore in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, when she was a child. Kennedy later confirmed that the National Marine Fisheries Service, part of NOAA, investigated the decades-old incident. In 2024, The New Yorker published a photo of Kennedy posing with a bloody bear carcass, following his admission that he dumped the dead animal in New York City's Central Park. Earlier this month, Kennedy posted a photo of himself holding a live bird after what he called a “rescue today at Dulles Airport.”
The incident has drawn attention amid broader scrutiny of Kennedy's tenure at HHS. His top spokesperson recently quit over internal disputes about youth-friendly vape flavors, and he has faced criticism for downplaying health risks, including his handling of hantavirus concerns after 17 Americans returned from a cruise ship. Meanwhile, Senator Dick Durbin has challenged Kennedy to block an FDA policy shift on flavored vapes, arguing it would harm youth.
The snake-wrangling video, while lighthearted, underscores the unconventional public persona Kennedy has maintained since his presidential campaign. It also highlights his close relationship with Oz, a fellow Trump administration appointee and former TV doctor, whose beach house served as the backdrop for the reptilian drama. For Hines, best known for her role on Curb Your Enthusiasm, the incident was clearly unwelcome. “You’re nuts,” she told her husband, a sentiment likely shared by many watching the video.
