{"id":432953,"date":"2026-02-18T21:26:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T21:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/432953\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T21:26:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T21:26:07","slug":"rfk-jr-mocked-for-wearing-jeans-while-swimming-with-kid-rock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/432953\/","title":{"rendered":"RFK Jr. Mocked For Wearing Jeans While Swimming With Kid Rock"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe secretary of Health and Human Services is an odd guy. Yes, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.<\/a> has exhibited an outright dangerous embrace of vaccine conspiracies and disregard for scientific consensus \u2014 but he also has some weird-ass habits. From saying his Super Bowl snack of choice is yogurt<\/a> (\u201cmeat and ferments\u201d) to his affinity for animal carcasses<\/a>, Kennedy\u2019s antics have been the source of endless public fascination. As we all have gained more access to Kennedy through his government work, one question in particular has wormed its way into the American mind: Why is this man always wearing jeans?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tKennedy doesn\u2019t just wear them in his day-to-day life. He wears them in situations where jeans would be the sub-optimal article of clothing for the activity, by several degrees. Swimming, working out, in the sauna. Jeans and a belt. No shirt though, just extremely waterlogged denim.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe bizarre habit reached a pinnacle of public befuddlement on Tuesday, when Kennedy released a video<\/a> promoting his \u201cMake America Healthy Again\u201d initiative with known healthy guy<\/a> Kid Rock<\/a>. With Rock\u2019s \u201cBawitdaba\u201d \u2014 a song about doing hard drugs and drinking a lot \u2014 the pair gave their vision of a \u201cRock Out Work Out.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe video featured Kennedy working out on gym equipment in blue jeans and what seemed to be hiking boots. At one point Kennedy removes his shirt for the camera, and gets on a stationary bicycle inside a sauna (while still wearing jeans). He hops into a cold plunge (while still wearing jeans). He jumps into a pool (while still wearing the jeans). He drinks a glass of whole milk in the pool that is maybe a very large hot tub (again, in jeans).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe message was clear: the jeans stay on.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIn response to a request for an explanation, the Department of Health and Human Services directed Rolling Stone to an interview Kennedy gave to Fox News<\/a> in August in which he said that he had \u201cstarted doing that a long time ago\u201d because he would \u201cgo hiking in the morning, and then I\u2019d go straight to the gym, and I found it was convenient, and now I\u2019m used to it, so I just do it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s a bit nonsensical, and not the case as he worked out with Kid Rock. In the absence of a sensible explanation, the online masses have come up with their own explanation: RFK Jr. might be a \u201cnever nude.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tFor the uninitiated, the concept of a \u201cnever nude\u201d entered the popular lexicon after the sitcom Arrested Development<\/a> made a running gag of the neurotic, sexually repressed character Tobias Funke\u2019s habit of constantly wearing cutoff jorts<\/a> under his clothing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThroughout the show Funke \u2014 played masterfully by comedian and actor David Cross \u2014 is shown crying in the shower while wearing his jorts, wearing them under a speedo, under chaps, even under workout gear at the gym. \u201cExcuse me, do these effectively hide my thunder,\u201d he asks in one episode.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tNow, being a \u201cnever nude\u201d is not a condition you will find in the psychiatric diagnostic manuals like the DSM-5, at least not by that name. Funke\u2019s impairment was likely based on gymnophobia, an irrational fear of nudity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tComparisons to Funke were a common response to Kennedy\u2019s workout video on social media, with users posting Arrested Development clips and memes while expressing general bewilderment about RFK\u2019s obsessions with jeans.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cRFK Jr is a never nude,\u201d one X user wrote<\/a> in response to the video. A top comment on the post photoshopped<\/a> Kennedy\u2019s face over a still of Funke in his safety jorts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHowever insane you think this video is, i urge you to watch it in its entirety. It\u2019s so much more insane than you could imagine. RFK Jr. jumps into a pool with jeans on,\u201d comedian Milo Edwards wrote in a tweet<\/a> with over three million impressions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIdk about you but Kid Rock doing 3 push ups in a sauna looking like he smells like wet socks and RFK Jr. getting in a bathtub with Walmart jeans on really makes me wanna be healthier,\u201d another user joked<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tKennedy wearing jeans in any context where showing calf and maybe even knee might be appropriate is bizarre, but Tuesday\u2019s video was not the first time questions arose about Kennedy\u2019s denim hang up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tLast May, Kennedy made headlines after being photographed swimming with his grandkids in Washington, D.C.\u2019s Rock Creek in violation of local advisories<\/a>. While the primary concern was the poor water quality of Rock Creek, Kennedy was swimming in the river in jeans. In July, he posed for a sweat-drenched photo<\/a> of himself hiking Arizona\u2019s Camelback Mountain on a 107-degree day in jeans. He and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth worked out together<\/a> in jeans in an August social media video.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\tThe \u201cRock Out Work Out\u201d social media spot was released as Kennedy celebrates his year anniversary<\/a> as HHS<\/a> secretary. The year has been marked by the erosion<\/a> of public health care systems, conspiracy-fueled changes to the nation\u2019s vaccine policies, the reversal of measles eradication<\/a> in the U.S, and the gutting of medical research funding. As Kennedy obsesses over whole milk<\/a> and Super Bowl commercials, the FDA is flip flopping<\/a> over whether or not to pursue mRNA vaccine research that Kennedy attempted to defund.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAs Kennedy\u2019s tenure produces public policy that will be felt in all corners of American\u2019s health and health care systems for decades to come, it\u2019s clear the mess he\u2019s leaving behind will be as hard to get out of as swimming to shore in waterlogged Levi\u2019s.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The secretary of Health and Human Services is an odd guy. Yes, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has exhibited…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432954,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[158276,6491,96,7554,85359,9568,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-432953","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-arrested-development","9":"tag-celebrities","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-hhs","12":"tag-kid-rock","13":"tag-robert-f-kennedy-jr","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}