Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy is denying that he ever sampled dog meat as a photo emerged of him holding up a charred animal corpse.
Vanity Fair was out Tuesdaywith a deep dive into Kennedy's long history of 'reckless' behavior - chronicling his drug use and allegations of sexual assault.
As an example, the story noted how Kennedy had sent out the photo in question to a friend last year - recommending his pal try a restaurant in South Korea that serves dog meat -an image that could easily derail a presidential campaign.
The magazine said aveterinarian identified the animal as a dog, as the animal had a telltale 'floating rib' found in canines.
Metadata from the photograph showed it was taken in 2010 - the same year that Kennedy contracted a brain worm.
Vanity Fair published a story Tuesday that claimed independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sent out a picture to a friend that showed him pretending to gobble down a barbecued dog in Korea. Kennedy said it was a goat in Patagonia
On Tuesday afternoon, RFK Jr. pushed back at claims that he ate dog meat, saying the story was meant to 'distract us from President Biden's cognitive deficits'
On Tuesday afternoon, RFK Jr. posted to X saying that the grizzled animal wasn't a dog but a goat and the photograph wasn't from Korea but Patagonia.
He gave the same explanation during a Tuesday afternoon appearance on Fox News.
'Hey @VanityFair, you know when your veterinary experts call a goat a dog, and your forensic experts say a photo taken in Patagonia was taken in Korea, that you've joined the ranks of supermarket tabloids,' Kennedy wrote.
'Keep telling America that up is down if you want. I'll keep talking about the fact that working families can't afford houses or groceries because our last two presidents went on a $14 trillion debt joyride, paid for by hard-working Americans,' the independent continued.
'The DNC media's garbage pail journalism may distract us from President Biden's cognitive deficits but it does little to elevate the national debate or reduce the price of groceries,' he added.
Vanity Fair's story goes on to suggest that Kennedy could have contracted the brain worm in 2010 from the 'dog.'
The candidate has said that he believed he contracted the tapeworm from food he ate - though it's unclear where he had that meal.
At one point Kennedy suggested he contracted the parasite in India, while the campaign more vaguely pointed to his widespread travel in 'Africa, South America, and Asia.'
In a divorce filing from his late ex-wife Mary Richardson, Kennedy said the tapeworm ate a portion of his brain leading to a 'brain fog,' which diminished his earning potential.
Family members interviewed by Vanity Fair were skeptical of this explanation.
They pointed to the 14 years RFK Jr. was a heroin user.
'One Kennedy has circulated a report from the National Institutes of Health on the impact of long-term heroin abuse, which surmises that the damage can alter the physiology of the brain, "creating long-term imbalances in neuronal and hormonal systems that are not easily reversed" and "which may affect decision-making abilities, the ability to regulate behavior, and responses to stressful situations,"' the magazine's Joe Hagan wrote.
Kennedy picked up the habit at age 15 and couldn't kick it until he turned 29.
'At Harvard, in the mid-1970s, Kennedy was regularly injecting speedballs, a mixture of heroin and cocaine, and became a pied piper to friends and family, regularly shooting up with his troubled brother David Kennedy, according to multiple friends from the era,' Hagan continued.
Kennedy has used his experience as a recovering drug addict to argue that he can better handle the nation's drug crisis.
But savoring dog meat may be a step too far.
The American public hasn't been kind to politicians involved in dog scandals.
Now Sen. Mitt Romney saw his 2012 White House bid hobbled after it was reported that he had strapped the family dog's crate to the rooftop of his car for an hours-long roadtrip.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem appears exiled from former President Donald Trump's veepstakes after she admitted to shooting her dog.
And the White House has had to answer questions about why two of President Joe Biden's dogs - Major and Commander - were allowed to stay after a series of biting incidents.
DailyMail.com reported last month that the Secret Service destroyed a video that showed Commander chomping down on an agent, which resulted in White House tours being paused for 20 minutes so the blood could be cleaned up.
