RFK Jr. says he dumped dead bear in Central Park

Dead bear cub discovered in Central Park in 2014, now known to have been put there by Robert Kennedy Jr.

Kennedy said he was confessing to the stunt now because The New Yorker was going to reveal it in a "bad story"

(Image credit: Marcus Santos / NY Daily News via Getty Images)

published 5 August 2024

What happened

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Sunday that he put the body of a bear cub in New York City's Central Park in 2014, staging the dead cub under an old bicycle because he "thought it would be amusing for whoever found it or something."

Who said what

Kennedy told comedian Roseanne Barr in a video on social media that after a car ahead of him in the Hudson Valley hit the cub, "I pulled over and I picked up the bear and put him in the back of my van because I was gonna skin the bear" and "put the meat in my refrigerator." But after a falconry expedition and subsequent dinner at Brooklyn's Peter Luger Steakhouse, he had to go to the airport and "didn't want to leave the bear in my car because that would have been bad."

The discovery of the dead cub sparked a "mystery that captivated the city for a few days," The Associated Press said. Kennedy said he was initially "worried because my prints were all over that bike."

What next?

Kennedy said he was confessing to the stunt now because The New Yorker was going to reveal it in a "bad story." This is the "latest strange story to emerge about Kennedy, who has seen his standing in the polls falter" in recent weeks, Politico said.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.