Big Three television giant ABC News openly censored presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. in an interview that aired Thursday and was later released online.
"We should note that during our conversation, Kennedy made false claims about the COVID-19 vaccines," ABC News Live anchor Linsey Davis said toward the close of the 14:46 minute interview segment.
"Data shows that the COVID-19 vaccine has prevented millions of hospitalizations and deaths from the disease. He also made misleading claims about the relationship between vaccination and autism. Research shows that vaccines and the ingredients used for the vaccines do not cause autism, including multiple studies involving more than a million children, and major medical associations like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the advocacy group Autism Speaks. We've used our editorial judgment in not including extended portions of that exchange in our interview," the anchor added.
The censorship was bookended by Davis' introduction to Kennedy at the beginning of the clip, in which she characterized him as "one of the biggest voices pushing anti-vaccine rhetoric," and as someone who regularly distributes "misinformation and disinformation about vaccines, which scientific and medical experts overwhelmingly say are safe and effective based on rigorous scientific studies."
In the interview itself, all that was left from Davis’ exchange with the candidate on vaccines was his statement that organizations like the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization are “captive agencies.”
In what was left of the exchange, Kennedy was allowed to explain his motivation to run, which he said stemmed from the "rise of corporatism in this country and this addiction that we have to war," as well the fact that the modern Democratic Party is "becoming the party of war, the party of censorship, the party of fear and the party of neocons and Wall Street."
The candidate, who has four decades' experience as an environmental lawyer, expressed confidence that he knows "more about how to fix regulatory agencies than any other politician in this country," and that the leadership of agencies from the CIA to the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Transport, the Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration has been captured by corrupt leaders who are "willing to carry water for industry."
Davis accused RFK Jr. of "casting aspersions" on these agencies.
The candidate also expressed concern about the Democratic National Convention’s announcement recently that it would not be holding debates between Biden and his Democratic challengers in the current election cycle.
“Particularly at this point in history, there are so many Americans who believe that our democracy is broken, that the system is rigged against them, and I think it’s really incumbent on the Democratic Party to act as a template, to make this election a template for democracy,” he said.
RFK Jr. is the nephew of slain former President John F. Kennedy, and son of US Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated while campaigning for the Democratic nomination in 1968. RFJ Jr. doesn’t believe that Sirhan Sirhan, the man convicted of killing his father, was responsible for the crime, and has urged California's governor to set him free.