- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Fox News that the media is treating him more harshly than it did Donald Trump.
- He said that he thinks he is being "slammed" by mainstream outlets in a way that is "unprecedented."
- Kennedy's own family has distanced themselves from him and his beliefs about COVID-19 and vaccines.
Longshot Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that the mainstream media has been giving him a tougher time than it gave former President Donald Trump.
During an appearance on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" with Maria Bartiromo, the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy was asked if he was being heard by potential voters.
Kennedy, who has recently stirred controversy by baselessly claiming that COVID-19 was "ethnically targeted" to spare Jews and Chinese people, told Fox News that his message seems to be getting across despite what he perceives as media bias.
But he didn't hold back in expressing his frustration with how the press is covering him, stating, "I've been really slammed in a way that I think is unprecedented."
He added: "Even more than President Trump was slammed by the mainstream, corporate media."
Kennedy went on to refer to a July 19-20 Harvard/Harris poll of 2,068 registered voters, which showed that he has a favorability rating of 47%, before erroneously claiming that it showed he had a 20-point lead over any other candidate.
Several candidates, including Trump, have favorability rates within single digits of him.
Nonetheless, he pointed to the numbers as proof that his message is resonating.
"Listen, if I believe the stuff that's written about me in the papers and reported about me on the mainstream news sites, I would not have anything," Kennedy told Fox News. "I would definitely not vote for me, and I would think that I was a very despicable person."
Kennedy's own family members have publicly distanced themselves from him, saying they oppose his candidacy and what he stands for.
Kerry Kennedy, one of his sisters, told Insider in April that she loves her brother but doesn't endorse his opinions on various issues, including COVID-19 and vaccinations.
And after he made the comment about COVID-19 being ethnically targeted earlier this month, she strongly condemned his comments as "deplorable."
Kennedy built a reputation as a prominent anti-vaxxer long before the pandemic, previously proliferating a widely debunked claim that vaccines are linked to autism.
His niece, Kerry Meltzer, told Insider in April that she could not support his presidential bid as a practicing physician because his "vaccine skepticism is unfounded and potentially dangerous."
In 2019, two of his siblings and another niece penned an op-ed for Politico in which they denounced Kennedy's views on vaccines and their "heartbreaking consequences."