Scarborough Accuses RFK Jr. of 'Lurching to Bigotry,' 'Disgracing' His 'Extraordinary' Dad

On Wednesday's Morning Joe on MS NOW, co-host Joe Scarborough excoriated HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over a speech he gave in Michigan this week in which he blamed the Muslim Brotherhood for the scarcity of Muslim Arab scientists who have won the Nobel Prize.

Scarborough accused Kennedy of "lurching to bigotry," and of disgracing his father, former Senator and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Sr.

Previewing a clip of Kennedy's words, Scarborough recalled that he was inspired by RFK Sr., and then lamented: "It's hard to even imagine how ashamed he would be of his son for denigrating over a billion people because of their faith."

The MS NOW host also took a jab at Michigan Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers as he added:

Scarborough Slams RFK Jr. Blaming Radical Islam for Few Arab Nobel Winners pic.twitter.com/sl56z8YYCA

— Brad Wilmouth (@bradwilmouth) October 28, 2026

Scarborough Slams RFK Jr. Blaming Radical Islam for Few Arab Nobel Winners pic.twitter.com/sl56z8YYCA

— Brad Wilmouth (@bradwilmouth) October 28, 2026

This is heartbreaking. This is what Robert Kennedy Jr. -- I hate even saying that name -- this is what he did when he campaigned with Mike Rogers -- another guy that I've known, liked, respected has run an abhorrent, racist, bigoted campaign. But this is what Bobby Kennedy's son said when was asked about Arab and Muslim people.

Then came a short clip from Kennedy's speech:

And that's why you don't see any Muslims, any Arab Muslims winning the Nobel -- there's 500 million Arabs in the world, and yet they don't produce scient-- they don't win the Nobel Prize. They don't win the Field prize. They don't win the Wolf prize. And they don't produce literature.

Cut out was the part when Kennedy blamed the Muslim Brotherhood for causing the Muslim world to stagnate in the sciences, in contrast with a history of Muslims in past centuries being advanced compared to Europe. In his full speech, he noted that he has spent substantial time learning about radical Islam.

Scarborough called Kennedy's comments "asinine" and read a statement from his sister Kerry Kennedy:

Scarborough Claims RFK Jr.'s Father Would Be Ashamed Over His Muslim Comments pic.twitter.com/bHZrFbBQIv

— Brad Wilmouth (@bradwilmouth) October 28, 2026

Scarborough Claims RFK Jr.'s Father Would Be Ashamed Over His Muslim Comments pic.twitter.com/bHZrFbBQIv

— Brad Wilmouth (@bradwilmouth) October 28, 2026

It's one of the most asinine things I've ever heard. And so RFK Jr.'s sister Kerry responded to those comments. She said, "The easiest thing for a political leader to do is to appeal to our bigotry or hatred or xenophobia or prejudice, and point to people who are unlike us and say they're the ones who are damaging the country." She highlighted that her brother said those words on Larry King back in 2016.

She continues, "There was a time I completely agreed with my brother. Today I am deeply ashamed of him." And, Mike, the entire family, I mean, entire family has to be so disappointed that this is what's become of him because, I've got to say, you know, he's playing for Trump. He's playing for bigots.

A bit later, noting that Robert F. Kennedy Sr. in 1968 had tried to unify a crowd in Indianapolis after the news of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, Scarborough asserted: "I mean, the cowardice that he showed by lurching to bigotry in what he considered to be a safe space is the opposite of what his father did that night in Indianapolis..."

Later on, he added: "He disgraces his father's name. He disgraces his father's memory. And I pray for him. I pray that he will reconnect with the legacy of his extraordinary father."

At the end of the segment, show regular Willie Geist jumped in to assert that Kennedy's claims about a scarcity of Muslim Arab Nobel Prize winners was wrong. But, if one looks at the list of all Nobel Prize winners and their countries of origin, only a small portion of winners have been born in Arab countries. And a large portion of those were winners of the largely political Peace prize rather than for the sciences.

For example, of all the Arab countries, Egypt has the greatest number of Nobel Prize winners born there, which is a total of six. But three won the Peace prize while only two won prizes in science. And one of those two was a British national who was born in Egypt and studied in Britain while the other moved to the U.S. and was doing his research in California when he won the Nobel Prize in chemistry.

Transcripts follow:

MS NOW's Morning Joe

October 28, 2026

7:18 a.m. Eastern

JOE SCARBOROUGH: So, Mike, let me -- let me talk about somebody that you've known for a long time -- I've known for a long time whose father was my political hero. Reason I actually got involved in politics, even as a conservative young guy, it was Bobby Kennedy after I read Arthur Schlesinger's book, after I learned about what he did in Indianapolis on April the 4th, 1968, after I saw what he did in South Africa in 1966, actually, June 6th, 1966, two years before he tragically passed away. Bobby Kennedy was the reason I got involved in politics. And I told junior that as well.

And the remarkable thing about Bobby Kennedy was that -- that he threw open his arms for all Americans, and he understood the importance of, of, of America as a -- that we were stronger as -- as we were more diverse. And he took chances. I -- I just -- it's hard to even imagine how ashamed he would be of his son for denigrating over a billion people because of their faith.

Specifically, when Bobby Kennedy talked about how America had to move to becoming a country that -- that moved beyond prejudices based on faith and race. Listen, this is --

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Heartbreaking.

SCARBOROUGH: This is heartbreaking. This is what Robert Kennedy Jr. -- I hate even saying that name -- this is what he did when he campaigned with Mike Rogers -- another guy that I've known, liked, respected has run an abhorrent, racist, bigoted campaign. But this is what Bobby Kennedy's son said when was asked about Arab and Muslim people.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., HHS SECRETARY: And that's why you don't see any Muslims, any Arab Muslims winning the Nobel -- there's 500 million Arabs in the world, and yet they don't produce scient-- they don't win the Nobel Prize. They don't win the Field prize. They don't win the Wolf prize. And they don't produce literature.

SCARBOROUGH: It's one of the most asinine things I've ever heard. And so RFK Jr.'s sister Kerry responded to those comments. She said, "The easiest thing for a political leader to do is to appeal to our bigotry or hatred or xenophobia or prejudice, and point to people who are unlike us and say they're the ones who are damaging the country." She highlighted that her brother said those words on Larry King back in 2016.

She continues, "There was a time I completely agreed with my brother. Today I am deeply ashamed of him." And, Mike, the entire family, I mean, entire family has to be so disappointed that this is what's become of him because, I've got to say, you know, he's playing for Trump. He's playing for bigots. I've heard him give speeches before in past times, much like what he said on Larry King (Live) that were inspiring speeches. I mean, but when he was environmental lawyer, going around his speeches were extraordinary. He said, you know, we -- we preach capitalism to single mothers, but we preach socialism, but we practice socialism with corporate leaders.

MIKE BARNICLE, MS NOW CONTRIBUTOR: That man is gone.

SCARBOROUGH: He is gone. And for what? Thirty pieces of silver? What has he sacrificed his extraordinary legacy for? It's like when I see Franklin Graham getting down in the gutter of MAGA politics. His father was like the Pope to hundreds of millions of people like me. His other family members, extraordinary. The ministry, extraordinary. What Samaritan Hands does, extraordinary. So many good things. And yet they get down in the gutter with Donald Trump. For what?

(Barnicle recalls when, in 1968, Robert F. Kennedy announced to a crowd in Indianapolis that Martin Luther King Jr. had been murdered, and called for unity.)

SCARBOROUGH: I mean, the cowardice that he showed by lurching to bigotry and what he considered to be a safe space is the opposite of what his father did that night in Indianapolis, where he goes into Indianapolis, he finds out that Martin Luther King has been shot. And he said, "I'm going to go into the inner city. I'm going to talk to the people. I'm going to let them know what happened." Indianapolis police officers said no. The department said, "You can't go in there -- it's too dangerous. There are going to be riots. There's going to be killing. We're not even going in there. You can't go in there."

He said, "I'm going to go in there." So Bobby goes. Police officers escort him and then stop. His car goes in there, like Mike said by himself. And he goes in and he delivers what Jeff Greenfield, his speechwriter, said was the greatest speech of his life. And he said, the son of a, he just wrote it on the back of a card.

BARNICLE: Yeah.

SCARBOROUGH: Greatest speech of his life, where he talks about how a white man also killed his brother, and that now is the time not for division -- now is the time for unity. And he talked about the awful grace of God that drip by drip falls upon our heart and makes us better people, stronger people.

It was extraordinarily courageous. And he was willing to do that. And that night, Evan Thomas wrote in 2007, that night, over 100 cities burned in America. That night, Indianapolis went to bed in peace. And it's because of Bobby Kennedy's courage. And that is why I got involved in politics -- because I saw a man who made a difference, who had the courage to make the difference. And now I see a son -- and I take no pride in this -- I like Bobby personally, with what I've known of him in the past. He disgraces his father's name. He disgraces his father's memory. And I pray for him. I pray that he will reconnect with the legacy of his extraordinary father.

BRZEZINSKI: Richard Haass, thank you.

RICHARD HAASS, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS PRESIDENT EMERITUS: What we're seeing is money is not the only thing that corrupts. Ambition also corrupts. And that's what we're seeing day in, day out by the people around Donald Trump, who you have to believe many of them do not believe in him, do not agree with him, but for reasons of personal advancement, continue to stand by him. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is one of them.

WILLIE GEIST: You all have said it well -- I will just add that like almost everything with Bobby Kennedy, Jr., everything he said was wrong in that speech --

BRZEZINSKI: Literally.

GEIST: -- factually, that Muslims have won every one of the awards he just laid out there. It's important to add that.

BRZEZINSKI: Just a fact. We'll be right back.

(...)

October 27, 2026, speech in Michigan

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., HHS SECRETARY: But I'm happy that I came in when Mike Rogers was talking about the Muslim Brotherhood because that's something that I can talk about, and that's something that I've studied a lot in my life, and I know a lot more about it than I think most people do. And I know how dangerous it is. And I want to say this -- that talking about the Muslim Brotherhood is not Islamophobia. The Muslim Brotherhood was started in 1928, and it launched a new ideology that departed from traditional Islam in a very, very dangerous way. And it's worst victims are not Jews or Christians that it's seeking to exterminate across all of the Muslim lands today.

It's the Palestinian people and the people who live in the countries that the Muslim Brotherhood has taken over. They live inside of a death cult. They are immersed in an ideology of victimization of murder -- of genocide, and they're prevented from --  they're atrophied and stagnant in any, you know, the Muslim religion produced the Golden Age which was -- lasted almost 1,000 years where Islamic lands were the center -- the foundation for out literature and science and engineering, and they were highly tolerant and pluralistic and cosmopolitan.

And they produced all these great foundational discoveries in science and medicine and biology and navigation, etc. And the Islamists -- which is the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood -- took over in 1928 and began to spread all that (audio gap) up to -- and that's why you don't see any Muslims, any Arab Muslims winning the Nobel -- there's 500 million Arabs in the world, and yet they don't produce scient-- they don't win the Nobel Prize. They don't win the Field prize. They don't win the Wolf prize. And they don't produce literature.

They used to produce -- they were the first to make books -- in the 13th century, typical Muslim princes had more books in their libraries than existed in all of Europe. And all of that tradition has been destroyed by the Muslim Brotherhood. They've created stagnant societies that do one two things -- hatred and war and victimization. And they've let down their own people and destroyed those societies. You look at what Israel has done with that tiny sliver of land -- the only place in the Middle East that doesn't have oil, and they've turned it into a superpower -- a high-tech superpower. Why didn't that happen next door? Because of the Muslim Brotherhood.