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‘Totally Out Of Bounds’: CNN Panelist Apologizes On-Air For Mocking RFK Jr.’s Voice

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Republican strategist Doug Heye apologized live on-air on Tuesday for previously mocking Democrat-turned-Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s voice.

Heye cracked a joke about Kennedy’s voice during a Friday segment on CNN after the candidate suspended his campaign in major swing states and endorsed Republican nominee Donald Trump. The Republican strategist said on Tuesday that his remark about Kennedy was “totally out of bounds.”

“Well let me say first, because you talked about R.F.K, last week I was on this network and I made a joke about the way he speaks, which is totally out of bounds and I just want to acknowledge that and apologize,” Heye said. “His ideas, totally in bounds, how he speaks, differently.”

CNN panelists apologized live on-air for previously mocking RFK Jr.’s voice pic.twitter.com/Na9aXZgoW1

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 27, 2024

Heye said on Friday that no one can understand Kennedy due to his voice while criticizing his claims that he can still become president after suspending his campaign.

“Yeah, I was watching that. And Donald Trump last week stood and said, in front of a bunch of groceries, and said, ‘I haven’t seen any Cheerios in a long time,’ I had Cheerios for breakfast,” Heye said on Friday. “This was cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, and trying to get any logic out of that is, good luck with that! Because it’s one, you can’t understand what he says. Two, if you can, you can understand what he says, and reminded of a line from Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles when somebody gets up and gives an indecipherable speech, he says, ‘Who can argue with that? That’s authentic frontier gibberish.’ And that’s exactly what that is.”

Kennedy’s voice is caused by a rare neurological disorder called spasmodic dysphonia, which causes involuntary spasms to the muscles that open and close the vocal cords due to an abnormality in the brain’s neural networks, according to the Los Angeles Times. Kennedy recalled his voice sounding “unusually strong” before he suffered from the disorder.

“I feel sorry for the people who have to listen to me,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “My voice doesn’t really get tired. It just sounds terrible. But the injury is neurological, so actually the more I use the voice the stronger it tends to get.”

Kennedy lost his Secret Service protection following the suspension of his campaign, the agency confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation on Sunday.

The Independent candidate’s siblings called his endorsement of Trump a “betrayal” to the values of their father, former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.