--- title: "“So I Cut Him Off”: Bill Nye Says He Keeps Begging RFK Jr. to Stop Texting Him" description: "Everybody seems to want a piece of Bill Nye, the world's premiere science guy — including health secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. " date: "2025-06-15" modified: "2025-06-15" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/bill-nye-rfk-texts" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "antivaxxer" - "bill nye" - "rfk jr" - "vaccines" --- # “So I Cut Him Off”: Bill Nye Says He Keeps Begging RFK Jr. to Stop Texting Him ![Everybody seems to want a piece of Bill Nye, the world's premiere science guy — including health secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. ]() *\Image: Samuel Corum / John Nacion / Variety via Getty / Futurism\* Everybody seems to want a piece of Bill Nye, the world's premier science guy — including health secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. When [speaking with *Men's Health*](), Nye showed his interviewer a very long and one-sided text chain from the antivaxxer in charge of our nation's healthcare. After being connected with Nye by their mutual friend, the actor and environmentalist Ed Begley, Jr, Kennedy apparently began texting him vaccine-skeptical links and screeds. "If you read these articles he sent," the celebrity scientist exhorted, "they’re all this speculation about autism and just cause-and-effect, and mercury in vaccines, that *maybe* there’s a connection." As someone who has [long fought against pseudoscience](), Nye decided to take up the mantle and politely engage in some friendly discourse with RFK, Jr — a decision that turned out to be for nigh, pun not intended. "I wrote him back and said, 'Okay, I’ll read your book. I think you’ve confused causation with correlation. Your friend, Bill,'" the science guy told *Men's Health*. In response, the [allegedly brain-wormed]() political scion sent him more walls of text. "So I wrote, ‘Okay, no more texts,'" Nye said. "And he started again! So I cut him off." With no love lost between the two, the [trained engineer]() went off on his own screed. "He does not have good judgment," Nye said. "He is not suited for \[health secretary\]." "There’s an outbreak of measles in Texas. Did you hear about this? It was a religious sect that has historically low vaccination rates," he continued. "And the argument from the other side is: They have rights not to get vaccinated. *No, you don't!* And unvaccinated people can, and usually do, spread a disease." Though this seems to be the first time we've learned of their personal connection, it's not the first time we've heard the beloved science advocate go off about Kennedy. During a summit hosted by [*STAT News*]() earlier this year, Nye unloaded on RFK Jr's anti-vax stance. "He’s a guy who doesn’t believe in vaccines!" he said during the event in March. "I went to elementary school with a guy who had polio. You don’t want polio. Polio, bad! That there’s a guy who doesn’t understand that is really something." Polio was also mentioned during Nye's *Men's Health* interview, too. "The reason you don’t *get* polio is because of a *vaccine* that was discovered that keeps you *from getting* *polio!*" he extolled. "*What is wrong with you, man?*" There's too much wrong with RFK Jr to list here — but at least Bill Nye the science guy has his number, literally and figuratively. **More on RFK Jr:** [*RFK Jr's "Make America Healthy Again" Report Cites Studies That Don't Exist, in Clear Sign of AI Generated Slop*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()