Robert De Niro joined Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 15 to hold a press conference about vaccine safety.
The pair are looking for proof that vaccines are safe and teamed up to offer $100,000 to anyone who can provide such information.
The actor participated in the panel, which showcased discredited claims surrounding vaccination, including the notion that they cause autism and that high levels of mercury in immunizations can make kids sick. “On one hand, the government is telling pregnant women which mercury-laced fish to avoid so that they don’t harm their fetuses, and on the other, the CDC supports injecting mercury-containing vaccines into pregnant women, infants and children,” Kennedy said at the joint press conference Wednesday. Kennedy, the son of the late U.S. attorney general and senator, insisted that journalists and the government have been colluding to cover up the truth about vaccine safety and that the “shots have caused the autism epidemic.”
De Niro, whose son has autism, and Kennedy called out the use of thimerosal, which is a mercury-based preservative.