Woody Harrelson for RFK Jr.? Post with actor wearing Kennedy hat sees mixed response

WASHINGTON − Actor Woody Harrelson appeared Thursday to endorse a 2024 presidential candidate posing in an Instagram photo wearing a Robert F. Kennedy Jr. hat.

Kennedy is challenging President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination next year. His wife, Cheryl Hines, a former "Curb Your Enthusiasm" actress, posted a photo on Instagram posing next to Harrelson who donned a blue Kennedy 2024 hat.

"Great seeing you Woody," she wrote in the caption.

The actor's apparent endorsement of Kennedy received mixed responses.

The junior Kennedy has pushed anti-vaccine views that are at odds with what government agencies and prominent public health experts say and has become a leading voice in recent years in the anti-vaccine movement. Health experts have called his work dangerous and members of his family have condemned him for spreading misinformation.

'My enthusiasm is curbed'

Hines' Instagram post racked up over 15,000 likes and 1,000 comments as of Friday morning.

One user on Instagram commented: "You might as well be wearing a MAGA hat because that's who a Kennedy campaign will elect." Another wrote: "My enthusiasm is curbed," referencing Hines' former role on the HBO sitcom.

Others, specifically referencing Harrelson, wrote: "Not WOODY!! Is this photo shopped? When did he get brainwashed?" And another commented: "Woody, I love you, but I can't be on your side politically since a Kennedy candidacy could potentially give us Trump again!"

Some users expressed support for Hines, but not Kennedy. One commented: "I love you in 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' and I adored RFK. However, I cannot support RFK Jr. in his presidential race."

Harrelson, when hosting "Saturday Night Live" earlier this year, took aim at COVID vaccine mandates during his opening monologue. He called himself an "anarchist, Marxist, ethical hedonist, nondiscriminatory empath, epistemology deconstructionist, Texan."

"You know, the red in me thinks you should be allowed to own guns. The blue in me thinks – squirt guns. So, I’m red and blue which makes purple. I’m purple," he said on the show.

More: 'Raised to argue': Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says his 2024 campaign is 'largely misunderstood'

Kennedy's criticism of pandemic, vaccines

Kennedy has criticized the government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines − even losing his Instagram account at one point when he was accused of spreading misinformation about the virus. He criticized the lockdowns, suggesting things were worse for Americans than they were for Anne Frank, the Jewish teenager who hid with her family during the Holocaust and died in a concentration camp.

Kennedy later apologized for the comments. It marked the second time he apologized for comparing Nazis and the Holocaust to public health measures. In 2015, he used the word "Holocaust" to describe children he believes were hurt by vaccines.

Most recently, organizations advocating for Jewish and Asian people criticized Kennedy after he spread a conspiracy theory at a July event about the groups and COVID-19.

Kennedy, during a dinner in New York, said there is an “argument” that COVID-19 is “ethnically targeted.” He claimed COVID-19 is “targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people” while sparing Ashkenazi Jewish people and Chinese people. The term Ashkenazi is generally used to refer Jewish people whose ancestors lived in parts of Europe. The majority of American Jews describe themselves as Ashkenazi.

Contributing: Marina Pitofsky

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Woody Harrelson for RFK Jr.? Actor poses with Kennedy 2024 hat