Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Newsmax that the New York Society for Ethical Culture canceled an event between him and Rabbi Shmuley Boteach less than 24 hours out.
Appearing Monday alongside Boteach on "Eric Bolling The Balance," Kennedy theorized that the group was "under pressure" to pull the plug on the discussion, which he believes qualifies as a presidential forum.
Kennedy has been under the ire of criticism this past week for recent comments he made suggesting that an argument exists for COVID-19 being a bioweapon that "ethnically targeted" white and Black people.
The theory, which also alleges that Ashkenazi Jewish and Chinese people are the most immune, stems from a 2020 study conducted for the National Library of Medicine's PubMed journal.
He has since denied that the clip was in context, writing on Twitter that he "never, ever suggested that the COVID-19 virus was targeted to spare Jews."
Boteach defended Kennedy during his Monday appearance on Newsmax, emphasizing that "stifling freedom of speech is an abomination to American values.
"All of us should be concerned about the kind of country that we are now living in," Boteach said. "That a presidential series, featuring candidates from the major parties ... is canceled by an organization.
"Whatever you think about Robert Kennedy, he is not an antisemite. That is a reputational lynching. It's a lie," he continued, insisting that they will hold the society "very accountable to the damages they've inflicted."
Kennedy called the experience yet another example of political censorship against his campaign, recalling his appearance before a House committee Thursday discussing government actions during the pandemic.
"There were a number of questions asked, but I was not allowed to answer them. There were defamations. The most perfidious, odious, hateful defamations applied to me on national TV," Kennedy, an anti-vaccine activist, explained.
Earlier this week, over 100 Democratic members of Congress signed a letter opposing his appearance before the panel, citing his controversial recent comments on COVID-19 and race.
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