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In one of the weirdest moments in the history of the United States government, Louisiana Senator John Kennedy busted out a giant screenshot from one of the Alien movies and claimed that people eating radioactive shrimp could turn them into aliens like the monster in the films. Seriously. In fact, he was so proud of his presentation that he later shared a portion of it on social media.
First off, yes, there have been recalls recently of frozen shrimp that may have been exposed to a radioactive substance. So Senator Kennedy isn’t completely crazy here.
In mid-August, possible radioactive shrimp Walmart imported from Indonesia was at the center of a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recall. At that time, the FDA noted that “no product that has tested positive entered the U.S. commerce” and that even if it had, the shrimp would not pose an “acute hazard” to people who inadvertently consumed it.
Fearmongering at its finest
This week, Senator Kennedy did his best to take those warnings and turn them up to 11. Science and actual facts be damned.
“This is a photograph of the alien from the movie Alien. This is what you could end up looking like if you eat some of the raw, frozen shrimp being sent to the United States by other countries,” Kennedy said while speaking on the floor of the United States Senate.
“How could you end up looking like the alien in Alien? Because the shrimp is radioactive. I kid you not. It had a radioactive isotope in it called cesium-137. It’ll kill you. Even if it doesn’t turn you into the alien if you eat this stuff, I guarantee you’ll grow an extra ear.”
Radioactive shrimp conspiracy theory
But wait, there’s more. Kennedy also went on to suggest that shrimp producers in other countries are making their shrimp radioactive on purpose.
“This shrimp, and I’m not just picking on Indonesia, it’s other countries,” Kennedy said. “This shrimp is grown in conditions that you can’t possibly imagine. Dirty water. They shoot the shrimp full of antibiotics. I confess, I didn’t know they were shooting them full of this radioactive isotope.”
Of course, as he would also note, he is biased, if not completely off his rocker. Louisiana, his home state, is a huge shrimp producer.
“I believe in homegrown Louisiana shrimp. Fresh, out of the Gulf, not radioactive. But I understand that some stores prefer to buy foreign shrimp because it’s cheaper. Now we know why. The damn stuff’s radioactive,” Kennedy continued. “And NOAA needs to do a better job of inspecting the shrimp that is sold from other countries who don’t abide by the same standards we do to the consumers in the United States and America.”
Reactions to Senator Kennedy’s speech
A rather large portion of the comments on Senator John Kennedy’s speech, which has been viewed over 1.5 million times on X (Twitter), were, perhaps surprisingly, overwhelmingly positive. But not all of them.
“Where did you get that from? Your aunt’s Facebook page?” read one comment on X.
“Imagine if we had politicians that actually fought for Americans instead of doing this stupid s—?” read another.
“While you’re fearmongering about fictional alien shrimp to distract from your party’s failed trade policies, Senator Kennedy, Americans are still waiting for real solutions to skyrocketing grocery prices caused by corporate greed you enable,” another person wrote.
“If I get super powers, might be worth it,” someone else commented in jest.