Chris Pratt has once again found himself in the middle of a political firestorm and, this time, the internet did not hold back.
The Guardians of the Galaxy star sparked outrage after publicly defending his extended family member, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., during a recent appearance on Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast.
While Pratt framed his remarks as an appeal for bipartisanship and reason, critics online quickly accused him of excusing policies that harm vulnerable communities.
On X (formerly Twitter), the reaction was swift and scathing.
One user fumed: ‘What a tone deaf a**hole. There’s nothing funny and wonderful about cutting cancer research and funding, while firing teams of experts so rich people can get richer and sick people can die.’
The criticism trended throughout the day, with more and more piling on to drag the father-of-four of legitimizing Kennedy’s controversial stances.
Some users connected the comments directly to real-world consequences, citing grant cuts that disrupted medical research, while others argued Pratt’s statements reflect a long-running pattern of political missteps.
Chris Pratt has once again found himself in the middle of a political firestorm after defending y Robert F. Kennedy Jr.; seen in August 2025
Despite Pratt’s insistence that his comments were meant to highlight shared goals, such as reducing toxins in food, many online saw his defense of RFK Jr. as reckless at best, harmful at worst.
‘Policy changes rarely ever consider the actual people they hit,’ one critic wrote, pointing to the way NIH funding cuts had already derailed graduate students’ research.
Another user summed up the mood more bluntly: ‘Stop being mean to Chris Pratt you don’t know his politics.’
The A-list actor, who has often sought unity in divided political times, is married to actress Katherine Schwarzenegger, a cousin by marriage to Kennedy.
In an appearance on Club Random, Pratt told Bill Maher – who counts Kennedy as a friend and has had him on both his talk show and his podcast – that there are parts of the ‘MAHA’ agenda he loves and that he wishes him well in his efforts.
‘I hope there are certain things that he oversees that seem to be supported in a bipartisan way, like getting terrible, toxic stuff out of our kids’ food. I think that’s a great thing. And so, like, just – if you just do that, that’s amazing.’
He adds that when spending time with Kennedy he’s willing to listen and hear him out but while he doesn’t always assume everything RFK Jr. is saying is true, he refuses to hate the HHS Secretary.
‘I’d hate to be so mired in hatred for the president that any success from his administration is something I’d have an allergic reaction to. To be like, ‘Oh, well, if they do it, I don’t want it to happen. I’ll put Clorox in my children’s cereal myself.’
While Pratt framed his remarks as an appeal for bipartisanship and reason, critics online quickly accused him of excusing policies that harm vulnerable communities
‘You know, it’s like, come on, be reasonable here. There’s certain things that would be a good thing to have. I want them all to be successful,’ Pratt said.
Maher agreed that Kennedy was a great guy, saying he loves him but has some advice for his work in Washington.
‘I love him. I don’t agree with everything, but I agree with, like, the overall view that what makes us sick is the toxicity,’ Maher said.
\’When he was here, I said my advice to you is like you need to marry your former life more with what you’re doing now. Your former life, you were very admired as an environmental lawyer.’
Despite the outsized caricature of Kennedy as a conspiracy theorist, Maher flatly denies he’s out of the ordinary.
‘And he’s not crazy. I mean the people trying to – he’s also got, like I said to him when he was here, ‘I don’t agree with everything you said, and I don’t think your father would either, but your father would be so proud that you stuck to your guns like more than anybody,’ he told the actor.
Despite Pratt’s insistence that his comments were meant to highlight shared goals, such as reducing toxins in food, many online saw his defense of RFK Jr. as reckless at best, harmful at worst
The A-list actor, who has often sought unity in divided political times, is married to actress Katherine Schwarzenegger, a cousin by marriage to Kennedy
‘I mean this guy, when this guy believes something you cannot move him off of it with your bribes. That’s for better and worse,’ Maher added.
This isn’t the first time Pratt has been accused of straddling the political divide in ways that frustrate both fans and critics.
Ahead of the 2024 presidential election, which saw Donald Trump defeat Democrat Kamala Harris and reclaim the White House, Pratt penned an essay in his mother-in-law Maria Shriver’s Sunday Paper.
In it, he urged Americans to remain proud of their country regardless of the election’s outcome.
‘It’s ok to take a moment to lick your wounds when you lose. Heck, go ahead and cry in the mirror,’ he wrote. ‘But if we become too paralyzed by defeat or too pompous in victory, allegiance to our ‘team’ can blind us to the fact that we are fellow countrymen.’
In an appearance on Club Random, Pratt told Bill Maher that there are parts of the ‘MAHA’ agenda he loves and that he wishes him well in his efforts (RFK pictured in 2025)
The comments were widely slammed as vapid and noncommittal, especially as they came just days after his father-in-law Arnold Schwarzenegger had forcefully endorsed Harris, warning that another Trump term would mean ‘four more years of bulls**t with no results.’
Pratt’s attempts to present himself as above the political fray have often backfired.
In 2019, he was called out by Elliot Page for attending a church with alleged anti-LGBTQ ties.
Ahead of the 2020 election, he was branded ‘Hollywood’s Worst Chris’ online for his suspected right-leaning views, sparking a wave of backlash that forced Marvel costars like Robert Downey Jr. and Mark Ruffalo to come to his defense.
He also came under fire in 2021 for a social media post celebrating the birth of his ‘healthy’ daughter with Schwarzenegger, which many took as a slight toward his son Jack, who was born prematurely with health complications.
Pratt later admitted the backlash left him ‘wrecked’ and fearful his son would one day stumble across the controversy.
