RFK Jr branded 'nakedly racist' after claiming Arabs 'don't produce science' — fact-checkers cite Nobel Prize record

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sparked immediate backlash after telling a Michigan campaign crowd that Arabs "don't produce science" and win no major prizes — claims contradicted on the spot by the Nobel Prize record. Kennedy made the remarks in Grand Rapids while stumping for Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers, arguing the Muslim Brotherhood had left Arabic culture "atrophied and stagnant." CAIR, the nation's largest Muslim civil rights organisation, called the comments "utterly disqualifying for public office" and demanded Trump remove Kennedy from his cabinet.

In fact, Arabs have won Nobel Prizes in science, peace and literature as recently as 2025, including winners Ahmed Zewail, Naguib Mahfouz and Abdulrazak Gurnah.

Kennedy also claimed that El-Sayed, Rogers' Democratic opponent, has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood — a charge El-Sayed has repeatedly and flatly denied.

Kennedy acknowledged Arabs once led the world in learning, saying a 13th-century Muslim prince had 'more books in his library than existed in all of Europe' — before blaming the Brotherhood for destroying that tradition.