RFK Jr.’s $100K Deal to Shill Just Like Tom Brady and Khloé KardashianScoop: Ethics disclosures reveal his payday for a bizarre endorsement amid that $1.2M in credit card debt, and his cabinet position’s impact on wife Cheryl Hines
Dave Levinthal is an investigative journalist in Washington, D.C. who previously wrote about the Trump campaign’s big spending on subscriptions to media outlets he derides. Dave led Raw Story's newsroom as editor-in-chief and was a deputy editor at Business Insider. He has worked at the Center for Public Integrity, Politico and OpenSecrets.An older man in a tight T-shirt stands in front of a large television screen. He begins punching a little red ball that, at first glance, seems magically suspended in the air. You squint a bit and realize that the ball is attached, by a springy cord, to a band the man has wrapped around his head. Punch, punch, punch, punch. You squint a bit more and think to yourself, “This sweaty, kinda ripped dude looks a little like Robert F. Kennedy Jr.” Punch, punch, punch, punch. The television then flashes the number 17 — the number of punches he landed in 5 seconds. Its screen turns from green to red. A celebratory roar from several overly excited onlookers fills the room in what appears to be a high-rise apartment. The man jabs his fingers upward. “Boxbollen!” he shouts with a goofy smile as the camera zooms in on his face.  And that confirms it: This is RFK Jr., husband of Curb Your Enthusiasm star Cheryl Hines and the vaccine-trashing 2024 Democratic presidential candidate who became an independent presidential candidate before throwing his support to a Republican presidential candidate in Donald Trump who, of course, won the election — and named Kennedy his secretary of Health and Human Services. “This is Boxbollen, the ideal stocking stuffer,” Kennedy exclaims in the ad spot, which appears on YouTube, TikTok, X, Instagram and other social media. “When I’m on the road, I try to use it as often as I can, because it keeps up my hand-eye coordination, and it gives me a workout.” So what, exactly, is in this for Kennedy? Money, in short. Federal records filed with the Office of Government Ethics indicate Kennedy, whose net worth Forbes estimates at about $15 million (though some reports put it closer to $30 million), was paid a cool $100,000 for his Boxbollen endorsement. I first spotted the video in December, when Boxbollen, a Swedish playtech startup launched in 2018, posted it on X. Rolling Stone later covered it in an “RS Recommends” piece that reads a bit like an advertorial. Trump had nominated Kennedy as Health and Human Services secretary in mid-November, one month earlier. In other words, Kennedy was shilling for a self-described “gamified physical activity” product while on the verge of leading a government health agency that oversees $2.37 trillion in budgetary resources, including the Medicare and Medicaid programs, according to government budget tracking database USASpending.gov. Hollywood celebrities routinely pocket easy cash for cheeseball endorsement deals. But it’s implausible to imagine most any other member of RFK Jr.’s Kennedy generation or the previous one lending their name to something like Boxbollen, especially while tapped to lead the nation’s preeminent federal health agency. Still, Kennedy joins NFL legend Tom Brady, boxer Tyson Fury and actresses Eva Longoria and Nicole Scherzinger, as well as Khloé Kardashian and Kyle Richards, among celebrities who’ve peddled Boxbollen for a paycheck. A Trend Among Trump Appointees
Kennedy’s Boxbollen side gig is decidedly in the business-meet-politics spirit of Trump himself, whose hundreds of documented financial entanglements include golf courses, hotels, sneakers, cologne, NFTs and Bibles — to say nothing of a Trump-branded memecoin crypto token released hours before his Jan. 20 presidential inauguration. For most of modern political history, serving as a paid product endorser while running for president or standing as a Cabinet nominee would have been scandalous. But with Trump obliterating norms that largely sequestered political ambition from financial benefit, it’s less shocking now that Kennedy would accept money to tout a fitness product. There’s little risk of consequence, either, given that Trump’s administration is exercising significant control over criminal and civil law enforcement agencies that could investigate alleged financial impropriety. The 71-year-old Kennedy vowed last month to avoid conflicts of interest and divest of numerous financial holdings. (His financial disclosures also revealed he was carrying up to $1.2 million of credit card debt at rates over 23 percent.) But U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) blasted Kennedy at his confirmation hearing earlier this month for not trying hard enough — specifically, for retaining a financial stake in the outcome of vaccine litigation. (Afterward, Kennedy vowed to transfer his litigation interest to his son, a move that failed to placate Warren and Wyden.) Kennedy’s conflicts-of-interest pledge also applies in part to his wife, Hines. Although he attempted to claim New York residency during his presidential run, since their 2014 wedding, the couple have shared homes in some of L.A.’s ritziest enclaves, from Malibu’s Point Dume to Brentwood’s Mandeville Canyon, where they purchased a $6.6 million house in 2021. Via Waterkeeper Alliance, a nonprofit he chaired for 20 years until stepping down in 2020, Kennedy once aligned with many other Hollywood names who supported the environmental organization, including Curb Your Enthusiasm creator/star Larry David. It was at a ski weekend fundraiser for Waterkeeper that Hines and Kennedy were first introduced — by David. Kennedy had been married twice before. Hollywood Hines’ MAGA-Friendly Moves
In light of her husband’s new role, Hines has agreed that her beauty products company, Hines & Young LLC, will “stop sales of the company’s cosmetic inventory no later than 90 days from the date of [Kennedy’s] appointment,” according to Kennedy's ethics filing. The Hines+Young website is currently offering a “Store Close Out Sale.” Hines, 59, founded the company in 2023 with Catherine Rose Young, her daughter with ex-husband Paul Young, a manager and producer who cofounded Principato-Young Entertainment (he exited the company in 2017 to launch his own shingle, Make Good Content). Paul Young’s credits include Central Intelligence and Key & Peele, for which he won a 2016 Emmy for variety sketch series. Kennedy likewise said that he will not knowingly act in any way that has a “direct and predictable effect on the financial interests of Youngster Productions” — Hines’ media production company that’s designed to “receive payments, including residuals and royalties, from television shows and movies” in which she “acts and directs.” The company is valued at between $500,001 and $1 million, per Kennedy’s financial disclosure. In a November Instagram story, Kennedy could be seen apparently naked in the shower behind Hines as she promotes Hines+Young products.  In 2023, Kennedy’s political ambitions reportedly strained his marriage with Hines. Kennedy’s ultimate embrace of Trump was a “really difficult issue” for her, Kennedy told TMZ in August. But lately, she has appeared to embrace the MAGA limelight, jetting down to Mar-a-Lago and playing a starring role at the “Make America Healthy Again” ball during Trump’s inauguration celebration in Washington, D.C. She attended Kennedy’s Senate confirmation, sitting directly behind her husband. Watchdog groups such as Public Citizen, Campaign Legal Center and the Brennan Center for Justice have also accused numerous top Trump appointees — from Attorney General Pam Bondi to Department of Government Efficiency leader Elon Musk — of self-dealing and financial conflicts-of-interest. Other Trump cabinet members and appointees have also endorsed products. For example, as governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem posted a video on Instagram and X endorsing a cosmetic dental company in Texas that she patronized, only to be sued last year by consumer advocacy group Travelers United for allegedly failing to disclose a “financial relationship” with the company.  The New York Times on Feb. 24 posted an extensive report on Mehmet Oz, Trump’s nominee to oversee Medicare and Medicaid, who has promoted a variety of commercial products including private “Medicare Advantage” insurance plans. The former longtime talk show host has said he’ll divest of such financial interest. Newly confirmed FBI director Kash Patel has hawked various products — including those for foreign clients — such as a Covid vaccine “detoxification system,” wine and supplements all piggybacked on his relationship with Trump. And podcaster Dan Bongino, Patel’s incoming deputy, has personally promoted a variety of products, nutritional supplements, a timeshare cancelation service and a coffee brand that tells drinkers to “be awake, not woke.” On Monday, Spartan Armor, which makes body armor, posted a video of Bongino endorsing their “incredible” products, because “your safety has never been more in danger than it is now.” Bongino adds: “I’m happy to be welcomed on as a sponsor . . . they sent me a couple of the plates, they’re fantastic.” The Florida Fixer Who Brought Boxbollen to KennedyOnline reviews of Boxbollen, which retails for about $30, including a punch tracking app, give the product mixed ratings — its claims to improve hand-eye coordination and agility are valid, say some reviewers, but there’s also a risk of getting bonked in the face with the ball. Kennedy’s deal with the company was arranged by a Florida-based company called Trending 911 Inc., which served as an “endorsement agent for Boxbollen,” according to federal records. Trending 911 Inc. is owned by failed Florida congressional candidate and political consultant Charles Callesto, Florida Department of State Division of Corporations records indicate. Chuck Callesto’s social media feeds are filled with pro-Donald Trump, pro-Elon Musk and pro-RFK Jr. posts. One Feb. 13 post on X features a photo of a shirtless Kennedy next to a photo of Rachel Levine, a transgender woman who served as an assistant Health and Human Services secretary during Joe Biden’s presidential administration. “America just got a serious upgrade,” Callesto wrote of Kennedy. Pinned to the top of Callesto’s profile is another photo — of Callesto and Kennedy. “Congratulations to my good friend Bobby, Americans just added years to their life expectancy,” reads the post, which celebrated Kennedy’s Senate confirmation. Neither Kennedy nor Boxbollen returned requests for comment, although Kennedy acknowledged in his ethics disclosure that he had signed an “endorsement agreement related to endorsements of Boxbollen products via social media content.” And in a 2023 interview with PRWeek, Boxbollen cofounder Jacob Eriksson said that “trying to work with bigger names will mean bigger results” for Boxbollen and that “our heavy paid marketing gave us great results.” Eriksson described his company’s mission as inspiring people “to move and have fun.” Regarding money, Eriksson told PRWeek that Boxbollen aims to offer celebrity targets a “very solid offer and simple deliverables.” He declined to say how much Boxbollen paid. “The amount is always under NDA because they don't want numbers to get out,” he said, adding, “You barely get anything done under six figures.” He added: “Working with celebrities also creates more trust with consumers.” While Kennedy initially earned a six-figure fee for his Boxbollen endorsement, he ultimately didn’t pocket the full amount. Kennedy doesn’t mention Boxbollen by name in a seven-page ethics agreement he signed Jan. 21, in which he details financial steps he’s taken to “avoid any actual or apparent conflict of interest” upon becoming Health and Human Services secretary. But in a supplemental ethics disclosure filed earlier this month, as the U.S. Senate was in the process of confirming him, Kennedy stated that he “returned $50,000 as I was not able to fully perform obligations under the contract” with Boxbollen.
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RFK Jr.’s $100K Deal to Shill Just Like Tom Brady and Khloé Kardashian
February 26, 2025
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