Barnaby Joyce outs himself as JFK conspiracy theory believer
Barnaby Joyce is no stranger to rogue opinions, but he was ribbed on social media after he outed himself as a believer of a major conspiracy theory.
Sixty years after John F. Kennedy was assassinated, Australia’s former deputy prime minister says he doesn’t believe the former president was killed by a lone gunman.
Barnaby Joyce took to X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday morning to share his thoughts about the anniversary of the event.
“65 per cent of a US survey don’t believe the Warren Report that it was only Lee H. Oswald with a dodgy ex military Italian rifle from the 6th floor of the Texas Book Depository 81m away,” Mr Joyce said.
“Nor do I.”
Today is the 60th anniversary of the assassination of JFK, 35th President of the USA. 65% of a US survey don't believe the Warren Report that it was only Lee H. Oswald with a dodgy ex military Italian rifle from the 6th floor of the Texas Book Depository 81m away. Nor do I.
— Barnaby Joyce (@Barnaby_Joyce) November 22, 2023
The now Nationals frontbencher was referring to a new Gallup poll that indicated a majority of Americans believed that Oswald didn’t act alone and that others were involved in a conspiracy to kill Kennedy.
The figures are up from 61 per cent a decade ago but down from a 2001 high of 81 per cent.
A US government investigation, the Warren Commission, into Kennedy’s assassination determined Oswald acted alone.
The survey found 20 per cent believed the federal government or the CIA (16 per cent) were responsible, followed by the mafia (11 per cent) or the FBI (6 per cent).
Social media users quickly piled onto Mr Joyce for outing himself as a believer of the conspiracy theory.
“You also believed you were watching the Women’s World Cup quarter-final live, too,” one quipped back, referring to the time Mr Joyce was at a pub showing an older Matildas friendly instead of the live match.
“Barnaby, what happened to Harold Holt?” another asked.
“Where do you stand on the moon landing, big Barno?” a user goaded.
JFK’s daughter, Caroline Kennedy, is living in Australia in her role as the US ambassador.
She previously served as US ambassador to Japan from 2013-2017 under former president Barack Obama.