Larry David Mocks RFK Jr. As Anti-Vax Neighbor On HBO Max Show
SkimNews Take
Lampooning his wife's husband on screen turns a public health satire into a domestic subplot, collapsing the distance between political disagreement and personal relationship.
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- Larry David plays Dora Salk, mother of polio vaccine creator Jonas Salk, in the latest episode of HBO Max's 'Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness'
- A neighbor portrayed by Gregg Perrie — seemingly meant to evoke RFK Jr. — calls vaccines 'a Nazi plot' and claims they cause heart attacks
- David's character fires back: 'Drop dead, Bobby,' and warns it would be 'a dark day for humanity' if someone unqualified were put in charge of health policy
- David, a longtime acquaintance of Kennedy through Cheryl Hines, is described as a vocal critic of Trump and apparently no longer close with Hines
- Cheryl Hines has not appeared on the new HBO Max series, unlike other Curb Your Enthusiasm cast members, and has acknowledged her friendship with David has evaporated
Why it matters: The episode puts a years-long personal rift between David and Kennedy on screen, with David using historical satire to ridicule vaccine skepticism at a moment when Kennedy remains a prominent public health voice. By channeling the critique through a 1950s washerwoman, David reframes a live policy debate as an anachronistic absurdity — a creative rebuke that doubles as a statement about his severed friendship with Hines.
