Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. posted a video to X on Monday, Aug. 17, laying out a new government plan while standing beside actor Dennis Quaid.
Within hours, the 72-year-old had become a talking point on social media.
Almost none of the reactions, though, were about the new announcement.
In the clip, Kennedy said the administration is “taking bold new actions against Lyme disease, Alpha-gal syndrome, and other tick-borne diseases,” promising faster research, better care and new treatments.
He said HHS is spending millions on AI tools designed to catch the illness early. He also credited a public-private partnership called LymeX with bringing two improved, FDA-cleared Lyme tests to the market.
Quaid, on the other hand, got a little more personal. He spoke about his friend Kris Kristofferson, the country singer who spent years being treated for Alzheimer’s disease before his death in 2024.
“But Alzheimer’s wasn’t the problem,” Quaid said. “He actually had Lyme disease, and when the doctors finally diagnosed him correctly in 2016 and started the right treatment, his symptoms did improve.”
Quaid closed on a hopeful note, saying, “Together, we can advance science, improve care and give more patients the answers they deserve.”
However, social media’s reaction was very much unforgiving. Viewers were not interested in the science. They wanted to know how an actor ended up delivering a government health message in the first place.
“What does bro even do,” one person tweeted. Another was blunter about it. “What does Dennis Quaid know about this? Really nothing more than most people. Probably less,” he wrote.
A different user wanted specifics, asking, “Why Dennis Quaid? Exactly what expertise does he have?” Another needed only three words, posting, “Why Dennis Quaid?”
Meanwhile, others turned it into a test of political consistency.
“Hey maga, where’s your outrage?!” one woman wrote. “Here’s an ACTOR giving medical advice. You guys hate actors being political, right?! Are you going to cancel Dennis Quaid now?!”
One commenter supported the cause while rejecting the messengers, arguing that tick-borne diseases genuinely need more funding, “but these 2 bozos aren’t the solution.” Another summed up the mood in a single line: “Taking health advice from Dennis Quaid now.”
Despite the public’s confusion over seeing Quaid educate the nation about Lyme disease, One America News Network described him as a patient advocate who has said a tick bite left him dealing with Lyme disease himself. It’s also worth noting that Quaid has spoken out about patient safety for nearly two decades, following a 2007 incident in which his newborn twins were given a massive drug overdose at a Los Angeles hospital.
Roughly 476,000 Americans are diagnosed and treated for Lyme every year, according to CDC figures. HHS says up to 20 percent still deal with symptoms long after treatment ends. During a press conference in Concord, New Hampshire in May, Kennedy announced a CDC tick-control pilot program, up to $2.5 million in LymeX innovation prizes and new NIH funding.
Meanwhile, Quaid has spent the past year as one of the loudest Trump supporters in Hollywood… and that history shaped how Monday’s video landed.
On evangelical pastor Greg Laurie’s podcast in February, he called Trump “surprisingly approachable and very funny” and “really genuine.” Quaid went so far as to say that “he wouldn’t be president if he wasn’t genuine.” Those comments drew their own wave of criticism. Weeks later, Quaid flew on Air Force One to a Trump speech in Corpus Christi, Texas. There, he told the crowd, “I love Corpus Christi and I love Donald Trump,” per AOL.
His former “Any Given Sunday” co-star Lauren Holly responded on Threads with a reference to their onscreen slap scene, writing, “At least I got to slap him real hard.”
Neither Quaid nor HHS has addressed the criticism.
