Jack Schlossberg's Viral TikToks Are "Inspired By The Legacy" Of The Kennedy Family

While the Internet and the generally public has had reactions ranging from shocked to puzzled regarding Jack Schlossberg's most recent string of viral Instagram and TikTok posts, the 31-year-old has made it clear there's a strong political message running through everything he does. 

In a recent—and rare—interview with Town & Country Magazine, the social media star-political advocate-Harvard Law graduate revealed several of his motivations behind his admittedly bizarre online presence. While his TikToks and Instagram reels range from videos of a shoeless Schlossberg trying to crack open a coconut on the side of the road to rambling clips detailing a particular disdain for chicken parmesan to a series of skits revolving around a rotating cast of politically charged, strongly-accented original characters, the 31-year-old manages to make a point, subtle as it is, through his own sense of comedy and his family connections. “I can’t sing and I can’t dance, but I can do accents and I’ve always been able to,” he told Town & Country. “I’m just trying to use the tools at my disposal to get out a message that I think is super-serious and important, and that is that a vote for Bobby Kennedy Jr. is a vote for Donald Trump.”

Many of Schlossberg's skits center around voting issues that have become critical talking points in the 2024 presidential election, and through these satirical videos—many of which target his cousin, presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as a subject of disdain—the young political advocate has found a foothold among young voters within the Millenial and Gen Z demographic. While his videos are a constant source of confusion for older generations not accustomed to the dry, surrealist sense of humor that young people on the Internet often take on, the people that get it, get it. 

“I think it’s up to all of us to try to do what we can,” Schlossberg continued in the same interview. “And this year, for me, that meant making these videos online. I’m trying to do whatever I can to help President Biden win.” He also told Town & Country that people have been reaching out and telling him "that I helped them see something they didn’t necessarily see before. If I get one person to think that, that’s a huge success, and I think there’s a lot more than one person.”

Schlossberg emphasized his purpose in his online presence in the same interview with Town & Country, and said: “If you can get that message out there, in whatever way works, it doesn’t make it any less serious, or any less strategic, to get more people to watch it. And so that’s really all I’ve been trying to do. If I wanted to blow myself up, I could be doing a lot more, and I don’t want to do that. And I wish none of this was happening. And I wish that Bobby wasn’t running and people weren’t being confused by him and led to believe that there was some other answer, or that the Democratic Party wasn’t behind them, or that Joe Biden hasn’t been a fantastic president.”

Many of his older family members have expressed concern for Schlossberg, wondering if he's damaging his reputation as part of the illustrious Kennedy family—a clan that has practically become American royalty—but in Schlossberg, others see hints of the kind of political courage and domineering advocacy that JFK and John Jr. practiced before him. 

“President John F. Kennedy is my grandfather,” said Schlossberg in a more serious-toned video posted to his Instagram. “And his legacy is important. It’s about a lot more than Camelot and conspiracy theories. It’s about public service and courage.

For Schlossberg, continuing the Kennedy legacy as a younger member of the family means reaching out and engaging with the voting-age Millenials and Gen-Z Americans who spent hours a day online, even if it means piquing their interest through bizarre TikToks and comedy-heavy skits.