GOP Senator Rips Daily Beast Over Report Suggesting On-Air Health Scare

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) slammed The Daily Beast on Wednesday after the outlet published a report suggesting he may have suffered a health scare during a TV interview.

During a conversation with Fox Business host Larry Kudlow on Tuesday, Kennedy paused mid-sentence after he said, “I’m sure Jesus loves him, but everybody else thinks — everybody else …” Kennedy then remained silent on camera for a few moments before the show cut away from the senator, and Kudlow suggested there might have been technical issues.

things are going great on Larry Kudlow’s show pic.twitter.com/synJiuE38z

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 22, 2025

An ensuing report, written by an intern for The Daily Beast, said that Kennedy froze in what appeared to be a health scare. The story emphasized the fact that Kennedy is 73 years old and compared what happened on Wednesday to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) struggling to speak during a couple of high-profile instances in 2023. It also noted that Kennedy’s office had been contacted for comment, but did not immediately respond.

Other news outlets and some accounts on social media also shared the clip of Kennedy and perpetuated the notion that the Louisiana Republican might not be okay.

Pressed for comment, Kennedy told The Daily Wire in a statement, “The Daily Beast is wrong. Yesterday, during my interview with Larry Kudlow on Fox Business, there was a malfunction in my earpiece. I heard a loud screeching noise with a lot of static. It sounded like a 747 taking off. The same thing happened with Rand Paul, who was interviewed before me. I stopped talking until the interference cleared up, and thought we were off the air. Once I could hear Kudlow, I started talking again. All you have to do to get the facts is call Kudlow’s producer, which The Daily Beast intern clearly didn’t do.”

Kennedy later did another interview on “Kudlow,” addressing what transpired the day before.

Sen. John Kennedy clarifies what happened when he appeared to freeze on Larry Kudlow’s show:

“I was just yapping away and all of a sudden my earpiece blew up—this one. It sounded like a 747 was taking off.”

pic.twitter.com/eDGWMcsVk0

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) July 23, 2025

In exchange, Kudlow said, “I want to clear the air about yesterday and the interrupted interview. A lot of lefty medias are saying things they shouldn’t say. As I understand it, what happened was your … wire broke down and you had a lot of noise in your ear and you had to stop talking because you couldn’t get anything through. Now if there’s something different there, you tell us, but I think that’s all that happened. A lot of people are making conclusions about your health that they have no business making.”

Kennedy replied, “I was just yapping away and all of a sudden my earpiece blew up. … It sounded like a 747 was taking off. My ears are still ringing. Anyway, I assumed we were off the air, I just stopped talking and I didn’t start talking again until I could hear you. And, I don’t know, some of the rags up here have — they’ve got all kinds of stories that I had a Brian freeze live on TV, or stroke, or caught an STD live on television or something. I don’t know. I know this will come as a shock to you, Larry, but not everybody in Washington likes me. And so when they … see an opportunity to start a rumor, they do. And that’s what happened. But anyway, I’m okay. I’m back here today. I’m full of piss and vinegar and I’ll be glad to answer your questions.”

The Daily Beast has since updated its report to remove text suggesting that Kennedy had a health scare, but did keep the mention of McConnell as well as a line about how health problems have impacted the Republicans and Democrats over the past year. It also included a comment from Kennedy’s spokesperson asserting that the senator did not have a “health episode” but rather experienced a “broadcast audio issue on Fox Business’s part.”