Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will no longer speak at Moms for Liberty summit in Philly

Kennedy's campaign said his schedule changed, according to Moms for Liberty.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is broadcast on a large screen as he speaks during an anti-vaccine rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on Jan. 23.Read morePatrick Semansky / AP

Published June 27, 2023, 9:25 a.m. ET

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Democratic presidential candidate known for promoting anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, will no longer speak at this week’s Moms for Liberty summit in Philadelphia.

The campaign for Kennedy, who had been announced as a speaker a week earlier, “told us his schedule changed and he can no longer speak to our summit,” Moms for Liberty cofounder Tiffany Justice said Tuesday. She noted that the group’s website had been updated with the change.

Kennedy would have joined a slate of Republican presidential contenders speaking at the summit, which begins Thursday night. Former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are both scheduled to speak Friday, along with former Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador. Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is expected to speak Saturday.

The event is the second annual summit for Moms for Liberty, the conservative “parental rights” group that formed amid opposition to pandemic restrictions and has since shifted to accusing schools of indoctrinating children around racial and LGBTQ issues.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated Moms for Liberty as an antigovernment extremist group, and protesters have called on the downtown Marriott to cancel the event, along with the Museum of the American Revolution, where a reception is to be held Thursday.