Louisiana Senator John Kennedy delivered a bizarre warning on the Senate floor last week — claiming that eating recalled radioactive shrimp could either give you extra body parts or turn you into something straight out of Alien.
Kennedy, 73, stood next to a blown-up photo of the terrifying creature from Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi classic as he made his case.
“This is what you could end up looking like if you eat some of the raw frozen shrimp being sent to the United States by other countries,” Kennedy said. “It will kill you. Even if it doesn’t turn you into the alien, if you eat this stuff, I guarantee you will grow an extra ear.”
The senator’s comments came after the FDA expanded its recall of nearly 45,000 packages of shrimp from major retailers including Walmart and Kroger. The seafood, which included Great Value and Aquastar frozen shrimp, was found to contain low levels of the radioactive isotope cesium-137.
Health officials noted the levels were below immediate danger limits, but repeated exposure could increase cancer risk. The FDA has urged consumers to discard any recalled shrimp and for retailers not to sell the products.
Kennedy, however, leaned into a more theatrical explanation. He also accused foreign suppliers of “shooting the shrimp full of antibiotics,” while making the case for buying Louisiana shrimp instead.
“I believe in homegrown Louisiana shrimp, fresh out of the Gulf — not radioactive,” Kennedy added. “But I understand that some stores prefer to buy foreign shrimp because it is cheaper. Now we know why: the damn stuff is radioactive.”
His unusual remarks quickly spread online after he reposted the speech to his X account, racking up over 1.5 million views. Reactions ranged from disbelief to ridicule.
“@grok is this real?” one user asked the AI chatbot on X, while another joked: “Where did you get that from? Your aunt’s Facebook page?”
The FDA has not commented on Kennedy’s alien comparison, but officials maintain that while the risk is low, recalled shrimp should not be consumed.
