Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) on Wednesday called for more thorough inspections by the Food and Drug Administration following several recalls of imported shrimp — but used a bloody image of the fictional creature from “Alien” to bolster his point.
Kennedy spoke for five minutes on the Senate floor with the image on an easel behind him.
“Mr. President, this is a photograph of the alien from the movie ‘Alien,’” said Kennedy. “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. Now let me tell you what I’m talking about.”
The FDA announced last month that contaminated shrimp processed by Indonesian-based company PT. Bahari Makmur Sejati was being sold at numerous stores, distributors and wholesalers across the country, including Walmart — the top retailer in America.
The Republican lawmaker offered no actual reason for his confounding presentation, which has been mercilessly mocked on social media, but said: “If you eat it, how could you end up looking like the alien in the ‘Alien’? Because the shrimp was radioactive.”
