Republican Senators Ted Cruz and John Kennedy found time for humor during Tuesday’s lengthy Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to laugh about the Louisiana congressman’s new book, and the Texan lawmaker’s alleged Backstreet Boys back tattoo.
In the middle of Attorney General Pam Bondi’s tense hearing, Cruz took a moment to promote Kennedy’s upcoming book, How to Test Negative for Stupid.
“I’ll point out, Senator Kennedy has a new book about testing negative for stupid, so I hope I test negative for stupid,” Cruz joked. “I hope I meet the threshold.”
“You do meet it, and I talk, in the book, about the tattoo of the Backstreet Boys on your back,” Kennedy responded, reviving a joke he’s made multiple times over the years to mess with colleagues.
Cruz played into Kennedy’s joke, sarcastically claiming the tattoo was a way to “reach young people.”
Bondi then jumped into the fun, joking that Vice President JD Vance listens to the ’90s boy band.
“That would be on Vice President Vance’s playlist, I heard, that got hacked,” Bondi joked, referencing a July report in which a hacker claimed to have uncovered some administration officials’ playlists. Among the songs on Vance’s alleged playlist was Backstreet Boys classic, “I Want It That Way.”
After the brief interlude, the lawmakers returned to official business and continued to question Bondi about her oversight at the Department of Justice.
Like previous Trump officials’ testimonies, Bondi’s hearing was filled with contentious moments. The attorney general became defensive of her leadership at the DOJ, at times refusing to answer questions about investigations and launching personal attacks on Democratic senators.
It’s the first time that the attorney general has appeared before the Senate committee since being appointed to lead the DOJ. Over the last nine months, Bondi has dramatically reshaped the Justice Department, filling it with loyalists and launching investigations into Trump’s enemies.
Kennedy, 73, is known for his bizarre and at times crude humor, and often uses his TV appearance to elaborately insult Democrats, and other opponents.
He went viral earlier this year for using a strange analogy about omelettes and sex while explaining what it feels like to have Donald Trump back in the White House.
“It’s kind of cool having a president again. Let me try to put all this in context for you. I like omelettes. I mean, I really like omelettes. I could eat an omelette at every meal. I like omelette better than sex. Not really, but you get the point. I like omelette. You can’t make an omelette without breaking some eggs,” Kennedy told Fox News.
He also has a history of using the popular 90s boy band as a jibe.
During Paul Atkins’s Senate nomination hearing, to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, Kennedy asked Atkins if his college roommate, Senator Bill Hagerty, “has a tattoo of the Backstreet Boys on his lower back?”
In an interview with Fox News last year, Kennedy said California Gavin Newsom reminded him of “the kind of people that would have a picture of Backstreet Boys tattooed on their lower back.”
