Rick Salomon, the high-stakes poker player who came to prominence from his sex tape with Paris Hilton, is putting some of his winnings behind Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent presidential campaign.
Salomon is the latest high-profile figure to throw his weight behind Kennedy, joining an assorted group of celebrity supporters that include YouTuber Jake Paul, who quietly gave Kennedy $3,300; Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who was floated as a possible vice presidential pick; actor Woody Harrelson, who donned an RFK hat in August; and guitarist Eric Clapton, who in addition to fundraising with Kennedy, attempted to donate $5,000 (the contribution is not allowed due to Clapton not being a U.S. citizen).
Salomon, who has won nearly $9 million from his career playing poker, is also known for his relationships with several actresses, including his two marriages to Pamela Anderson.
But he is perhaps most famous for appearing in the leaked sex tape with Hilton, which prompted him to file lawsuits against both the company that released the tape as well as Hilton’s family (though he later dropped a slander suit against the Hiltons).
The leaked tape was originally filmed in 2001 and made it to the internet in 2003. About a year after it leaked, Salomon began distributing the tape himself through an adult film company.
Hilton has spoken out about the tape being leaked, saying it felt like her “whole world was ending” and caused her to feel “so depressed and depleted.” Hilton also revealed in her 2023 memoir that she was a reluctant participant in the now-infamous tape and that she took Quaaludes and drank in order to participate after Salomon “kept pushing” to make a tape.
“I wasn’t capable of the level of trust required to make a videotape like that. I had to drink myself silly. Quaaludes helped,” she wrote, later adding: “I needed to prove something to him and to myself, so I got hammered, and I did it.”
In her memoir, Hilton also rejected claims she had anything to do with the tape’s leak, saying that if that had been her choice, she “would have owned it … would have stood by it, capitalized on it, licensed the shit out of every frame, and then boogied on over to the bank without apologizing to anyone.”
Rick Salomon RFK Jr.
According to records from the Federal Election Commission, Salomon made the contributions to Kennedy on Jan. 22.
Records show three transactions that would total $16,398—however, a campaign contribution being documented duplicate times is not uncommon and likely is the case here, as all transactions came in on the same day. Kennedy’s itemized receipts state that Salomon contributed $6,600 in the election cycle to date, which would be in line with the maximum contribution limits this year.
Salomon never contributed to the federal level before, according to FEC records.
The date of the contribution aligns with a major fundraiser hosted in Indian Wells, California by the super PAC backing Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential bid, American Values 2024, though it is unclear if Salomon was in attendance.
That event was not without controversy due to its false promotion of major celebrity guests such as Martin Sheen, Dionne Warwick, and Andrea Bocelli—who said they were unaware of the fundraiser and would not be attending.
“I do not endorse RFK Jr. nor I will I be attending his party,” Sheen said in an Instagram story.
Similarly, Warwick posted on X that she didn’t know anything about the event and “certainly won’t be there.”
And a representative for Bocelli told Rolling Stone he would not perform at the fundraiser—and wasn’t even in the U.S.
The Kennedy campaign told CBS News it was uninvolved in the event and had no knowledge of who was or wasn’t attending.
But it’s far from the only controversy surrounding Kennedy’s campaign.
The 70-year-old environmental lawyer has sparked backlash—including from his family—over his past false claim that COVID-19 targeted people based on race and promotion of anti-vax misinformation. Kennedy also baselessly linked antidepressants to school shootings, and gender dysphoria to exposure to an herbicide.
Nonetheless, Kennedy’s campaign raised concerns among Democratic strategists, as polling indicates his candidacy is pulling in more voters who would go for President Joe Biden than voters who would otherwise support former President Donald Trump.
Recent polling on average puts Kennedy at 10% nationwide, with Trump up over Biden by 1.8%. However, in recent head-to-head match-ups excluding Kennedy and other third-party candidates, Trump is up on average by only 0.3%.
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