Martin Sheen Enlisted the Help of His Former ‘West Wing’ Staffer to Hit Back at RFK Jr. With Ringing Biden Endorsement

Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

Nearly 20 years after going off the air, the “staffers” of NBC’s The West Wing are still happy to serve their fictional President Josiah Bartlett — especially if they need to clarify some fake news.

A super PAC supporting presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently touted a celebrity-studded fundraising event featuring big-name guests including Dionne Warwick, opera singer Andrea Bocelli, and Martin Sheen. The event was seemingly confirmed by Kennedy’s campaign when it appeared on their official site. But someone on the event-planning committee apparently failed to let any of these people know they were on the guest list. Warwick denied she was attending the event on Twitter/X, writing: “I don’t know anything about this event. I did not agree to it and I certainly won’t be there.”

But when you’re Martin Sheen and one of your most famous roles is President of the United States, you get one of your staffers to hash out a memo. Or, in this case, a tweet.

Sheen is not on social media, but actor Bradley Whitford, who played Bartlett’s deputy chief of staff Joshua Lyman, issued a statement on behalf of the fictional former president that also denied any involvement with the Kennedy event and went as far as “wholeheartedly” endorsing “President Joe Biden and the democratic ticket in 2024″:

There’s a story going around saying that Martin Sheen is supporting @RobertKennedyJr for president. The story is incorrect. Martin asked us to post this on his behalf.

“I wholeheartedly support President Joe Biden and the democratic ticket in 2024.
Sincerely,
Martin Sheen”

— Bradley Whitford (@BradleyWhitford) January 4, 2024

You can always count on Josh Lyman to deliver a swift, decisive message on behalf of President Bartlett; just don’t ask him to do a press conference.