Stephen Colbert takes multiple jabs at HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
'Like a Walrus Snorting Lobster Bisque': Stephen Colbert Brutally Mocks RFK Jr.’s Raspy Breathing
Stephen Colbert took multiple jabs at Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., particularly at his raspy breathing, when the latter appeared at his Senate hearing on Thursday, April 23.
On the latest episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, host Colbert referenced Kennedy Jr.'s notorious bear story from 2014 and remarked that the HHS Secretary sounded "like a bear getting autoerotic asphyxiated" at his hearing.
In 2024, Kennedy admitted that he left a dead bear cub in New York's Central Park after he picked it up, claiming that a woman hit the animal with her van.
The revelation was first published in The New York Times by one of Kennedy Jr.'s own relatives, and it soon became a national story.
Stephen Colbert Targets Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Colbert took several digs at Kennedy Jr. while delivering the opening monologue in the latest episode of his show.
He also referenced other revelations made in his upcoming book.
Colbert mentioned the bizarre instance when Kennedy Jr. allegedly "sliced off a dead raccoon's p*nis while his wife and kids waited in the minivan."
The Late Show host joked and said, "he took the genitals so he could, quote, study them later."
Colbert then brought his attention to the April 23 hearing once again and said that the "weirdest part" of the televised hearing “wasn't” what Kennedy Jr. said, but that it was "what he breathed."
An X user criticizes Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and calls him "wildly unfit for office."
"Listen to the health secretary on the mic while being questioned," Colbert said.
He then played a clip of Kennedy Jr. being questioned by Sen. Mike Crapo at the hearing, where the HHS chief's raspy breathing could be heard on the live mic.
According to Mediaite, Kennedy's unique voice is due to spasmodic dysphonia, a neurological disorder that affects how a person speaks.
The condition reportedly causes the vocal cords to spasm, leading to strained, noisy breathing.
Colbert then remarked, "Is that a good sign when your health secretary breathes like a walrus snorting lobster bisque?"
He then reiterated the Central Park bear story, adding, "If he sounds like a bear getting autoerotic asphyxiated?"
"Like he's the first person in history to need a CPAP while awake?" Colbert quipped, taking yet another dig at Kennedy Jr.
Colbert then switched to a completely unrelated topic, bringing up a study that allegedly found that salmon exposed to cocaine swam "twice as far" in a week compared to others in a control group.
He then joked that they were also more likely to start a band.
Over the past week, Kennedy Jr. has appeared on Capitol Hill for a series of hearings.
He has testified seven times before different House and Senate Committees.
While the sessions were originally meant to focus on the agency's budget, lawmakers have raised a range of issues that extended well beyond it, including the measles outbreak and his Medicaid programs.