Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Loud 'Distracting' Breathing During Testimony Compared to 'Darth Vader With Sleep Apnea': Watch

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s appearance at a recent hearing is making the rounds on social media.

RFK Jr., 72, was questioned by Senate lawmakers during a budget request hearing on Wednesday, April 22, in a widely shared social media video, when fans noticed the Secretary of Health and Human Services' strained breathing in the background.

In the clip, Sen. Mike Crapo questioned RFK Jr. about his Make America Healthy Again agenda as his labored breathing could be heard through the microphone, prompting many online to compare him to a Star Wars character.

"He sounds like Darth Vader with sleep apnea," one critic wrote via X, while another added, "Yikes! If that's when he's awake, can you imagine what it sounds like when he's asleep?!"

"Is this not lung cancer or long-term bronchitis or permanent damage to the lungs?" a third asked. "Serious question. He sounds like a terminal patient."

The father-of-six suffers from spasmodic dysphonia, which Dysphonia International describes as a chronic neurological disorder that "causes involuntary spasms in the muscles that open and close a person's vocal cords, resulting in a 'voice that presents with breaks and strained/strangled quality or breathy quality.'"

Others referenced recent headlines about the politician, noting he once allegedly took home roadkill to examine.

"Perhaps it's the effect of swimming in sewage and eating roadkill," joked one user.

A second added, "Maybe it it is some kind of allergic reaction to undercooked roadkill ? I dunno."

In RFK Jr.: The Fall and Rise, released earlier this month, author Isabel Vincent drew on the politician's personal diaries to reveal his longstanding interest in dead wildlife.

She noted he would sometimes stop to inspect dead animals on the side of the road, even when his then-wife Mary Kennedy and their children were in the car.

"I was standing in front of my parked car on I-684 cutting the p---- out of a road killed raccoon, thinking about how weird some of my family members have turned out to be," he penned, likely referring to the rift he had with brother Douglas Kennedy and cousin Bobby Shriver, per a report. "My kids waited patiently in the car."

Vincent told a news outlet he took the g-------- home to "study them later."

"You have to understand, Bobby wanted to be a veterinarian as a kid. His after-school job was at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.," she explained to People. "So he's got a great love and interest in animals and a freezer full of roadkill, I'm sure, where he studies it."