RFK Jr.’s Health Warning Takes Awkward Turn When Fans Get Distracted By His ‘Sickly’ Look
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s bizarre appearance during a briefing has viewers puzzled and tapping their computer or phone screens.
People still speculate about the Health and Human Services secretary’s bronzed and orange-hued face months after his September testimony before Congress.
Kennedy defended his sweeping changes to vaccine access, halts to crucial research funding, and the firing of public health officials in the footage circulated online. During the questioning, the 79-year-old proclaimed, “We are the sickest country in the world.”
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He then explained, “That’s why we have to fire people at the CDC,” a brazen move that saw more than 1,000 employees dismissed from work.
RFK told senators that the terminated workers “did not do their job. This was their job to keep us healthy, and I need to fire some of those people to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
However, his message fell on the deaf ears of those confused by his looks — hence the reason Kennedy is, again, a hot topic across social platforms for looking anything but normal. The first issue people sought to tackle was skin deep. “Someone please explain to me what color this man is,” an IG Threads user posted.
One response reads, “We call this … orange. Varies in shade but often associated with a badly painted orange tone.” Another responder even described RFK as an “Oompa Loompa,” while other guesses included “Sepis,” “Steamed ham,” “Mahogany wood varnish,” and “Terracotta stucco compound,” just to name a few.
If you turn down the volume, RFK Jr looks like a guy testifying about why the tanning bed industry needs a bailout. pic.twitter.com/pZEwHdVfHu
— 𝕊𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕒𝕖_𝔾𝕦𝕣𝕝 (@SundaeDivine) September 4, 2025
A third joked, “His skin looks like overdone baked chicken. What kind of tan is that? Surely it isn’t healthy for his skin.”
RFK Jr.’s orange-toned appearance quickly became its own distraction, prompting trolls to do a double take and compare him to a much bigger political figure known for a similar glow.
“Is he trying to outdo Trump with the fake orange look?” one commenter asked, while another piled on, wondering aloud, “What is it with him and Trump?”
A fifth user went as far as to diagnose him with “hypertension +spray tan+ liver cirrhosis.” The irony wasn’t lost on critics, given that RFK Jr. has positioned himself as a leading voice in the Make America Healthy Again movement, railing against artificial food dyes and chemical additives — even as he’s long been known to frequent tanning beds, a detail many seized on as contradictory.
Regarding the latter point, an X user tweeted, “If you turn down the volume, RFK Jr looks like a guy testifying about why the tanning bed industry needs a bailout. Although he is tasked with overseeing America’s health infrastructure, he’s adopted the ‘Do as I say, not as I do’ mantra.”
Trump looked pretty rough today — note that both of his hands are discolored
(Joe Raedle/Getty) pic.twitter.com/adLUO2Wjvq
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 28, 2025
“I’m not telling people that they should do anything that I do,” Kennedy told The Atlantic in November. He can rest assured that critics are not heeding his health mandates as best practices.
One detractor wrote that it was “kinda ironic he literally looks like one of the sickest people you’ll ever see lol.” Someone else tweeted that RFK “looks like the brain worm is about to explode out of his overly red face.”
Doctors discovered pork tapeworm larva in his brain in 2010. The Trump-appointed official alleged that one of the parasites “ate a portion of it and then died.”
Given his lack of medical education, a heckler sarcastically suggested that RFK is the perfect person to lead the president’s health team. The individual wrote, “TRUMP DOES NOT LOOK WELL; LETS PRAY AND HOPE THAT ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. IS IN CHARGE OF HIS MEDICAL CARE!”
“The Apprentice” showman and his administration vehemently deny that he is suffering from any grave ailments. The large portion of the public in convinced otherwise despite his claims of being in tip-top shape.