Dr. Phil McGraw is the latest talk show host to come under fire for comments he made on Fox News. His segment came just minutes after Dr. Anthony Fauci appeared on Laura Ingraham’s show. As The Washington Post writes, “After Fauci urged caution in reopening the economy, Fox News turned to Dr. Phil for a second opinion.” McGraw certainly had a different take, one that doesn’t compute:
“The fact of the matter is we have people dying — 45,000 people a year die from automobile accidents. 480,000 from cigarettes. 360,000 a year from swimming pools, but we don’t shut the country down for that. But yet we’re doing it for this? And the fallout is going to last for years because people’s lives are being destroyed.”
The Twittersphere couldn’t help point out that his reasoning is a false equivalency and on top of that he has no credentials.
Dr. Phil voluntarily relinquished his medical license after several run ins with Texas medical regulations. He is currently licensed to practice in zero (0) states. https://t.co/ye0GpD2Ami
— Jessica Huseman (@JessicaHuseman) April 17, 2020
MSNBC’s Willie Geist remarked, “Dr. Phil knows that the reason the economy was shutdown is because this is contagious, I can’t believe I’m saying this out loud, in a way that car crashes and swimming pool drownings are now.”
Dr. Phil, who has no medical background, went on this shocking and dangerous COVID-19 rant on Fox News pic.twitter.com/aBHq1uFctm
— NowThis Impact (@nowthisimpact) April 17, 2020
Going forward, I wish the media could agree to reserve the "Dr." identifier only for medical doctors – my apologies to PhDs, psychologists, and lawyers, but Dr. Phil ruined it for y'all.
— Elise Jordan (@Elise_Jordan) April 17, 2020
We reported earlier on the controversy surrounding Dr. Oz’s recent appearance on Fox News as well. Both Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz gained fame thanks to Oprah Winfrey and now some people are saying she needs to step in and condemn both men. The Daily Beast writes:
Neither of them would be household names were it not for her. And it’s a problem of increasing seriousness that they are.
Is Oprah directly responsible for any of these recent statements? No. But since the miasma of ersatz authority that still clings to these two is her handiwork, she should consider using her own immeasurable fame and authority to waft it away.
I really hope @Oprah speaks about the dangerous statements by @DrPhil and @DrOz WE need her voice.
— Mika Brzezinski (@morningmika) April 17, 2020
Meanwhile, just like Dr. Oz, McGraw has also now clarified his comments. Deadline said he made this clarification during a live video chat on Friday:
“Now last night I said we as a society have chosen to live with certain controllable deadly risks every day. Smoking, auto crashes, swimming. And yes, I know that those are not contagious. So probably bad examples. And I refer to them as numbers of deaths that we apparently find acceptable because we do little or nothing about them. I get that they are not contagious, so they are probably not good examples.”
“If in fact it turns out that we are going to need to be locked down for a long period of time, we really need to garner resources with that, to give them coping strategies they need, the support they need.”
“I am not an infectious disease expert. I am not a microbiologist. I look at this from a human behavior psychological standpoint.”
Deadline also points out, “He also said that he misspoke about the number of deaths from drowning, but he was quoting the worldwide number.”