Dr. Phil & Dr. Oz Apologize For Controversial Coronavirus Comments

Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz are walking back on their controversial comments about the coronavirus!

This week, both TV doctors (and Dr. Drew, but who’s counting) said some fairly controversial things about COVID-19 and social distancing measures. After massive outrage from fans and critics, they are attempting to make amends.

To catch you up, Phil McGraw appeared on Laura Ingraham‘s show on Fox News on Thursday, and brought up the question of why “we don’t shut the country down” for deaths from car accidents, swimming pools, cigarettes, or poverty.

In addition to fact-checking later proving that the numbers he provided were exaggerated, many were outraged by the comparison. Specifically, he alleged that there are “360,000” deaths annually in the United States from swimming pools. Per the CDC, they average 3,536 fatal unintentional drownings per year, based on data from 2005-2014.

On Friday, the 69-year-old apologized for his choice of words in a new video:

“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.”

He added that viewers can “erase” the examples he gave “if I offended people’s sensibilities, and that “if you didn’t like my choice of words, I apologize for that.”

Ch-ch-check out the full apology (below):

Also on Thursday, Mehmet Oz spoke with Sean Hannity on Fox News about reopening schools in America for children. He told the host:

“We need our mojo back. Let’s start with things that are really critical to the nation, where we think we might be able to open without getting into a lot of trouble. I tell you schools are a very appetizing opportunity. I just saw a nice piece in The Lancet [medical journal] arguing that the opening of schools may only cost us 2-3% in terms of total mortality. And you know, any life is a life lost, but to get every child back into a school where they’re safely being educated and being fed and making the most out of their lives with a theoretical risk on the backside, it might be a tradeoff some folks would consider.”

Why should we “tradeoff” one life for another?!

Obviously, people were outraged and interpreted his words as if he were condoning a sacrifice of 2-3% of American schoolchildren, but it seems that he was referring to 2-3% of the overall fatality rate related to COVID-19. He also came forward with an apology for what he shared:

I’ve realized my comments on risks around opening schools have confused and upset people, which was never my intention. I misspoke. pic.twitter.com/Kq1utwiCjR

— Dr. Mehmet Oz (@DrOz) April 16, 2020