When Dr. Oz guest-hosted Jeopardy! earlier this year, his appearance led nearly 600 former contestants to call upon equally clownish producer Mike Richards to remove him from his post. Now, the celebrity surgeon is poised to do what any other boisterous talking head without TV commitments would do: seek election.
Today, the controversial TV host announced plans to run as a Republican for Pennsylvania Senate, vying for a seat being left vacant by retiring GOP Senator Pat Toomey.
In an announcement video, Oz, 61, claims that "America needs a conservative Republican to cure what's wrong with Washington," and is looking to win votes for how he apparently "took on the medical establishment to argue against costly drugs and skyrocketing medical bills."
Prior to this latest bit of political ambition, Dr. Oz has been known to peddle pseudoscience and alternative medicine to viewers of The Dr. Oz Show, which has been on the air since 2009. A 2014 study by the University of Alberta on the quality of health recommendations and claims made on popular medical talk shows found that of a 40-episode sample size of The Dr. Oz Show, "evidence supported 46%, contradicted 15%, and was not found for 39%" of advice given by the host.
When it comes to the most pressing public health issue of the last two years, Oz downplayed the severity of COVID-19 during an appearance on Fox News, telling host Sean Hannity, "We need our mojo back. Let's start with things really critical to the nation. Schools are a very appetizing opportunity. I just saw a nice piece in the Lancet arguing that the opening of schools may only cost us 2-3% in terms of total mortality. Any life is a life lost, but to get every child back into school where they're safely being educated, being fed, and making the most out of their lives with a theoretical risk on the backside — it might be a trade-off some folks would consider."
It's also worth noting that the Donald appointed Oz to the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition in 2018, ahead of appointing him a second time in December 2020.
As the Associated Press points out, Oz will inevitably have to explain to prospective constituents why Pennsylvania is the place for him to run, considering that he has lived in New Jersey "for the past two decades." He only began voting the state's elections this year, filing an absentee ballot registered to his in-laws' address in Philadelphia.
Today, the controversial TV host announced plans to run as a Republican for Pennsylvania Senate, vying for a seat being left vacant by retiring GOP Senator Pat Toomey.
In an announcement video, Oz, 61, claims that "America needs a conservative Republican to cure what's wrong with Washington," and is looking to win votes for how he apparently "took on the medical establishment to argue against costly drugs and skyrocketing medical bills."
Prior to this latest bit of political ambition, Dr. Oz has been known to peddle pseudoscience and alternative medicine to viewers of The Dr. Oz Show, which has been on the air since 2009. A 2014 study by the University of Alberta on the quality of health recommendations and claims made on popular medical talk shows found that of a 40-episode sample size of The Dr. Oz Show, "evidence supported 46%, contradicted 15%, and was not found for 39%" of advice given by the host.
When it comes to the most pressing public health issue of the last two years, Oz downplayed the severity of COVID-19 during an appearance on Fox News, telling host Sean Hannity, "We need our mojo back. Let's start with things really critical to the nation. Schools are a very appetizing opportunity. I just saw a nice piece in the Lancet arguing that the opening of schools may only cost us 2-3% in terms of total mortality. Any life is a life lost, but to get every child back into school where they're safely being educated, being fed, and making the most out of their lives with a theoretical risk on the backside — it might be a trade-off some folks would consider."
It's also worth noting that the Donald appointed Oz to the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition in 2018, ahead of appointing him a second time in December 2020.
As the Associated Press points out, Oz will inevitably have to explain to prospective constituents why Pennsylvania is the place for him to run, considering that he has lived in New Jersey "for the past two decades." He only began voting the state's elections this year, filing an absentee ballot registered to his in-laws' address in Philadelphia.
