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‘Why’d she take so long?’: Reactions to Oprah Winfrey, Dr. Oz’s ‘enabler,’ backing John Fetterman

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ORG XMIT: CX804 FILE - In this May 7, 2010 file photo, talk-show host Oprah Winfrey is seen with interior designer Nate Berkus, left, Dr. Mehmet Oz and Dr. Phil McGraw, right, during "The Oprah Winfrey Show" live from Radio City Music Hall in New York. "The Oprah Winfrey Show" is ending its run in Chicago on May 25, 2011, after 25 years, and millions of her fans around the globe are waiting to see how she will close out a show that spawned a media empire. The three are Winfrey's proteges, who she fostered to their own television stardom. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini, File)




Oprah Winfrey came out Thursday to reject Dr. Mehmet Oz in his dead-heat race against John Fetterman for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, a move that was celebrated by Fetterman and his supporters, even as many said she had a responsibility to denounce Oz long ago after she made him famous.

Winfrey’s decision to run away from her “creature” — “just like Victor Frankenstein” — came Thursday night, the Daily Beast said wryly. Winfrey was hosting “A Virtual Voting Conversation” with other community leaders to discuss the importance of the midterm elections and said, “If I lived in Pennsylvania, I would have already cast my vote for John Fetterman.”

Fetterman’s campaign excitedly tweeted out the news of Winfrey’s endorsement against his Republican opponent:

In a statement, Fetterman said he was grateful for Winfrey’s support in a critical race that could decide which party controls the Senate, Politico reported. “She is a leader on so many issues — fighting for our democracy, passing common-sense gun reform, and ensuring racial justice,” Fetterman said.

Meanwhile, Oz appeared to take the rejection from his TV mentor in stride, with his spokesperson telling Politico, “Doctor Oz loves Oprah and respects the fact that they have different politics. He believes we need more balance and less extremism in Washington.”

Politico said that Winfrey’s endorsement could be “a big deal,” not only because of the media superstar’s unique status among women, Black people, and many other Americans. It’s also significant because she long used her talk show and other media platforms to promote the Oz’s TV career as a celebrity doctor.

Fetterman and his allies have been trying to win Winfrey’s endorsement “for months,” Politico reported. Meanwhile, writers for prominent publications, as well as people on social media, have been calling on Winfrey for years to speak out against Oz, mostly because of accusations that he regularly peddled medical misinformation on his show.

Before and after Oz announced his run for Senate in late 2021, writers pointed out that Winfrey helped the cardiothoracic surgeon launch his own syndicated show in 2009, through which he infamously dispensed questionable science and health advice, as New York magazine senior editor Margaret Hartmann said.

In 2020, Daily Beast writer Daniel Summers called on Winfrey, “one of the most famous people on the planet,” to renounce Oz for peddling pseudoscience, while Vox writer Julia Belluz similarly accused the doctor of “snake-oil quackery” and Winfrey of being “one of the most powerful enablers of cranks on the planet.”

The Week writer, Ryan Cooper, said in 2021 that Oz followed Winfrey’s template of successfully marketing New Age, alternative “woo-woo” healing and spirituality. In this way, she is “almost singlehandedly responsible for the public prominence” of Oz — “a genuine doctor who became rich flogging medical misinformation,” Cooper wrote.

Winfrey kept her silence after Oz entered the race and publicly maintained her friendship with him, the Daily Beast said. When asked in 2021 whether she would back Oz as a Senate candidate, Winfrey refused to say, with her spokesperson telling New York magazine: “One of the great things about our democracy is that every citizen can decide to run for public office. Mehmet Oz has made that decision. And now it’s up to the residents of Pennsylvania to decide who will represent them.”

Oz also said he asked Winfrey to not get involved in the race.

“I asked her to stay out,” Oz said at a private event in December, according to the New York Post. “Don’t support me because if you get involved in any way, you’ll get hurt and I don’t want my friends hurt.”

But five days before the election, Winfrey has decided to get involved, a move that garnered both praise and aggravation from Fetterman supporters. On the popular BrooklynDad_Defiant! account, many offered up variations on, “It’s about time.”

Debate also erupted over whether Winfrey was truly “responsible” for what Oz has become as a political candidate.

“It’s a gamble. She was in a ‘damned if I do/don’t’ situation,” someone wrote. “And it’s not her responsibility. Voter’s have personal accountability. Oprah didn’t OWE anyone anything w/ regard to Oz.”

Someone else replied, “Oprah has platformed two of the biggest grifters in modern American society. She has a real responsibility to all of us to mitigate the harm she unleashed.” Others effectively said her endorsement is better late than never, “We have her to thank for his rise, it’s the least she could do! Good on her.”


Originally published at Martha Ross

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