Oprah Winfrey is well aware that some people don’t appreciate the way in which she once gave Dr. Phil McGraw and Dr. Mehmet Oz a platform. This is, of course, because of their MAGA politics and other controversies.
However, while Oprah did help them rise to fame, it sounds like she isn’t taking the blame for their actions or right-wing views. She had her reasons for inviting them on her show.
She described Dr. Phil as “practical” and down to earth.”
During an interview with Emmy Magazine, Oprah was questioned about having these two MAGA men on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Dr. Phil appeared on Oprah’s show in 1998, which helped him rise to prominence and eventually get his own show in 2002.
But it doesn’t necessarily seem like Oprah has any regrets (or she at least doesn’t think his right-wing antics are her fault). She also had generally positive things to say about him, and explained why she extended an invite to him at the time.
“People criticize me for Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz, because of their politics or their views,” she said. “Dr. Phil, he was so practical, so down to earth, so real.”
She mentioned how he supported her during a 1998 trial. At the time, cattlemen had accused Oprah of defaming the beef industry. “And he would ride in the car with me every morning on the way to trial, where I’m literally sitting on trial for six weeks,” she explained. “I felt that he was so instrumental in helping me. I thought, ‘Oh, you could help a lot of people. You should come on my show.'”
Meanwhile, Dr. Oz’s MAGA ties are arguably more obvious.
You know, given that he actually works for President Donald Trump as the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Back in 2022, before he started working for Trump, he ran for US Senate in Pennsylvania and Oprah voted against him, endorsing his opponent, Democrat John Fetterman.
But again, Oprah explained her reasoning for inviting him on her show as a medical expert back in 2004. He has been accused of promoting medical misinformation. However, when Oprah offered him the gig that eventually helped him score his own show as well, she thought he had valuable information to share with the general public.
“He explained practical things like colon cancer and bowel movements,” she said during the recent interview. “I thought he had the language for explaining medical things in a way that was helpful to me. I thought it would be helpful to many other people. And that is how they ended up on the show.”
Oprah added that the path the two men ultimately took is not her fault.
According to her, though she did help make them famous, their conservative politics and loyalty to Trump have nothing to do with her. She reiterated that she helped them out in their careers based on what she knew about them at the time.
“Everybody has their own path in life, and it has not one thing to do with me, and I don’t have one thing to do with them,” she said. “At the time, the reason and intention behind me giving them their breaks was I thought they had valuable information to share that had been meaningful to me.”
People had a lot to say about Oprah’s statement.
On some level, reactions were mixed. Some people agree that Oprah should not be blamed for these men’s actions, but others think her response leaves a lot to be desired. “Everyone loved these guys when they were on her show but are now trying to retroactively blame Oprah for the behavior of these men,” one person wrote on Reddit. “How would she have known what these men would become 20 years later? Why is there more vitriol for her than for the men?”
But others argued that Oprah could’ve done more to distance herself from and speak out against them. “Don’t just tell me ‘It’s not my fault and I have nothing to do with them’,” someone else wrote. “Say literally anything that suggests you disavow them and their beliefs, or wish you hadn’t platformed them but weren’t to know what they were like.”
People also rejected the idea that their rise had “not one thing to do with” Oprah. “you literally had them on your show… that’s why they’re famous,” another critic wrote.
