MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough Calls Out Dr. Oz and Dr. Phil for ‘Stupidity’ of Coronavirus Comments (Video)
”Lives are going to be lost because of the propaganda that is being spewed out there,“ the morning show host says
Lindsey Ellefson | April 17, 2020 @ 9:34 AM
Last Updated: April 17, 2020 @ 9:44 AM
On Friday’s “Morning Joe,” Joe Scarborough called out Dr. Mehmet Oz and Dr. Phil McGraw for the “stupidity” of their comments on Fox News this week talking about the nation’s coronavirus response.
“Listen to Dr. Phil from last night and let’s try to figure out what the hell is going on,” Scarborough said. He rolled a clip of the McGraw, who is not a medical doctor but holds a PhD in psychology, downplaying the seriousness of the pandemic in an interview with Fox News’ primetime host Laura Ingraham and comparing the death toll (inaccurately) to swimming pool-related deaths. At the clip’s conclusion, Scarborough remarked, “The stupidity of that… I’ll let others explain just how stupid that is.”
From there, he rolled a clip of Oz saying some people might consider a “tradeoff” in the form of a 2-3% mortality rate in exchange for reopening American schools. Oz, who apologized for the remark on Thursday, made the comments Tuesday night, also while appearing as a guest on Fox News.
“My God, it is — again — as Dr. Fauci said, it is unprecedented,” Scarborough said, almost lost for words. He added, “Lives are going to be lost because of the propaganda that is being spewed out there and it really has started the last couple of days.”
“Morning Joe” co-host Willie Geist highlighted the Thursday night appearance of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, on Ingraham’s show: “You have the tale of three doctors that you just showed, all on Fox News, speaking to the Fox News audience. Dr. Fauci brought information. I think it’s important for doctors to go all over the place and talk to all those audiences. He rebutted Laura Ingraham’s theory about HIV there, point-by-point, and just presented facts. The other two doctors — Doctors Oz and Phil — both very smart men, so then you ask yourself, ‘What’s going on there?’ Dr. Phil knows that the reason the economy was shut down 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 not.”
Geist concluded “the problem with TV doctors is they think about TV ratings and they think about TV audiences,” but Doctors Oz and Phil “know better.”
These Celebrities Reached Into Their Pockets to Help Us Get Through the Pandemic (Photos)
As the number of people sickened by COVID-19 continues to rise, there is certainly no shortage of kind acts from people helping others get through the pandemic. And that includes celebrities and Hollywood artists social distancing like the rest of us. These famous do-gooders are reaching into their own pockets to make life under quarantine just a little bit easier.
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Oprah Winfrey announced on social media that she is donating $10 million to relief efforts, with $1 million of that specifically helping people who are struggling to buy food during the pandemic.
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Rihanna’s charitable organization Clara Lionel Foundation made a commitment of $5 million that will go to U.S. food banks as well as to helping advance testing in at-risk communities both in the U.S. and in Haiti and Malawi. The foundation — along with Twitter's Jack Dorsey — also partnered with the Mayor's Fund for Los Angeles and committed $2.1 million toward shelter, meals and counseling for victims of domestic violence. The fund, combined with Dorsey's contribution, totals $4.2 million.
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10-time Grammy-winner Taylor Swift has been quietly contacting people on social media who have said they've been struggling to pay bills during the pandemic. Those users then shared screenshots of Swift making donations to them of several thousand dollars each.
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TV host Kelly Ripa and husand Mark Consuelos donated $1 million to both the New York governor’s office, for the purchase of ventilators, and WIN, a New York-based organization that provides shelters to homeless women and children.
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Writer Roxane Gay has tweeted several times during the pandemic asking for those struggling to pay bills during the pandemic to share their mobile payment handle to receive personal donations from her.
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Ryan Reynolds and wife Blake Lively announced on social media that they donated $1 million to Feeding America and Food Banks Canada.
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Pop star Ariana Grande said in her Instagram Stories that she had made donations to several organizations, including Opportunity Fund, GiveDirectly, Feeding America, Croce Rossa Italiana and the World Health Organization.
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A physician in Los Angeles, Dr. Thais Aliabad, wrote on Instagram that Kylie Jenner, one of her patients, had "donated $1,000,000 to help us buy hundreds of thousands of masks, face shields, and other protective gear."
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NFL player Drew Brees told TMZ that he's donating $5 million to the state of Louisiana to help with the coronavirus relief efforts.
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Oscar-winning actress and humanitarian Angelina Jolie donated $1 million to No Kid Hungry to help provide meals for children in low-income families, the organization said in a statement.
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Country music legend Dolly Parton said on Instagram that she donated $1 million to Vanderbilt's research for a COVID-19 cure.
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Jay-Z's Shawn Carter Foundation matched Rihanna's donation of $1 million to relief efforts.
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Bruno Mars, who has a residency in Las Vegas, donated $1 million to the MGM Resorts Foundation to help MGM employees in the city who lost work due to the pandemic, his representative said, according to E News.
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The players, coaches and owners of the Golden State Warriors announced they are donating $1 million to help employees at the Chase Center who lost work because of canceled NBC games.
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Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg partnered with a Silicon Valley food bank to put $5.5 million toward creating the COVID-19 Emergency Fund for Feeding Families.
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Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey said on his platform that he is donating $1 billion in shares of his other company Square Inc. to help fund relief efforts. Dorsey said it is about 28% of his wealth. After "we disarm the pandemic," Dorsey said, the money will also help fund girls' health and education, as well as universal basic income.
Along with Rihanna's charitable foundation, committed $2.1 million toward shelter, meals and counseling for victims of domestic violence for a total $4.2 million grant.
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Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said on Instagram that he is giving $100 million to Feeding America, an organization with more than 200 food banks across the country.
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Beyonce's BeyGOOD foundation also partnered with Jack Dorsey, teaming up with his #startsmall initiative to donate $6 million to local community organizations so they can provide necessities like food, cleaning supplies, protective gear, medicines and more.
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Greg Berlanti pledged $1 million in COVID-19 relief funds that will go directly to the 5,000 staffers working on the 17 series currently in play at Berlanti Productions, as well as others in the entertainment industry that have been affected by the shutdown. He announced the gesture in a company-wide memo on April 29
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There is certainly no shortage of kind acts from people helping others get through the coronavirus pandemic, and that includes celebrities and Hollywood artists social distancing like the rest of us
As the number of people sickened by COVID-19 continues to rise, there is certainly no shortage of kind acts from people helping others get through the pandemic. And that includes celebrities and Hollywood artists social distancing like the rest of us. These famous do-gooders are reaching into their own pockets to make life under quarantine just a little bit easier.