Senate candidate Mehmet Oz is ginning up his own mock controversy over the Philadelphia Inquirer’s decision to – now you might need to sit down to absorb this – refer to him in stories by his real first and last names. It’s a total and utter outrage that is perfectly suited to the “Fox and Friends” couch.
Appearing on the Fox News show Monday morning, Oz and the hosts laid the grievance and victimization on thick. Oz tried to paint himself as a fighter against so-called “silencing” of Republicans in the media.
“The Inquirer hates — hates — that I’m empowering you, hates that I’m taking on some of the established folks, hates that the entrepreneurial solutions I’m offering might make sense,” Oz said. “They don’t like that I say what I see so they want to silence me. I tell you, it’s shocking that it would make them that uncomfortable this early in the campaign.”
Everyone knows him as “Dr. Oz,” he complained, so it’s baloney for the Inquirer to suggest that using his household name would give him an “unfair advantage.”
The faux controversy comes after Inquirer columnist Jeffrey Barg — who writes about the influence that language, grammar and punctuation has on society — pointed out the decision by the paper’s style committee. Barg argued that using the moniker of “Dr. Oz” to refer to the celebrity doctor presents ethics issues because it “bestows status, authority, and honor,” which would give Oz an edge in a competitive race like the Senate race he jumped into.
“In an overcrowded electoral field, anything that makes a candidate stand out can produce dividends,” Barg wrote. “Occasionally honorifics are helpful in distinguishing between multiple members of the same family who have the same last name, but with only one other Oz prominent in popular culture, it was unlikely that readers would confuse the celebrity doctor/Senate candidate with the Wizard.”
Barg also noted that Oz isn’t the only doctor running in the Pennsylvania Senate race — the Inquirer refers to Democratic candidate named Val Arkoosh, who is also a physician, by her first and last name in headlines.
Later in the day Monday, the distributor of Oz’s TV show, Sony Pictures Television, announced that “The Dr. Oz Show” will come to an end next month as its host runs to replace Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) in the crowded Pennsylvania Senate race.
Oz announced his bid late last month in an op-ed published in the Washington Examiner, in which the celebrity doctor griped about the simmering anger in the electorate and the federal government’s response to COVID-19.
Oz, who served on former President Trump’s health council after Trump appeared on his show to tout his medical records while running for the presidency in 2016, has already drawn skepticism for his history of previously living in New Jersey for the past two decades. The celebrity doctor only registered to vote in Pennsylvania last year under his in-laws’ address in suburban Philadelphia.
Oz’s Senate bid comes as Republicans hope to retake the majority in next year’s midterm elections. The celebrity doctor launched his Senate campaign shortly after the Trump-endorsed Republican Sean Parnell dropped his Senate bid in Pennsylvania after losing a child custody battle against his estranged wife, a ruling which came amid allegations of spousal abuse.
Watch Oz’s remarks below:
