WATCH: Dr. Phil Responds to Criticism After Comments on Fox News

Dr. Phil McGraw, host of the television show Dr. Phil and who has a doctorate in psychology, received criticism yesterday after comments he made during an interview on The Ingraham Angle with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham. During the interview, he spoke to the reporter about the COVID-19 shutdown in the United States, and the economic, physical and mental toll it’s taking on some Americans.

After he made the statement, Dr. Phil started trending on Twitter, with many comments aimed at his legitimacy as a doctor.

Dr. Phil Spoke About the COVID-19 Shutdown & Compared the Virus to Other Death Risks

What sparked the outrage was the following comment he made during Thursday’s interview:

Two hundred fifty people a year die from poverty, and the poverty line is getting such that more and more people are going to fall below that because the economy is crashing around us. And they’re doing that because people are dying from the coronavirus, I get that. But look, the fact of the matter is, we have people dying, 45,000 people a year die from automobile accidents, 480,000 from cigarettes, 360,000 a year from swimming pools, we don’t shut the country down for that. But yet we’re doing it for this? And the fallout is going to last for years because people’s lives are being destroyed.

Dr. Phil Responds to the Criticism He Received for His Comments & Clarified His Stance

During Dr. Phil’s live show on Friday, he addressed the criticism he received after his interview with Fox News. Below is the video:

During the episode, Dr Phil said:

Just to follow up on those of you that had comments about my appearance on Laura Ingraham’s show last night. If you didn’t like my choice of words, I apologize for that. Know this, I’m concerned about you, that’s my number one concern here. If you don’t like my choice of words, then hit the eject button on those. But don’t ever think I’m not concerned about you, that’s what I’m concerned about.

I know that the longer we stay in quarantine, the more psychological issues and damage we have. And that’s why I continue to do these shows, that’s why I continue to have these chats with you now, so I can help with that. Depression, anxiety, loneliness, those things create problems.

What I want us to do, all of us, is one hundred percent follow the guidelines, one hundred percent support doing this together. Self isolation, being alone together is an altruistic act because by isolating, we’re helping everybody. And when we do get the green light, as you can see from this three phase program that your Governor is going to decide, we’re going to follow the science. And that’s what I want to do.

Let’s follow the guidelines, let’s follow the science. When it’s time to go out, if the science says wear a mask to work, let’s wear a mask to work. If the science says work from home, but be able to go out some, then let’s do whatever the science says.

Dr. Phil finished by telling his listeners to take care of themselves and others. He said, “let’s work together and get through this and let’s build this economy back, let’s build our world back and this time next year we will be stronger for it.”

Dr. Phil’s controversial take on the COVID-19 lockdown was aired the same day as Dr. Mehmet Oz’s take, which also garnered criticism online. To read Dr. Oz’s “two to three percent” trade-off comments, click the “Read Next” link below.

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