We’ve previously talked about Oprah Winfrey’s role in the spread of COVID-19 pseudoscience, and it seems like pressure is mounting for her to do something about it after a leading progressive voice loudly called her inaction out: Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane.
Speaking of COVID-19, the GOAT team talk about Pornhub’s positive efforts in fighting the pandemic on ‘It’s Been A Big Day For…’ below:
Chatting to VICE TV about the horrendous COVID-19 response in America, Seth MacFarlane had some strong words for Oprah and how she legitimised a number of pseudoscience “purveyors” on her show, like Dr Oz and Dr Phil, and has yet to take responsibility for the harm they’re doing to the American population.
While the Family Guy creator acknowledged all the good Oprah has done over the years, he points out how it’s tough to reconcile all the positive acts with the pseudoscience stuff she’s helped push out over the years, including and years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Oprah has spent her career doing a lot of altruistic things. Given to a lot of charities, supported a lot of good causes, and in many ways used her platform for good. The exception to that is the elevation of these purveyors of pseudoscience. People like Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz, all the way back to Jenny McCarthy and the anti-vax movement.
“And it’s a strange dichotomy that I think a lot of people, particularly right now, are having trouble reconciling. You know this person who has done all of this positive work for the world, and yet somehow has gotten caught up in this web of junk science on many occasions. So, it’s a tough thing to balance.”
It’s certainly not the first time Seth MacFarlane has called Oprah out on her inaction over the COVID-19 nonsense being pushed by “experts” she’s helped legitimised.
The Family Guy creator had previously shared a tweet imploring Oprah to use her still-powerful platform to “correct” all the COVID-19 misinformation that’s been going around .
All this isn’t to say that Oprah isn’t doing her part in contributing to COVID-19 relief efforts. Not only has she donated millions to food funds aimed at helping to feed local communities, she’s done a series of talk show episodes focusing on the impact COVID-19 has had on people, especially the African-American population.
But as Seth MacFarlane rightly pointed out, Oprah can still do more and it wouldn’t even take too much effort on her behalf to de-legitimise all those COVID-19 pseudoscience pushers she originally discovered. Even just a tweet saying “don’t believe what Dr Oz and Dr Phil are saying” would be better than nothing.
Here’s hoping Oprah does something soon because the longer she waits, the worse the COVID-19 pandemic is going to get in America (based on the fustercluck of a response going on) and she’ll have to accept responsibility for playing a part in all the harmful pseudoscience that’s going around.
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