Celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz was slammed for his past comments promoting transgenderism, praising China’s coronavirus response, and questioning pro-life legislation during the first Pennsylvania Republican U.S. Senate debate.
Monday marked the first debate between the top five candidates in the Pennsylvania GOP Senate primary, Mehmet Oz, Kathy Barnette, Carla Sands, Dave McCormick, and Jeff Bartos.
Oz’s previous comments on hot-button political issues were a common theme throughout the debate, leading his opponents to attack him for “flip-flopping.”
Oz’s opponents called him out for having a segment dedicated to young transgender children on his former daytime talk show, The Dr. Oz Show.
When asked if he would support a ban on transgender athletes in women’s sports, Oz said, “yes,” and added, “biologic men should not be playing women’s sports.” However, McCormick quickly noted the 2015 segment from Oz’s show focused on transgender children.
WDVMMcCormick said:
Biological males should not be able to compete with females. But again, Mehmet, I’m sorry to keep bringing these things up, but you did an entire show on July 22, 2015. That was about eight, seven, nine-year-old children. And you were supporting those conversations about transgender transitions, surgical treatments that would be irreversible.
Oz defended himself by simply noting that transgender discussions “need” to be held on network television. “I do television shows, as I should, about views that need to be expressed on network,” Oz said and then shrugged.
McCormick also called out Oz for his previous comments praising China’s lockdowns in the Wuhan province during the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.
“And and so what we’ve learned is we need to be careful about not letting the government take too much responsibility and control,” McCormick said. “And this is where Mehmet Oz cracks me up because I hear all his statements about COVID now.”
He continued:
And this is a guy who, on national television said the Chinese were doing a great job with covid lockdowns, who complimented Anthony Fauci as a great scientist and a great leader, and who was the guy out there saying, “mask up, mask up, masks show love.” And so, so we’ve had another flip flop in the case of covid by Mehmet. But it’s a serious problem because we can’t have the government intervening and taking too much control. We’ve got to let that responsibility rests with individuals.
Oz claimed he was “aggressively pushing back” against medical health tyranny in response. However, Oz noted that initially, he was cautious because it was “the right thing.”
WDVM“How could you possibly think that I was not aggressively pushing back when I remember distinctly speaking on the Sean Hannity show about the fact we should not keep our schools closed,” Oz said.
Oz then claimed he was a victim of cancel culture because he “pushed back against orthodoxy.”
“And the amount of hate mail and posts that came out that effectively tried to cancel me was reflected in that single endeavor,” Oz continued. “It happened countless times as I pushed back against orthodoxy. The right thing initially was to be cautious. Doctors are careful when they walk into the operating room until you get your bearings.”
Social media users quickly posted clips of Oz’s praise of China, where he said the answer to saving lives in the pandemic is “to copy what [China] did, take their blueprint, and repeat it here in this country.”
Sands joined in on the Oz dogpile and criticized him for his service in the Turkish military.
“Oz says he’s pro life but as a matter of fact, he’s not just not pro life, and we’ve just tweeted out his own words that he is not pro life, But also he’s Turkey first,” Sands said. “He served in the Turkish military, not the U.S. military. And he chose to do that. He chose to put Turkey first.”
WDVMAs Oz already did once on the campaign trail, he defended his service in the Turkish military, which granted him Turkish citizenship, because of the love he has for his mother. She is based in Turkey and has a chronic illness.
“President Trump was very clear I am America first. I was obliged to serve for two months, maybe. in the infirmary in the Turkish military, which I did in order to visit my parents as I went through my life. I can love my mother and I can love my country as well,” Oz said.
Sands also called attention to Oz’s previous comments about an unborn child’s heartbeat.
“And he has said that the baby’s heartbeat is not a heartbeat. It’s an electrical impulse. We know that’s what a heartbeat is,” Sands said.
In a 2019 interview with the Breakfast Club, Oz questioned the reasoning behind “heartbeat” abortion bills, saying, “And the other thing is this whole thing about heart beating. I mean, there are electrical changes at six weeks, but the heart’s not beating.”
McCormick also attacked Oz for his relationship with a company that faced a multimillion-dollar fine from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for hiring illegal immigrant workers.
WDVM“We’ve got to secure the border. We’ve got to finish the wall. We’ve got to end catch and release and this is an area that our U.S. senator has to fight on,” McCormick said. “And this is an area also where Mehmet’s compromised, and he’s compromised because he’s an owner of a company that hired 1,000 illegal immigrants and was fined in 2017, agreed to the fact that they had consciously hired illegal immigrants.”
“And that $95 million fine is the highest in the history of ICE. He’s a shareholder. his family gets $10 million a year from that company,” McCormick added.
Oz defended his relationship with the company by saying he has “no management role at all.”
“And when it comes to David McCormack and his progressively desperate efforts to undermine me, you’re picking up my wife’s grandfather’s company, where I have no management role at all,” Oz said.
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