During a meet and greet with Manhattan Republican grandees at Smith & Wollensky steakhouse in New York City on Dec. 16, Dr. Mehmet Oz warned his fellow TV star Oprah Winfrey to stay away from the Pennsylvania Senate race where he’s seeking the GOP’s nomination, the New York Post reports.
“I asked her to stay out. Don’t support me because if you get involved in any way, you’ll get hurt and I don’t want my friends hurt,” Oz said, according to a recording of the event obtained by the Post.
The doctor said he had “high hopes” for the city’s incoming mayor Eric Adams and that Adams “understands law enforcement issues.”
Oz also urged attendees to have “compassion” for Lia Thomas, a controversial transgender university of Pennsylvania swimmer who has broken multiple women’s swimming records.
After Oz announced his Senate run earlier this month, Winfrey was blasted in certain media circles for using her show to promote Oz and launch him to a national platform. Critics of Oz say he’s a “known peddler of medical misinformation.” Winfrey herself has also been accused of disseminating questionable health advice.
“During the pandemic, I learned that when you mix politics and medicine, you get politics instead of solutions,” Oz said in a recent op-ed, published in the Washington Examiner. “That’s why I am running for the U.S. Senate: to help fix the problems and to help us heal.”
