Story at a glance
- Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity physician turned Republican Senate candidate, last week said transgender female athletes shouldn’t be able to compete on women’s sports team because they have an unfair advantage, according to the gossip website Radar Online.
- Oz also said author J.K. Rowling was “brave” for making comments about the trans community that many view as transphobic.
- Oz was asked about his thoughts on Lia Thomas, the transgender University of Pennsylvania swimmer who shattered records this month.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the 61-year-old celebrity physician running for a U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania, this month reportedly said he doesn’t support transgender female athletes competing on women’s sports teams and praised author J.K. Rowling — who has made controversial comments about the trans community — as “brave” for “willing to get in trouble.”
The celebrity gossip site Radar Online on Friday reported that Oz at a private function in New York last week was asked about his thoughts on Lia Thomas, a transgender female swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania who broke multiple school and national records this month. In articles by OutKick, the conservative-leaning sports site owned by Fox, Thomas was criticized by a pair of anonymous teammates for having an unfair advantage.
In a transcript of audio remarks reportedly made by Oz that were obtained by Radar Online, Oz, a registered Republican candidate, said he’s empathetic toward transgender adults, whose rates of suicide attempts are much higher than those of non-transgender adults.
“But then you layer on top of that changes to our society that hurt other people in an effort to protect one group of people, and that’s not fair. That’s not fair,” he reportedly said.
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He added: “Feminists have very eloquently fought for the ability to have women’s sports be on equal [inaudible] as men’s sports, and this takes away that ability. I would argue that what I just said can’t be said – I definitely couldn’t have said it on [The Dr. Oz Show] – and you need to be able to say those things.”
Oz’s daytime television show “The Dr. Oz Show” has aired for 13 seasons, winning multiple daytime Emmy awards. Sony Pictures Television, which co-produces the show, announced last week that its final episode would air in January.
Several TV stations in cities including Philadelphia, New York and Cleveland said they would no longer air Oz’s show after he announced his Senate bid, citing “equal time” rules set by the Federal Communications Commission, which allow for rival candidates to request equal air time.
According to Radar Online, Oz last week said his position on transgender athletes is not “hateful or harmful,” but “we have to be able to say these things in America.”
Oz is also said to have expressed his support for author J.K. Rowling’s comments regarding the trans community, which many say are transphobic.
Rowling in a recent viral tweet criticized a move reportedly proposed by Police Scotland to log rapes by offenders with male genitalia as being committed by a woman if the offender identifies as female.
Some said Rowling’s tweet was another example of her transphobia, with “Queer Eye” Star Jonathan Van Ness calling it “cherry picked vitriol.”
The young adult author Shannon Hale also responded to Rowling’s tweet, writing: “All women should be safe. This includes transgender women, who are far more likely to be a target of assault than a perpetrator. If a woman commits rape, that is still a crime and reprehensible. Calling a woman a woman won’t change that. But amplifying bigotry helps no one.”
But Oz reportedly praised Rowling’s willingness to share her opinion online despite the fact that it may be unpopular or not well-received.
“J.K. Rowling, who’s not some icon of the conservative party, said something that I think was very brave,” Oz allegedly said. “She was a lifelong feminist, and then she’s canceled. And I’ve talked to people who are canceling her, who would’ve been making a lot of money off her, and they can’t defend what they’re doing, or they don’t wanna be in trouble.”
“And as a brave American,” he reportedly added, “you have to be willing to get into trouble. That’s what makes us different.”
Changing America has reached out for comment.
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