Another week, another Dr. Oz scandal and another trolling ad from his Democratic opponent in the Pennsylvania Senate race, John Fetterman.
Following an unsettling Washington Post exposé looking into the numerous incidents in which Republican candidate Mehmet Oz gave questionable and at times outright fallacious medical advice on his long-running daytime TV show, Fetterman was at the ready with yet another perfect ad roasting Oz to a crisp.
As always, Oz all but wrote the ad himself.
Half of it is composed simply of clips of Oz's own words on his talkshow. But it's the other half of the ad that really makes it sing: Fetterman intercut Oz's bizarre medical claims with clips of huckster doctor Nick Riviera from The Simpsons.
"There's a Simpsons episode for everything," as the internet saying goes and Fetterman proved it with his ad, seen below.
\u201cBefore there was Dr. Oz, there was Dr. Nick. \n\u00a0\nThey say the Simpsons always predict the future \u2013 and once again, they nailed it.\u201d— John Fetterman (@John Fetterman) 1664819267
Fetterman aptly captioned his tweet of the ad:
“Before there was Dr. Oz, there was Dr. Nick."
"They say the Simpsons always predict the future – and once again, they nailed it.”
The ad contains clips of the many similarities between Dr. Oz and the beloved Simpsons character, especially their shared love for absurd weight loss cures they bill as miraculous, including one Oz claimed requires no diet or exercise and another he claimed causes fat to "instantly disappear."
And, much like the fictional Dr. Riviera, Oz has had several legal entanglements for his ridiculous on-air medical advice, including having been sued by a viewer who was injured by an insomnia cure Oz promoted on his daytime talk show, The Dr. Oz Show.
The Washington Post exposé reveals even more disturbing details of the downright dangerous nonsense Oz promoted on-air, including a weight loss treatment involving a starvation diet of 500 calories a day in tandem with a fertility drug, and another using an herbal supplement the FDA says can cause liver damage.
Oz's on-air claims were so off the wall that 10 of his colleagues tried to have him removed from the staff of Columbia University's Irving Medical Center.
Oz has not responded to the controversy except via spokesperson Brittany Yanick, who said it was "idiotic and preposterous" to thing Oz endorsed every treatment promoted by a guest on his show. Ms. Yanick did not comment on the ones Dr. Oz promoted himself with his own words, like the ones featured in Fetterman's ad, however.
The new ad is not the first time Fetterman has raked Oz over the coals for his TV past, and on Twitter people absolutely loved the new addition of Dr. Riviera to Fetterman's roast arsenal.
\u201chttps://t.co/T526Ckmv9i\u201d— Matt Ghoulberg (@Matt Ghoulberg) 1664824340
\u201c@RexChapman @JohnFetterman This is art.\u201d— John Fetterman (@John Fetterman) 1664819267
\u201c@JohnFetterman Fetterman is the better man \u2026 \ud83d\uddf3\u201d— John Fetterman (@John Fetterman) 1664819267
\u201c@JohnFetterman @ray_gull https://t.co/2G0aH2WXzy\u201d— John Fetterman (@John Fetterman) 1664819267
\u201c@JohnFetterman Dr Oz when he sees a map of Pennsylvania\u201d— John Fetterman (@John Fetterman) 1664819267
\u201c@JohnFetterman I'm not sure how much quality campaigning still matters in the Trump era, but holy cow, this is a Rocky IV-caliber beating.\u201d— John Fetterman (@John Fetterman) 1664819267
\u201c@JohnFetterman\u201d— John Fetterman (@John Fetterman) 1664819267
\u201c@JohnFetterman Rare photo of Dr. Oz at Columbia.\u201d— John Fetterman (@John Fetterman) 1664819267
\u201c@JohnFetterman Your finest work, among a field of outstanding candidates\u201d— John Fetterman (@John Fetterman) 1664819267
\u201c@JohnFetterman Possibly the best campaign ad I have ever seen!\u201d— John Fetterman (@John Fetterman) 1664819267
All in all, it was a very bad Monday for Oz--just hours after the Washington Post exposé, a report resurfaced detailing Oz's astonishing abuse and killing of animals used in medical experiments he conducted in violation of the Animal Welfare Act.
Naturally, Fetterman had an ad at the ready for that one too.
