Dr. Robi Ludwig, the Fox News “expert” psychologist who boldly claimed “homosexual impulses” may have compelled 22-year-old Elliot Rodger to murder six students and commit suicide near the University of California Santa Barbra campus on Friday night, is already feeling the burn from her dangerous on-air diagnosis.
“When I was first listening to him, I was like, ‘Oh, he’s angry with women for rejecting him,’” Ludwig told Fox News’ Judge Jeanine Pirro and millions of live viewers. “And then I started to have a different idea: Is this somebody who is trying to fight against his homosexual impulses?’” She referenced the 141-page manifesto and several YouTube videos Rodger left behind, claiming that his sexless college career somehow drove him to desire men.
Ludwig’s comments immediately sparked outrage on Twitter and eventually forced her to issue a non-pology, which she posted to her personal Facebook page yesterday. “My job on @judgejeanine was to asses several possible triggers for #ElliotRoger and his behavior,” she said, claiming that her message was “misunderstood” and that she never intended to offend.
As a result, real estate giant Coldwell Banker announced yesterday that the company will no longer be working with Dr. Ludwig as a lifestyle real estate correspondent: “Dr. Robi’s comments on the tragedy in Santa Barbara do not represent the opinions of Coldwell Banker,” reads the statement, issued on Facebook. “Therefore at this time we feel it best to part ways with her as our lifestyle real estate correspondent.”
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As a psychologist who regularly appears on television to weigh in on a variety of topics, Dr. Ludwig reportedly still working as a contributor for “the Today Show, CNN, Headline News, TruTv, The Bill Cunningham Show, E!, Regis and Kelly, Oprah, The View, Bill O’Reilly, and Hannity and Colmes.”
Update: Coldwell Banker has removed all articles featuring Ludwig from their website.
gskorich
what she said was irresponsible. the fact she said it on Fox News isn’t surprising. why is it assumed people are afraid of gays ? most people could care less who sleeps with who until things like this are unfairly said. she knew what she was doing
Thomathy
This benighted, TV shill of a psychologist should be off the air.
Dakotahgeo
Why is it that all the bimbos who are unearthed in public turn out to be blond, or have blond hair roots? This should be so embarrassing for them.
petensfo
If she even has any kind of professional credential, she should be stripped of it… however, I doubt she actually does.
aliengod
I’m not sure what she said that was so wrong. Did you watch the videos of this psycho? The first thing I thought is that he definitely tweaked my gaydar.
Cam
What I think is funny is that she doesn’t show much depth in her analysis and yet she is deemed an “Expert” by all of these TV shows. Because she was on one show other shows lazily assume she knows what she is talking about. The same way that Dr. Phil can sit there and sell weigh loss regimes even though he is not in good shape just because he is on TV.
The fact that she brought this up on FOX but no other places shows that she will tweak her diagnosis to whatever she feels the audience of that show wants to hear. Less a proper psychologist giving actual information and more a prostitute who will do whatever the customer wants.
AJAnders
And now we eagerly await conservatives crying about how gays bullied her into getting fired, and how she was robbed of free speech, blah, blah, blah.
hotboyvb81
I thought maybe Fox had fired her- but then I thought- why would they, she merely parroted their beliefs…well, this firing will ensure her full time employment at Fox- they always hired the people the supposed gay mafia target.
Lvng1tor
@aliengod: Whether or not you think he is gay because he “tweaked my gaydar” is irrelevant. The issue is that a licensed pyscologist made a shot gun diagnosis that linked his murderess spree to latent homosexual feelings based on nothing more than conjecture, his mannerisms (which seriously don’t denote queerness…specially today I’m fooled all the time) and ratings.
It was ignorant, dangerous and reprehensible for her to do so.
This kind of armchair pop psychology needs to be stopped. Not just because of the gay thing but for all these quick draw McGraw kind of jagwads. Too many people listen and don’t take time to see past the sensationalist grab for ratings and spread these dangerous ideas forcing them on younger people. Seeing them as sick. In this case equating gay with murderous.
Her non-apology based on the tried and true “I was misunderstood” is bull. As a licensed psychotherapist she should have know better. It’s actually part of the training. Her job is to be completely understood and she was. As a result she showed herself too be selling nothing more than snake oil ideas. In today’s image is everything, if you are on tv, she is feeling the ramifications of that. Whether you think it is fair or not….That’s show biz!
KDub
@aliengod: I thought the same thing. Something about his lips and cheekbones looked like he was “transitioning”. Not sure why people were offended either. Isn’t what she said exactly what Jeffrey Dahmer’s problem was? If she’s at all right, isn’t it more of a reason to stop shaming homosexuality?
Dakotahgeo
@Lvng1tor: “Murderess spree”??? MMMmmm… I think you might mean “murderous spree.” Ummmph. Sigh.
Larry
What she said was horrible but if you think she is the one who came up with her words you are lacking all your brain cells. Fox News scripts people to say things like this so Queerty and other sites will write these stories.
Lvng1tor
@Dakotahgeo: oh gosh….thanks. I completely missed that. My bad.
Dakotahgeo
@Lvng1tor: NNNNot to worry… it happens to all of us!
SteveDenver
I’m sure Fox Noise will have her: she’s their type, right down to the hasty, idiotic, anti-gay analysis.
DickieJohnson
Dayum, y’all! I was hoping that she’d REALLY gotten fired! She can still drivel her stupidity on all those other TV venues. Call out the Gay Mafia!!!
Dez
I agree with @aliengod !!! When my husband and I saw his pictures alone, we said ‘he was gay’. You can just tell!!
Why was the psychologist wrong to think this as well?
I immediately thought what @KDub said, that this is an example of how gay shaming can have tragic results; if this guy would rather kill others and commit suicide because he couldn’t be openly gay and naturally had no chemistry with women- it’s not the fact that he was gay that made him kill, it’s the fact that he was trying to be straight.
Jack90
She’s not a psychologist and she doesn’t claim to be nor does Fox or any other media outlet. @Queerty might want to correct that in your story.
She’s a crappy therapist which is a term all too loosely tossed around.
Desert Boy
Ludwig should have an ethics complaint filed against her.
Ed
Here’s an intriguing quote from a side article that might help define what was going on in this kid’s mind: “Because when nobody wants you, you can do what you want. When people feel anxious, unloved, and bored, they start to test the boundaries of decency.”
enlightenone
@aliengod: Clearly you only have half a brain, so I doubt you would have been wired with “gaydar.” Just an assessment!
aliengod
@enlightenone: I’m curious why you feel this way. I simply made an observation.