The hits keep coming for TV personality/U.S. Senate wannabe Mehmet Oz.
According to The Wrap, ratings for “The Dr. Oz Show” have been in a total freefall since he announced his candidacy for U.S. Senate last month, and they continue to tumble as the show nears its end date.
The final episode airs on January 14. But given the numbers, network execs have to be wondering: Will anybody be tuning in to watch?
Last week, ratings fell 17% from the week before, and were down 29% from the same time last year. That’s the biggest drop of any talk show in the top 14.
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In addition to all that, Oz, who lives in New Jersey but is running for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, has been hit with a wave of bad press.
Related: Dr. Oz won’t stop bitching about cancel culture and everyone on Twitter is like “Girl, byeeeee!”
Over the weekend, leaked audio of a speech he gave at a private luncheon in New York found its way onto the internet. In it, he could be heard making all sorts of anti-trans remarks and voicing his support for TERF author J.K. Rowling.
Afterwards, he took to Twitter to blast Democrats and say it’s time to cancel “cancel culture”, writing, “It’s time to stand up to the Left and end the cancel culture mob that is destroying our country.”
It’s time to stand up to the Left and end the cancel culture mob that is destroying our country.
— Dr. Mehmet Oz (@DrOz) December 18, 2021
There is one teeny tiny sliver of hope for the TV doctor, however.
According to a new poll from the Trafalgar Group, he’s leading in the field of Republican candidates vying for Pennsylvania’s open Senate seat.
1,062 likely Republican voters were asked who they would vote for if the 2022 GOP primary for U.S. Senate “were held tomorrow” and a total of 18.8% said they’d pick Oz. His closest competitor in the poll was author and political commentator Kathy Barnette, who trailed him by more than 10 points.
So, that’s good, right? Kinda? Not really. Because the poll also found that the vast, vast, vast majority of respondents (50.8%) said they hadn’t yet made up their minds, and another 10.8% said they would pick “another candidate” not listed.
With the Christmas holiday fast approaching, now might be a good time for Dr. Oz to take a few quiet moments to reconsider some of his recent life choices.
Graham Gremore is the Features Editor and a Staff Writer at Queerty. Follow him on Twitter @grahamgremore.
Heywood Jablowme
Dr. Oz is a Muslim and may not be particularly concerned about “the Christmas holiday fast approaching” or even slowly approaching.
But Pennsylvania is probably Democrats’ best chance to pick up a Senate seat next year.
Thad
Especially with popular Lt. Gov. John Fetterman running on the Democratic side. He’s got my vote.
Fahd
The time has long passed for Oprah to disavow Dr. Öz, not only for his long-standing peddling of medical misinformation, but also for his crackpot politics. The people of Pennsylvania deserve better.
barryaksarben
SO this IDIOT wants the dems to cancel cancel culture but isnt that cancel culture itself? Total idiot and if anyone needs to be cancelled
MainelyStories
I do wish Dr. Oz all the craptastic in the world. It would be a well-deserved honor.
It would be awesome if he ran against the highly esteemed Lieutenant Governor Fetterman.
Mack
I think him being a Muslim might hinder his run in the Republican Party, the same if he were gay. They prefer the white, straight, fake christians running in their party.
Thad
But then, Bobby Jindal? Nikki Haley?
Heywood Jablowme
#Thad: I get what you mean but they both make a big fuss about being Christians.
Sanjo
To Thad: Nikki Haley converted to Christianity from being a Sikh. Jindal was a Hindu who converted to Christianity. Not everyone dark is a Muslim.
Jaquelope
Is it even legal to run for office in one state, but be a resident of another state? Isn’t that covered in the Constitution?
jcool
he’s moving to PA
Heywood Jablowme
Yes, it’s covered in the Constitution (the answer is no). Yes and no, he is sorta kinda moving to PA, or he has ALREADY sorta kinda moved to PA to live (supposedly) in his in-laws’ house, where he voted (illegally) in Nov. 2020.
Kangol2
The US has a long history of Congresspeople and US Senators who’ve moved between states and served in their “new” ones, though it was far more common in the 18th, 19th and very early 20th centuries. Several served in different states as Congresspeople and Senators, and James Shields famously was a US Senator from three different states, Illinois, Minnesota and Missouri, if you can believe that. Dr. Oz has an advantage as a very rich, well-known TV personality, so the Democrats really have got to find someone who can appeal the their base as well as independents and even some Republicans who might be turned off by Oz’s quackery.