In this episode, Niki, Neil, and Natalia discuss Dr. Oz running for the U.S. Senate and the history of celebrity politicians.
Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:
- Celebrity doctor-entertainer Dr. Mehmet Oz is running for Senate in Pennsylvania, as a Republican.Niki drew on historian Kathryn Brownell’s book, Showbiz Politics: Hollywood in American Political Life, and Neil referred to Nicholas Kristof’s gubernatorial run. Natalia referred to Olga Khazan’s Atlantic article about Trump’s celebrity candidacy.
In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:
- Natalia discussed the latest season of Selling Sunset, now streaming on Netflix.
- Neil recommended historian Paul Renfro’s Teen Vogue article, “Ryan White, Teen Who Contracted AIDS, Shifted Narrative Around The Disease.”
- Niki shared Dahlia Lithwick’s Slate article, “SCOTUS Will Gaslight Us Until the End” and referred to Michele Goodwin’s New York Times guest essay.
I don’t know what happened to Dr Oz, but he was once a brilliant heart surgeon who performed the heart surgery that saved my friend’s life. When other doctors gave my friend a death sentence he took on his case and saved his life. So sad to see such a great surgeon go off the rails into a type of celebrity messianic megalomania.