Twitter makes it easy to communicate with millions at once, but as Phil McGraw — better known as TV’s Dr. Phil — learned on Tuesday it also makes it that much easier to put one’s foot in one’s mouth.
“If a girl is drunk, is it OK to have sex with her? Reply yes or no to @drphil #teenaccused,” McGraw’s official account tweeted to his 1.2 million followers Tuesday afternoon.
As even the most oblivious person may have expected the tweet wasn’t well received. As tends to happen on the Internet, a flood of negative responses soon followed.
The hashtag #DrPhil!questions started trending almost immediately, incensed users venting their anger and disgust at the former Oprah crony.
Is it okay to exploit people's emotional issues in public under the guise of helping them? #DrPhilQuestions
— Jarrah Hodge (@jarrahpenguin) August 20, 2013
If a guy with a TV show turns out to be a rape apologist, should the show be canceled? #DrPhilQuestions
— Peter Flom (@peterflom) August 20, 2013
How can we make the rape culture even worse on the internet? #DrPhilQuestions
— Tara Dublin (@taradublinrocks) August 20, 2013
Sensing they had made a mistake, whoever handles McGraw’s account quickly deleted the tweet, but the damage was already done.
Producers attempted to explain the tweet in a statement released earlier today, reports Deadline, claiming the tweet was just a poll question and nothing else.
“This Tweet was intended to evoke discussion leading into a very serious show topic based upon a recent news story, hence the #teensaccused label. It was a poll question, not a statement or a joke. As he has maintained over many years, Dr. Phil believes that the position of those incapacitated in any fashion; be it drugs, alcohol, age or mental illness can not and do not have the capacity to give their consent to anything, especially sex, which could have life changing repercussions. This was a research post in preparation for a show, not a personal post and Dr. Phil deleted it the second he saw it. It was clearly ill-advised. We sincerely apologize that it suggested anything other than what was intended, data gathering. As you can imagine, Dr. Phil is very upset that this happened.”
It’s unlikely that the statement will make the tweet any less embarrassing for the talk show host, but as large as the backlash may be, the episode the poll was for still reportedly filmed earlier today. It’s set to air at an unknown time next season.