Cynics Unlimited

Who hasn’t heard the story of Oprah Winfrey kicking Tommy Hilfiger off her show for making incendiary comments? It’s the urban myth that won’t go away – Hilfiger supposedly stated to Oprah that he didn’t want certain ethnic groups wearing his clothes and Oprah flew into a rage, kicking him off the show. The story is typically attached to a chain letter asking people to boycott Tommy Hilfiger clothing in favour of a competing fashion label (possibly indicative of the letter’s source). Of course the story is totally untrue, but it does make for a good drama.

Enter Dr Phil, Oprah’s divisive protégé and TV psychologist. Apparently he thinks that kicking a guest off the show before any serious debate could ensure would be really good publicity and did just that to Bumfights creator Ryen McPherson. (see video below)

To be sure, Bumfights is not easy to watch – most of the documentary-style video depicts inebriated homeless people beating the stuffing out of each other and performing dangerous stunts. The “reality TV” (apparently staging events with non-actors is real these days) video has been blamed for copycat attacks on homeless people in Canada, the United States and Australia.

Still, are we really to believe that Dr Phil had never seen a clip of Bumfights before inviting McPherson onto his show? The moral outrage on display was more contrived than a Fox News “shout” interview.

At the end of the exchange, Phil McGraw had the audacity to state that he refuses to publicize McPherson’s work. Perhaps he should have thought of that before playing Bumfights clips on national TV and inviting its creator on his show. Conversely, Dr Phil probably was legitimately angry about two things -

1. McPherson was obviously mocking Dr. Phil via shaving his head and wearing Phil’s trademark dark suit. The good doctor is far from humble and tends to take himself quite seriously
2. The Bumfights creator pointed out rather astutely that Dr Phil is equally guilty of exploiting the less fortunate via inviting emotionally vulnerable people onto his show and berating them relentlessly on national TV

The attached video clip only strengthens the long-standing belief among skeptics (present company included) that Dr Phil is a fraud and a liability to psychology profession. There couldn’t have been any purpose for that grandstanding outside of publicity. “Reality TV” indeed!