Internet divided after Dr Phil rattles 'The View' hosts by claiming children 'suffered' due to Covid school closures
MANHATTAN, NEW YORK CITY: Dr Phil McGraw sparked a debate on 'The View' after he slammed Covid-19 school closures and claimed it negatively affected the mental health of children.
During his appearance on the daytime talk show aired on February 26, McGraw responded to co-host Sara Haines' inquiry about a passage from his upcoming book, 'We've Got Issues: How You Can Stand Strong for America’s Soul and Sanity'.
Dr Phil critiques COVID school closures on The View
In McGraw's book, he discusses the importance of being a guiding influence for his children amidst the challenges posed by social media pressures.
Dr Phil said on the show, "In, like, ’08, ’09, smartphones came on, and kids started, they stopped living their lives and starting watching people live their lives, and so we saw the biggest spike and the highest levels of depression, anxiety, loneliness, and suicidality, since records have ever been kept, and it’s just continued on and on and on."
He went on to say, "And then COVID hits 10 years later, and the same agencies that knew that, are the agencies that shut down the schools for two years. Who does that? Who takes away the support system for these children? Who takes it away and shuts it down?" he questioned as Sunny Hostin interjected, saying, "There was also a pandemic going on. They were trying to save people's lives."
Dr Phil stuck to his argument before saying, "And by the way, when they shut it down, they stopped the mandated reporters from being able to see children that were being abused and sexually molested and, in fact, sent them home and abandoned them to their abusers with no way to watch and referrals dropped 50 per cent to 60 per cent."
"They were trying to save kids' lives," remarked Whoopi Goldberg. "Remember, we know a lot of folks who died during this. So people weren't laying around eating bon bons." Interrupting, McGraw interjected, "Not school children."
Goldberg responded, "Maybe we're lucky they didn't (go to school) because we kept them out of the places where they could be sick because no one wanted to believe we had an issue."
Internet divided over Dr Phil's opinion about Covid school closures
Following McGraw's remarks, social media users shared diverse opinions. One individual lamented, "Too bad it’s taken 4 years to talk about it. Damage done". Another concurred, stating,
Too bad it’s taken 4 years to talk about it. Damage done
— chad calderone 🇺🇸 (@chadcalder50954) February 26, 2024
"He’s not wrong," while someone else reluctantly agreed, "I hate to say it but he’s not wrong."
Contrarily, a commenter pointed out, "Except there weren't any heated clashes, he made that statement right at the end of the interview, and there wasn't time to discuss it, they went to commercial."
Except there weren't any heated clashes, he made that statement right at the end of the interview, and there wasn't time to discuss it, they went to commercial.
— suzie (@Hockeychick59) February 26, 2024
Another user criticized wealthy individuals, remarking, "Rich Hollywood people debate over things that aren't relevant to them."
Rich Hollywood people debate over things that aren't relevant to them
— a tiny manatee (@asmolmanatee) February 26, 2024
One commenter expressed surprise, saying, "Holy woke !!!", while another speculated, "I bet he’s just banned from the show."
Dr Phil claims children suffered from the mismanagement of Covid and not the disease
In the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Data Summary and Trends Report released last year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which compiled data spanning from 2011 to 2021, it was noted that "nearly all indicators of poor mental health and suicidal thoughts and behaviors increased from 2011 to 2021" among high school students.
Co-host Ana Navarro managed to squeeze in one question for McGraw before the interview concluded. She asked, "Are you saying no schoolchildren died of COVID?"
"I'm saying it was the safest group. They were the less vulnerable group and they suffered and − will suffer more − from the mismanagement of Covid than they will from the exposure to Covid," McGraw responded. "And that's not an opinion; that's a fact," he added.
Goldberg wrapped up the segment despite the hosts' interest in continuing the discussion on the contentious topic. "Well, Phil, we don't even have time to talk it out now," she remarked.
During his appearance on 'The View', Dr Phil discussed his upcoming return to television with a primetime show on his recently launched network. He suggested that he would have more freedom to delve into topics that were previously off-limits on daytime talk shows.
"I've already been getting some warnings about that. You can only go so far," he told the hosts.
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