Ellen Pompeo, 50, took to Twitter on Apr. 18 to speak out about her thoughts on the importance of staying home during the COVID-19 crisis and also shaded Dr. Phil McGraw, 69, and Dr. Drew Pinsky, 61, in the process. The Grey’s Anatomy star pointed out how being in quarantine can help “stop the spread” of the highly contagious virus to healthcare workers and others and called out Dr. Phil and Dr. Drew for their previous controversial comments that some feel “downplayed” the seriousness of the virus.
“Staying home is for very good reasons…one of them is to stop the spread to nurses doctors and anyone who works in a hospital housekeeping …security .. maintenance…. …to keep their risk of contracting lower and The hospitals can only handle so much intake,” Ellen tweeted in one of a series of tweets on the topic after seeing news stories about protestors marching against the stay-at-home orders in California.
“Also the old white guy tv docs who say stupid selfish sh*t should yes …walk that sh*t riht [sic] back .to your lazy boys and sit your stupid asses down in your living rooms on your golf courses where you live..tired out of touch old fools don’t get me started today,” she continued. “So let’s think about all of our first responders and healthcare workers home health aids nursing home staff…always … it’s a much better place to put our focus.”
She went on to talk about the effects on sexism, racism, and other struggles that healthcare workers have to face everyday before circling back to “TV doctors” and their “careless statements.” “Also to those out of touch tv docs which I’m sure they would call me lol…you took an oath so so many years ago to do no harm… making careless statements in this environment when so many healthcare workers are suffering physically and emotionally….is defying that oath,” she wrote.
Staying home is for very good reasons…one of them is to stop the spread to nurses doctors and anyone who works in a hospital housekeeping …security .. maintenance…. …to keep their risk of contracting lower and The hospitals can only handle so much intake.
— Ellen Pompeo (@EllenPompeo) April 18, 2020
Also the old white guy tv docs who say stupid selfish shit should yes …walk that shit riht back .to your lazy boys and sit your stupid asses down in your living rooms on your golf courses where you live..tired out of touch old fools don’t get me started today
— Ellen Pompeo (@EllenPompeo) April 18, 2020
Ellen’s tweeting storm didn’t stop there either. She concluded by replying to another tweet that called out Dr. Phil, Dr. Drew, and Dr. Mehmet Oz, 59, directly for not acting like “real doctors.” “I love this because …They have been so busy in their dressing rooms getting their faces powdered and worrying about their ratings …they have no idea what doctors and healthcare professionals on the front lines actually do or they just don’t care,” her response read.
Ellen’s tweets come after Dr. Phil and Dr. Drew both made headlines for some comments they made about COVID-19 aka the coronavirus after the pandemic started in Wuhan, China in Dec. Dr. Phil compared people dying from the virus to people dying from car accidents, drowning, and other things when he criticized America’s stay-at-home orders. “45,000 people a year die from automobile accidents, 480,000 from cigarettes, 360,000 a year from swimming pools, but we don’t shut the country down for that. But yet we’re doing it for this? And the fallout is going to last for years because people’s lives are being destroyed,” he said on Laura Ingram‘s show on FOX News on Apr. 16. He later apologized for his choice of words after receiving backlash.
Dr. Drew received similar backlash after he initially said he thought the virus wouldn’t be more serious than influenza aka the flu in a video that was filmed back in early Feb. He also apologized later on Apr. 4 and admitted he “got it wrong”.
As of Apr. 19, COVID-19 has infected 2,365,269 people worldwide, including 162,129 cases resulting in death.