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Dr. Sandra Lee, also known as Dr. Pimple Popper, has responded to Joy Behar’s comments about her on The View.
On Wednesday’s (November 20) episode of The View, the co-hosts of the ABCdaytimetalk show discussed U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet picks — specifically Dr. Mehmet Oz, who was nominated to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
At one point during the segment, co-host Behar compared Dr. Oz to Dr. Lee because they’re both physicians with television shows. Dr. Lee later praised the show in response to Behar’s joke, and mentioned how being a doctor could help her contribute to any discussion regarding the country’s healthcare system.
“Thank you for the shout-out, Joy! We love The View,” her statement to Entertainment Weekly began. “As a board-certified dermatologist in practice for over two decades, I think I could probably lend a valuable voice to any discussion about our healthcare system. In the meantime, I’ll ask our 30 million followers what they think.”
While speaking about Dr. Oz’s nomination on The View, Behar contended that he may be a qualified heart surgeon. Although he earned his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and completed training as a cardiothoracic surgeon at New York Presbyterian Hospital, Behar maintained that these skills did not equate to being in charge of federal health insurance.
“Dr. Oz is a very well-known heart surgeon. This is an administrative position, but because he’s on television, Trump picks people who are on TV,” Behar said. “They might as well pick Dr. Pimple Popper. I mean, the guy is qualified to do heart surgery, not necessarily run Medicare.”
On November 19, Trump announced he was nominating Dr. Oz for the cabinet position.
“I am very pleased to nominate Dr. Mehmet Oz to serve as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator,” he said in a statement. “America is facing a Healthcare Crisis, and there may be no Physician more qualified and capable than Dr. Oz to Make America Healthy Again.”
The 64-year-old will work with Robert F Kennedy Jr, who Trump nominated last week to serve as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, “to take on the illness industrial complex, and all the horrible chronic diseases left in its wake,” the president-elect continued.
“Our broken Healthcare System harms everyday Americans and crushes our Country’s budget. Dr. Oz will be a leader in incentivizing Disease Prevention, so we get the best results in the World for every dollar we spend on Healthcare in our Great Country,” Trump said.
“He will also cut waste and fraud within our Country’s most expensive Government Agency, which is a third of our Nation’s Healthcare spend, and a quarter of our entire National Budget.”
“I have known Dr. Oz for many years, and I am confident he will fight to ensure everyone in America receives the best possible Healthcare, so our Country can be Great and Healthy Again,” the statement concluded after touching on his television career.
Dr. Oz received the nomination two years after losing a Pennsylvania Senate Race to Democrat John Fetterman.
