Dr. Oz's Seemingly Candid Encounter with a Grieving Black Community Member Was More Staged Than He Let On

Mar. 15, 2025

Photo: Ryan Collerd/AP/Shutterstock

The outlet reports that the woman, Sheila Armstrong, was featured prominently at a Sept. 19 campaign event billed as a “community discussion,” during which she told the story of the fatal shootings of her brother and nephew.

Oz comforted Armstrong during the event in an emotional encounter that involved him hugging her and asking about her coping mechanisms.

But as The Intercept reports, the campaign left out that Armstrong worked for Oz and, while her grief was real, the moment was more staged than suspected.

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The outlet says the campaign manager for Oz’s Democratic opponent,John Fetterman, shared a screenshot of the woman’s business cardon Twitter, which identifies her as a “Philadelphia County Coordinator,” with a doctorozforsenate.com email address.

The outlet further reports that acampaign commercialfor Oz was filmed that day and released two weeks later and features “at least two of the participants in the Philadelphia event, including Armstrong.”

Oz has been in a hotly contested Senate race in Pennsylvania sinceannouncing his candidacylast November andwinning the Republican primaryin June.

He’ll now take on Fetterman, the state’s lieutenant governor, in the November election — a race that could help turn the tides of the evenly split Senate.

Though he rose to national prominence as a cardiothoracic surgeon/television personality, in recent years, Oz has crusaded into far-right politics, dropping the veil of neutrality he stood behind for most of his career.

“Harvard-educated, tremendous, tremendous career and they liked him for a long time. That’s like a poll,” Trump told the crowd at a North Carolina rally,The Washington Postreports. “You know, when you’re in television for 18 years, that’s like a poll. That means people like you.”

source: people.com