HARRISBURG — Mehmet Oz, the celebrity cardiologist who recently ended his daytime TV “Dr. Oz Show” to run for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, will be honored Friday with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame — just as he is being attacked 2,000 miles away in a rival’s TV ad saying he’s too “Hollywood.”
The award underscores how successful Oz was before he gave up his TV show to run for public office.
That same career, however, is being used against him by rivals who are picking apart his TV shows and past as a self-styled wellness advocate to fuel doubt about his conservative credentials as a Republican.
The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce lauds Oz as having won 10 Daytime Emmy Awards. The show launched in 2009, after Oz rocketed to fame as a regular guest on Oprah Winfrey’s show. It aired its last episode Jan. 14, barely seven weeks after Oz announced his candidacy.
The chamber retains a $50,000 sponsorship fee for celebrities who are nominated and selected for a star, though that price is subject to change. The Walk of Fame website says the money is used to create and install the star, as well as maintain the Walk of Fame.
Oz, a longtime resident of Cliffside Park, N.J., says he recently moved to Pennsylvania to run in one of the nation’s premier U.S. Senate contests.
As rivals try to raise doubts about his true political leanings, they are pointing to his show’s episode on “red flag laws” opposed by gun-rights advocates and his advocacy of former President Barack Obama’s health care law, Obamacare.
A TV ad being aired statewide by a Republican primary rival’s super PAC warns “Oz might be right for Hollywood, but he’s wrong for Pennsylvania.” Another calls him a “Hollywood liberal.”
A message was left with Oz’s campaign seeking comment.
