Dr. Phil and David Letterman Have Powerful Conversation About Jason Collins, Acceptance, and Gay Rights: VIDEO
By Andy Towle
Dr. Phil and David Letterman discuss the coming out of Jason Collins, living the lie of the closet, public repercussion and the ridiculousness of anti-gay and religious activists.
Says Phil of those afraid of gay people: "I think they see it and say well, if this person is allowed to have this role then are they gonna be all around me in my life? And the answer is, yeah. Get used to it.
Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...
David Letterman recently let his anger over anti-gay discrimination rip with Rachel Maddow. He's really hitting it out of the park these days.
(via jmg)
Quite enlightening conversation, especially on a late night talk show. Bravo to Dave and Dr. Phil for carrying on the conversation!
Posted by: Jim Brown | May 1, 2013 11:44:00 AM
Dr. Phil hit the nail on the head..."there are still mouth-breathers out there" but kudos them both for this great conversation.
Posted by: David | May 1, 2013 12:00:15 PM
Ahhhhh !
I'm not "a homosexual"
I am homosexual.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Andy, this why I read your blog every day; you show the world changing before my eyes.
Posted by: JackFknTwist | May 1, 2013 12:05:31 PM
whoa whoa whoa. dr. phil used to be so homophobic! what's going on here? has he seen the light or is he still wresting gender-atypical toys out of the hands of tiny boys and girls?
http://lezgetreal.com/2011/02/dr-phil-should-stop-dispensing-thirty-year-old-discredited-advice-now/
Posted by: redball | May 1, 2013 12:19:45 PM
Good comments from both, but I especially liked Letterman offering to hold Dr. Phil's wallet for him while he.....himself. I'm not a fan.
Posted by: Dastius Krazitauc | May 1, 2013 12:31:01 PM
BTW, Dr. Phil is a tried and true Republican and heavily supports the GOP. Let's not give this guy too many kudos.
Posted by: Mike Ryan | May 1, 2013 12:57:48 PM
Clearly Dr. Phil has had a change of heart. I still don't love him, but he does influence a lot more people than reason would suggest. So, no complaints.
Posted by: Paul R | May 1, 2013 1:00:51 PM
Thanks Dave for being an ally.
Posted by: Chadd | May 1, 2013 1:10:40 PM
Dave, also, used to regularly indulge in jokes where "someone is gay" was the joke itself. I likewise thought Dr. Phil didn't exactly have a record on gay issues to be proud of.
They've apparently learned some things over time.
So congrats and thanks to both dudes. They are using their positions in the public eye to do some good.
Posted by: TV viewer | May 1, 2013 1:32:14 PM
Thanks to both for being allies!
Posted by: Tom | May 1, 2013 1:45:27 PM
Dr. Phil. Well, well, well. Eleven years on the air, and you've never ever, once had program on children/teens suffering anti-gay bigotry, abuse and rejection from their Southern Baptist (a la Dr. Phil), football loving (a la Dr. Phil) mainstream acting (Dr. Phil) parents.
You've had: hetero spouses who cheat with opposite sex partners, hetero children/teens who sleep with the opposite sex, hetero parents who abuse or neglect their hetero children, vice-versa, drugs, prostitution...you name it.
Oh, except for a child being rejected by his/her parents for their inborn sexual orientation. Yeah, that would just put a damper on ya'lls southern accent, and obvious love of football.
Well welcome to the Pleasure Dome - or, in your case - the bandwagon. Don't expect any respect from many of us.
Posted by: trg | May 1, 2013 2:21:57 PM
Oh, my bad, it was an NBA player that came out, not NFL.
Shows how much it really matters to me.
Posted by: trg | May 1, 2013 2:25:51 PM
Haven't encountered Dr Phil in various settings, he does more good than evil. It's hard for me to get over his years of Texass Bush worshipping. That being said, the exchange was very funny!
Posted by: Carter | May 1, 2013 2:34:02 PM
That was surprisingly inteligent mature conversation
Posted by: jaragon | May 1, 2013 5:31:30 PM
Totally not interested in what a quack like Dr Phil has to say about anything.
I wouldn't ask him whether it was raining.
Posted by: Randy | May 1, 2013 5:55:00 PM
Awesome! Very enlightened conversation. Haven't liked Dr. Phil at all but he did a great job in not just saying that homophobia is wrong, but why it is, and why being gay is OK. Important; hopefully he changed some minds. Probably not but it was a wonderful segment anyway.
Posted by: Francis #1 | May 1, 2013 6:20:13 PM
If I'm not mistaken, Dr. Phil did have an episode of his show where he focused it on bullying and spotlighted bullying of LGBT youth. He also had a whole episode dedicated to Prop 8 and had those for and against it to debate their positions. At one point someone on the pro side asked a woman in the audience who was against it, how gay marriage would affect her marriage and she was lost for words because she couldn't provide any reason. He may not have always been for gay rights or whatever but he has had the conversation going for some time.
That being said I still think the guy is a quack.
Posted by: Derrick | May 1, 2013 7:02:58 PM
He's not an ally. He's just another hetero who wants to say "how it is." Dr. Phil don't know so move along.
Posted by: Billy Crytical | May 1, 2013 8:07:31 PM
Forgive me, but though it may feel too little too late, we absolutely need the masses jumping on our bandwagon, plain and simple.
Posted by: Jack | May 1, 2013 9:19:21 PM
Dr. Phil used to be a mouth-breather, no?
Posted by: BobN | May 2, 2013 8:56:40 AM
dr. phil, always late to the party.
Posted by: steve | May 2, 2013 10:07:12 AM
"Dr." Phil never has anything of value to say to anyone. He's really "Mr. Platitudes". At least in this case the platitudes are working for gay rights. Otherwise, arrrgh.
Posted by: anon | May 2, 2013 11:11:43 AM