News / Education
The Soup Takes On Dr. Drew
The death of an heiress has Dr. Drew calling out our culture for its craving for celebs out of control as he launches a new season of his celeb rehab show.
Joel McHale and The Soup poked a little fun at addiction specialist Dr. Drew Pinsky recently when the good doctor went on Today to discuss the tragic death of 30-year-old Johnson & Johnson heiress Casey Johnson.
“Celebrities tend to have a lot more mental health liabilities than the average population,” Pinsky explained to host Meredith Viera, asking, “When are we going to have had enough of this as consumers and viewers of media? We really chew this stuff up, and we’ve got to begin to think of the fact that these are really serious medical and psychiatric problems that are taking peoples lives in the media routinely now, and we’ve got to stand up and sort of recognize what this is.”
Dr. Drew’s comments made sense and raised an important issue: Celebrities battling medical or psychiatric issues is serious business and shouldn’t be entertainment for the masses. The problem arose when Viera ended the segment by plugging the premiere of the new season of VH1’s Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.
“He is concerned for the sad state of the general public and its insatiable, shameful craving for celebrities out of control,” The Soup reported, jokingly urging, “Listen to the wise doctor. Really, people, we've got to get a hold of ourselves. We've got to focus on important issues, and move on from the shallow, empty, predatory entertainment of tracking stars as they abuse themselves. Unless that stuff is the basis of a Dr. Drew show.”
Of course, Pinsky would probably argue that his show focuses on helping those celebs, not exploiting their addictions. Still, the whole thing – from the Today segment to The Soup to Dr. Drew’s new season -- which opens with explicit shots of many of the celebs using drugs or alcohol before reporting for treatment -- made for some strange television.
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