Jenny McCarthy on 'The View'

srslybritt

Normally, I'm not one to bash a TV show for their choice of host/cast, but really, who wants to give this woman an audience?

I used to enjoy watching this show every now and again, as they very often throw around topics (respectfully) that it's nice to have a bit of perspective on, but I don't think I can watch this woman spew her vitriol. I'm okay with some of her views, but directly advising parents not to get their children immunized for serious diseases is downright dangerous.

Thoughts on the matter?

bennysammysofie

I didn't watch her on there but I know she's pretty radical. Her kid is autistic I think and attributes it to the shots they got? Not sure but I think the jist. My wife and I don't do the normal schedule of shots. Too much crap going in your baby at once isnt good. We spread them out and do just one at a time.

k8blujay2

People still watch that show? The handful of times I watched that show... back when it first started, I could have sworn some brain cells died... A bunch of bitter old bitties that instead of drooling over actors and believing their opinions mean anything should go read a book instead.

toaster6

I think she's an awful person but then, I don't watch The View.

TyTy76

I only watched her on MTV's Singled Out.

I have no opinion here..


She's hot though..

mooookie

She was funny on 2 and 1/2 men.. and the scary movies. Who would listen to her anyway about a medical issue.

escloflowneCHANGED

She's better than the crazy survivor girl that went to Republican crazy news!

HotAshMess

I'm not thrilled about it. I don't agree with her anti-vac stance because I know too many kids who could have died because they were not able to be vaccinated and needed to rely on the "boosted" immune systems of those that surround them. I'm ok with her thinking what she wants to think about autism and diet, ect...she is just a parent who is trying to find a reason, I guess. I do, however, take issue with her claiming to have "healed" her child from it....that just gives other people who are desperate for help false hope.

That and....Jenny McCarthy. Jenny Mccarthy of the smarmy dating games on MTV. Jenny McCarthy of "Dirty Love"....a movie that I love for it's pure raunchiness. I respect her for trying to take her career to a serious place. That I can understand and respect. But...watching her and listening to her talk...I just can't imagine how this is going to be right.

srslybritt

My point was more that I think it's dangerous to give her a soap box... I understand adjusting immunization schedules/picking certain ones you don't want administered. But her "blaming" her child's autism on vaccines is silly, and her preaching it to the world is dangerous. Next thing you know, polio and smallpox are back in style.

Jennloella

I don't really watch TV except for 2 or 3 evening tv shows, but I love Jenny McCarthy!!! I try not to make celebrities stuff about ME and enjoy them for the entertainment value, and she is really funny.

IpuffyheartHeelsinthegym

I'm at work when its on, so I only catch it on sick days or holidays. I wouldn't mind watching her on it, though. I like her. I also like that she thinks for herself, even if it isn't what the majority likes. At least she's not a robot and actively does research.

ninerbuff

People need to be objective and not subjective. Giving voice to what people believe is good. Some may learn something. I totally disagree with her and think that encouraging others to blame vaccines as the cause to many ailments for children, but I wouldn't stop her from pursuing it. I'd just refute it with better evidence and pass that information onto the public.

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InForBacon

I only watched her on MTV's Singled Out.

I have no opinion here..


She's hot though..

First thing I think of when I hear her name!

dawningr

I know there's a lot of people that have the same view on immunizations.
I'd do my own research and not listen to what one person has to say.
That show is horrid, they all talk over each other and their guests.

Jennloella

oh and she already has a sopabox, she had her own talk show for a while, had a radio show, has numerous books, and a couple websites. She's not the only person in the world that believes immunizations lead to autism and she won't be the last, we can't censor them all. Besides if you plan your childs medical care based on a daytime talk show, you have bigger problems.

Sedna_51

As (a) someone with a compromised immune system and (b) someone who works in healthcare, I'd like to see Jenny McCarthy sit at the beside of a sick infant who's struggling to breathe from whooping cough and explain to that baby's parents why her crackpot theories are more important than their child not having pneumonia. And then I would like to see her shoved into the nearest volcano.

KatLifter

I'm concerned with her work against vaccination. Here is an article I read yesterday on it,

If you were relieved by the news that Elisabeth Hasselbeck, one of the two more conservative members, along with Sherri Shepherd, of the crew of women who host the daytime talk show The View, was departing for a friendlier perch at Fox and Friends, you might want to reconsider that given the news of her replacement. Jenny McCarthy, whose main role in public life is as a prominent advocate for the discredited idea that there’s a link between autism and vaccines, will be joining The View on September 9.

It’s easy to dismiss the idea that McCarthy’s work on autism and vaccines has an impact–celebrity activism often gets accorded outsized importance or treated with utter contempt, when it’s a much more complicated phenomenon. But a University of Michigan survey of parents found that 24 percent of them were willing to place some trust in figures like McCarthy on the question of the link between vaccines and autism, which is a much higher level of credibility than the average person’s going to be able to elicit from the general public.

And even a small number of parents who decide not to vaccinate on the word of someone like McCarthy, or Andrew Wakefield, the doctor who wrote the initial paper linking autism and vaccines, and has since been banned from practicing medicine in the UK, can have significant public health impacts. California saw a spike in whooping cough in 2010 that resulted in a number of deaths. Wakefield’s work contributed to a rise in measles cases in the United Kingdom. And fears of vaccines in general have lead to suspicion of the HPV vaccine, which is a critical way to help girls reduce their risk of certain kinds of cancers.
If perpetuating myths about vaccines that save children’s lives is enough to get you banned from medical practice in the United States, you’d think it might be a disqualifying factor when considering someone for a job that involves communicating information to the public. That doesn’t seem to be the case, however. Dr. Mehmet Oz, one of Oprah Winfrey’s proteges, has repeatedly bumped up against pseudoscience, suggesting that apple juice had dangerous levels of arsenic in tests that were called into question, shilling for Real Age, a web site that solicits information from patients it gives to pharmaceutical researchers, and giving a platform to NARTH, the organization that advocates that therapy can change sexual orientation.

Oz’s justification for the segment involving NARTH, which will probably be used again to justify McCarthy’s appointment, was that he was including all perspectives in a discussion. But while it’s possible to debate many sides of many issues, one of the benefits of medicine is that there’s actual evidence that some ideas and right and others are wrong. McCarthy’s are wrong, and continuing to defend them with that other standby of people who like to advance conspiracy theories without evidence, that she’s just raising questions, doesn’t make her decision to stick to her discredited ideas any more admirable. And it doesn’t give The View cover, either. This is not a vital debate in American society in which McCarthy’s position has been historically underrepresented, or a polarity along which it’s important to have multiple perspectives in order to make for a lively conversation. It’s a hoax, on par with McCarthy’s original belief, before her son’s autism diagnosis, that her son was an “indigo child,” a New Age theory that tries to comfort parents of children with autism and learning disabilities by convincing them that their children actually represent a new stage in human evolution.

I absolutely understand that parents who are raising children with autism, given that the range of disorders included on the spectrum, want to explore every possible potential cause and treatment for their children’s conditions. But the best way news organizations can fulfill their obligation to inform the public, and to show respect for their consumers is to pick through evidence, be discerning in which ideas and which advocates they give airtime to. Maybe Jenny McCarthy has a range of other opinions that ABC, which airs The View, thinks will be valuable to its audience. But the company is a news organization in addition to an entertainment company. And ABC should consider the damage McCarthy’s done to the public interest against whatever else she might have to offer.

http://thinkprogress.org/alyssa/2013/07/15/2302631/jenny-mccarthy-to-bring-her-anti-vaccine-activism-to-the-view-as-new-co-host/

firstsip

It's been pretty established that her son doesn't have autism.

Putcake

I think the most troubling thing I've heard her say is that her son is now "cured" of autism. I understand symptoms can be managed, but I think someone of vast means and access to the best medical care is very foolish to give hope to other parents who are struggling just to pay for health insurance for their kids.

I can't watch that show or any others like it - I think it makes women just look catty and that they can't get along with each other. It's why I like working with guys.

TyTy76

I only watched her on MTV's Singled Out.

I have no opinion here..


She's hot though..

First thing I think of when I hear her name!

The biggest problem here is why don't they bring back Singled Out?

zyxst

As (a) someone with a compromised immune system and (b) someone who works in healthcare, I'd like to see Jenny McCarthy sit at the beside of a sick infant who's struggling to breathe from whooping cough and explain to that baby's parents why her crackpot theories are more important than their child not having pneumonia. And then I would like to see her shoved into the nearest volcano.

trogalicious

I only watched her on MTV's Singled Out.

I have no opinion here..


She's hot though..

Baseketball. Game over.

srslybritt

I only watched her on MTV's Singled Out.

I have no opinion here..


She's hot though..

Baseketball. Game over.

I forgot about this entirely. So funny.

She IS funny--kind of like a middle schooler--I will give her that, but yeesh, some of her insane ideas. Yikes.

glin23

It's been pretty established that her son doesn't have autism.

I'm asking this quite honestly. Is that true?

delaniecastillo

As (a) someone with a compromised immune system and (b) someone who works in healthcare, I'd like to see Jenny McCarthy sit at the beside of a sick infant who's struggling to breathe from whooping cough and explain to that baby's parents why her crackpot theories are more important than their child not having pneumonia. And then I would like to see her shoved into the nearest volcano.

I came to say something like this but you did it just perfect.

sillygoosie

Who cares? I don't tend to get my medical (or any other) advice from tv personalities. She's kind of funny. I'm guessing that's why she got the job.

EddieHaskell97

She's funny, and I've read her books. However, she's neither a doctor, nor a scientist. I wish she'd STFU about vaccines causing autism.

*Disclaimer, I work for one of the "Big Four" US hospital systems, but my bosses who save lives on a daily basis have demonstrated conclusively that Jenny's wrong.

Sedna_51

It's been pretty established that her son doesn't have autism.

I'm asking this quite honestly. Is that true?

It's hard to tell (particularly since medical records aren't public) but public accounts of her son's illness seem to indicate that he may have a rare seizure disorder (Landau-Kleffner syndrome) which is apparently often misdiagnosed as autism. His illness started with seizures and improved once the seizures were treated, which indicates this rare disorder was likely the cause.

aakaakaak

She claims to have cured her son's autism:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2bhQ3SYJhg

It'd be nice if public figures were held accountable for the unsubstantiated claims they declare as fact. But we can't even get supposed news outlets to state the truth, as they're considered "news entertainment".

rml_16

they very often throw around topics (respectfully)

What do you find respectful about most of their discussions?

I despise that show.

rml_16

My point was more that I think it's dangerous to give her a soap box... I understand adjusting immunization schedules/picking certain ones you don't want administered. But her "blaming" her child's autism on vaccines is silly, and her preaching it to the world is dangerous. Next thing you know, polio and smallpox are back in style.

OK. I think you've missed a lot. Jenny McCarthy believes the vaccine crap because some dippy doctor in England published a false study that "proved" vaccinations caused autism. A LOT of people believed this way before Jenny was even thinking about getting pregnant.

The doc has come out and admitted his study was false, but people still believe it, even people who never heard of JM. Don't blame her for being one more sheep.