Dr. Sandra Lee, aka Dr. Pimple Popper, has responded to Joy Behar after the comedian made her the punchline in a quip about Dr. Mehmet Oz on Wednesday’s (November 20) edition of The View.
The comment was made during a Hot Topics discussion about president-elect Donald Trump nominating TV medic Dr. Oz to oversee the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
“Dr. Oz is a very well-known heart surgeon. This is an administrative position, but because he’s on television, Trump picks people who are on TV,” Behar said during the debate. “They might as well pick Dr. Pimple Popper. I mean, the guy is qualified to do heart surgery, not necessarily run Medicare.”
Dr. Lee, who has hosted TLC’s Dr. Pimple Popper since 2018, responded to Behar’s remarks in a statement to Entertainment Weekly, saying, “Thank you for the shout-out, Joy! We love The View! As a board-certified dermatologist in practice for over 2 decades, I think I could probably lend a valuable voice to any discussion about our healthcare system.”
She added, “In the meantime, I’ll ask our 30 million followers what they think.”
Dr. Lee is a board-certified dermatologist who, according to her website, is a member of the American Academy of Dermatology, the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery, the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery, and the American Society for MOHS Surgery. She completed her undergraduate degree at UCLA before attending medical school at the Hahnemann University School of Medicine and taking her dermatology residency at Southern Illinois University.
Dr. Oz is one of several controversial cabinet picks Trump has made since winning the 2024 presidential election. His other choices include Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the leader of the Department of Health and Human Services, Matt Gaetz for Attorney General, Fox News host Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense, and former WWE CEO Linda McMahon for Education Secretary.
Behar and her fellow View co-hosts — Whoopi Goldberg, Sunny Hostin, Sara Haines, Alyssa Farah Griffin, and Ana Navarro — have gotten into some heated debates discussing Trump over the past couple of weeks.
After a particularly tense discussion on Wednesday’s show, Goldberg said, “There is something in the air.”
Behar interjected, saying, “You know what’s in the air, Whoopi? Trumpism. We lost the election… We lost the election; we’re miserable. Half of this country is miserable.”
While her co-hosts laughed at her rant, Behar continued, stating, “Let’s just tell the truth. We hate that he won! We hate it! And everybody is uptight and crazy right now.”
The View, weekdays, 11 a.m. ET, ABC
