"The news that a talk show has hired a new host doesn't typically cause a commotion," writes Liz Szabo at USA Today, "but the newest host of ABC's The View, Jenny McCarthy, isn't just any actress. In recent years, McCarthy has become as well-known for her claims that vaccines cause autism as for her roles as a late-night host on VH1 and a 1993 Playboy model."
Last October, I posted on the decision by the Chicago Sun-Times to hire McCarthy as a columnist, questioning the hiring of McCarthy, who has said that "she got her 'degree' in autism from 'the University of Google.'"
Four days later, the Sun-Times sent me this in an email:
"Jenny McCarthy has signed on to share her special brand of humor with fans through her Splash column and daily blog. As our readers know, Jenny’s contributions are lifestyle focused and light-hearted. The vision for the column is not medical advice, therefore medical topics, like vaccination, are not within the scope of the column and will not be addressed.”
McCarthy is famous, she's attractive, the aura of celebrity clings to her like many of the clothes she wears, and she seems more suited to daytime television than to a Pulitzer-Prize-winning newspaper. She has also used that celebrity, as Szabo and many others have pointed out, to advocate the thoroughly discredited view that vaccines cause autism. And she's done so in the most high-profile circumstances, including during an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
The question now is: Will The View and ABC require her, as the Sun-Times did, to take the no-discussion-of-vaccines pledge?
It should. And it should do so immediately.
-Paul Raeburn
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