*By Chloe Aiello*
Television psychologist Phil McGraw, better known as Dr. Phil, praised his "best friend" and colleague in entertainment Oprah Winfrey in an almost-endorsement for a presidential run on Wednesday when he joined Cheddar to discuss his new podcast, "Phil in the Blanks."
"People know Oprah from the entertainment world, but this is a very well-educated, very well-read, very wise woman who has a very astute understanding of the geopolitical situation in the world," McGraw told Cheddar. "She has a very astute understanding of economics and the socio-political environment in America. She has a wealth of knowledge that I think surpasses a lot of people that have run for, or that have held that office."
Almost a year exactly has elapsed since the 2018 Golden Globes ceremony, when Winfrey became the first black woman to accept the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement. [Her viral acceptance speech](https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/08/entertainment/oprah-globes-speech-transcript/index.html) touched on freedom of the press, civil rights, and the #MeToo movement, and caused fans to wonder if she would consider a 2020 bid for president. Winfrey has since taken almost every opportunity to slap down rumors she will run.
McGraw did little to encourage holdouts hoping for Oprah 2020.
"You never say never, and you'd have to ask her where she stands on it today. But I am in pretty constant contact with her and I don't really think she has a plan to \[run\] right now," he said.
It's been roughly 20 years since McGraw's friendship with Oprah catapulted him to television fame. Since his daytime talk show, "Dr. Phil," debuted in 2002, McGraw has counseled, consoled, and scolded countless troubled guests. He wants to try something different with his new podcast, "Phil in the Blanks."
Unlike the show that made him famous, McGraw won't be using the podcast to solve problems. He said he'll be using it to have quality conversations with interesting people.
"When I'm on the air, I always have a task at hand: I've got a problem in front of me, I've got a family, I've got a couple, I've got an individual that's in crisis, and so I always have to be on-task," he said. "What I wanted to do with the podcast is not have a problem to solve, just have interesting people to talk to."
Compared to TV, McGraw said he appreciates the liberating aspects of podcasting ー the freedom of content, time, and form. "It's really a much more free-flowing kind of thing," he added.
McGraw said the roster will include some celebrities, but he'll try to hit them with questions they don't typically get.
"My first episode, which dropped yesterday, was Shaquille O'Neal," McGraw said. "And everybody knows he is one of the most iconic basketball players ever ーhe's been asked about that a million times. I don't want to talk about basketball, I want to talk about him."
Elaine Low, Senior Entertainment Business Reporter at Insider
joins Cheddar News to discuss the Animation Guild's upcoming contract negotiations, hoping to close pay gap with live-action counterparts.
The Supreme Court will be hearing arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health on Wednesday over a Mississippi law banning abortions after 15 weeks. Jimmy Hoover, the Supreme Court editor-at-large for Law360, joined Cheddar to break down the momentous legal fight. "This is the biggest abortion case at the Supreme Court in 30 years," he said. "It is a … a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade."
In recent years, extreme weather events like flooding and wildfires have become more frequent, and more severe - and scientists say global warming is to blame. Climate crises could leave people in need of help, and that's where Global Rescue steps in. The crisis response firm employs former Navy Seals and Army Rangers to rescue travelers from climate-related emergencies. Global Rescue CEO Dan Richards joins Cheddar Climate to discuss.
Cloud-based AI-powered writing assistant Grammarly recently raised $200 million in a funding round that values the company at $13 billion. The funding will be used to help Grammarly achieve its goal of becoming more ubiquitous, as the company says it wants to be the go-to writing assistant for wherever people type. Grammarly also says it aims to solve what it calls one of the most critical problems facing people and businesses today -- ineffective communication. Grammarly global head of product Rahul Roy-Chowdhury joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Jennifer Lotito, president and COO at the non-profit (RED), joined Cheddar to discuss the CODE (RED) campaign as the organization looks to expand its mission to support both AIDS and COVID-19 relief. She explained that people can get involved in the campaign for Giving Tuesday and ahead of World AIDS Day by shopping (RED) branded products and even using credit card rewards points to add their own support. Lotito also pointed out that COVID-19 has also impacted HIV testing as people avoid clinics out of fear of the other pandemic.
The Movember Foundation is celebrating the end of Movember, the annual fundraising event that involves the growing of moustaches as a way to draw attention to men's health issues, including suicide prevention and prostate cancer. Mark Hedstrom, the U.S. executive director for the Movember Foundation, joined Cheddar to discuss the organization's goals and the fundraising partnerships it's secured. He also talked about normalizing conversations around men's mental health.
On this episode of Cheddar Reveals, Dr. Dorothy Kim, Assistant Professor of Medieval Literature at Brandeis University, discusses the roots that modern-day white supremacy has in Viking history, despite its many factual inaccuracies; Vikings are often misunderstood and while their brutality is what's shown in popular culture, there are many misconceptions about who they really were. Philip Parker, Historian and author of 'The Northmen's Fury', helps break down the true Viking history.; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'Viking Women.'
Dr. Dorothy Kim, Assistant Professor of Medieval Literature at Brandeis University, joins Cheddar Reveals to discuss the roots that modern-day white supremacy has in Viking history, despite its many factual inaccuracies.
