Oprah is about to fire Dr. Phil over Britney debacle

Dr. Phil and the powerful mogul who made his career, Oprah, haven't been the best of friends recently. Oprah was reportedly mighty pissed when Dr. Phil was successfully sued for his sham diet products and is said to have snubbed him by failing to attend his son Jay's wedding in 2006. The Britney Scandal is the last straw for Oprah, the National Enquirer declares, and she's set to give him the boot any day now. Oprah runs the production company that puts out Dr. Phil's show and she calls all the shots. She thinks Dr. Phil exploited Britney and she's steamed that instead of apologizing for his obvious blunder that violated ethics he continued to milk the ineffective intervention to get publicity for his tabloid-esque show:

'Phil has been warned by Oprah about many past mistakes. This was coming for a long time,' revealed a show source.

'They've waged a bitter feud for several years, but as head of Harpo, which produces his show, she can tell him to jump - and how high…

But the Britney scandal is much, much worse,' said the source.

Oprah will formally deliver Dr. Phil's pink slip in a face-to-face meeting, sources say.

Some colleagues even question whether Dr. Phil violated professional patient confidentiality standards when he announced to the world: 'My meeting with Britney leaves me convinced more than ever that she is in dire need of both medical and psychological intervention.'

The TV therapist decided to go public for a second time - but not to apologize for violating confidentiality. He simply announced he was scrapping plans for a Britney-themed show.

'Oprah was livid,' said the close source. 'He should have thrown himself on his sword and said he should have never spoken to the media in the first place. But instead he used the spotlight to tout his struggling show.'

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, January 28, 2007]

Dr. Phil signed a $75 million five-year contract in 2005 worth $15 million a year so he stands to lose a lot if Oprah cans his ass. There's news today that he finally made a half-assed statement on his show about how he didn't help Britney, but he never said that he did anything unethical by talking about her to the press. He just said that he regrets talking about it, and he could regret because it may cost him his show:

'Was it helpful to the situation? Regrettably, no,' McGraw, 57, said Thursday during a taping of the Dr. Phil Show, reports USA Today. (The show is slated to air Monday.) 'I definitely think if I had it to do over again, I probably wouldn't make any statement at all. Period.'

[From People.com]

People notes that Dr. Phil says he would do it again and that he visited Britney as a 'friend… of the family' because he's not even licensed to practice psychology in California. A psychologist in California has lodged a complaint with the California Board of Psychology saying that Dr. Phil was practicing without a license by visiting Britney in the hospital. Dr. Phil's Texas license expired in 2006 and has not been renewed. He's also said to be having trouble booking celebrity guests because no one wants to be associated with him now. If Oprah doesn't get rid of him for mishandling the Britney case maybe his ratings will tank enough to make it necessary anyway.