It seems like anyone can be in charge of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now. Just ask Noah Wyle.
Wyle is no stranger to playing medical professionals on television, rising to fame on ER and now starring in HBO Max’s acclaimed drama The Pitt. The 54-year-old drew on his decades of pseudo-medical experience to deliver a public service announcement on Jimmy Kimmel Live, mocking President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
In a pre-recorded PSA for America, which Kimmel played for his audience during his interview with Wyle, the actor took on the task of delivering fresh medical advice while also admitting that he is “not a real doctor.”
“The measles vaccine will turn your son into a furry—a pansexual furry,” Wylie says at the top of the skit.
“Hi, I’m Noah Wyle, I played Dr. Michael Robbie Robinavitch on The Pitt. I also played Dr. John Carter on ER. but I am not a real doctor, just like most of you are not real doctors,” Wyle begins.
“I was cast because I have a trustworthy face and can convincingly deliver complicated medical lines like: ‘I’m sorry, Mr. Horvath, I’m afraid that you have advanced sphenopalatine ganglion neuralgia,’” Wyle says, delivering the diagnosis to a patient. “I have no idea what I just said, but that doesn’t matter because when it comes to medicine, I do my own research and I go with my gut.”
He then proceeded to push a series of bizarre health conspiracies after drinking a raw milk—and chicken—smoothie.
“I know that 5G towers give you COVID, and that Vitamin C isn’t real—it was created by Tropicana to sell juice,” he said. “The flu vaccine will take four inches off your penis or vagina. And if you take probiotics and antibiotics at the same time, you will achieve the perfect level of biotics.”
At the end of the PSA, after such theories were confidently voiced, Wyle receives a phone call. “Yes, I would be honored to head up the Centers for Disease Control,” he says, to laughs and cheers from the late-night audience. “Thank you, Mr. President!”
The Emmy-winning star closed off the sketch by saying, “Astrology is the only true science!”
The man actually in charge of American healthcare, RFK Jr, is known for his bizarre medical advice, outlandish claims, and conspiracy theories on the use of vaccines. The American Public Health Association has called him “a danger”.
On the same day as Wyle’s Kimmel skit aired, RFK Jr. had characteristically strange things to say on Katie Miller’s podcast.
Kennedy told Miller, wife of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, that President Trump has the “highest testosterone level that he’s ever seen for an individual over 70 years old.”
At the same time, the health secretary expressed mock amazement that Trump has survived, given his “really bad” eating habits. “I don’t know how he’s alive, but he is,” Kennedy said.
Wyle just took home his first Golden Globe, winning Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series (Drama) for his role in The Pitt, which follows the struggles of staff at a fictional emergency trauma center in Pittsburgh.
In his speech at the 83rd annual awards ceremony, the actor thanked “all the healthcare workers in the world.”
