The NAACP called out Phil McGraw, aka TV’s Dr. Phil, after he declared that America was “built on hard work” at Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden campaign rally on Sunday.
McGraw, who endorsed Trump at the rally after interviewing him under the guise of asking “hard questions” earlier this year, said it’s time to push back against “cancel culture” and intimidation tactics before tying it to launching his Merit Street Media company in April.
“We didn’t choose the name for that by random... this country was built on hard work, added value and talent. Not on equal outcome, not on DEI, this country was built on hard work,” the TV personality told the MSG crowd.
The civil rights organization, in a post on X, wasn’t having McGraw’s telling of America’s origins.
“This country was absolutely built on hard work Dr. Phil…on the backs of Black, Brown, and lmmigrants from all across this WORLD! Many of which who were forced to do so! SLAVERY,” the NAACP wrote.
“Let us know when you’re ready to tell the WHOLE story.”
Keith Boykin, a former Clinton White House aide, responded to McGraw by noting that America was built by “unpaid Black people who were exploited by rich white guys who took the credit.”
“Meanwhile, Trump inherited $400 million from his KKK daddy and Dr. Phil became famous because a Black woman gave him a platform,” said Boykin of McGraw’s rise to fame through TV appearances on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”
You can check out those reactions, and more, below.