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Dr. Drew
A Professor Apologizes For Her Racist Tweets; The Racially Charged Tweets About White People Posted By A Boston University Professor Calls For Her Termination; An African-American Studies Professor And Her Controversial Tweets About White People; A Woman On A Plane Is Ordered To Turn Off Her Cell Phone, Just As She Receives A Text From Her Husband In Which He Is Threatening To Kill Himself
Aired May 14, 2015 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DR. DREW PINSKY, HLN HOST: A desperate wife tonight was about to take off on a flight. She just wanted to speak to her husband. It turned out
he was expressing suicidal ideation. The airline forces her turn off her phone.
So, the question is, do they have any blame to bear for his death. And, what was the wife doing away from her husband anyway. As well, a
professor apologizes for her racist tweets. We will get into it, and it all starts right now.
(MUSIC INTRUCTION)
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
PINSKY: We will start of course with what we call the "Top of the Feed." We got more tonight of the racially charged tweets about white
people posted by a Boston University professor. Tonight, some, not myself guys, but some are calling for her to be fired. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANESSA BARNETT, SOCIAL COMMENTATOR: She is an African-American studies professor. I do not find her comments that surprising.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN AUDIO RE-ENACTMENT)
SAIDA GRUNDY, BOSTON UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR (audio re-enactment): Why is white American so reluctant to identify white college males as a problem
population?
(END AUDIO RE-ENACTMENT)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE CATHERWOOD, DR. DREW`S CO-HOST ON "LOVE LINE": Her choice of wording is beyond offensive and nonsensical.
PINSKY: All right. All right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN AUDIO RE-ENACTMENT:
GRUNDY: Every MLK week, I commit myself to not spending a dime in white owned business and every year I find it nearly impossible.
(END AUDIO RE-ENACTMENT)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARNETT: She is bringing a point up that it is difficult to not be able to buy from non-black-owned institutions. I do not think that is a
problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY ELDER, RADIO COMMENTATOR: If she were a resident in a dorm, she would be accused of offending people by using hate speech. She should be
fired.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANETTE: No one should be fired. That is my whole point. I think we are too quick to silence people when they have a valid point of view and we
need to hear what it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN AUDIO RE-ENACTMENT)
GRUNDY (audio re-enactment): "Dear white people, you are all Ben Affleck. Those euphemisms for your ancestors like `farmers` and `pioneers`
means owned humans and killed natives."
(END AUDIO RE-ENACTMENT)
PINSKY: Joining us, Judo Ho, Clinical Psychologist, Professor at Pepperdine University; Michael Catherwood, my co-host on "Love Line" and
"Midday" in KABC here in Los Angeles; also Anahita Sedaghatfar, attorney of counsel to the Cochran Firm. I also have Crystal Wright, Political
Commentator from Conservative blackchick.com. Crystal, what is your opinion on these tweets? As if I did not know.
(LAUGHING)
CRYSTAL WRIGHT, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I do not know what you mean by that, Dr. Drew. But, I think, is not it interesting that one of
your guests said on a previous show that it was, "OK, for Professor Grundy to be a racist because she was a professor of African-American Affairs.
Well, here is the thing. I think she is a racist Looney Tunes. She is using her racist, "Oh, I am a black woman to actually hurl bigotry at,
you know, out in Twitter." And, the problem I have with this is she should be fired, because as a professor, she has to be an equal opportunity
professor.
She has to teach white males, who she seems to low then thinks are a problem population. So, I do not know how you get away from that bigotry.
She was really just an unhinged racist. And, if she was a white male professor, Dr. Drew, you would say, "Oh, she has to go."
Paula Deen had to go, and Paula Deen was not shaping young minds. And, finally, what I will say is, you know how much it cost to go to Boston
University now?
PINSKY: Yes?
WRIGHT: It costs roughly $50,000 tuition. Room and board is like $62,000.
PINSKY: Yes, $62,000.
WRIGHT: If I had a kid, I would be yanking him or her out of there regardless of race. An African-American studies is a joke. It is nothing
but an affirmative action program for black professors. It is a useless degree, along with gender studies that really teaches racism.
JUDY HO, PH.D., CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Wait a minute.
PINSKY: All right, who wants to respond?
HO: Wow.
PINSKY: Judy? Go ahead.
HO: Yes. I do not agree with the fact that African studies is not a valid degrees. But, I do agree with the fact that when you are a
professor, you do have to hold yourself up to different standards.
Problem here is she is a new professor. She just started the University, already she has all this bad press, and she is not holding
herself to be an example for the students that she is teaching.
And I am actually very concerned that Boston University has not actually tried to intervene other than just stated that they are
disappointed in her behavior. They should have actually done this as part of her background screen to look at her social present.
PINSKY: I am sure they did. Joining us, I also have Larry Elder, radio commentator, also available to you at larryelder.com. Larry, I am
sure your feeling I very similar to how crystal is feeling.
But let us just talk about the raising of polemic. What is wrong with somebody saying something inflammatory on Twitter even if you are a college
professor.
She said something like, "Hey, we have euphemisms for white settlers. In fact they own people and they kill" -- well, n, it is a polemic and it
is a reasonable polemic, is not it? College professor suppose to hurl that kind of that thing at their students.
LARRY ELDER, RADIO COMMENTATOR: It is racist. What she said was demeaning. It was racist. There is no question about it. If she were a
white professor -- she will be fired. She will be Donald Sterling. Donald Sterling lost his team.
He had a privately owned team. NBA is a privately owned organization. He was forced to sell his team because of a racist comment that he made.
This woman sent out several tweets. B.U. is a private university, just like the NBA is privately owned.
B.U. could fire her. They do not want to fire her, because they think this is acceptable. This is a commentary on the degree to which racism is
accepted on the college campus. Black leader should be saying something. Where is Jessie Jackson? Where is Al Sharpton? Where is Obama? Where is
Loretta Lynn?
PINSKY: Anahita, is there any legal liability in all this? No, right?
ANAHITA SEDAGHATFAR, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, there is no legal liability. I frankly think that they are offensive. I think those tweets
are racist, and it is not about censorship, OK? Because she has a first amendment right, but she is a professor as Judy said. And, I agree there
is a responsibility that comes with that.
And, she is doing this so publicly, if these were her own private beliefs, that is one thing. But, she is tweeting this for the world to
see. So, if B.U. decides that they do not want to standby this, they do not agree with her philosophies, they are well within their legal rights to
terminate.
PINSKY: Mike, you have a comment?
MIKE CATHERWOOD, DR. DREW`S CO-HOST ON "LOVE LINE": I just find it -- look, she does have the right to free speech. And I encourage her as a
college professor --
PINSKY: You a Mexican-American?
CATHERWOOD: I am a Mexican-American.
PINSKY: What if -- Do you take any offense any of this even as a Hispanic individual?
CATHERWOOD: Yes, I do.
PINSKY: Yes.
CATHERWOOD: Yes. I frankly do. Because behind it all -- first of, all white males, you are Ben Affleck. Can all of us have sex with Jennifer
Garner? That is the question? No, no.
(LAUGHING)
PINSKY: I got show you a quote from this professor. We invited her on the show and here is what she told us, quote, "I respectfully decline
participation in this program, but appreciate in advance any attempts you are making to have an engaged and a critical conversation about these
issues." And I think that is good.
CATHERWOOD: That is the problem. I am sorry, Anahita. But that is the problem is that this is not thought-provoking. None of these questions
--
WRIGHT: Right. Thank you.
CATHERWOOD: -- none of these tweets are all thought provoking. It is intellectual bait. It is tawdry. It is kind of cheap and lazy.
PINSKY: It is baiting. It is baiting. It is lazy, I will grant you that, but it is making us talk. Next, would you take her class if you are
at B.U.? Or would you, if you were a parent, would that kid out? Back with answers after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREK)
PINSKY: We are talking about an African-American studies professor and her controversial tweets about white people. Back with Judy, Mike,
Anahita, Crystal Wright. Back with us, Larry Elder.
And, Boston University is not happy, but they are defending her right to free speech. And, Crystal, before we went out to commercial break, I
said, "Well, at least she is getting us to talk and think about this in interesting creative ways." Then I thought, "Well, we are not really even
talking about her. We are talking her and racism."
But, let me throw one of her tweets up there that thought was thought- provoking in a certain weird sense. You may not think it was smart. You may not think it was particularly sophisticated. But she said, "Why is
white America so reluctant to identify white college males as a problem population."
I think that was in response to a lot of the way the media spoke about the young black males as it pertains to the inner city and the violence we
were seeing. And, I thought to myself, well, every time I have a college problem, whether there is alcohol or accidents or sexual misbehavior or
unwanted sexual contact, it does seem to be white male hang out these places.
There are three Greek letters and so. It seems to be -- she is on to something there. You know, we do not think about it that way, but OK, she
made me think about it. What is wrong with that, Crystal?
WRIGHT: Is not that interesting that you say that because she tweeted that after the University of Oklahoma Fraternity brothers used the "N" and
have that chant. You remember that Dr. Drew.
PINSKY: I remember that. That was --
WRIGHT: And, is not it interesting that --
PINSKY: That was not cool.
WRIGHT: -- Well, I think it is interesting that you associated that with white males. You know, the fraternity parties getting drunk. But,
what do you associate with black males. I mean, you did not say that when we are talking about the looting in Baltimore.
But, back to the professor, OK? -- and crime. I think what you can say about that tweet, is that if a white professor had tweeted that and
backed it up with statistics that show young black men are disproportionately more vulnerable to getting involved in crime than white
men.
If he was a professor at Boston University, the president would not say that he was contributing to race relations. There is nothing about
this woman that is productive about race relations. And, what I find interesting is that you invited her to come on the show and she hides
behind anonymity, right?
Now, she want, "Oh, I do not want to talk." Well, she was perfectly comfortable tweeting hate speech as a professor that is about to enter a
university that has a diversity problem. I think Boston University only has like 3 percent of population that is black.
So, what bothers me about this whole conversation is they were always apologizing when black Americans like Larry Elder said behave badly and
behave like racist. Somehow in our society it is acceptable. When Don Imus was fired from his radio program, I think he was fired for saying
racial slurs.
You, guys, have talked about Rush Limbaugh on the show. We need to apply the same lever of standards to black Americans and she needs to go.
I think Boston University did not -- Boston University said she contributed to race relations, and she was typecasting.
Professor Saida Grundy, whatever her name is, is a disgrace to professors. My uncle was one. She is a disgrace. And this is what
happening at elite colleges across the country charging $50,000 or more dollars, OK? So, parents beware? grandfather was one. And parents beware.
PINSKY: Larry?
ELDER: Dr. Drew, if I were white, and I think a lot of people here probably think I think I am --
(LAUGHING)
But if I were white, and I got a D in her class, I would wonder whether or not she has screwed me because of my race. She has indicated
bigotry towards whites. And, pointed out only 3 percent of the campus is black.
What about the other 97 percent of the school when she has them? Is she going to downgrade them because they are in wrong color or they are
white? I would be worried about that.
PINSKY: Why do I feel optimistic about this?
ELDER: Lawsuit to follow. I got a bad grade. I can see myself suing her because of the comments she made earlier indicating that she grade me
down just because I am black.
SEDAGHATFAR: Dr. Drew. Look --
PINSKY: But she is going into this institution.
SEDAGHATFAR: No. No.
PINSKY: What a great place for someone who try to challenge the status quo.
SEDAGHATFAR: That is not true, Dr. Drew. I am a professor, OK? Can you imagine if I went and tweeted and Instagrams pictures --
PINSKY: Not Anahita. Yes.
SEDAGHATFAR: No. I am a professor.
PINSKY: No. The three of us have professor positions.
SEDAGHATFAR: Yes, actually all of us. The three of us do.
PINSKY: Not Mike, yes.
SEDAGHATFAR: So. Let us say -- Except for him, right? If I went out and started tweeting out pictures of the KKK or Nazi symbolism, do not you
think Southwestern University would be well within the rights to fire me, would you disagree with that?
CATHERWOOD: If the argument, should she be fire or is there any intellectual merit to the tweets? Because we are already getting two
different things --
PINSKY: And, do we have to fire people just because they say something stupid things on Twitter or the nightly news?
CATHERWOOD: No, no, no. I disagree.
SEDAGHATFAR: She is a professor. She is a professor. She has a different responsibility. She is doing this in public.
WRIGHT: Thank you.
PINSKY: We have an audience question. Audience, yes, ma`am.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE AUDIENCE: Yes. I just wanted to say, I hav had a lot of strange professors on my day, who say whatever they want. And, you
sit there and you just take it. So, I just wanted to say, you know, is she doing anything? She is just saying things.
PINSKY: Right. Right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE AUDIENCE: I want to know what is on her syllabus. I want to know what she is actually doing with the students.
PINSKY: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE AUDIENCE: Is there a track record for being prejudiced?
PINSKY: Yes. Yes.
HO: And, I would argue that this actually directly plays into her ability to be a good professor and a good educator who is actually
providing culturally sensitive education. Think about that.
PINSKY: Judy, we have -- I do not know if you were on the panel, but just a couple of days ago, we had a professor who got nude with her class.
They all had to be naked.
HO: OK. But, what does it have to do with anything?
PINSKY: I am just saying. Nobody said that guy should be fired. I do not think.
CATHERWOOD: Here is the deal --
HO: Listen. No. That has nothing to do with this.
CATHERWOOD: The bottom line is -- and I hate to make the, "What if she was white argument?" But the truth is if someone at Oral Roberts was
to say that, "Homosexuals are all going to hell."
There will be mass amount of scrutiny, because it is very easy to get supportive of this kind of progressive movements. But, you, Dr. Drew, just
like everybody else, is falling victim to this weird fear to call out someone for making these glittering generalizations --
WRIGHT: Because she is black. Right.
CATHERWOOD: -- these purple generalizations about white people. I mean I do not have white college sons, you do. College-age white sons that
go to college, and for her to say that college white males are a problem population, it is disgusting. But, yet, you are scare just like everybody
else to think this whole -- because there is this weird pervasive idea that there is this kind of institutionalized racist organization that is all
knowing --
PINSKY: Go out to the audience. Go out to the audience.
CATHERWOOD: I am not accomplice to it nor as most white people.
PINSKY: You can say it because you are Mexican -American.
(LAUGHING)
SEDAGHATFAR: But that is not true, that is the problem.
PINSKY: I know. I know. But, this is what so weird about our thinking.
SEDAGHATFAR: Yes.
PINSKY: Is that is my point. You are Persian-American. Oh my God! Can you say something?
SEDAGHATFAR: Right.
PINSKY: I do not know. What the hell?! I do not think. I mean think about your people that way.
SEDAGHATFAR: You should not think about it that way. That is the point.
PINSKY: You know what I mean? I do not see that.
SEDAGHATFAR: You should not.
PINSKY: But go ahead. Yes, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE AUDIENCE: How is it going?
SEDAGHATFAR: Hi.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE AUDIENCE: I just have the question. It is her personal Twitter account, and it is not work-related. Should not she be
able to tweet whatever she wants with her personal Twitter account and not be --
HO: Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Twitter is public, and you are an educator. You are not allowed to use your personal account that way
when everybody in the world can see it. She can privatize her account. She chose not to. She chose to make them public that is absolutely
unacceptable, Dr. Drew.
SEDAGHATFAR: She did privatize it.
PINSKY: She did privatize it.
HO: Later on.
PINSKY: But Crystal, I will give you the last word, but I want you to give me 15 seconds. Here you go.
WRIGHT: OK, 15 seconds. She had her account public and then to the viewer -- I mean to your audience member. She has now blocked her account
and made it private --
HO: Right.
PINSKY: Yes.
WRIGHT: Which tells me she is hiding. OK? If she knows it is not acceptable. She will not even come on Dr. Drew and face the music.
PINSKY: To me more than anything this is a sign of how nasty Twitter is, and how people get away with it and how brutal it is and how brutal we
are to one another there. But we got to go. Back after this.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
PINSKY: Now, our segment we call "Sexting." This is your chance to ask myself, my panel, Judy, Mike, Anahita. All your questions about
relationships and sexuality. We are going to start with a twitter question. It is from Ashley.
"How likely is it to get pregnant from pre-ejaculate?" Apparently, we got a number. It is like -- a number of people who are curious about this
-- it is not a number. It is not a percentile. It just can happen.
If you are not using a formal method of contraceptive, you are not practicing birth control. So, just understand, you are putting things at
risk, do not take those chances. Do not even worry about what the percentage are? It is possible. Let us go to the audience. Yes, ma`am.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE AUDIENCE: Hi. A friend of mine who is telling me about her lovely sexploitations the other day. And, she said that she and
her boyfriend had two consecutive sessions. And, during the second session, the boyfriend was not sure if he ejaculated or not.
PINSKY: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE AUDIENCE: Is it possible -- Within a short amount of time, is it possible for a male to ejaculate two different times?
PINSKY: Mike, you would you tackle that one.
CATHERWOOD: I do it all the time? I seriously do. I mean that is that one gift that was given, because I suffer from premature ejaculation.
So, I have them but I am at least good for round 2 and round 3.
PINSKY: Be that as it may.
CATHERWOOD: But, did not that guy -- did not he have kind of a conclusive evidence?
PINSKY: Well, that is the point. Hold on.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE AUDIENCE: -- and so, I guess -- is it normal?
PINSKY: Yes. It is very common. But if he did not really see the evidence, there is something called retrograde ejaculation --
CATHERWOOD: That is hell.
PINSKY: -- were things go back up into the bladder and it usually medication that cause that. So, if he had any kind of unusual functioning
--
CATHERWOOD: But, if that happens, does not it come out later?
PINSKY: Yes, when you urinate it comes out later. But it is still something that is medication-related phenomenon. Facebook -- thank you my
dear. Facebook, Trey. OK, ladies. Here we go. "Why do women get so emotionally attached so soon after a sexual encounter?" Judy?
Now it is easy -- Now, listen. If I hear about prairie voles and oxytocin, I am going to scream because that was the original research.
They discovered that prairie voles are more socially attached when they released oxytonin. Humans do some of that too. But, women -- why are they
different than men.
HO: They are. And, they are influenced differently by different types of intimacy. And, for a lot of women, that ultimate intimacy comes
from sexual relations.
PINSKY: Yes.
HO: So, once that happens, women do have the tendency to attach to a single person more so than the male brands does have to attach --
PINSKY: And, psychologists have all kinds of reasoning for this. But be that as it may, the fact is that, you know, when I see on college
campuses, back to the problem of white males -- On college campuses is young women will medicate themselves with alcohol to try not to have that
attachment which is sad.
CATHERWOOD: But, I have to say, I think that a lot more guys get a lot more attached after even casual sex --
PINSKY: Often.
CATHERWOOD: More so than they are willing to admit.
HO: That is right.
CATHERWOOD: You get super butter, but you go home, you go and like, "No, I do not care." But you really do, you are totally like attached to
that person.
HO: Well, you can be attached to the person, but I think the male brain has less of profensive to be exclusively attached.
PINSKY: Yes.
HO: They can been more attached to multiple people.
PINSKY: And we can attach and let go more easily. Again, people were blaming it on oxytocin. That is part of the biology. And, Oxytocin does
not work under the influence of testosterone. Yes, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE AUDIENCE: How is it going, guys?
HO: Hi.
SEDAGHATFAR: Hi.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE AUDIENCE: I have a preventative question. So, me and my wife have been married for two years.
PINSKY: Congratulations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE AUDIENCE: And, our love life is great and I hear that flame dies out overtime.
CATHERWOOD: Oh no! It gets better.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE AUDIENCE: -- It gets better.
CATHERWOOD: Right, honey?
(LAUGHING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE AUDIENCE: So, what would be some steps to take to ensure that it maintains its --
PINSKY: You know as much as anything -- you know, people when they theorized about Sternberg -- theorized about the three component of love,
which is commitment, intimacy, friendship and passion.
And, passion people, you got to pay attention to it in the beginning. It has got to be there, because it is the very renewing piece of
relationship. And, as much as anything, if you already have that, it is really about one piece -- the only thing you will think about is you are
going to be doing this across the life span. And, you are going to focus on your body and ageing, and medication and things like that.
Now, it gets left out in the equation a lot. And, I do with patients all the time with medications or medical problems or weight issues or not
exercising. It has a massive influence on this. And, you really need to take care of your body and this part will kind of take care of itself if it
is there to begin with. Mike, you agree?
CATHERWOOD: Yes, keep it sexy and you will stay sexy.
PINSKY: And keep it intimate too. I mean it is part of the relationship.
CATHERWOOD: You know what I really up to as a guy, as a young guy, like take some time, when you feel like it may be degrading -- Take some
like a good month --
PINSKY: What are you talking --
CATHERWOOD: I am serious. Take some time --
PINSKY: Do not degrade one another but the relationship is there.
CATHERWOOD: -- like the passion between you and your wife.
PINSKY: Diminished.
CATHERWOOD: Devote like a good month to non-sexual intimate behavior like massages.
PINSKY: Sure. Yes.
CATHERWOOD: And foot massages. And, you will be surprised how that like leads into hotter sex.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
PINSKY: Yes. Keep maintain. You make time for the relationship. Back to Twitter , I have Kristen, who asked, "Do those perfumes with human
pheromones in them really work? Anahita, I put them on Mike before the show, what do you say?
SEDAGHATFAR: I do not think so. Definitely no. Definitely no. Definitely no.
HO: Not even a little?
SEDAGHATFAR: Not even a little bit. Sorry.
CATHERWOOD: She is mine. Her father texted her and said, "You better not admitted it. I know you are attracted to Mike Catherwood. You will
pay for your second decadent ways. Alalalala!"
SEDAGHATFAR: He is watching this right now.
(LAUGHING)
HO: Look. You killed Drew. He is dying with laughter.
PINSKY: I am dying. I am dying.
HO: But to be serious, there has actually been a ton of research on this, Dr. Drew. A disgusting research where people go and smell sweaty --
PINSKY: They soak their t-shirts.
HO: Yes. Sweaty underwear and smell it. You know? So that is where this whole perfume thing is coming from. I do not think there is enough -
-
(LAUGHING)
PINSKY: Right. And, the research -- there is good research but it does not translate very well to the real world.
HO: No. No.
PINSKY: One last question from the audience.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE AUDIENCE: Hi, you guys.
SEDAGHATFAR: Hi.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE AUDIENCE: So, I have a friend that was actually wondering --
PINSKY: A friend.
(LAUGHING)
HO: It is always the friend.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE AUDIENCE: It is a friend.
PINSKY: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE AUDIENCE: So, she is wondering, because some of our other friends make fun of her.
PINSKY: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE AUDIENCE: So, are guys turned off by the fact that she is a virgin in her mid-20s?
PINSKY: No and yes. Right. They may not stick around. First of all, they know that is a big responsibility. They may not be up to that,
to be the first one.
CATHERWOOD: I think it differs with the motivation for being a virgin. If she just has not met Mr. Right one, but she is bound for sex,
guys do not seem to care. If the guy is not into waiting for marriage, and she is then, you know, it is really not going to work out.
PINSKY: It is not going to work out. She is limiting her pool a little bit. But to live by your own ethical and moral standards, that is
how to live. I mean hats off to her.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
HO: That is right.
PINSKY: Do not compromise if that is what this is about. It is not like an empty latitude to say that, but if she feels that way it is better
for her.
Next, a woman on a plane is ordered to turn off her cell phone, just as she receives a text from her husband in which he is threatening to kill
himself. Back after this.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: It was one minute before takeoff when a woman got an alarming text from her husband. "Please forgive me for what I
am about to do. I am going to kill myself." Karen Momsen-Evers texted back, "No." She then tried to follow up with the call.
She was ordered to turn off her phone. Once a cruising altitude turns, she begged a flight attendant to make an emergency call, but she
said she was told there was nothing they could do. For two hours, Karen sobbed until they landed. And, she was allowed to call police.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PINSKY: And, I am sorry to say, this story has a tragic ending. And, we are calling of course this segment, "What the?!" When Karen got off
that southwest, she found out that in fact her husband had killed himself.
I am back with Judy, Mike, Anahita. Anahita, now, this story drive me a little crazy. First of all, I do not know of any evidence that using a
phone on a plane really does a damn thing.
SEDAGHATFAR: Right.
PINSKY: Really? I mean come on, now. We have -- we know people that have small planes, you know? --
CATHERWOOD: They laugh when I say, "What is the deal with the phones?" And, they are like, "It is nothing."
PINSKY: It is nothing. It is nothing.
SEDAGHATFAR: It is the regulation.
PINSKY: And, by the way, what is gone on in this country that when we cannot evaluate our rules and regulations in a context.
SEDAGHATFAR: Right.
PINSKY: Like everything is just by the letter no matter what.
SEDAGHATFAR: Have some common sense into -
PINSKY: Yes. We agreeing with it. But, you know, so, what if she stayed on the phone for another two minutes? I am going to leave my stuff
on intentionally now whenever I fly -- but the question now. Is there a liability for Southwest here?
SEDAGHATFAR: Absolutely. Absolutely. I blame the stewardess for this. And, they are going to face a huge lawsuit. Southwest is going to
be vicariously liable --
PINSKY: What is the lawsuit?
SEDAGHATFAR: -- Negligence, possibly wrongful death, if they can prove causation. And, that is the thing, we do not know if this man`s life
could have been saved.
PINSKY: We will never know that, though. We will never know that.
SEDAGHATFAR: We will never know that.
PINSKY: But, people are saying, what was this woman doing out to a girl`s weekend, if her husband was home suicidal?
HO: Yes.
SEDAGHATFAR: No. I do not like that. I do not like blaming her.
PINSKY: No. But the point is we do not know what was going on that relationship.
CATHERWOOD: There is only one thing we know for sure is that we do not know. I mean we have no idea what was going on with their marriage.
We do not know what was going on with this man`s mental health. This could have been truly out of the blue.
We do not know if he had any pre-existing history of depression or he had alerted her to the fact that he was feeling down. She may have gone on
vacation with her girlfriends, totally thinking that he was doing fine. And, this came out of nowhere. I mean it is a reasonable possibility with
the way the human brain works. Sometimes, it just goes haywire.
SEDAGHATFAR: But, it does not even matter. I mean it did not really like save them from going and telling the pilot. Southwest admitted that
their own flight attendant has failed to follow protocol.
PINSKY: Well, let me read the statement. This is what they released to CNN affiliated WTMJ on Tuesday. The airline explained, quote, "Flight
attendants are trained to notify the captain if there is an emergency that poses a hazard to the aircraft or the passengers on board. In this
situation, the pilots were not notified." They offered her a refund.
HO: Oh gee!
SEDAGHATFAR: Good job!
HO: Great!
PINSKY: That is really a weird sort of move on their part. But remember, the woman -- the mom that had the autistic child?
CATHERWOOD: Yes.
PINSKY: And she got threatening while they are in the air. And, they went to the pilot and as you should know. The pilot landed the plane.
HO: Right.
PINSKY: And took the woman off the plane. I thought that was fine.
SEDAGHATFAR: That is protocol.
PINSKY: Yes, it is protocol. But, go ahead, Judy -- Judy two questions, whatever you are going to comment is and do you think, if you
were Anahita`s expert witness, that this woman could have made a difference in how this played out in this man`s suicide.
HO: Well, first, the answer to that question is absolutely, I do. I think love ones are the people that bring people back from the brink of
committing suicide.
SEDAGHATFAR: Right.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
PINSKY: Yes. And I think -- let me just hang on and landed on that for a second and say, that is why when people become suicidal, we put them
in a unit for 72 hours, because it passes.
HO: Right.
PINSKY: It passes.
HO: Right.
PINSKY: People, do not stay suicidal forever.
HO: Absolutely. And, one of the crisis intervention techniques we utilize when people say they are suicidal is think about your loved ones.
Really, think about it. Do you really want to do that to them? Are you ready to leave them? And, usually, people start to say, "You know what?
No. That was just an impulse. I really want to try and live."
So, you are that something that we actually try to work on. The problem with this protocol is that the protocol says, if there is a hazard
to somebody on the plane, then they alert the pilot. So, maybe it was too rigid and they were thinking. "Well, nobody here is killing themselves."
PINSKY: Again -- too rigid.
SEDAGHATFAR: Common sense is possible.
CATHERWOOD: I need to know -- I do not need to know, but I am curious if the stewardess was shown the text message. I mean that would change the
thing.
PINSKY: What I have heard was --
SEDAGHATFAR: She showed the two of them.
PINSKY: What I heard was she was sort of trying to show, and got it slapped down, and sort of turned off. That is what I heard. I do not know
the details.
HO: Yes. Turned off.
PINSKY: But you guys are sort of taking aim at the flight attendants, which I think flight attendants have a tough job.
CATHERWOOD: They do.
SEDAGHATFAR: They do, but --
PINSKY: I always try to be nice to the flight attendants when I go on a flight, because I would not want to deal with the public in a tin can on
a daily basis. They are drinking, and they get, you know, whacky and they are scared. They are anxious. So, we have via Skype, Gailen David, a
former flight attendant. Host of "Take Off" with a savvy excuse. What do you think there, David?
GAILEN DAVID, FORMER FLIGHT ATTENDANT: You know --
PINSKY: Gailen, I beg your pardon.
DAVID: There is not a flight attendant on earth that would get this information like this from a passenger in an airplane that her husband is
about to commit suicide or was threatening suicide that would not help this person. It just --
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
PINSKY: It seems weird, right?
DAVID: Yes. What is missing from the story? -- because believe me, I have been around a lot of flight attendants. I flew for 25 years. And,
even the most jaded flight attendant would hear something like that and immediately spring into action. A woman is saying, "My husband is now to
commit suicide." Another question I have is, why, and I do not want to blame this woman, because I know she is a grieving widow.
SEDAGHATFAR: Right.
DAVID: But why did she not stand up and say, "This plane is not taking off. I have to save my husband.
PINSKY: Well, Gailen. Hold on a second. Hold on a second.
HO: Yes.
PINSKY: Let us educate one another. Can I do that?
SEDAGHATFAR: Absolutely. Get arrested, so what, Dr. Drew?
PINSKY: I would have been arrested if I did that?
SEDAGHATFAR: Do what you need to do. Well, if that is more important to you, getting arrested or possibly saving your husband life. I mean I do
not know how she stayed so calm and collected. If I would have been screaming. I would have been throwing things.
PINSKY: You know what it is? It speaks only about who Anahita is, number one.
(LAUGHING)
SEDAGHATFAR: Thank you.
PINSKY: But, number two, it also talks about, you know, how we com comply with our environment. Where the plane has taken off? The flight
attendants tell us to shut up. It is really hard to push pass all that even in an emergency.
HO: And, there is some personality factors here, right? Some people have a -- you know?
PINSKY: More so, yes. Anahita --
CATHERWOOD: You must take this plane off right now --
(LAUGHING)
PINSKY: Gailen, I want to go back to you. I do not know you could do that. I thought they could take off anyway or they would have you
arrested, wrestle you to the floor.
DAVID: You know, yes. I understand what you are saying about pushing past compliance and that sort of thing when you are in this environment.
But when it is -- and that is where you need to look at some other things. For instance, you know, yes, what was the husband`s mental state in the
last few months before the incident.
HO: Right.
PINSKY: Right.
HO: We do not know.
DAVID: Because if his wife -- f it were me. I am just saying if it were me, they would have to speak to that flight attendant, come over here,
I need to tell yous something. I have to speak to you. My husband --
PINSKY: We are losing him. I have to go to break, we are losing him. Let me just say, though. It is two lessons for all of us. A. Speak up
when you have to speak up, everybody. I mean this is a horrible situation. B. Heard. Do not let anybody be unreasonable with you.
And we found out, if you need the plane not to take off, stand up and make a big noise. Be like Anahita. Be right back after this.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
PINSKY: Time now for our "Click Fix." This is where our my panel tells me what is trending on their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram feeds. Of
course I am back with Judy, Mike, Anahita. And, we are going to start with Anahita.
SEDAGHATFAR: OK. So, I have a story that is exploding on YouTube. There are over 16,000 views, you guys. And, once you see the video, you
will see why. So watch. I am going to talk you through this. So, "We are in Southern California on a busy four-lane highway with cars traveling up
to 80 miles an hour."
PINSKY: It is 405. It is 405.
SEDAGHATFAR: OK.
PINSKY: 805. 805 freeway.
SEDAGHATFAR: 805. So, driver stops and sees this car stopped in the number three lane and immediately calls 9 11. The driver has passed out
and, quote, allegedly drunk." Right?
So, this good Samaritan, he runs to the car during the break in traffic, and he tries to wake her up, but she is unresponsive. So, you see
this php officer arriving and he is trying to wake her up with his flashlight. It is not working. So, he bashes the window with the
flashlight.
PINSKY: Oh my God.
SEDAGHATFAR: Yes. Her foot comes off the pedal. Look at that and the car starts to roll in the middle of the freeway. So, officer runs to
the passenger side and he smashes it. He opens the door.
PINSKY: She is still asleep.
SEDAGHATFAR: She is still passed out.
PINSKY: There she is.
SEDAGHATFAR: He puts the car in park.
CATHERWOOD: Yes.
SEDAGHATFAR: And surprise, surprise, you see an empty vodka bottle on the floor.
PINSKY: OK. So, everybody, come on.
SEDAGHATFAR: She is arrested for suspicion of DUI guys. Yes. She is allegedly drunk.
PINSKY: Thank you, Anahita. Mike, what do you got?
CATHERWOOD: If you found yourself drifting off during the story, it is because Anahita did deliver it perfectly --
PINSKY: She did.
SEDAGHATFAR: Thank you.
CATHERWOOD: It is because Microsoft has found that we, humans have the attention span that is smaller than a goldfish.
SEDAGHATFAR: Oh, wow!
CATHERWOOD: That is right. Researchers at Microsoft found that we have an attention span that is 8 seconds, and that is 1 second lower than a
goldfish. Out of 2,000 Canadians, researcher say that it is because of all the electronic devices that we have.
PINSKY: Yes.
CATHERWOOD: And, that we have been inundated with.
PINSKY: It was actually a laboratory study. It was a good study. And, they showed that we have improved on our ability to multitask. Do not
give ideas when you are driving but we are actually better on multitasking now. But our attention has gone steadily down now to one second beneath a
goldfish.
SEDAGHATFAR: Oh, my gosh.
PINSKY: Think about that. Judy, what do you have?
HO: That is right. Well, multitasking is a myth, anyway. You know that, Dr. Drew. It is actually just rapid task switching.
PINSKY: To me it is switching. Yes, switching.
HO: Yes.
PINSKY: I am good at that.
HO: Yes. Yes. I think we have all gone better because of technology, but there is this another problem. My story is actually about
fit bit. So, somebody goes might know about it.
It is that tiny, little device you can wear on your arm, and it tracks your sleep. It tracks your exercise. Well, there is a study now. It is
called sleep site. And, it is aimed at preventing schizophrenia patients from relapsing.
PINSKY: Interesting.
HO: And, 80 to 90 percent of patients with schizophrenia actually do relapse. It is just so severe that at some point in their life, they do
relapse.
PINSKY: Sure.
HO: And, one of the most common symptoms of relapse is insomnia and poor sleep. So, this study paired up with fit bit. It is going to try to
resolve that.
PINSKY: I think we are going to see a lot -- Yes. It is good. Great. I think we will see a lot more stuff like that in terms of
monitoring maybe brain waves or something that people are getting manic or not. You know, there is going to be -- This is just the beginning of the
fit bit story. As myself health monitoring at home -- home health monitoring, is going to be a massive thing.
Thank you, guys, thank you, audience. We are going to be right back with Dr. Drew`s "Q"s. Be right back after this.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PINSKY: Time now for what we call, Dr. Drew`s "Q"s. If you want to send me a question, you hash tag #Dr.Drew`sQs. I will answer. This is
when I try to answer any question on any topic you might want to ask me. I am going to attempt to get into it.
I may not have great answers. I may not have great answers, but I am going to try. And, again, as I said use the hash tag, #Dr.Drew`sQs. I
will start with Jason on Twitter. He says, "Dr. Drew, would you ever consider running for office?"
PINSKY: I am flattered by that. I am completely fascinated with how our governments -- and I would -- Nothing would make me -- if I could do it
for a weekend, fill in for a senator for a weekend or something. I am fascinated by the government and the ideas behind it, and I fantasized
about running for office, but never ever, ever in any seriousness. Now to the audience. Yes, ma`am.
JULIE: Hi, Dr. Drew. My name is Julie, and I am diagnosed bipolarism and it has been a struggle for years and years now with different
medications, this, this, this. And, I have read on studies that says that you can actually be bipolar, not have prescription meds. For me,
prescription meds are -- they work until they do not.
PINSKY: And when they do not, they do not because of side effects?
JULIE: They do not -- Both, because of side effects and I become to - - I need a higher dose and it becomes a problem. You know?
PINSKY: Yes. Yes. Has any one sort of worked?
JULIE: I think lithium.
PINSKY: Yes.
JULIE: But, I just want to be independent. I do not want to depend on any prescription meds. And, my question is that, is there a way -- Is
it possible to live with this disorder, and through diet, and exercising and meditation be OK and not have --
PINSKY: The answer is, I cannot answer that with accuracy because it depends on your disorder. If you have brittle bipolar disorder, if you had
full on manias that have been destructive. The probability is probably not. But, many people with bipolar disorder can. It is certainly
possible. My question is, though, this is what we deal with all the time with patients with bipolar disorder.
JULIE: Yes. That is why, up and down, it is exhausting.
PINSKY: Well, but they also do not like to take their medication for varios reasons. Sometimes because they are in denial that they have this
condition. And, sometimes they like their manias. You like being manic. Yes.
JULIE: Sometimes, yes.
PINSKY: Yes. So, maybe, to me it feels like you should sort of navigate between the two, which is maybe get a doctor. They are really
listening to you. I do not think they are listening to you very carefully, are they?
JULIE: I do not think so.
PINSKY: OK. So. Really working with you, so you can suppress from the lid flying off, keep a lid on it, but not drive you down. So, a mild
amount of medication, and work on things like meditation and diet, and structure to your day, and the good psychological things that also keep
bipolars more stable. OK?
JULIE: OK.
PINSKY: So, a little bit of both. A little bit of all. How about that?
JULIE: OK.
PINSKY: OK. Good. Now, we are live, live when we do this show watching me -- you know, we are broadcasting. And, in the middle of the
show, we like to read your Tweets, and see who`s committing on social media. Now, we got a tweet from our own Heather McDonald responding to our
audience`s question earlier about a virgin in her 20s.
There is little Heather. She says, "Yes, they are. I know, because I was a virgin until I was 27." Heather McDonald, I said, get her on the
phone. I would to Heather. What do you mean by that? Heather, what is going on?
HEATHER MCDONALD: Well, I definitely, in my experience, they were totally freaked out after about 20. Guys, they do not want to devirginize
you. It is a huge burden for guys.
PINSKY: I agree. But were you open to not being a virgin, or was it something you were committed until marriage?
MCDONALD: No, I just wanted a boyfriend. But, nobody wanted to be their boyfriend unless they are having sex with me. So, it was like.
Inpossibility. And, then when I tried to explain it, and they were like, "Oh, forget it." They were just too freaked out.
MCDONALD: And then Peter came along.
(LAUGHING)
MCDONALD: You know what? The thing is --
PINSKY: Oh-oh. There is somebody before Peter. OK. OK.
MCDONALD: I will not say that. Well, I stopped telling people. I would not make a big announcement. When I did lose my virginity, the guy
did not know that he de-virginized me.
PINSKY: Until afterwards then he freaked out.
MCDONALD: No, I never told him.
PINSKY: OK.
MCDONALD: Why do he need to know that? He can walk around, and know that he divirginized Heather McDonald. He does not deserve that. Who
cares.
(LAUGHING)
PINSKY: So, Heather, where can people see you?
MCDONALD: I am going to be -- I am on my way to the airport right now. Cubs in San Francisco this weekend.
PINSKY: All right. Have a great weekend my dear. See you soon.
MCDONALD: Thank you.
PINSKY: Thank you. Back to the audience. What is going on?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE AUDIENCE: My question is, is there any scientific evidence that supports, if you use medical marijuana that it will increase
or decrease athletic performance or exercises?
PINSKY: I do not know -- it is an interesting question, because plenty of athletes do smoke a lot of pot, and it does not seem to harm, you
know, high level them. But, I know plenty f athletes have, you know, had their career encumbered by insistence on using pot.
You know, sort of against whatever regulation is there in. And, I do not know, it is hard to imagine if it really is an enhancer of athletic
performance. And, that is so has such an average affect on testosterone biology?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE AUDIENCE: It cannot make you focus any better?
PINSKY: It could, if you have ADD. Yes, it could. But, again, the overall, biology is against athleticism, against testosterone. So, thank
you for that question. I am going to Lisa Marie on Facebook. "At what point is sadness considered to be depression?"
This is a great question. What is it to take to officially diagnosed. Well, it takes an official diagnosis by a physician. But, usually, if
people have symptoms, of first of all, longer than two weeks duration that are not associate with any other conditions like medication or drugs and
alcohol or medical problems.
And, they have to have certain amount of vegetative symptomatology like changed nap time, changes in sleep, feeling of worthlessness and
guilt, lack of enjoyment, previously enjoyable activities. The sustained symptoms just well beyond just sadness, and that is will be two weeks or
more in duration. A quick question from the audience before we go. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE AUDIENCE: Hi, Dr. Drew. My mom was diagnosed with epilepsy when I was born.
PINSKY: Does she have a seizure during the pregnancy?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE AUDIENCE: Yes.
PINSKY: So, was it part of eclampsia or pre-eclampsia.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE AUDIENCE: We believe it was juvenile now because --
PINSKY: She have it for a long time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE AUDIENCE: Yes.
PINSKY: OK. It generalized --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE AUDIENCE: But it just came out with the stress.
PINSKY: It generalized during pregnancy. Got it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE AUDIENCE: Correct.
PINSKY: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE AUDIENCE: But, several years later, she had brain surgery, after that she has -
PINSKY: For what?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE AUDIENCE: -- to try to cure her.
PINSKY: OK. We have, like, ten seconds.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE AUDIENCE: After, she was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
PINSKY: Oh boy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE AUDIENCE: So, my question is, do you think it is possible that is because of the surgery, or am I at risk because it is
hereditary?
PINSKY: Schizophrenia is not really hereditary. Do not worry about that. And the seizure disorder depending on what causes, I would not worry
about this. For you, I would not worry about it. I will talk to you after the show. DVR us -- watch us next time. Thank you for watching.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
END
