Doctor’s apology ‘not good enough’

AN apology by TV doctor Ric Gordon, who said last week on Channel 9 that “there were no overweight people in the concentration camps”, has been dismissed as “insufficient” and “unsatisfactory”.

Gordon, who is known professionally by the name Ric Porter, was discussing weight loss on The Today Show when he made the controversial remark, adding: “Now, they weren’t exercising a lot, they just weren’t eating.”

The remarks were broadcast on live national television and have made headlines internationally.

Speaking to The AJN this week, the doctor apologised to members of the community.

“I’m very sorry it upset those people. It was never my intention,” Gordon said.

He added that he had “done a lot of study” on the Holocaust and his comments were merely “used as a medical example”.

B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission chair Dvir Abramovich, however, was not impressed.

“I find the statement by Dr Ric Gordon to be insufficient and unsatisfactory,” Abramovich said. “Dr Gordon crossed the line when he made his irresponsible, tactless and ignorant comparison which justifiably caused an uproar around the world.”

Abramovich said his statement is “really not good enough”.

“It does not represent an apology because it seems that he does not understand why using the Nazi concentration camps to discuss eating habits and exercise was so hurtful and had caused so much offence,” he said.

“We again call on Dr Gordon to do the right thing and clearly state for the record that his remarks were highly inappropriate and troubling, even as a medical example, and that he will not employ such analogies again.”

Abramovich said he is also disappointed with The Today Show, which “should have known better and which should have apologised on air for the deeply disturbing and troubling comments”.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry executive director Peter Wertheim said to suggest that the starvation of people in concentration camps is a “useful yardstick for assessing weight-loss programs reveals a truly shameful ignorance, superficiality and lack of insight”.

“What was done to people in concentration camps was intended to harm and eventually kill them, not make them healthier. For a person in a respected profession to make such a comparison is a disgrace,” Wertheim said.

Channel 9 did not respond to The AJN’s request for comment.

EVAN ZLATKIS