Dr. Phil Apologizes For ‘Ill-Advised’ Twitter Question About Drunk Teen Sex

Dr. Phil McGraw issued a formal statement on Wednesday apologizing for an “ill-advised” question about teen sex that he posted to his Twitter account last night. The offending tweet, which generated outrage and mockery from the Twittersphere, was, “If a girl is drunk, is it ok to have sex with her? Reply yes or no to @drphil #teensaccused,” and was preceded by other questions that the show host has said would be used as research for his talk show “Dr. Phil.”

On Wednesday morning, Dr. Phil’s team issued this statement:

“This Tweet was intended to evoke discussion leading into a very serious show topic based upon a recent news story, hence the #teensaccused label. It was a poll question, not a statement or a joke. As he has maintained over many years, Dr. Phil believes that the position of those incapacitated in any fashion; be it drugs, alcohol, age or mental illness can not and do not have the capacity to give their consent to anything, especially sex, which could have life changing repercussions. This was a research post in preparation for a show, not a personal post and Dr. Phil deleted it the second he saw it. It was clearly ill-advised. We sincerely apologize that it suggested anything other than what was intended, data gathering.”

Although the tweet was eventually deleted, its appearance sparked a series of tweets mocking the daytime talk show host, many of which were shared with the hashtag #DrPhilQuestions.

According to Deadline, the episode in question was taped on Wednesday and is scheduled to be aired in the upcoming season.