Dr. Mehmet Oz's inability to correctly identify the grocery store in which he was complaining about inflation while shopping for "crudité" has been a boon to his Democratic opponent, with the campaign of Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman telling Insider he has raised more than $1 million since the gaffe went viral.
Fetterman and Oz are running for a US Senate seat representing Pennsylvania to replace retiring GOP Sen. Pat Toomey.
In April, Oz, the Republican candidate, posted a video of himself shopping at a place he identified as "Wegners," which does not exist, combining the names of two stores that do: Wegmans and Redners. That, combined with his use of the term "crudité" to refer to a party tray of vegetables, led to him being widely pilloried online when the incident resurfaced on Monday.
"I was exhausted," Oz later told the right-wing media outlet Newsmax. "I've gotten my kids' names wrong as well."
In the first 24 hours, Fetterman raised over $500,000, according to his campaign. By Thursday afternoon, that number had doubled, with donors at all levels receiving a "limited edition" sticker that reads: "Wegners: Let Them Eat Crudité." Fetterman is also featuring the crudité attack in ads touting his own populist economic agenda.
The fundraising haul also comes as Oz this week faced scrutiny over his real estate portfolio.
As The Daily Beast reported on Tuesday, Oz recently told a questioner that he owns two homes — a mansion in New Jersey and a recently purchased farmhouse in Pennsylvania. Per his campaign financial disclosure, Oz has at least 10 properties, from a cattle ranch in Florida to a student dormitory in Turkey.
Yet, his campaign has stated that he currently resides with his in-laws in the Philadelphia suburbs. But in July, Oz posted another video that appeared to be recorded in his estate just across the river from New York City, providing more fodder for critics — chief among them, the Fetterman campaign — who argue that the celebrity surgeon, despite attending medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, is not a true Pennsylvanian.
Fetterman recently returned to the campaign trail after suffering a stroke in May.
Have a news tip? Email this reporter: cdavis@insider.com
