Tucker Carlson has compared Dr Jill Biden to Dr Pepper, in dismissive comments that have since been criticised.
The controversial Fox News host said she used the “Dr” title because she had “status anxiety,” in an attack that aired on Tucker Carlson Tonight on Monday, and not because she was a “Dr”.
"Jill Biden is not a doctor, no,” said Mr Carlson, who added: “Maybe in the same sense Dr. Pepper is".
The provocation came three days after Dr Biden, who earned her educational doctorate thirteen years ago from the University of Delaware, had been subject to ridicule in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.
The article’s academic author, Joseph Epstein, suggested that when president-elect Joe Biden becomes president next month, Dr Biden - who he called “kiddo” in the piece - should take back her “Dr” title.
He argued that “a wise man once said that no one should call himself ‘Dr.’ unless he has delivered a child,” in comments that appeared to dismiss Dr Biden’s doctoral degree.
Women rounded-on the Wall Street Journal and Mr Epstein, who was described as being “patronising” and “misogynist”, and attracted scorn from Michelle Obama and Martin Luther King's daughter Bernice, who defended Dr Biden.
But Mr Carlson, who does not have a education doctorate, argued on Monday that “she’s not actually a physician, she’s a doctor of education, which means basically nothing.”
The television host, who then named the Wall Street Journal article, went on to say "she's got the same degree as Dr Bill Cosby," before saying she was a doctor “Maybe in the same sense Dr Pepper is".
Writing on Twitter on Sunday, Dr Biden appeared to hit back at the Wall Street Journal op-ed, and wrote: "Together, we will build a world where the accomplishments of our daughters will be celebrated, rather than diminished."
A Dr Biden spokesperson, Michael LaRosa, meanwhile described the op-ed as "pretty gross" and "sexist", in a statement on Twitter.
