Netflix Inks Deal with Scam Artist Gwyneth Paltrow Because Money Matters More than Public Health

Gwyneth Paltrow has a great career. Not many actors can claim her résumé: Shakespeare in Love, The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Avengers, and even Contagion (ironically, a pro-science movie). Why she feels the need to become America's second biggest scam artist -- after Dr. Oz, of course -- is absolutely mind-boggling. Doesn't she have enough money already?

Just last week, RealClearScience described how actor Anne Hathaway absolutely schooled Ms. Paltrow in an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Though Ms. Hathaway never mentioned Ms. Paltrow's name, it was pretty clear about whom she was referring when she scolded the audience, "Do not put something in your mouth just because a celebrity tells you to."

Indeed. You also shouldn't put something in your vagina just because a celebrity tells you to. And that celebrity is Gwyneth Paltrow.

Gwyneth Paltrow Is a Scam Artist

Gwyneth Paltrow's list of transgressions is long and growing. Most infamously, she advocates for women placing jade eggs inside their vagina. According to TechCrunch, Ms. Paltrow's company "Goop" claims that the jade eggs balance hormones and prevent uterine prolapse.

Of course, that's nonsense. Cramming rocks into your vagina doesn't do that. OB/GYN Dr. Jen Gunter called it a "total scam." Unsurprisingly, Goop was sued and reached a $145,000 settlement for making false claims.

This isn't the only time Ms. Paltrow's company has been caught lying. Rae Paoletta, writing for the website Gizmodo, did an investigation into one of Goop's products, called Body Vibes, which is nothing more than a sticker that you put on your skin. The company claimed the sticker uses NASA technology to "rebalance" your body's "energy frequency." (FYI, that's not a thing.) NASA wasn't impressed. A former NASA scientist told Gizmodo, "Wow. What a load of BS this is."

Want more? The consumer advocacy group Truth in Advertising claims to have found more than 50 examples of Goop making bogus health claims. If they looked a little harder, they could probably find a thousand.

At Netflix, Money Is More Important than Public Health

Apparently, none of this matters to Netflix. According to Variety, Netflix will launch a series of health shows featuring Ms. Paltrow this autumn. What could possibly explain this?

In a society in which people reject vaccines and stick rocks up their vagina, just about anything can happen. The sad reality is that, for some companies, money matters more than public health. If somebody could make a quick buck peddling the Ebola virus as a cure for cancer, Netflix might air that, too. In fact, Netflix has already become the nexus for all sorts of crackpot, unscientific "documentaries" on everything from GMOs to agriculture. So, Gwyneth Paltrow fits right in.

On the bright side, we'll have plenty of material to work with in the coming years.