Dr. Phil McGraw has spent decades telling people to confront their problems. Now, his former publicist is asking a court to do the confronting.
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Jerry Sharell, who says he worked for McGraw for about 10 years, has filed a lawsuit against the television personality and his companies, alleging discrimination based on sexual orientation, wrongful termination and wage violations. Sharell alleges he was treated differently because he is openly gay and was eventually placed on “hiatus” at Envoy Media. McGraw’s attorney disputes that account and says Sharell was not fired. So, congratulations to anyone who thought workplace drama couldn’t get more complicated. We have officially entered the deposition era.
Sharell says the Texas move came with an awkward plot twist
Sharell says he started working for McGraw in 2016 and became vice president of publicity in 2019. When McGraw left CBS and launched Dallas-based Merit Street Media in 2023, Sharell says he continued working for him but was told to remain in Los Angeles.
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The explanation, according to the lawsuit, was simple: “you’re Hollywood.” Cute. Except Sharell says he eventually suspected there was another reason he wasn’t making the move to Texas.
He alleges that McGraw “intentionally excluded him” from the Texas operation because he is openly “homosexual,” particularly because Merit Street Media was partnering with Trinity Broadcasting Network, a Christian broadcaster.That is where the story stops sounding like a routine corporate relocation and starts sounding like the world’s strangest season of The Office.
Suddenly, there was a “Statement of Faith”
Sharell alleges that employees at Merit Street Media were asked to sign a “Statement of Faith” declaring their devotion to Jesus. While he remained in Los Angeles, Sharell says he began traveling to the Dallas headquarters every month. And apparently, Dallas came with a recurring guest star: a pastor. According to the lawsuit, a pastor visited the office weekly, while prayer sessions were held during staff meetings on three separate occasions.
Sharell says he was “quite uncomfortable and found it both disturbing and shocking,” particularly because he had never known McGraw to be “overtly religious.”
For a gay employee already wondering why he had been left behind in Los Angeles, the combination of corporate meetings, Christian broadcasting and office prayer was apparently not exactly screaming “relaxed workplace.”
Then someone allegedly said the quiet part out loud
One of the more startling allegations involves an IT employee. Sharell says the employee saw a photograph of him while working on a staffer’s computer and remarked, “There’s too many of THEM around here. And it’s evil.”
According to the lawsuit, the employee subsequently refused to interact with Sharell and instead emailed him instructions whenever he needed help with computer issues. Because apparently nothing says “professional collaboration” quite like deciding your coworker is the office’s unofficial villain.
Sharell alleges another incident occurred in 2025 when McGraw said he was “gayer than a fruit basket and not listening.” The fruit basket, mercifully, was not called to testify. Sharell also says he once mentioned his husband and McGraw allegedly responded, “When you say ‘husband,’ what do you mean?” That particular question is doing some heavy lifting in the lawsuit.
The paycheck situation wasn’t exactly giving employee of the month
The alleged discrimination is only one part of Sharell’s complaint. He says that after the company transitioned from Merit Street Media to Envoy Media, he went from being treated as an employee with benefits to being classified as an independent contractor, even though he continued doing essentially the same job.
According to the lawsuit, Sharell “alone suffered the highest reduction in salary (30%)” among those who were reclassified. He alleges that the change also meant losing his 401k, dealing with higher health insurance costs and becoming responsible for self-employment taxes.
Sharell also alleges that he was denied an opportunity given to others to change his pay period and that he received payments late multiple times between August 2025 and February 2026 without proper compensation. Then came another little word that tends to make employees nervous: “hiatus.”
And then came the “hiatus”
At the end of March, Sharell says he was told he was being placed on “hiatus” because of “financial considerations.” He wasn’t exactly convinced. Sharell disputes the explanation, alleging that McGraw recorded more than 30 shows in April and May. He also alleges that no other employees were put on leave and that “at least two new employees or contractors” were hired during that period.
Sharell says he told Envoy Media Chief Executive Ken Solomon that he felt he was “being singled out or targeted.” He ultimately alleges that his “sexual orientation was a substantial motivating reason” for how he was treated and what he describes in the lawsuit as his termination.
McGraw’s attorney, however, disputes that characterization and says Sharell was put on hiatus and “was not fired.” And just like that, “you’re Hollywood” has become considerably less reassuring.
Dr. Phil McGraw’s side says: absolutely not
McGraw’s attorney, Chip Babcock, has a very different version of events.
“Jerry Sharell was put on hiatus over the summer as is common in this industry especially with a media start up. He was not fired for any reason and certainly not because of his sexual orientation.”
Babcock also said:
“These allegations against Envoy and Dr. Phil are made up out of whole cloth as he has a 25 years history of treating the LGBTQ+ communities with dignity and respect including standing up for his guests who were attacked because of their sexual preferences.”
He further argued that the lawsuit is an attempt to avoid a pending arbitration to which Sharell contractually agreed, saying Sharell violated that agreement “in a number of ways.” The company and Dr. Phil, he said, will “vigorously defend these claims.”
So, for now, there are two sharply different versions of what happened. Sharell’s lawsuit alleges that his sexual orientation played a role in how he was treated, while Dr. Phil’s legal team says the allegations are fabricated and that Sharell was simply placed on hiatus for business reasons. The allegations have not been proven in court.
Still, there is something undeniably surreal about a story involving Dr. Phil, a “Statement of Faith,” a private plane, an alleged fruit-basket insult and a workplace dispute that somehow manages to make “you’re Hollywood” sound like a very loaded sentence. At this point, the only thing missing is a reunion episode where everyone sits on the same couch and explains themselves.