Armenian Business Owner Sues Dr. Oz; Says His Racist Video Hurt Business

A screen capture from Dr. Oz’s racist video targeting Armenians

An Armenian market owner in Los Angeles has filed a lawsuit against Dr. Mehmet Oz saying a racist video, in which President Trump’s Medicare and Medicaid Administrator, is accusing Armenian businesses of fraud has damaged her reputation and business.

Anna Ivanyan, who owns the Tigranakert Meat Market in Van Nuys said in the lawsuit that Dr. Oz trashed her reputation by featuring her business in the racist clip about alleged fraud in the Armenian community.

In late January, Dr. Oz posted a video on the official Health and Human Services social media accounts that ethnically profiled Armenian-owned businesses in Los Angeles. The video showed him riding in a car and posing outside businesses, claiming billions of dollars in healthcare fraud — including alleged hospice schemes — are tied to what he describes as the “Russian Armenian Mafia.”

Ivanyan’s lawsuit claims the video reached millions of viewers and that Oz’s defamatory statements were also amplified by L.A. local news outlets, which added fuel to the fire.

As a result, Ivanyan claims the alleged defamatory statements spread rapidly — reaching her customers and the broader community. She says the video hurt her business and reputation and she’s now seeking damages.

Governor Gavin Newsom was quick to condemn Dr. Oz’s actions across multiple public statements. He then announced his office was filing a civil rights complaint with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights, stating Dr. Oz “spewed baseless and racially charged allegations targeting the Armenian community in Los Angeles.”

Several federal, state and local elected officials also condemned Dr. Oz’s racist statements, with Senator demanding an independent review into Dr. Oz’s racist and baseless targeting of Armenian Americans in Los Angeles.

“I strongly urge you to open an independent investigation into this incident, which should include an inquiry into misuse of taxpayer dollars and flagrant targeting of communities based on ethnicity. These allegations peddle a racist conspiracy about California’s Armenian American community and undermine Armenian Americans’ civil rights.” Senator Schiff wrote on February 2.

Within minutes of Dr. Oz posting his video, ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian publicly called out this discriminatory conduct: “Dr. Oz is painting Armenians with a broad brush, tarring our entire Armenian American community for the alleged crimes of a few individuals. This sort of ethnic scapegoating against Americans of Armenian heritage is as toxic as it is dangerous, all the more so when done by a dual Turkish citizen – an unapologetic genocide denier who served proudly in Turkey’s armed forces.”

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