Dr. Phil McGraw, who recently landed in hot water because of a controversial question about drunk sex he wrote on Twitter, has apologized for offending people with the Twitter post. Senior vice president/publicity for CBS, Stacey Luchs, explains in a statement to USA Today that the tweet was written to "invoke discussion" with his followers.

"This tweet was intended to invoke discussion leading into a very serious show topic based upon a recent news story, hence the #teensaccused label," Luchs said. "It was a poll question, not a statement or a joke... This was a research post in preparation for a show, not a personal post and Dr. Phil deleted it the second he saw it."

"It was clearly ill-advised," Luch added. She continued, "We sincerely apologize that it suggested anything other than what was intended, data gathering. As you can imagine, Dr. Phil is very upset that this happened."

A tweet posted on Dr. Phil's account on Tuesday, August 20 read, "If a girl is drunk, is it ok to have sex with her? Reply yes or no to @drphil #teensaccused." It was later deleted.

Although the post was removed, it still sparked angry messages and mockery to the psychologist. "Here's a hint; if you wouldn't want it done to yourself, your child, or your loved ones, IT IS NOT OKAY," a Twitter user wrote.

"Dr. Oz was saving lives today and Dr. Phil is trying to hook up with drunk girls," Buzzfeed's Samir Mezrahi commented. "If a person is a misogynist, is it ok to just refer to him as 'Dr. Phil' from now on?" another Twitter user said.