(CNN) -- Dr. Phil McGraw has incurred the wrath of the Internet after a tweet posted on his verified Twitter account asked if it's OK to have sex with a drunk girl.

The outrage was swift:

From @spsook: If a doctor doesn't understand consent, has he abdicated his medical authority? reply y/n to @DrPhil #teensaccused

From @leslieupnorth: .@DrPhil deleted his #rapeculture tweet...it's too bad he didn't realize how wrong he was until after 1000s read it. Shame him, @Oprah

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The tweet was quickly deleted, but that did not quell the heated responses.

From @weeddude: "Yeah I always delete my tweets that are "intended to evoke discussions..." too. Come on @DrPhil

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A representative for the "Dr. Phil" show issued a statement regarding the deleted tweet Wednesday, saying that it was meant to provoke discussion for an upcoming show.

"This Tweet was intended to evoke discussion leading into a very serious show topic based upon a recent news story, hence the #teensaccused label," the statement read.

"As he has maintained over many years, Dr. Phil believes that the position of those incapacitated in any fashion; be it drugs, alcohol, age or mental illness can not and do not have the capacity to give their consent to anything, especially sex, which could have life changing repercussions. 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. We sincerely apologize that it suggested anything other than what was intended, data gathering."

The representative said the show for which the tweet was published was taping Wednesday but could not say when the episode would air. It was also unclear to which news event the tweet referred, the representative added.

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