Last night, Fox News host Jesse Watters was in desperate damage control mode after being accused of making a crude sexual reference about Kamala Harris.
Watters has faced calls to resign after claiming Harris would be “paralyzed” by generals who would “get away with it” with her in the Situation Room.
The 46-year-old denied the comment was sexual despite being criticized on-air by his The Five co-hosts Jeanine Pirro and Dana Perino.
The crisis deepened Tuesday when Watters faced criticism from both parties, with Doug Emhoff’s ex-wife, Kerstin, and Republican Rep. Barbara Comstock expressing concerns about the comments.
Watters, who has repeatedly courted controversy (most notably for cheating on his first wife with a Fox colleague), refused to apologize on The Five last night as he frantically tried to clarify his comments.
Fox News pundit Jesse Waters has insisted a comment he made about Kamala Harris was “not suggesting anything sexual” following widespread backlash.
“There has been some attention to comments that were made yesterday on the show about Vice President Harris. People are misinterpreting my comments to mean something inappropriate,” he said.
“I was not suggesting anything of a sexual nature. I was expressing my view that Vice President Harris’ current leadership style could be a problem if she is elected.”
TORTURED ANALOGY
Watters had been discussing foreign policy and his criticism of Harris’ perceived lack of credentials when he made the controversial comment.
“What is her foreign policy?” the Fox host asked. “This is where the commander in chief has the most influence. We don’t know who she is. We don’t know what she believes,” he said.
“She will be paralyzed in the situation room while the generals do whatever they want with her,” he continued.
Doug Emhoff’s ex-wife responds after Fox News host Jesse Watters made controversial comment that generals will “do whatever they want” with the vice president if she is elected
Watters’ own co-hosts seemed taken aback by his crude suggestion.
“Jesse Watters,” co-host Judge Jeanine Pirro chided. “I don’t like that. Take it back.”
Watters, who left his first wife for a producer 14 years his junior and later married her, shook his head.
“figuratively,” he added quickly.
“Let them do whatever they want with her. Let them control her,” the Fox host continued. “Not in a sexual way,” Watters said.
In the background, co-host Greg Gutfeld appeared to be laughing.
Watters tried to downplay the awkward moment and get back to the point he was trying to make about Harris’s foreign policy.
«Ukraine is invading Russia and they are going to have her as commander in chief?»
“What is your foreign policy?” the Fox host asked Harris.
Kerstin Emhoff with her ex-husband Doug Emhoff and their daughter Ella. Doug Emhoff is married to Vice President Kamala Harris
A FIERCE REACTION
Despite Watters’ attempt to move on from the gaffe, viewers were left stunned by the Fox host’s unusual choice of words.
Among them was Kerstin Emhoff, the ex-wife of Harris’s husband, Doug Emhoff.
“There are many things to worry about, but Kamala being mistreated in the crisis room is not one of them,” he wrote on Twitter.
Emhoff has been a fierce defender of the vice president, who has been married to her ex-husband since 2014 after her first marriage ended in 2009.
Republican Congresswoman Barbara Comstock even weighed in on the controversy, calling Watters “the dumbest, most unpleasant man on Fox.”
“When even Fox hosts can’t stand intentional misogyny against @KamalaHarris from the dumbest and most disgusting man on Fox, Jesse Watters,” he wrote on X.
‘Brain Worms ‘Having Their Way’ In This Boy’s Head…’
Several users called for the Fox News host to be fired for it, calling his comment appalling, misogynistic, sexist, disgusting and repulsive.
Watters, 41, and his ex-wife Noelle Watters, 42, finalized their divorce after 10 years of marriage in March 2019.
After Watters began dating DiGiovine, he informed Fox about the consensual relationship and she was moved to The Ingraham Angle, another show on the network. The two continued dating after her job change.
American journalist Yashar Ali posted a clip of the moment and wrote: “Would Watters use this sexualised language when describing a straight man? Probably not!”
One person responded in the comments section: “A classic misogynist. He got called out and you can see him smiling. He didn’t say it innocently. He meant it that way.”
Someone else wrote: ‘Another day, another example of Jesse Watters’ sexism and misogyny.’
However, other viewers protested, saying the presenter did not intend for his statement to appear sexual.
“He said immediately afterward that he didn’t mean it sexually,” one onlooker said.
“You saw him. So you know he said he had no sexual intentions, why are you going there?” another asked.
Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
WATTERS WORLD
Watters’ crude attack on Harris was just the latest outrage for the right-wing pundit, who has earned a spot on the network with his feeble attempts at both humor and fact-checking.
Outside the studio, he had an infamous romance in 2017 with Emma DiGiovine, an associate producer on his show Watters’ World.
He admitted to cheating on his wife Noelle and they finalized their divorce in March 2019. Watters and DiGiovine married a few months later in Naples, Florida.
Watters tried to downplay the awkward moment and return to his main point: Harris’s unsophisticated foreign policy.
Watters first became known through his work on The O’Reilly Factor, where he appeared in a recurring segment, also called Watters’ World.
A segment of New York City’s Chinatown had been widely criticized for Openly mocking Chinese elderly who did not speak English. The piece also played on outdated and unfunny racial stereotypes.
In April 2017, while appearing on The Five, he made what many considered a crude sexual joke about Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka.
Watters put his hand to his mouth and said, “I don’t really understand what’s going on here, but I really liked the way he was talking into that microphone.”
The reaction was similar to his comment about Harris, and he claimed he only meant she looked like a DJ.
He then He abruptly announced that he was going on vacation.
Watters was criticized for comments he made about Ivanka Trump in 2017
Watters received criticism from his own colleagues when… ‘He explained with words’ to the victims of sexual abuse after allegations surfaced against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
“I would suggest to women – and I’ve gotten into trouble for saying this before – that they should slap the man in the face. And do it immediately,” she said.
Julie Roginsky, with whom Fox News settled a lawsuit in 2017 over allegations of sexual harassment by Chairman Roger Ailes, was particularly scathing.
“If women were to behave violently towards the harasser, their careers would be over. Many of them are subject to forced arbitration and confidentiality agreements when they start working,” she said.
“They weren’t able to tell their stories. Jesse’s best suggestion is that his male colleagues have a responsibility not to harass women.”
RISING STAR
In 2023, after Fox fired Tucker Carlson from the network, they hand-picked the rising star to fill the coveted 8 p.m. slot.
In late July, Watters sparked controversy after saying that women who vote for Kamala Harris have “mommy issues” and men who vote for her will turn into women.
“Voting for a woman just because she’s a woman?” she asked during an episode of The Five. “Is that childish or that person has issues with their mother or is just trying to be accepted by other women.”
The Fox host went on to make a joke about what happens to men who vote for women.
“I heard the other day that scientists said that when a man votes for a woman, he actually becomes a woman,” Watters said.
