Jesse Watters in damage control after sick sexual reference about Kamala Harris – in latest flub for Fox anchor

 

 

Fox News host Jesse Watters was last night in desperate damage-control mode after a comment he made about Kamala Harris was slammed by his female co-hosts and viewers.

Watters faced calls to resign after stating Harris would be ‘paralyzed’ by generals who ‘would have their way’ with her in the White House Situation Room.

The panel was discussing Harris’ strategic abilities when Watters said: ‘You have a lot of impact there, as Commander in Chief. We don’t know who she is, we don’t know what she believes.

‘She’s going to get paralyzed in the situation room while the generals have their way with her.’

Now, there are growing calls for him to resign.

Fox’s Watters says Harris will get ‘paralyzed’ in the situation room

Fox News pundit Jesse Watters has insisted a comment he made about Kamala Harris wasn’t ‘wasn’t suggesting anything sexual’ after widespread backlash

 Dana Perino, shocked by the remark, was the first to call him out during Monday night’s show.

‘Jesse Watters,’ she scolded him.

Jeanine Pirro added: ‘Ooh, Jesse. I don’t like that. Take it back.’

Watters, standing by his remarks, hit back: ‘Have their way with her – control her. Not in a sexual way.

The crisis deepened Tuesday as Watters was denounced by both sides of the aisle with Doug Emhoff‘s ex-wife Kerstin and Republican Congresswoman Barbara Comstock voicing anger over the comments.

Watters, who has repeatedly attracted controversy – not least by cheating on his first wife with a junior Fox colleague – refused to apologize on The Five last night as he frantically tried to clarify the remarks.

‘There has been some attention to comments made on the show yesterday about VP Harris. People are misconstruing my comments to mean something inappropriate.,’ he said.

‘I wasn’t suggesting anything of a sexual nature. I was expressing my opinion that VP Harris’ current leadership style could be an issue if elected.’

Tortured analogy

Watters was discussing foreign policy and criticizing Harris’ perceived lack of credentials when he dropped the controversial comment.

‘What is her foreign policy?’ the Fox host asked. ‘This is where the commander in chief has the most impact. We don’t know who she is. We don’t know what she believes,’ he said.

‘She’s gonna get paralyzed in the situation room while the generals have their way with her.’

Doug Emhoff’s ex-wife responds after Fox News host Jesse Watters made a controversial comment that generals will ‘have their way with’ the vice president if she is elected

Should Jesse Watters apologize?

Yes – the comment was offensive and misogynistic

No – He clarified his position on-air

Watters’ own co-hosts appeared to be shocked 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, then married her, shook his head.

‘Figuratively,’ he quickly added.

‘Have their way with her! Control her… Not in a sexual way.’

In the background, co-host Greg Gutfeld appeared to be laughing.

Watters attempted to brush off the awkward moment and return to the point he was attempting to make about Harris’ foreign policy.

‘Ukraine’s actually now invading Russia and you’re gonna have her as commander in chief?’ he said.

‘What is her foreign policy?’ the Fox host asked of Harris

Kerstin Emhoff with ex-husband Doug Emhoff and daughter Ella. Doug Emhoff is married to Vice President Kamala Harris

Fierce backlash

Despite Watters’ attempt to move past the blunder, viewers were stunned with the Fox’s host’s unusual choice of words.

Kerstin Emhoff, the ex-wife of Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff, was among them.

‘There are many things to worry about, but Kamala being manhandled in the situation room is not one of them,’ she wrote on Twitter.

Emhoff has been a fierce defender of the vice president, who has been married to her ex-husband since 2014 after his first marriage ended in 2009.

Republican Congresswoman Barbara Comstock even weighed in on the controversy, calling Watters the ‘dumbest and most obnoxious man on Fox.’

‘When even Fox Hosts can’t abide the intentional misogyny against @KamalaHarris by the dumbest and most obnoxious man on Fox, Jesse Watters,’ she wrote on X.

‘The brain worms that have “their way” in this boy’s head… ‘

Multiple social media users called for the Fox News host to be fired for it, calling his remark 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 started dating DiGiovine, he reported the consensual relationship to Fox and she was moved to The Ingraham Angle, another show on the network. The two continued to date after her job shift

American journalist Yashar Ali posted a clip of the moment and wrote: ‘Would Watters use this sexualized language when describing a straight man? He likely wouldn’t!’

One person replied in the comments section: ‘A classic misogynist. He was called out and you can see his smile. That wasn’t said innocently. He meant it that way.’

Someone else wrote: ‘Another day, another example of Jesse Watters’ sexism and misogyny.’

Other viewers, however, protested that the host did not mean for his statement to come across as sexual.

‘He said immediately afterwards he didn’t mean it sexually,’ one viewer said.

‘You watched it. So you know he said he didn’t mean it sexually, so why are you going there?’ another asked.

Fox News did not immediately return a request for comment.

Watters’ World 

Watters’ crude attack against Harris was just the latest scandal for the pundit.

In his personal life, he infamously had an affair in 2017 with Emma DiGiovine, an associate producer on his show Watters’ World who he later married.

He admitted to cheating on his wife Noelle, and they finalized their divorce in March 2019. Watters and DiGiovine married just months later in Naples, Florida.

Watters attempted to brush off the awkward moment and return to his main point: Harris’ unsophisticated foreign policy

Watters first became known through his work on The O’Reilly Factor, where he was featured in a recurring segment, also called Watters’ World.

One segment from New York City’s Chinatown was widely criticized for openly mocking elderly Chinese people who couldn’t speak English. The piece also played on dated and unamusing racial stereotypes.

In April 2017, while appearing on The Five, he made what many viewed as a crude sexual joke about Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka.

Watters moved his hand towards his mouth and said: ‘So, I don’t really get what’s going on here, but I really liked how she was speaking into that microphone.’

The backlash was similar to his comment about Harris, and he claimed he just meant she looked like a DJ.

He then abruptly announced he was going on holiday.

Watters was criticized over comments he made about Ivanka Trump in 2017

Watters caught flack from his own colleagues when he ‘mansplained’ to sexual abuse victims after allegations emerged against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

‘I would suggest that women – and I’ve gotten in trouble for saying this before – you slap the man in the face. And you do it immediately,’ he said.

Julie Roginsky, with whom Fox News settled a lawsuit in 2017 over claims she was sexually harassed by chairman Roger Ailes, was particularly scathing.

‘If the women got violent with the harasser their career would be over. Many are bound by forced arbitrations and NDAs at the start of their jobs,’ she said.

‘They couldn’t tell their stories. The better suggestion from Jesse is to put the onus on his fellow men to not harass women.’

Rising star

In 2023, after Fox fired Tucker Carlson from the network, they hand-picked the rising star to fill the coveted 8pm slot.

In late July, Watters raised eyebrows after he said that women who vote for Kamala Harris have ‘mommy issues’ and men who vote for her will turn into a woman.

‘Vote for a woman just because she’s a woman?’ he asked during an episode of The Five. ‘It’s either childish or that person has mommy issues or they’re just trying to be accepted by other women.’

The Fox host went on to make a joke abut what happens to men who vote for women.

‘I heard that scientists said the other day that when a man votes for a woman, he actually transitions into a woman,’ Watters said.