First Bill O’Reilly, now his golden boy, Jesse Watters.
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Watters (yes, the same Watters who did that horrifyingly racist segment about Chinatown for The O’Reilly Factor) now has a sexual harassment scandal of his own. It comes just days after O’Reilly got ousted from Fox News over his own issues with respecting women.
During a segment about Ivanka Trump, Watters made a smug and inappropriate comment about how Trump was using her microphone.
WATCH: Jesse Watters on Fox News re Ivanka Trump: "I really like how she was speaking into that microphone" pic.twitter.com/HoJHLpMtq1
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) April 26, 2017
“It’s funny, you know, the left says they really respect women and then when given an opportunity to respect a women like that they boo and hiss,” he said. “So I don’t really get what’s going on here, but I really liked how she was speaking into that microphone,” making a gesture that to some people looked like he was simulating a blowjob. Honestly, if you watch the clip, the blowjob thing is debatable. But that doesn’t make his comment relevant, appropriate or OK.
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Watters later defended himself in a tweet, saying he was only talking about how Trump’s voice sounded.
On air I was referring to Ivanka's voice and how it resonates like a smooth jazz radio DJ. This was in no way a joke about anything else.
— Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) April 26, 2017
“On air I was referring to Ivanka’s voice and how it resonates like a smooth jazz radio DJ. This was in no way a joke about anything else,” he wrote.
OK, fine. Watters’ comment had a very icky feel to it, but even if he was referring to a BJ, it wasn’t quite as egregious as harassing half a dozen women and then paying them millions in out-of-court settlements in an attempt to keep it quiet. We will give him that.
Considering the image issues Fox News is facing lately, thanks in large part to the O’Reilly scandal, Watters’ comment clearly didn’t go over too well. In fact, during Wednesday’s episode of The Five, he announced that he’s taking an abrupt vacation. “I’m going to be taking a vacation with my family, so I’m not going to be here tomorrow,” he announced. “I’ll be back on Monday, so don’t miss me too much.”
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After The New York Times ran its explosive piece exposing O’Reilly’s and Fox News’ settlements in multiple sexual harassment claims, O’Reilly took a sudden unexpected vacation and never returned. Could Watters be next? We can only hope.
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