Jesse Watters, a controversial "political humorist" to Fox's rescue

With more than 20 years working at the network, and with some controversial issues behind him, he will be looking to make Tucker´s show a distant memory.

Published by

Israel Duro

27 de junio, 2023

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Fox News' pick to fill the void - and the ratings - of Tucker Carlson is a self-described "political humorist" whose career has been linked to the network from graduation to the present and has been involved in several high-profile controversies with politicians and celebrities. Jesse Watters will be hosting Jesse Watters Prime Time at 8 p.m. with his work as co-host of The Five.

At Fox since graduation

Born in Philadelphia 44 years ago, the son of "aging hippies" who disagree with his political views (he has shown several messages from his disappointed mother on his shows), he graduated, like Carlson, from Trinity University with a degree in Art and History. However, as soon as he earned his degree, he began working at Fox as a production assistant, where he worked his way up the ladder to the prime time slot.

He made his on-camera debut in 2004, on The O'Reilly Factor, where he popularized his "man-on-the-street" reporting, traveling to different locations while asking citizens about politics, pop culture and current events. In this role he starred in some of his first controversies, such as the persecution and "ambush" of journalist Amanda Terkel, editor-in-chief of ThinkProgress.org at the time. Watters and his cameraman drove for hours to question Terkel about her criticism of O'Reilly in an article. When years later a Huffington Post reporter approached him in the same way to demand that he apologize to Terkel, Watters threw their cell phone to the ground.

Controversies with the Asian community, John Podesta or Ivanka Trump

In 2016 another of his works cost him accusations of "racist" against the Asian community, being even criticized by then New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and the Asian American Journalists Association. Watters' crime was to ask Chinatown residents if they knew karate or if he could bow to greet them without having his watch stolen.

He later had more incidents for his accusations against Hilary Clinton's campaign manager, John Podesta, whom he accused in 2017 of simulating a computer attack by a Russian hacker who stole his emails when, in reality, he would have given him the password himself. That same year he landed his first weekly show, Watters' World, which aired Saturdays at 8 p.m. and a spot on The Five. His debut in this space was quite a resounding one, because just two days after starting his participation, some comments about Ivanka Trump earned him a sanction of several days off the air, having been accused of "lewdness." Also in 2017 he landed an exclusive interview with President Donald Trump aboard Air Force One.

Killing' Fauci

His career was at risk in December 2021 after Antony Fauci demanded his dismissal following comments during a show with "violent" language in which, according to the top health authority during the corona virus and the leftist media, he called on attendees to murder the doctor. However, the words were out of the context in which Watters used them: how to verbally confront Fauci and get viral videos.

Let's pretend this podium is Fauci. It's about the same size. You gotta ambush a guy like Fauci. This is how you do these ambushes like [conservative activist and Project Veritas founder James] O'Keefe. You've gotta be respectful. Because they'll turn the tables on you and you can't have it blow up in your face. So if you see Fauci out and about and you know he's coming to town this is how you approach. So now he's in trouble. Now you're going for the kill shot. The kill shot with an ambush, deadly. Because he doesn't see it coming. This is when you say. 'Dr. Fauci, you funded risky research at a sloppy Chinese lab. The same lab that sprung this pandemic on the world. You know why people don't trust you, don't you?' Booooooom. He's dead. He's done. Now you do that, 30 seconds, that's all you need. Now you get that footage to us. Imagine Tucker Carlson teases out of the block "coming up, brave college student confronts lord Fauci at dinner. Exclusive footage." Get us that. That's what we want.

Promotion at Fox

Fox refused to fire him and, in fact, promoted him, leaving him as the sole host of the 7 p.m. prime time slot, which was renamed Jesse Watters Primetime as of January 2022. After Tucker's dismissal, he has finally been chosen by Fox to at least try to alleviate the loss of audience.