Sidekick cell phone hunting camouflage11/23/2023 ![]() It was in his role as O’Reilly’s underling that he first rose to wider attention in 2016, when he hosted a segment from New York City’s Chinatown. ![]() That wasn’t Watters’ first brush with controversy. Fauci received death threats – and the furore started by Watters when he suggested, in 2021, that people should “ambush” Anthony Fauci and “go in for the kill shot” by presenting the infectious diseases expert with conspiracy theories. What went unsaid was the role rightwing media and politicians played in demonizing Fauci during the pandemic. “Taxpayers are still paying for Fauci’s security,” Watters said, claiming that documents obtained by his show revealed that Fauci was receiving a government security detail, despite no longer working for the government. Some of those viewers appear to have headed to NewsMax, the right-wing channel whose viewership has more than doubled since Carlson left.Īs Watters began his quest to lure back an audience, he continued to roll out some Fox News greatest hits, treating those watching to a retro attack on Anthony Fauci, who stepped down as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in December.įauci, who as America’s top public health official led the response to the Covid-19 pandemic, became a Carlson bete noire during the coronavirus outbreak, and Watters clearly shares a fascination with the expert. The channel averaged 1.42m primetime viewers in May, the first full month since Carlson’s departure, down 37% from the same month a year earlier. ![]() ![]() Watters’ debut in the 8pm slot – traditionally the most-prestigious hour at a cable news channel – came as Fox News attempts to claw back viewers who ditched the network after Carlson left. “I think if you had to look at someone there, I would think – and again, no proof here – that Hunter is the obvious culprit,” Belfort said. Kayleigh McEnany, Watters’ Fox News colleague and Donald Trump’s fourth, and final, White House press secretary, had previously suggested there was “no way” Hunter Biden could be responsible, but Watters prodded Belfort along, asking whether he had seen “any suspicious activity out of Hunter”. The obvious person to point to is Hunter Biden.” “Obviously, I don’t know for sure,” Belfort said. He added: “We hope Hunter’s not involved with the coke,” before bringing on Jordan Belfort, aka the actual Wolf of Wall Street, who Watters described as a “former cocaine addict” and who very much does believe that Hunter is involved with the coke. “We’ve told you before, this was either a White House staffer or a close family member,” Watters said. On Monday, the attack on Joe Biden’s son, who has admitted to struggling with addiction, took the form of insinuating that Hunter might be responsible for the cocaine found at the White House last week. The network had promised that the 45-year-old would bring his “fresh take on the major headlines of the day” to the vacant 8pm slot, but while Watters, with his signature sharp suit, big quiff and smirk, might differ stylistically from Carlson’s upset-man-at-the-country-club shtick, the substance of Jesse Watters Primetime was no major departure.įirst was Hunter Biden, the long-standing bogeyman for Fox News hosts and viewers. For Watters, it’s the culmination of two decades’ work – some of it infamous – at Fox News. Standard Fox News fare, in other words, as the channel attempts to steady the ship following Carlson’s unceremonious booting from Fox News, allegedly at the behest of Rupert Murdoch, in April. ![]() Instead, in his big debut, Watters essentially performed a Carlson tribute act, complete with unsubstantiated allegations against Hunter Biden, some bashing of Anthony Fauci, and the obligatory attacks on trans people. ![]()
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