You'd think that after Fox News' sexual harassment scandal Bill O'Reilly would tone down his show's trademark testosterone infused sexism. But as we saw in a recent Watters' World, some Fox traditions never change!
Jesse Watters is Bill O'Reilly's paid stalker. When O'Reilly was unhappy about a female journalist's coverage of him, he sent Watters out to, literally, stalk her. Since that ugly incident, Watters' stalking consists of seemingly benign and humorous interviews with shapely, scantily clad (or naked) women whose comments are cleverly edited to make them look stupid all while Watters is ogling them. At the end of the segment, Bill provides some wry commentary.
Not surprisingly, Watters comments are not so clever sexual double entendres. Not surprisingly, when universities host activities surrounding sex and sexuality, Watters is right there advance his big daddy O'Reilly's message, to his senior citizen audience, that today's colleges (particularly Ivy schools) are hotbeds of sexual sin and, yes, "debauchery." (Something that O'Reilly should be familiar with, but I digress!) Watters' interviews are a form of sexual harassment but that doesn't seem to be a problem for Bill O'Reilly who is still, according to former Fox host Andrea Tantaros, doing his sexual harassment thing.
Last week's Watters World was more of the same sceevy O'Reilly/Watters playbook when Watters took his sexual stalking/harassment to Cooney Island where he spoke with folks (mostly women in bikinis) at the Sports Illustrated Summer of Swim Fan Festival. While, ostensibly, the questions were about the state of American politics, it was really an opportunity for Watters to ogle the women.
As usual, he interjected right wing politics. He asked somebody why they didn't support Trump and when they referenced the southern border wall, he oh, so cleverly said that the White House has a wall around it. (Oh, snap?) Suffice to say, those who supported Trump were given more time to explain their reasons why. To somebody who said that they couldn't support Hillary, Watters, "joked" that "she's got nothing."
At the end of the piece, back at the Fox locker room (men only), Papa Bill provided the requisite metaphorical towel slapping. Lots of male guffawing was heard when Bill said the piece was "pointless." Watters: "That was your idea." More joking ensued about the pointlessness of the piece. Bill's clever double entendre, about the nice, beach "scenery," was patently obvious. Watters smirked: "You like the scenery." After Bill said that he didn't get the theme, Watters accused O'Reilly of having "been distracted."
Ewww. After writing this, I feel the need for a shower. But seriously, O'Reilly once said that Sandra Fluke's advocacy for contraception coverage was "degrading to women." If Watters' World isn't degrading to women, I don't know what is. Hey Bill, the 50's called, they want their misogyny back!
“Go out and find me five college students who can’t find Mexico on a map of North America, and at least three with nipples at attention. I don’t care if it takes you all week!”
Now if Watters’ Whirled Wide World was broadcast live, that would be a different matter… “Get outa my face, pervert!”, “O’Reilly so sucks!”, “You’re from Fox? Eff off!”. I wonder how many security staff he needs to stay safe on the streets.
I know. His puritanical head would explode at the thought.