Don’t hold your breath, Biden administration.
Yesterday, Jesse Watters didn’t let a very tense global situation stop him from letting his bigotry ratchet it up a bit further.
WATTERS: We -- and when I say we -- I mean, the West and western technology have created the Middle East. We made them rich. We got that oil out of the ground, our military protects all of these oil shipments flying around the world, making them rich. We fund their military. We respect their kings. We kill their terrorists. Okay? But we've had it. We've had it with them.
Obama, Trump, now Biden have tried to get the heck out of that stupid desert. Just as we're about to get out, because we have this great balance of power we're arranging, these crazy Muslim fanatics come in and massacre over a thousand of our allies. And hold Jewish people hostage, hold Americans hostage.
And so, if you're an Arab American in this country, and you rip down posters of Jewish hostages, of American hostages -- no. No, no, no. Someone is going to get punched in the face. When you rip down posters of hostages like that, this is -- absolutely not. And the New York Times, the second sentence, Greg, that I thought was even worse, "Whose suffering should command public attention and sympathy?"
At least he didn’t wear his trademark smirk as he said what he knew could cause violence to Arab Americans who have nothing to do with Hamas or even the Israeli war in Gaza.
It’s even more disgusting given that just two weeks ago, a six-year-old Palestinian boy was stabbed to death in Illinois, just because he was Muslim.
The White House referenced that horrific murder when it responded to Watters and demanded that Fox apologize (emphases mine):
In a statement emailed to Mediaite, White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates responded to Watters: “These hateful lies about ‘Arab Americans and…the Muslim world’ highlight the urgency of President Biden’s work to ensure hate has no safe harbor in America, and why he committed to the first national anti-Islamophobia strategy in our history.”
“These unacceptable remarks come just weeks after the heartbreaking killing of a 6-year-old Palestinian-American child, and during a spike in threats against Muslim and Arab Americans. Fox News owes an apology to every single viewer for this sickening attack on the rights and dignity of their fellow Americans. President Biden will always stand up against Islamophobia, antisemitism, and all forms of hate. Fox News should learn from his example,” Bates concluded.
Oh, and if you needed any further proof that Fox doesn't care about facts, there's this:
Could not make this up.@FoxNews today: "Fox Digital asked the White House...if there would be a national strategy to combat antisemitism" https://t.co/5RtPU2UdHm
— Andrew Bates (@AndrewJBates46) November 2, 2023
Fox News in May: "White House unveils first-ever national strategy to combat antisemitism" https://t.co/lZKUFyrHit
One of the tragedies of Fox News is that sickening, bigoted attacks on the rights and dignities of Americans, especially Muslims, is the stock-in-trade of the Murdoch network – when they’re not overtly promoting violence against Americans, that is. Watters’ smarmy bigotry is not just a regular feature but it undoubtedly helped to get him promoted to Tucker Carlson’s old spot.
So don’t expect an apology any time soon. CNN’s Oliver Darcy pointed out that this is far from the first time Watters has made disgusting comments about Muslims since the Israel-Hamas war broke out. A real news organization would have immediately apologized and publicly reprimanded Watters, Darcy continued.
But for Fox News, hate-for-profit is a core part of its business model.
You can watch Watters prove that point below, from the November 1, 2023 The Five, via Media Matters.
