Fox News’ resident macho man Jesse Watters – who built his professional reputation, as it is, by stalking liberals on camera, many of them women, on behalf of his predatory boss Bill O’Reilly – received a rhetorical slap in the face Thursday for his recommendation that women solve the problem of sexual harassment at work simply by spanking their male harassment.
“I would suggest that women – and I’ve gotten in trouble for saying this before – that you hit the man in the face. And you do it right away, ”Watters said in Wednesday’s episode The five during a discussion of the sexual harassment and unwanted touching allegations against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo “Because if you wait too long, the politician feels like he can keep doing this, and it doesn’t matter if it comes out a year or three years later. Do it immediately. When fresh. “
Several former Fox News women, who received money settlements and left the company after being the target of harassment on the Donald Trump-friendly channel, responded with devastating disgust at Watters’ recipe.
The responsibility to stop harassment, primarily a men’s issue, should not rest with a woman to resolve it.
Gretchen Carlson, former Fox News host
“Women across America are very happy that Jesse Watters spoke out against them,” former Fox News political analyst Julie Roginsky told The Daily Beast, “but Jesse Watters may have noticed while working for two harassers. [late Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes and O’Reilly] that women are already at risk of professional retaliation for not responding to the bully’s wishes. “
Roginsky – who left Fox News in 2017 after handling a sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit against the company, Ailes, and his deputy Bill Shine – added, “ If the women got violent with the perpetrator, their careers would be over. to be. Many are bound by forced arbitration and nondisclosure at the start of their jobs. They couldn’t tell their stories. Jesse’s better suggestion is to place the responsibility on his fellows for not bothering women. “
Former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson, whose sexual harassment charge against Ailes in July 2016 resulted in his disgrace being dropped, agreed.
“To propose that women beat their perpetrator is to re-victimize the victim in the sense of solving the problem they have nothing to do with,” Carlson told The Daily Beast. “The responsibility to stop harassment, primarily a male issue, should not rest with a woman to resolve it. It’s similar to other excuses that women have to leave their jobs or move to another department instead of looking at the real problem. It’s another cover-your-ass response rather than working on it to fix the problem. “
In a tweet, she addedNot to mention how crazy it is to assume that hitting a predator would somehow change them. And that it should be up to the woman to hit rather than predatory to just not bother. “
In an email response to The Daily Beast, Watters said he was misunderstood: “This type of predatory behavior must stop immediately and it is 100% the bully’s responsibility to stop it. My intention was to defend victims and hold inappropriate politicians to account – every other suggestion is a misinterpretation of what I said. “
Other women who spoke to The Daily Beast about Watters’ comment – some of whom signed nondisclosure agreements as part of cash settlement lawsuits – asked to remain anonymous for possible retaliation by Fox News Media or its parent company Fox Corp. to prevent.
“It’s easy to say ‘just slap him in the face’, and while that might encourage the woman in the short term, it would almost inevitably condemn her professional career, especially in broadcasting,” a former Fox said on-air -personality. If every man at Fox who made inappropriate comments was hit at that moment, there would be a lot of red-faced men walking through the network. And unfortunately, the women should never be allowed to look past security again. “
This woman added: “It is strange to see Fox take such an aggressive stance towards Governor Cuomo, who is pleading for him to resign. This is as Fox continues to put multiple hosts and contributors on the air who have been proven to do the same, if not worse, than the allegations against Cuomo. “
A second woman cited 42-year-old Watters’ reported history of divorcing his then-wife Noelle in March 2019 after she engaged in an extramarital affair with his 26-year-old associate producer, now-wife Emma DiGiovine. The officiant at their December 2019 wedding was then-Fox News anchor Ed Henry, who was fired last year after a Fox Business producer filed a graphics lawsuit accusing Henry of sexual assault.
“A man [Jesse Watters] having an affair with a much younger woman at work really has no place to tell women how to respond professionally when they are abused at work, ”this person said. “Violence is not an answer. It’s usually the one thing women fear most when their abusers are much bigger, heavier, and stronger than them. “
Attorney Douglas Wigdor, who has represented several Fox News prosecutors, told The Daily Beast: “It is a classic rape myth that women must somehow use their physical power to fend off men who attack them, while the The reality is that most women panic and freeze when assaulted. “
Wednesday night wasn’t the first time Watters has voiced widespread criticism for blunt comments about women. In April 2017, the Fox presenter gave some not-so-subtle sexual innuendo about Ivanka Trump and commented on a video of her speaking at a women’s rights conference, “I really liked how she spoke into that microphone,” as he watched his mouth gestured. and grinning. The next day, Watters denied the sexual overtones before announcing an abrupt ‘family vacation’.
Meanwhile, a former Fox News employee said, “I would buy tickets to watch Jesse Watters slap his former boss Bill O’Reilly. What do you say, anchorman? Are you hiding under your desk? Bill always said ‘what are you saying?’ and “hide under your desk” if guests wouldn’t show up after his broadcast to battle it out with him. Jesse Watters lacked the moral strength to stand behind the brave women of Fox News, all of whom lost their jobs after being sexually harassed in the place where he currently works. “
This woman added, “Now, in an incredible twist, he sees himself as the arbiter of sexual harassment. Only at Fox News could it get so perverse. But what else can we expect when Fox News founder Rupert Murdoch downplayed decades-long cover-up of sexual harassment as nothing more than a “ little bit of flirting. ” “
Diana Falzone was a camera and digital reporter before FoxNews.com from 2012 to 2018. In May 2017, she filed and settled a gender discrimination and disability lawsuit against the network, leaving the company in March 2018. Along with Roginsky and Carlson, she co-founder of Lift Our Voices, a nonprofit that seeks to eradicate workplace NDAs used to hide toxic workplace behavior.