Fox News resident macho Jesse Watters – who built his professional reputation as it is, chasing liberals on camera, many of them women, on behalf of his predatory boss Bill O’Reilly – received a rhetorical slap on the face Thursday for his recommendation that women solve the problem of sexual harassment in the workplace simply by slapping their male harassers.
“I would suggest that women – and I’ve had trouble saying that before – you slap the man in the face. And you do that right away, ”said Watters in Wednesday’s episode of The five during a discussion of allegations of sexual harassment and unwanted touches against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. “Because if you wait too long, the politician feels he can keep doing it, and it doesn’t matter if he leaves one or three years later. Do this immediately. When it is cool. “
Several Fox News ex-women, who received monetary deals and left the company after being targeted by harassers on Donald Trump’s friendly channel, reacted to Watters’ prescription with overwhelming disgust.
“The responsibility for stopping harassment, especially a male problem, should not rest with the woman to fix it.“
– Gretchen Carlson, former Fox News host
“Women across America are delighted to have Jesse Watters honoring them,” former Fox News political analyst Julie Roginsky told the Daily Beast, “but Jesse Watters may have watched 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 following the harasser’s wishes ”.
Roginsky – who left Fox News in 2017 after ending sexual harassment and retaliation against the company, Ailes, and his deputy, Bill Shine – added: “If women became violent towards the harasser, their career would be over. Many are bound by forced arbitration and NDAs at the start of their work. They couldn’t tell their stories. Jesse’s best suggestion is to place the burden on his companions of not harassing women. “
Former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson, whose sexual harassment process against Ailes in July 2016 resulted in his disgrace expulsion, agreed.
“To suggest that women should slap their perpetrator is to re-victimize the victim in the sense that they should fix the problem that they have nothing to do with,” Carlson told The Daily Beast. “The responsibility for stopping harassment, especially a man’s problem, should not fall on a woman to fix it. It is similar to other excuses that women should leave their jobs or move to another department, instead of looking at the real problem. It is another disguise reaction, instead of working to fix the problem. “
In a tweet, she added, “Not to mention how stupid it is to assume that slapping a predator would change them in any way. And that it should be up to the woman to slap instead of a predatory one just so as not to harass. “
In an email response to The Daily Beast, Watters said it was misinterpreted: “This type of predatory behavior needs to stop immediately and it is 100% the harasser’s responsibility to stop it. My intention was to defend the victims and hold inappropriate politicians accountable – any suggestion otherwise is a misinterpretation of what I said. “
Other women who spoke to The Daily Beast about Watters’ comment – several of whom signed confidentiality agreements as part of cash settlements in lawsuits – asked to remain anonymous in order to avoid potential retaliation by Fox News Media or its parent Fox Corp.
“It’s simple to say, ‘just slap him in the face,’ and while this may attract short-term applause from the woman, it would almost inevitably condemn her professional career, especially in broadcasting,” said a former Fox personality on the air. “If every man on Fox who made inappropriate comments was slapped at that moment, you would have a lot of red-faced men walking through the net. And, unfortunately, women would never again be allowed to go through security to see. “
This woman added: “It is strange to see Fox taking such an aggressive position towards Governor Cuomo, asking for his resignation. This, given that Fox continues to put on the air several hosts and collaborators that are proven to do the same, if not worse, than the accusations against Cuomo ”.
A second woman cited Watters’ 42-year history of divorce from his then wife Noelle in March 2019 after getting involved in an extramarital affair with his 26-year-old associate producer, now wife Emma DiGiovine. The officiant at his wedding in December 2019 was then Fox News anchor Ed Henry, who was fired last year when a Fox Business producer filed a graphic lawsuit accusing Henry of sexual abuse.
“A man [Jesse Watters] whoever had an affair with a much younger woman at work really has no place to tell women how they should react professionally when abused at work, ”said that person. “Violence is not an answer. It is usually the one thing that women fear the most when their attackers are much bigger, heavier and stronger than them. “
Lawyer Douglas Wigdor, who represented several Fox News accusers, told The Daily Beast: “It is a classic rape myth that women should somehow use their physical power to ward off men who attack them, when the reality is that most women panic and freeze when sexually abused. “
Wednesday night was not the first time that Watters received widespread criticism for dirty comments about women. In April 2017, the Fox presenter made some not-so-subtle sexual hints about Ivanka Trump, commenting on a video of her speaking at a women’s rights conference: “I really liked how she was speaking on that microphone” while gesturing at towards his mouth and smiling. The next day, Watters denied the sexual connotations 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, anchor? Are you hiding under your table? Bill always used to say ‘what do you say?’ and ‘you are hiding under your table’ when the guests would not show up after your challenge in the air to duel with him. Jesse Watters did not have the moral courage to be with any of Fox News’s brave women, all of whom lost their jobs after being sexually harassed where he is currently employed. “
This woman added: “Now, in an incredible twist, he imagines himself to be the arbiter of sexual harassment. Only on Fox News could this be so perverse. But what else can we expect when Fox News founder Rupert Murdoch lessened the cover-up of decades-old sexual harassment as nothing more than a ‘little flirt’. ”
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Diana Falzone was a digital and digital reporter for FoxNews.com from 2012 to 2018. In May 2017, she filed a lawsuit for gender discrimination and disability against the network and struck a deal, leaving the company in March 2018. Together with Roginsky and Carlson, Is it over there co-founded Lift Our Voices, a nonprofit organization that seeks to eradicate workplace NDAs used to hide toxic behavior in the workplace.