‘He Should be Fired’: Joe Kennedy Says Jesse Waters ‘Kill Shot’ Comment Could Motivate Extremists
Former Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-MA) called for Fox News host Jesse Watters to be fired by the network following his comments about Dr. Anthony Fauci at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest summit.
Watters used the metaphor “kill shot” when he advised people at the conference to confront the politically polarizing chief White House medical advisor in recent days, telling the crowd, “Now you’re going for the kill shot. The kill shot with an ambush is deadly because he doesn’t see it coming. This is when you say ‘Dr. Fauci, you funded risky research at a sloppy Chinese lab, the same lab that sprung this pandemic on the world. You know why people don’t trust you, don’t you?’ Boom! He is dead! He is dead! He’s done!”
His comments have drawn both condemnation and praise. Kennedy joined The Lead with guest host Jim Sciutto on Tuesday to join a chorus of people who are calling for the Fox host to be fired.
Sciutto asked, “Joe Kennedy, does this worry you? The issue, of course, is most people probably just look at that as a metaphor or a cruel joke, but you do have the potential that extremists listen and might act.”
Kennedy responded:
He should be fired on the spot. There is no doubt about that. I don’t care if they’ll try to explain it as a joke or a metaphor or in the context of asking hard-hitting questions. Jesse Watters should know better than that. Fox News should know better than that.
We’re at a time when anybody in the public sphere, unfortunately, is dealing with threats to their well-being and the well-being of their loved ones. Or being an elected official. Death threats against members of Congress have gone up over 100 percent this past year alone. We’re coming on the anniversary of an insurrection on the Capitol where five police officers ended losing their lives because of the actions that took place.
There is no excuse for this. There should be accountability for it, and the dehumanization that comes with it, the idea that somehow if somebody were to believe that Mr. Watters was in fact, telling the truth or saying that, intending what those words actually insinuated, that somehow they would be glorified for it is disgusting. There is absolutely no place for it. And there needs to be accountability.
Fauci shared a nearly identical sentiment during an interview earlier Tuesday on CNN’s New Day when he said, “I mean that’s crazy. The guy should be fired on the spot.”
Fox News on Tuesday defended its host after Watters’ comments went viral online.
“Based on watching the full clip and reading the entire transcript,” the network said in a statement, “it’s more than clear that Jesse Watters was using a metaphor for asking hard-hitting questions to Dr. Fauci about gain-of-function research and his words have been twisted completely out of context.”
Watch above, via CNN.
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