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Jon Taffer slammed as he likens out-of-work employees to hungry dogs: 'Straight up fascism'

Jon Taffer was speaking to Laura Ingraham when he made the comment and even apologized in the aftermath

American entrepreneur and television personality Jon Taffer, best known as the host of the reality series ‘Bar Rescue’ on the Paramount Network, while speaking about American restaurant employees receiving Covid-19 unemployment benefits on ‘The Ingraham Angle’ on Fox News made some unsavory comments. Taffer suggested to host Laura Ingraham that these workers were being incentivized to laze about rather than find employment again.

“I had a friend in the military who trains military dogs,” Taffer said in the conversation with Ingraham. “They only feed a military dog at night, because a hungry dog is an obedient dog. Well, if we are not causing people to be hungry to work, then we’re providing them with all the meals they need sitting at home.”

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During the interview with Ingraham, Taffer said that while he was not an economics professor, he believed that a two-person household jointly receiving $1600 in unemployment benefits per week was being demotivated from the job hunt. He reportedly said that the median income for an American household was $63,000 annually and the recipients were getting about $20,000 more than that ballpark figure. Taffer, during the exchange, proposed that the government gave these “additional benefits” to employers to incentivize people to go to work.

Ingraham then proposed that unemployment benefits should be slashed altogether — not for the “truly hungry,” only for those “who can work but refuse to work.” She said, “the government is literally putting anvils in many ways on people’s shoulders either through the mandates, regulations and now through free money… The Piper eventually has to be paid.”

This conversation, especially Taffer’s comments were panned on social media. One person tweeted, “Why is it that rich people think the only way to motivate people in need is to take money away, while the only way to motivate rich people is to give them more money?” Another person said, “Are they gleefully comparing American citizens to dogs and saying it would be better to starve struggling families? How is this a popular or even acceptable argument, even for Fox News?”

Another person reported, “Laura Ingraham’s net worth: $40 million. Jon Taffer’s net worth: $14 million. As our economic system continues to fall apart, rich conservatives are advocating for survival of the fittest. This is called a FAILED ideology.”

One former fan of Taffer wrote, “Wow... I kinda used to have respect for Jon Taffer after all the episodes of Bar Rescue I watched, but advocating starvation to encourage work is straight up fascism.” Another person wrote, “I'm always amazed when guys like Jon Taffer go on TV and compare restaurant employees to dogs. Like hey, good luck next time you're at a restaurant, my dude.”

Taffer apologized in the aftermath. He wrote on Twitter, “Regarding an interview I did yesterday, I want to sincerely apologize for using a terrible analogy in reference to the unemployment situation. That was not my intention and I greatly regret it.”

He added, “My comment was an unfortunate attempt to express a desire for our lives to return to normal. I recognize this has been a challenging year for everyone, and I am eager for the hospitality industry to come back stronger than ever.”