Why was Fox News' 'Watters' World' canceled? Jesse Watters faced multiple controversies while hosting show
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: In early January of 2022, Fox News announced the end of 'Watters' World' without giving any proper clarification, with many thinking that it might be due to his several controversies on the show.
'Watters' World', which ran between 2015 and 2022, was undoubtedly Fox News' one of the most popularly watched shows and had been a turning point in Watters' career as he got to run a one-man show.
Fortunately, the network soon announced that Watters' will soon get his very own primetime show, making him one of the more prominent hosts on Fox News.
Controversies faced by Jesse Watters on 'Watters' World'
While hosting 'Watters' World', Jesse Watters was riddled with multiple controversies as he chased stories and potential interviewees on the streets, right from the time it was just a segment on 'The O'Reilly Factor'.
Journalist Amanda Terkel wrote a piece on HuffPost, recalling a 2009 incident of her getting "ambushed" by the Fox News host just for an interview. He had apparently done so in response to the journalist writing a negative piece on Bill O'Reilly.
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"Watters accosted me on the street and asked why I was causing "pain and suffering" to rape victims and their families," wrote Terkel.
She added, "He never introduced himself and didn't give any context for what he was saying -- he simply shouted questions as I tried to switch out of vacation mode and remember the short post I had written weeks earlier."
Another major controversy was when Watters visited New York's Chinatown in 2016 and did a segment apparently filled with false stereotyping of Asians, especially Chinese Americans. He faced major backlash from all over the country for his behavior which was considered racist by many viewers, as per Variety.
Later, Watters took to Twitter (now X) to address the issue, writing, "My man-on-the-street interviews are meant to be taken as tongue-in-cheek and I regret if anyone found offense."
He also added, "As a political humorist, the Chinatown segment was intended to be a light piece, as all Watters World segments are," in a subsequent post.
My man-on-the-street interviews are meant to be taken as tongue-in-cheek and I regret if anyone found offense.
— Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) October 5, 2016
As a political humorist, the Chinatown segment was intended to be a light piece, as all Watters World segments are.
— Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) October 5, 2016
In 2020, Watters also got into trouble for apparently showing support for the far-right conspiracy movement, QAnon.
He allegedly remarked, "They've also uncovered a lot of great stuff when it comes to Epstein and it comes to the deep state," adding, "I never saw Q as dangerous as Antifa," as per Insider.
However, Watters later told the publication that he doesn't support or believe in the QAnon theories.
Which show replaced Fox News' 'Watters' World'?
On January 10, 2022, it was announced that Fox News' 'Watters' World' would come to an end, but he was soon given the 'Jesse Watters Primetime' show, which was to run on the 7 pm time slot for the weekdays, replacing Martha MacCallum.
Later, he was moved to the Tucker Carlson slot of 8 pm after the latter was fired from the network.
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Watters' controversies seemed to have not affected his career at the network as he had managed to bag major shows like 'The Five' and have a dedicated viewership over the years as a journalist.