Fox News reporter Jesse Watters issued a non-apology on Wednesday to the people who were offended by a segment that aired earlier this week during which he derided Asian people in New York City.
The Watters World segment, which featured Watters “interviewing” Asian people about Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, relied on racist stereotypes meant to make fun of Asian culture.
In two tweets, Watters called himself a “political humorist” who was doing “a light piece” that was meant to be taken as “tongue-in-cheek.” He noted that he regretted “if anyone found offense.”
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
The segment aired Monday night. Watters’ apology came three days later following widespread backlash.
Watters’ apology is disingenuous at best. He is, in fact, fully capable of conducting man-on-the-street interviews about Trump without relying on racial stereotypes. As Washington Post pointed out, Watters asked Trump supporters at a rally in mid-September what they thought about being “deplorable” as Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton had ascribed them. Not once did he fall back on tropes about white people.
A slew of Asian journalists, advocacy groups, and lawmakers have spoken out against Watters’ tone-deaf segment since it aired.
New York State Sen. Daniel Squadron (D), whose district covers Chinatown, said that Watters’ segment held a “thinly veiled disdain for immigrants,” paralleling it with Trump’s own bombastic language that has made disrespect “commonplace in our national discourse.”
Trump’s campaign speeches haven’t exactly helped him win over a majority of Asian voters — he even faked an Asian accent last year. Trump has also made claims that Mexicans are rapists, criminals, and drug dealers and that Syrian refugees could be a “Trojan horse,” or potential terrorists.
Local lawmakers like Assemblymember Ron Kim and Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) plan to protest Watters in front of the Fox News offices on Thursday afternoon.