‘The View’ Host Calls Out Jesse Watters’ ‘Racist’ Fire Comments
Sunny Hostin did not mince words when she condemned Fox News host Jesse Watters for his comments blaming the L.A. fires on “woke politics and DEI.”
On Monday’s The View, the hosts discussed the aftermath of the fires and Hostin brought up Watters’ comments from the January 8 broadcast of Jesse Watters Primetime. “That was just complete—not only misinformation, but it was racist, and I think we need to also call stuff like that out,” Hostin said.
During the Primetime segment last week, Watters questioned “why there wasn’t any water coming out of the fire hydrants” while blaming California governor Gavin Newsom for the shortage of water to fight the historic fires’ spread.
“Los Angeles has had two years of record rainfall. It hasn’t rained this much year to year since the 1800s,” Watters said. “Gavin’s been tearing down dams. Why? Because the Indians wanted some of their river back so they could catch salmon. Gavin didn’t just knock down one dam for the Indians, he knocked down all four.”
Watters added, “Gavin’s literally tearing down Western civilization for fish and Indians,” ending his segment by saying, “Nothing against the Indians.”
The Fox host had also made headlines with his comments blaming firefighters’ response to the disaster on “California’s woke politics” and implying women were inadequate to run fire departments. Only three of the 12 top positions in L.A.’s fire department—including fire chief Kristin M. Crowley—are held by women, according to Salon.
Hostin said Monday that she was “disgusted” by Watters’ comments. “Who I don’t applaud is someone like Jesse Watters on Fox News,” she said.
“It was unbelievable, I thought [his comments were] fake news. He said that California’s ‘woke politics and DEI’ are the reasons for the fires because Newsom has been tearing down dams, because [of] Native Americans—but called them ‘Indians,’” she explained. “This is stolen land, first of all, OK? California is stolen land. Second of all, that’s part of what always happens. These dams—there’s preservation of the dams.”
Co-host Ana Navarro sidestepped Hostin’s comments to share her latest gripe with Donald Trump: “I think what this has shown us is, for people who thought that Donald Trump has changed, he has not changed. He is the same immature, insensitive, inappropriate oaf that he’s always been,” she said, criticizing his lack of appropriate public response to the fire catastrophe.
Navarro continued, “What he should be doing right now is putting out tweets saying, ‘I thank the heroic first responders. I thank the countries of Canada and Mexico and all the others who’ve helped. I thank the surrounding states that have sent help. I have talked to Governor Newsom. I have talked to Mayor Bass. I have told him that my administration, in seven days, will be ready to supply everything and anything that California needs. Californians, my thoughts are with you.’ Those are the things you have to say. If you need help in figuring it out, look at everything that Joe Biden has said for the last four years after a natural disaster.”