Jesse Watters has finally put his invincible ego aside and is listening to his mother.
“I went to visit my mom this weekend and she made me wear gloves to come inside of her house. She is suspicious that I might have coronavirus,” the Fox News host said on The Five Monday afternoon. “I wore the gloves all afternoon in the house. That’s what it is.”
“I didn’t take the social distancing that seriously Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night. I went out to dinner here in the city,” he admitted. “And I woke up this morning I realized that was not the right move. I am no longer going out to dinner.”
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He was just trying to “support” his local restaurants, Watters told his co-hosts. But now he’s all stocked up on groceries, including five bottles of wine and a bottle of vodka. “So I’m good for about a week.”
While that might all sound reasonable enough, it was a major reversal from the tone he was striking on air prior to this past weekend. Even by Fox News standards, Watters was among the worst offenders when it came to downplaying the severity of the outbreak in recent weeks.
Early on, Watters, who infamously presented perhaps the most racist segment in Fox News history, was indignantly demanding a formal apology from China from bringing the virus to America. Then he began arrogantly boasting that if he were to contract the coronavirus, he would “beat it.”
“I’m not lying. It’s called the power of positive thinking and I think America needs to wake up to that,” Watters said less than two weeks ago. “I live in Manhattan, I got off work the other night, went straight to the subway. Asian guy sits down next to me, mask on. What do I do? Finish the ride, then I go home and I order Chinese food. I’m not afraid of the coronavirus and no one else should be that afraid either.”
So what made Watters wake up to the fear of the growing pandemic? It may have to do with an overall change in attitude on Fox now that President Trump has been forced to take the virus more seriously himself. But given the way Watters framed his comments, it does seem that it had more to do with his mother, an avowed liberal who is consistently embarrassed and ashamed of her openly racist son as evidenced by the texts she sends him on a regular basis.
Watters started owning himself by reading those texts aloud to The Five viewers. One recent example: “I hope your Squad criticism can be just a tad more measured today… perhaps try not to communicate such disdain for diversity. Please don’t sound like an old white guy who lacks any understanding of otherness.” She added, “Love you so.”
