Fox News host Jesse Watters claimed Wednesday that women journalists have sex with their sources “all the time” in order to get scoops.
Discussing the backlash over Clint Eastwood’s new movie Richard Jewell, which depicts the late journalist Kathy Scruggs as trading sex for stories, Watters waved off the controversy over the film’s potentially malicious claims.
“Just as an example, this happens all the time,” the Fox News host declared. “Ali Watkins was a reporter for many, many years at many distinguished publications. She slept with one of her sources, allegedly, for four years and broke a lot of scoops according to this Politico report here.”
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After citing one real-life example of a female journalist having an affair with a Washington insider, Watters reiterated that this “happens a lot” before wondering why Eastwood is getting grief over it.
“It happens a lot in movies and TV shows,” he exclaimed. “Just a list right here. Fletch!”
As co-host Greg Gutfeld busted out laughing, Watters continued to list off other films while claiming this is “all over Hollywood,” grousing that liberals are bellyaching over a film made by a right-leaning director.
Moments later, liberal co-host Juan Willams called Watters out, saying he had a problem with the suggestion that most women reporters use sex to get scoops.
“I don’t think most women reporters,” Watters replied. “I think male reporters do too. Just saying it happens. Just saying it happened many times in the past!”
This isn’t the first time the former Bill O’Reilly protégé has said something on the air that would be considered sexist or misogynist. In April 2017, Watters took a “vacation” following outrage after he said he “really liked how” Ivanka Trump was speaking into a microphone, all while gesturing towards his mouth.
