Fox News correspondent Jesse Watters sparked a protest in front of the Manhattan Fox News headquarters on Thursday afternoon for his ambush-style interviews on the streets of Chinatown that were played on Fox’s Bill O’Reilly Show. One of the videos protested shows Watters asking two young women if he should bow. Then he asks another man if his merchandise is “hot” (stolen). All the while “Kung Fu Fighting” is playing in the background. It gets worse.
The segment provoked an uproar among social media users, and Asian-American groups denounced it. The Asian-American Journalists Association said it was “outraged and shocked” and demanded an apology from the network.
“We should be far beyond tired, racist stereotypes and targeting an ethnic group for humiliation and objectification on the basis of their race,” the group said in a statement. “Sadly, Fox News proves it has a long way to go in reporting on communities of color in a respectful and fair manner.”
Here is a tweet by Eric Fish (@ericfish85) with an image of Thursday afternoon’s protesters.
Here is the protested “Watters’ World” video:
Liam Stack with the New York Times reports:
The segment provoked an uproar among social media users, and Asian-American groups denounced it as flat-out racist. The Asian-American Journalists Association said it was “outraged and shocked” and demanded an apology from the network.
“We should be far beyond tired, racist stereotypes and targeting an ethnic group for humiliation and objectification on the basis of their race,” the group said in a statement. “Sadly, Fox News proves it has a long way to go in reporting on communities of color in a respectful and fair manner.”
The influential blog Angry Asian Man, founded by Phil Yu, a Korean-American, described the segment in a post as “a new low, even for Fox News.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted out his disgust on Wednesday:
Watters has been trying to walk it back on his Twitter page (@jessebwatters) to no avail.
Read Liam Stack’s full story at the New York Times.
Related Stories