O'Reilly's Correspondent Jesse Watters is Stepping Up in the World - Now Has a New Show on Fox News
Image credit: Fox News
The first time Fox News' Jesse Watters was on television, he was trolled.
He was a high schooler being interviewed for a local news channel in Philadelphia about pop duo Milli Vanilli, who were stripped of their Grammy award after it was revealed they weren’t actually the ones singing on their records.
But when the segment was played that night, a woman's voice was dubbed over his interview, a play on the lip syncing scandal, he told IJ.com in an interview:
“I kind of got probably a little spoofed the first time I was on TV, which is funny.”
Now, Watters is the one who does the spoofing. The star of “O'Reilly Factor” segment “Watters' World,” he asks people on the street, usually young people, about news, history, and politics.
Usually, they have no clue what they're talking about.
The segment is now getting spun into its own monthly show, premiering Saturday, that will air until the 2016 election.
Sitting in the cafe at Fox News' Manhattan headquarters, Watters wore a green tie, loosened, and a blue suit.
He's charming and self-effacing. When he was in Florida to ask people about Columbus Day last month, he wore Chubbies shorts and popped the collar of his polo shirt. He's a college Republican bro grown up.
He was kicked off campus, and immortalized in a “Mallard Fillmore” strip.
Salon has called him “O'Reilly's horrible sidekick,” “Fox News' dimmest bulb,” and its “biggest creep.”
But Watters says he isn't out to upset people.
“I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings,” Watters says:
“I go into it thinking how can I listen to them and have them share with me their thoughts and opinions in a way that doesn't come across as mean.”
When he was at the University of Missouri for a segment that aired Monday, he didn't get into any arguments on camera. Instead, it ended in hugs — two women, one black and one white, hugging after talking about race.
Then he hugged them both.
“They don't even care if they look stupid or not, which says something.”
For example, he'll ask people what country the U.S. declared independence from and hear answers like France, Germany, and Russia.
“I'll correct them,” he says:
“Then at the end of the interview, they know they didn't do well, but then they'll say, 'where can I see this?' I'm like, well, I don't know if you really want to see it.”
Watters took a job after college working for Dora Irizarry, the Republican candidate for New York attorney general in 2002. After the election, he was hired at Fox News as a production assistant, but was almost fired by O'Reilly after being mistaken for an intern and bombing during a pitch meeting for the show. O'Reilly thought he was “inarticulate.”
But Watters ended up not being fired, O'Reilly thought up the “Watters' World” segment idea for him, and he ended up meeting his wife, who was also a Fox News employee, at an after party at Shepard Smith's house.
"I always say when you watch 'Watters' World,' you laugh, but then you cry,” he says:
“I think our country's in bad shape right now. I think if more people were paying attention, it'd be in better shape, so obviously I would like people to be a little more informed.”
Sometimes, his segments are “wake-up calls” to the young people he interviews. “I tell people, just read the newspaper, go to a few websites, go to FoxNews.com, maybe try watching 'O'Reilly' every once in a while.”
I ask him how he'd do if the tables were turned. What if young people asked him about pop culture? Could he even name the Kardashians?
“I keep up enough to know who Kim Kardashian is,” he says. “I watched the Kardashians last night with my wife, so I might be able to get some of those right, but don't try that on the street. I don't want people coming up to me asking me about pop culture.”
Editor's note: This article was edited for content after publication.
