Fox News’ Jesse Watters Retracts Comments Praising QAnon: ‘A Fringe Platform’ That ‘I Don’t Support or Believe In’
Fox News host Jesse Watters has retracted comments he said on Saturday that seemed to praise the conspiracy theory movement known as QAnon, calling the group a “fringe platform.”
Watters’ original comments came on Saturday’s showing of his program, Watters’ World, during an interview with Eric Trump, the son of President Donald Trump.
Watters and Trump discussed “censorship” by big tech companies, including how Twitter had recently banned thousands of accounts that were supportive of QAnon for sharing misinformation and engaging in organized harassment of other Twitter users.
As Mediaite reported, Watters called QAnon “this conspiracy deal on the internet,” and noted that they “can do some crazy stuff,” but “also uncovered a lot of great stuff”:
Watters introduced the topic as “censorship” and “some funny business now” regarding “Q, I guess this conspiracy deal on the internet.”
“Twitter has basically cracked down and eliminated about 7,000 accounts,” said Watters, and “another 100,000 accounts are now in the cross-hairs.”
“Do you think this is an attempt to interfere in an election?” he asked Trump. “Because you know, Q can do some crazy stuff with the pizza stuff and the Wayfair stuff but they also uncovered a lot of great stuff when it comes to Epstein and the deep state.”
In a statement provided to Mediaite by Fox News, Watters retracted those comments about QAnon, clarifying that he did not support or believe in the conspiracy theories the group promoted.
“While discussing the double standard of big tech censorship,” said Watters, “I mentioned the conspiracy group QAnon, which I don’t support or believe in. My comments should not be mistaken for giving credence to this fringe platform.”
