Fusion Host Hits Fox’s Outnumbered Women for Silence on ‘Sexist’ Comment
When Fox News first announced its new daytime show Outnumbered earlier this year, the idea was that it would be a more female-centric show than the rest of the network’s lineup, with a rotating group of four women hosts tackling issues alongside one male host. But while that set-up may have remained true in fact, as Fusion’s Alicia Menendez pointed out Wednesday night, the show does not always feature a strong female perspective.
As an example, Menendez pointed to a moment that occurred on Outnumbered Tuesday following the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision. Acting as the sole male host on the panel, Fox’s Jesse Watters introduced what he calls “Beyoncé voters,” AKA “single ladies” who “depend on government because they’re not depending on their husbands.”
“According to Watters, a woman is either single and depending on government or married and depending on her husband,” Menendez explained, a concept that definitely flies in the face of Beyoncé’s message to women. “Look, Jesse, we get it,” she said to Watters. “Fox News liked the way the world was, and the idea of a single woman who provides for herself is as scary as two gay dudes wanting to get gay married.”
Menendez patted herself on the back for predicting back in April that Outnumbered “may be a female majority on the surface, but it will no doubt be a bunch of women stoking male anxiety.”
She said Watters’ comments was “the perfect opportunity” for one of the four women who were seated around him — for the record, Harris Faulkner, Katie Pavlich, Sandra Smith and Kimberly Guilfoyle — to stand up for “independent” women everywhere.
“None of those women who were ‘outnumbering’ Watters defended the single lady voters, which is why I depend on me,” Menendez said.
Watch video below, via Fusion:
[Photo via screengrab]
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