Jesse Watters Exploits Drowning Death of Obama’s Chef By Channeling His Inner Tucker Carlson
Fox News’ Jesse Watters used the release of a 9-1-1 recording to raise questions about the death of Tafari Campbell, who drowned on Martha’s Vineyard in July while serving as the personal chef to the Obama family.
Campbell, 45, was paddle-boarding when he went under and failed to emerge. The medical examiner ruled his death an accident.
But that didn’t stop conservatives from casting Campbell’s death in nefarious terms. Several prominent accounts on social media floated conspiracy theories about the tragedy to suggest he knew damaging information about the Obamas.
On Tuesday’s Jesse Watters Primetime, the host aired the 9-1-1 call in which a man tells a dispatcher that Campbell had gone under.
“Fox News alert,” Watters said. “The 9-1-1 call in the drowning of Obama’s personal chef, Tafari Campbell, has been released. We knew a Secret Service agent placed the call after the female Obama staffer paddle-boarding with Tafari alerted him of the drowning. Now, we also know that there were two calls made. They’ve been released, heavily redacted, likely in order to protect the first family. Take a listen”:
DISPATCHER: 9-1-1-. This line is recorded. Where is your emergency?
[REDACTED]
CALLER: We have a male drowning in the back of the property right now. We have our rescue swimmers. They’re attempting to go out there right now… Someone came running up to our back post saying that a gentleman– it’s just a guess of the house, is now out there drowning. So right now our rescue swimmers going out there.
[REDACTED]
DISPATCHER: And you said you guys have boat access. So, what do you guys need? Do you need an ambulance or do you need water rescue as well?
CALLER: They didn’t advise right now. I would say at least an ambulance, and I don’t know if they’re– what they’re doing in the back of the property right now… So our rescue swimmers aren’t able to locate the gentleman that– that was reported drowning. So, they– they’re out in the water right now. But as of now, they have no– they don’t know where he is…
DISPATCHER: We have everybody on the way over there now to meet with you guys and gather their resources.
There is hardly anything abnormal about that emergency phone call. Nevertheless, Watters proceeded to make entirely vapid observations to suggest that there is more to this story than one might think.
“So, there’s no mention of the Obamas of the call,” he said, despite acknowledging at the beginning the call had been partly redacted. Presumably, that’s because the caller gave the dispatcher the address, and perhaps even noted that it’s the Obamas’ residence.
“But we now know the former president arrived at the incident command post after the 9-1-1 call was placed and spoke to Secret Service and police,” the host added, as if that means anything.
“There’s also no mention on the call of the female Obama staffer who was paddle-boarding with Tafari when he drowned,” said Watters, who for some reason cannot fathom why the caller would fail to mention someone who did not require emergency services.
He then suggested to viewers the story is still unfolding by saying, “We’ll continue to update you on the story.”
Watters then cynically offered his useless condolences to Campbell’s loved ones.
“And again, our deepest condolences to the family,” he concluded.
Fox News primetime hosts have exploited the untimely deaths of associates of Democratic politicians before. Sean Hannity and ex-host Tucker Carlson promoted conspiracy theories about the death of Seth Rich, who died after being shot in the back in Washington, D.C. in 2016. According to one theory, Rich was the source of a trove of Hillary Clinton’s emails that were given to and published by WikiLeaks to help get Donald Trump elected. The killing was payback, so the theory goes. Rich’s parents asked Fox News to stop using their son for ratings.
Carlson also baselessly suggested multiple times that MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough had a role in the death of one of his staffers while serving in Congress. Though not a Democrat, Scarborough is a favorite target of conservatives because of his prominence on MSNBC.
Back in the 1990s (and beyond), it was canon in some conservative circles that then-President Bill Clinton had Vince Foster, a longtime associate, murdered. Foster was serving as Deputy White House Counsel when he shot and killed himself with a revolver in 1994. His death spawned far-fetched conspiracy theories.
More recently, there was the vicious assault on Paul Pelosi, the husband of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Some right-wing commentators, including Carlson, just asked questions about the incident, with the subtext being that Paul Pelosi had been having an affair with his male assailant.
Watters can offer Campbell’s family all the empty condolences he wants while he exploits the death of their loved one. But the best thing he can do for them is to keep Tafari’s name out of his damn mouth.
Watch above via Fox News.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
