Fox News entertainer Jesse Watters calls for the assassination of Dr. Anthony Fauci at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest conference on 20 December 2021. Watters encouraged his supporters to ‘ambush’ the infectious-disease expert with a ‘kill shot’. Fox News defended the violent language as taken out of context. Photo: Ron Filipkowski / Twitter
Fox News entertainer Jesse Watters calls for the assassination of Dr. Anthony Fauci at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest conference on 20 December 2021. Watters encouraged his supporters to ‘ambush’ the infectious-disease expert with a ‘kill shot’. Fox News defended the violent language as taken out of context. Photo: Ron Filipkowski / Twitter

By Allison Quinn and Justin Baragona
21 December 2021

(The Daily Beast) – Anthony Fauci has called for Fox News host Jesse Watters to be axed from the cable channel for encouraging his supporters to “ambush” the infectious-disease expert with a “kill shot.” [UPDATE 21 Dec 2021: Fox News has defended the violent language as taken out of context. Snopes buys the “just a metaphor” interpretation and calls the assassination claim false. –Des]

“That’s horrible, I mean that just is such a reflection of the craziness that goes on in society,” Fauci said in an interview with CNN early Tuesday, when asked about Watters’ comments at a Turning Point USA event over the weekend.

Watters had urged attendees to “go in for the kill shot” and “ambush” Fauci if they see him in public, using violent rhetoric to encourage them to confront Fauci with conspiracy theories over the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.

“The kill shot, with an ambush—deadly, ’cause he doesn’t see it coming. This is when you say, ‘Dr. Fauci, you funded risky research at a sloppy Chinese lab, the same lab that sprung this pandemic on the world. You know why people don’t trust you, don’t you?’ Boom, he is dead! He is dead! He’s done!” Watters told the crowd, referring to the baseless claim among conservatives that the virus was “engineered” by a lab Fauci funded.

Watters also encouraged supporters to film their “ambush” of Fauci so they could become famous.

“You do that—30 seconds, it’s all you need. Now you get that footage to us, you get it to Fox… Imagine Tucker Carlson teases that…,” he said.

Watters, who rose to fame as disgraced ex-Fox News star Bill O’Reilly’s “ambush guy,” then ended his advice to the TPUSA attendees by telling them to “just make sure it’s legal.”

Fauci said he was horrified by Watters’ comments and that he “should be fired on the spot.”

But he predicted that “whatever network he’s on is not going to do anything to him.” […]

Fox News did not comment when asked if Watters would face any discipline over his remarks. [more]

Fauci Wants Fox Host ‘Fired on the Spot’ for Urging Fans to ‘Ambush’ Him With ‘Kill Shot’