‘Don’t call me sweetheart’: Fox News host snaps during tense exchange with union leader
Fox News’ Martha MacCallum found herself calling out American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten in a fiery on-air clash Tuesday.
The feisty interview exchange touched off almost immediately after Weingarten appeared on Fox News' "The Story with Martha MacCallum" to discuss a Supreme Court case the conservative justices took up earlier in the day, involving censorship rights over LGBTQ+ materials in public schools to religious parents.
MacCallum laughed and shook her head at times during the lengthy interview on Tuesday as Weingarten made clear her position surrounding the case was mostly at odds with the Fox News host. MacCallum scoffed when Weingarten praised a Massachusetts school district for producing “a real culture of a safe and welcoming school.”
“So what you’re saying is if we can find other areas in the country where the proficiency levels are also abysmal and should be embarrassing to any education organization, then we can start to make assessments and say, ‘Oh it’s because of choice,’ or ‘Oh it’s because of money?’ We know that money doesn’t equate a better outcome.”
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“Martha, Martha, Martha, sweetheart, sweetheart, listen to me,” Weingarten said. “It actually does.”
“Please don’t call me sweetheart,” MacCallum said as she immediately snapped back.
“I’m sorry, my bad,” Weingarten replied.
MacCallum continued to sound off about “woke ideology” before declaring what she sees as the “biggest problem that we face in schools today.”
“I’m honestly less concerned with them being their full selves than I am with them being able to read and write and do math,” the host said as she cut Weingarten off later in the interview. “And that is the biggest problem that we face in our schools today, and if I talk to one more teacher who tells me that they are not allowed to hold a child back who cannot read…”
“I agree with you! I agree with you!” Weingarten said. “You need both, you need both!” the union president concluded.
Watch the clip below or at this link