Fauci wants Fox News host fired for ‘kill shot’
White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci has called for the firing of Fox News host Jesse Watters, after the conservative pundit told a crowd to target the health official with a “kill shot.”
A clip of Watters addressing a Turning Point USA Americafest event this week drew outrage, though the political commenter was speaking metaphorically when he referred to a “kill shot” against Fauci, referring to exposing what he called the doctor’s faulty credibility.
During an appearance on CNN on Tuesday, Fauci said Watters’ comments are a reflection of the “craziness” that goes on in society.
Watters, Fauci added, will likely be “unaccountable” for his statements, but “should be fired on the spot.”
Defending himself from criticism, the health official added that all he has done during the pandemic is “encourage people to practice good public health practices: to get vaccinated, to be careful in public settings, to wear a mask.”
"The guy should be fired on the spot," says Dr. Fauci about FOX News entertainer Jesse Waters.
— Nora Neus (@noraneus) December 21, 2021
Yesterday, Waters told a crowd to "ambush" Dr. Fauci with a "kill shot" so he "doesn't see it coming." pic.twitter.com/GEnuz1BzIO
“And for that, you have some guy out there saying that people should be giving me a kill shot to ambush me? I mean, what kind of craziness is there in society these days?” Fauci said.
Watters had criticized Fauci at the Turning Point USA event with accusations that echo criticisms long leveled at the medic, who has become a common political foe for conservatives who oppose pandemic lockdowns and vaccine mandates.
Watters recommended conservatives approach Fauci in public and go for the “kill shot” by asking him key questions the mainstream corporate media will not put to him during his frequent television appearances.
“This is where 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?’” Watters said, referring to Fauci’s alleged funding of viral research in Wuhan. “Boom. He is dead! He’s dead. He’s done. You do that, 30 seconds, it’s all you need.”
Watters also urged anyone who does confront or “ambush” Fauci to do so respectfully, to identify yourself, and to later send the video on to a news organization like Fox News.
The incendiary, dangerous, violent rhetoric against Dr. Fauci continues at AmericaFest. Fox News host Jesse Watters tells them how to go after him to harass him in public: “Now you go in with the kill shot - deadly. Because, with an ambush, he doesn’t see it coming.” pic.twitter.com/V34YZwDdPD
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) December 20, 2021
While Fauci has earned his fair share of conservative and Republican doubters, he remains a popular figure for many liberals, some of whom expressed outrage similar to his own comments over Watters’ speech.
“Kill shot”. “Ambush”. “Deadly”. “He’s dead.” No acknowledgment of the danger those words hold. https://t.co/1Rhabf0wfn
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) December 21, 2021
Fauci criticized Fox News earlier this month after contributor Lara Logan compared him to infamous Nazi doctor Joseph Mengele, and blasted the network for giving “no discipline” to Logan over the remark.