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NEED TO KNOW
- Jesse Watters reportedly apologized to the United Nations for the shocking comments he made on Fox News about needing to “bomb” or “gas” the U.N. headquarters
- Following President Trump’s U.N. visit on Sept. 23, during which he was inconvenienced by a frozen escalator and stalled teleprompter, Watters characterized the malfunctions as an “insurrection” against the president that warranted retaliation
- The U.N. then got in touch with Fox News to express concerns about Watters’ remarks, which led to a behind-the-scenes apology
Fox News host Jesse Watters reportedly apologized after calling for the United Nations’ New York City headquarters to be “bombed” or “gassed” for inconveniencing President Donald Trump during his recent U.N. visit.
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U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Friday that Watters had privately apologized to U.N. global communications chief Melissa Fleming after the organization contacted Fox News with concerns about the violent remarks, Reuters reported.
“There is nothing funny or ironic in calling for the bombing, the gassing, the destruction of this building,” Dujarric told reporters, according to Reuters. “That kind of language is unacceptable.”
“We know painfully the reality of what happens when threats are made against the U.N. We lost friends in Baghdad. I personally walked through the rubble of the building in Algiers where the U.N. was bombed. Our colleagues in Abuja were also bombed,” he added.
PEOPLE has reached out to Fox News for comment.
Ahead of the president’s address at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, Sept. 23, an escalator froze just after he and first lady Melania Trump stepped onto it, forcing them to walk up the steps.
While co-hosting The Five later that day, Watters accused U.N. staffers of “sabotaging” the escalator, as well as a teleprompter that went dark during Trump’s speech, characterizing the malfunctions as “an insurrection.”
U.N. officials, however, have said that the stopped escalator was triggered by the misstep of a cameraman traveling with the American delegation, and that the White House was in charge of operating the teleprompter.
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“What we need to do is either leave the U.N. or we need to bomb it,” Watters, 47, said on The Five, to chuckles from his colleagues. “[The U.N. headquarters] is in New York, though, right? Could be some fallout there. Maybe gas it?”
“Let’s not do that,” co-host Dana Perino, 53, warned off camera.
“Don’t gas it. Okay, but we need to destroy it. Maybe can we demolish the building? Have everybody leave and then we’ll demolish the building,” Watters continued. “No, this is absolutely unacceptable, and I hope they get to the bottom of it, and I hope they really injure, emotionally, the people that did it.”
During Trump’s speech on Tuesday, he opened by criticizing the U.N. itself.
“Empty words don’t solve wars… A bad escalator and a bad teleprompter is all I got from the United Nations,” he said.
On the topic of immigration, Trump bragged, “I’m really good at this stuff” before bluntly telling those gathered, “Your countries are going to hell.”
