The man replacing a coveted prime-time cable television slot once occupied by right-wing figurehead Tucker Carlson is a longtime Fox News presence who honed his reputation on the network with brash man-on-the-street interviews and derisive commentary attacking Democratic officials and his liberal rivals. Jesse Watters has been with the network for more than two decades, wearing the influence of a generation of Fox News stars and right-wing radio figures that preceded him. The changeup follows Carlson’s departure from the network in the aftermath of a pair of lawsuits and a $787.5m settlement reached with a voting machine company that sued Fox and its leadership for defamation. A rotating lineup of hosts filled the 8pm hour in the weeks that followed. Watters – who helmed the previous hour – will permanently fill that later slot in the network’s schedule with his Jesse Watters Primetime. “Unlike Carlson, he lacks a well-defined ideological agenda, apart from looking for ways to ‘own the libs’ on whatever the news of the day is,” according to MSNBC columnist Paul Waldman. “There may be plenty of Fox viewers who will happily tune in to that for an hour each night. But Watters is effectively an internet troll who happens to be on TV,” he wrote. “If you want a detailed breakdown of the latest right-wing obsession, he’s not the one you’d seek out; if on the other hand you merely want someone to smirk while delivering a zinger about Hunter Biden, Watters is your man.” Like Carlson, Watters comes from a prominent media family and is a product of exclusive East Coast private schooling. But unlike Carlson, who arrived at Fox after on-air roles at competing networks MSNBC and CNN, Watters is something of a Fox company man, moving up in the ranks over more than 20 years while adopting the hostile posture and talking points of some of its biggest stars, with a self-satisfied grin. Watters ascribes his political awakening to watching Republican members of Congress on C-SPAN. From there, he devoutly listened to right-wing radio and pundits like Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter, whose influence is seared into his provocative personality. By 2011, Watters helmed his own recurring segment on Bill O’Reilly’s The O’Reilly Factor. His “Watters World” reports would rely on man-on-the-street interviews, quick edits and frequent cutaways to movie clips to ridicule frequent right-wing targets, from college campus culture to people experiencing homelessness. Those reports and his other statements on the network over the years have drawn widespread criticism and accusations of sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, and election denialism, including incendiary statements aired days before the attack on the US Capitol. In one of his segments in 2015, Watters interviewed homeless New Yorkers at Penn Station to accuse them of breaking the law. He would go on to declare homeless people an “invasive species” on his own programme in 2022. A 2016 “Watters World” segment from Manhattan’s Chinatown was widely derided as a racist and stereotype-driven production that prompted a rare response from Watters. “My man-on-the-street interviews are meant to be taken as tongue-in-cheek and I regret if anyone found offense,” he said. That same year, it was revealed that he was accused of stalking and harassing journalist Amanda Terkel seven years earlier, an incident that led to an altercation between Watters and another journalist at an afterparty following a White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. “I was at this party trying to enjoy myself. This guy came up to me. He starts putting it in my face,” Watters later said. “I was friendly at first, and then he started getting a little obnoxious. Things happened, and I regret it happened, and that’s all it is.” On The Five, the network’s roundtable talk show on which Watters has been a longtime co-host, he claimed without evidence in 2019 that women reporters sleep with sources “all the time” in an apparent reference to the portrayal of a journalist in the film Richard Jewell. In 2021, Watters encouraged the audience at a conservative political conference to “ambush” Dr Anthony Fauci and deliver a figurative “kill shot” against the nation’s leading infectious disease expert. Fauci, then the chief White House medical adviser, called on Fox to fire Watters. The network defended him in a statement and promoted him a few weeks later. He also has repeatedly defended Mr Trump, including a warning that “people better be careful” and that “the left” doesn’t “understand what they’re getting themselves into” following news of the former president’s criminal indictment in New York City. The Independent requested comment from Fox regarding Watters’ statements. A spokesperson for the network provided a network statement announcing the lineup changes. “FOX News Channel has been America’s destination for news and analysis for more than 21 years and we are thrilled to debut a new lineup. The unique perspectives of Laura Ingraham, Jesse Watters, Sean Hannity, and Greg Gutfeld will ensure our viewers have access to unrivaled coverage from our best-in-class team for years to come,” Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott said in the statement. Right-wing media watchdog group Media Matters has chronicled Watters’ controversial on-air statements throughout his time at the network. “Crowning odious Jesse Watters as the new face of Fox News is a reflection of Fox’s dogged commitment to bigotry and deceit as well as an indication of their desperation to regain audience share,” Media Matters president Angelo Carusone said in a statement. “It won’t work, though. Fox’s audience abandoned the network post-Tucker, and those viewers never returned,” he added. “Jesse Watters’ buffoonish segments of bigotry and culture war vitriol won’t fix that problem for Fox; he’s a liability and a ticking time bomb. Read More Fox News ousts eight remaining Tucker Carlson show staff as Jesse Watters takes over primetime spot White House condemns Fox News chyron calling Biden ‘wannabe dictator’ as broadcaster walks back accusation Trump reacts angrily as Fox News anchor directly tells him: ‘You lost the 2020 election’

Mizzy's mischief has made him well-known, and the 18-year-old has made news for his outrageous pranks multiple times over the previous several months

'Jeopardy!' execs say there was 'some doubt expressed' about Mattea Roach before inviting her to the Masters tournament

In 2019, 46% of Americans stated that they or a member of their household owned a firearm, according to data from an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll

Scarlett Johansson has admitted she can't see a way for her Marvel character Black Widow to return to the screen following her death but would be happy to play a zombie version of the superhero

James Mangold made it clear that Shia LaBeouf's character was not absent from the movie because of the actor's comments

Vanna White will remain with "Wheel of Fortune'' for two additional seasons

Rishi Sunak seemingly confirmed he's a Swiftie after a woman claimed he turned up to a Taylor Swift-themed SoulCycle class in LA. The prime minister is currently on holiday with his family in California, where he's been snapped at Santa Monica Pier and Disneyland and has since been spotted at an early morning spin class. In the viral TikTok, Hannah Harmelin (@hannahharmelin) described how she had "the biggest heart attack of [her] life," when she saw security "everywhere" inside the studio. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter "So I walk into my Taylor Swift-themed 7 am SoulCycle class in Santa Monica, and there's Secret Service everywhere in the studio, they're lined up on the sidewalk, they're inside, they're in every corner," she explained. "They're like, standing there with their earpieces, and they're all serious and there's just security everywhere. "I'm like, 'What is going on?'" Harmelin thought all of the security may have been for Swift herself, after all she is currently in LA with her Eras Tour. "She's performing in LA, celebrities do this all the time," the TikToker noted. @hannahharmelin Soulcycle in LA be like #taylorswift #taylorswiftsoulcycle #LA #erastour #soulcycle #celebrities #omg #lol #fyp "So we get in, and I'm like trying to look around but trying to play it cool, and the security guard comes into the class, there's actually like three of them standing in all the corners, and they stand there like all serious the whole entire class. "And the teachers usually like turn on and off the lights, in this class she just like kept the lights off, it was very private. "And of course you've heard of like Justin Bieber coming in and singing a song and like Beyoncé and Jay-Z like riding class. "So I'm freaking out the whole time. "So the class ends, and I'm looking around trying to see where she is. "Turns out it was the prime minister of the UK - apparently he's a Swiftie." Since sharing the random encounter, Harmelin's video has received 1.2m views, 152,000 likes and thousands of comments from people who were surprised to find out Sunak appears to be a Swiftie. One person said: "Rishi Sunak is a Swiftie? What is he doing in LA" "Today I learned Rishi Sunak is a soul cycle girlie," another person wrote. Someone else added: "Meanwhile back home the UK is absolutely falling apart, nice." "What this is so random," a fourth person commented. Sunak isn't the first Swiftie prime minister, as his predecessor Liz Truss expressed her love for Swift's music. Meanwhile, the prime minister's wife Akshata Murty attended a SoulCycle spin class with US first lady Jill Biden the day after the King's coronation back in May. A Number 10 spokesman told the PA news agency they will not be providing a running commentary on the Prime Minister’s holiday. indy100 has contacted Downing Street for comment. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

'Teen Mom' star Kailyn Lowry claps back at pregnancy rumors

"He will always be with us," said 75-year-old Carla Ballarini as fans of Silvio Berlusconi draped in the flags of Forza Italia and AC Milan gathered on Monday outside...

Yoji Yamada has directed 90 films, including “Tora-san,” which tops the Guinness World Records for the longest-running movie series starring the same actor

The Weeknd, known as the modern king of sex-themed music, has addressed his misogynistic lyrics