Jesse Watters Slammed For Remarks On How Kamala Harris And Fani Willis Speak

Fox News host Jesse Watters faced swift backlash on social media after his recent attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris.
During Tuesday’s broadcast of “Jesse Watters Primetime,” he accused Harris of using different accents, then introduced an edited clip that showed a compilation of Harris delivering speeches in Detroit and Pittsburgh on Monday.
“Kamala was raised by an Indian mother in Canada,” he said, misrepresenting the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee’s complete upbringing. “But now she sounds like Fani Willis.”
Harris, who identifies as both Black and Indian American, was born in Oakland, California. She wrote in her 2019 memoir, “The Truths We Hold,” that she spent the formative years of her childhood “living on the boundary between Oakland and Berkeley.”
The vice president moved to Montreal when she was 12, after her mother was recruited for a job in the Canadian city, according to The New York Times. After high school, she attended Howard University, a historically Black university in Washington, D.C.
People on X, formerly Twitter, slammed Watters for his attempt to compare Harris and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is also Black, as a line of attack. Willis had brought an indictment against Donald Trump over his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential vote in Georgia, but the case remains on hold pending appeals.
Social media users called him out for promoting racist attacks about dialects and Black culture, by mocking and comparing the way Willis and Harris speak.
“I don’t know who Watters and Fox News are targeting with their 1950 racist dog whistle because there isn’t any racist still left out there who isn’t already supporting Trump,” one X user tweeted.
“They can’t attack her on her education, her career, or her record so they’re going with straight up racism,” wrote another.
Keith Boykin, a White House aide during Bill Clinton’s presidency, pointed out that Watters’ remarks about Harris disregard code-switching and how often people use it.
“I grew up next to a cornfield in a mostly white community in Missouri but spent weekends and summers with my Black cousins in the city of St. Louis,” he wrote. “Fox News continues to display its ignorance about the bifurcated reality of life for many Black people in America.”
Harris has faced attacks on her identity and her voice from Republicans throughout the campaign.
On Tuesday, Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre why Harris had “what sounds like a Southern accent” during a campaign speech.
Former President Donald Trump and his 2024 running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), have leveled several attacks that question Harris’ Blackness.
Check out more responses to Watters “Primetime” segment below:
Why does Jesse Waters care about how Kamala Harris “sounds” so much?I honestly don’t understand.
I don’t even think that’s a dog whistle. That’s just flat out racist.
I personally don’t hear it, but if it’s happening it’s called code-switching and anyone who has ever had to try to fit in with a group they wanted to impress or be a part of, or didn’t feel comfortable or safe in, has done it. I can almost guarantee you this guy code-switches…
I grew up next to a cornfield in a mostly white community in Missouri but spent weekends and summers with my Black cousins in the city of St. Louis. Fox News continues to display its ignorance about the bifurcated reality of life for many Black people in America. https://t.co/qZreZRGiyS
Me this morning: “As Trump’s supporters have struggled to figure out how to effectively respond to Harris replacing Biden on the Democratic ticket, Watters has repeatedly tried to fill that void with what he knows best: racist and misogynistic commentary.” https://t.co/ge4aNcI7Z0 https://t.co/B3IHKqWtTx
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All Black women sound alike to Watters. https://t.co/0uWC3LWmxc
GOP is so divorced from the majority and reality that they think this will help them. It won’t. Just like “turning Black” this is going to backfire. This is what happens when your party caters almost exclusively to white supremacy. https://t.co/Gc6cp7fCF4
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