Fox News host Jesse Watters addressed his off-the-wall interview with a rising Democratic star after it got a bit personal.
Watters, 48, appeared on The Five Tuesday and discussed the wildest moment from his Monday interview with Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate nominee for Michigan.
“Well, I guess everybody now knows I’m circumcised,” the conservative commentator said. “You know, usually you look at the headlines, and if your headline is all about your penis, usually you’ve done something very wrong.”
“In this case, I thought the interview was fine,” he added.
El-Sayed sat down with the conservative news host for what he joked would be a “wholesome conversation” on Watters’ show Monday night. However, the roughly 25-minute interview escalated as the two argued about immigration, the war on Iran, transgender athletes, and Medicare.
Their conversation truly flew off the rails when Watters pressed El-Sayed, a doctor and former public health official, on gender-affirming care for minors.
“Sex change for minors. Do you support that?” Watters asked.
“I just think the government shouldn’t tell you what kind of health care you should have,” El-Sayed replied.
Watters shot back, “So you think it’s OK for a parent to slash his kid’s ding-a-ling off?”
El-Sayed flipped it back on him, asking, “Do you really want to have this conversation? Are you circumcised?”
The Fox News host was caught off guard, replying, “Yeah, but I mean, that’s a personal question, doctor.” Watters said that circumcision was “different than castration,” but El-Sayed maintained his stance.
“I’m just saying that yes, circumcision is surgery on a kid’s ding-a-ling,” the Michigan Democrat said, trying to point out how society already accepts parental medical decision-making involving a minor’s genitalia when it comes to circumcision.
Watters dismissed his guest’s comparison as “wacky” and said that “Michigan’s not going for that. That is sick stuff.”
But the conservative news host said Tuesday that he enjoyed his conversation with El-Sayed, calling him “compelling.”
“He’s a confident guy, kind of a guy’s guy, but I don’t trust him,” Watters explained. “You know, I like him. I don’t want to like him. I like him for some stupid reason, but he’s not right for Michigan.”
Despite their disagreements, the two agreed at the end of Monday’s show that El-Sayed could return for another appearance—potentially even for an in-studio interview.
