Mayor Bill de Blasio calls out Jesse Watters' racist Chinatown Fox News segment on Twitter
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has a clear message for Fox News' Jesse Watters: Stay off television.
De Blasio took to Twitter Thursday evening condemning Watters for his offensive and racist Chinatown segment that aired on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor Tuesday night.
"The vile, racist behavior of Fox's Jesse Watters in Chinatown has no place in our city," de Blasio wrote. "@FoxNews — keep this guy off TV."
The segment features the street prankster walking around New York City's Chinatown neighborhood, mocking and asking racist questions to various Asian passersby.
You can watch the segment in full here:
Prior to de Blasio's tweet, New York State Senator Daniel Squadron — who represents the 26th Senate District, where Chinatown is located — and numerous Asian-American groups, including the Asian American Journalists Association, condemned Watters and the segment.
"Unfortunately, one of the real costs of [Republican presidential nominee Donald] Trump's divisiveness is the climate of racism and disrespect it's made commonplace in our national discourse," Squadron said in a statement. "That's unacceptable in Chinatown, unacceptable in New York and must be unacceptable on Fox News."
Squadron then added a more personal message making it plain where Watters falls, in his esteem.
"And to Jesse Watters," he said, "welcome to my district — hope you don't come back."
Watters took to Twitter Wednesday evening and apologized for the segment — sort of:
"My man-on-the-street interviews are meant to be taken as tongue-in-cheek," he wrote, "and I regret if anyone found offense."