Brawl between @ryangrim and @jessebwatters at MSNBC party. pic.twitter.com/Fy7VKFBdmh
— David Weigel (@daveweigel) May 1, 2016
It was fight night at the “Nerd Prom.” Both President Barack Obama and host Larry Wilmore landed some awesome shots at Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, but after the gala a few actual punches were thrown as well.
According to the Washington Post, Huffington Post Washington bureau chief Ryan Grim and Fox News correspondent Jesse Watters got into an altercation at the MSNBC afterparty as Saturday night melted into Sunday morning. The Post‘s Dave Weigel shared a pic of the alleged donnybrook on Twitter, which is nestled above for your “FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!” chanting pleasure.
There’s a bit of a back story behind Grim and Watters’ mix up. Here’s the bluffer’s guide that the Post assembled:
Grim and Watters were among a group located in a heated tent just outside the main party area. The two apparently don’t have a personal relationship, but Grim realized who Watters was and recalled a beef he had with the “O’Reilly Factor” correspondent that dated back to 2009, when Watters, known as an “ambush journalist,” had engineered an on-camera confrontation of writer Amanda Terkel, now a HuffPo colleague of Grim. Terkel’s account of the incident was headlined “I Was Followed, Harassed, And Ambushed By Bill O’Reilly’s Producer.”
That set the stage for Grim to bust out his camera phone and film Watters, a tactic that was met with the Fox News reporter grabbing the phone and pocketing it. Grim went to get it back and a bloodbath ensued. Or, more accurately, “the two flailed around a bit, upending a table and bumping into several people.” Not exactly a showdown from Ong-Bak, but one witness noted that “punches were definitely thrown.” We’ll take it!
No word yet on if Watters vs. Grim, Part II will be booked for the undercard at next year’s gala.
UPDATE: A representative from Fox News has reached out to us and let us know that Watters will address this alleged altercation on tonight’s installment of The O’Reilly Factor.
(Via the Washington Post)