Watch Jesse Watters get duped by the fake shark photo on national television pic.twitter.com/sbDLuavvzS
— Eric Koch (@EricDKoch) August 29, 2017
During a segment on The Five on Monday night, Fox News host Jesse Watters — best known for his simpering “man on the street” style pieces on the O’Reilly Factor and making a crude joke about Ivanka Trump — was reporting on the devastation in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. Much like our president, Watters seemed to take a certain amount of glee in discussing the catastrophic flooding in Houston, enthusiastically telling his audience, “I’ve seen some amazing things out there just looking at television over the weekend. Alligators on people’s back door steps. I saw a shark on a highway swimming in the water … like Sharknado.”
He continued, “The president was using the word ‘biblical.’ Well there’s some really weird biblical things that are going on down there in Houston. I can’t imagine how I would be experiencing that as a guy from the northeast but I think Texas has it figured out.” (Trump later retweeted The Five on Watters remarks on Harvey.)
Yeah, we can’t imagine how a guy like Jesse Watters would deal with extreme hardship and adversity either, but more importantly — did he just say he saw a dang shark on a highway? The photo in question Watters was referring to is an image that has been widely shared on Twitter. It’s also a fake.
https://twitter.com/Jeggit/status/902048241646280704
Despite getting retweeted over 60,000 times, the photo was quickly debunked by internet sleuths:
That photo of a shark swimming on a flooded highway in Houston? It's a fake, and a very old one too. https://t.co/oSLFu5yYyk pic.twitter.com/90HyLqzyUP
— Christiaan Triebert (@trbrtc) August 28, 2017
Guys, stop re-tweeting this photo. It's a fake. It's been posted every time there is a flood, anywhere. #harvey #shark #HoustonFloods pic.twitter.com/zBIEcoBfJb
— Erica Verrillo (@EricaVerrillo) August 28, 2017
https://twitter.com/DianneG/status/902356505806163968
https://twitter.com/bafeldman/status/902284040501211136
https://twitter.com/DaveClark_AFP/status/902241826987319296
UPDATE: Watters has now tweeted an apology in regard to this matter: “Yesterday, I made a comment about a shark in the floodwaters in Texas. I sincerely apologize if I caused concern or alarm to anyone … The folks there and beyond are suffering unimaginable hardships. My heart goes out to them.”
Yesterday, I made a comment about a shark in the floodwaters in Texas. I sincerely apologize if I caused concern or alarm to anyone (1/2)
— Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) August 29, 2017
…The folks there and beyond are suffering unimaginable hardships. My heart goes out to them (2/2)
— Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) August 29, 2017
(Via The Hill)