This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on August 6, 2026.
Given that white evangelicals have spent the last decade largely ignoring the sexual abuse being perpetrated by their pastors and politicians and even calling such allegations a hoax, it’s no wonder they’d celebrate sexually abusive pundits as well.
According to 2025 data from Public Religion Research Institute, “White Americans are the most likely to say they most trust Fox News,” and white evangelical Protestants trust Fox News more than any other religious group PRRI measured, at nearly twice the rate of all Americans.
And according to cable news ratings this summer, the top two-rated shows on cable TV are The Five and Jesse Watters Primetime, both Fox News shows hosted by Jesse Watters.
After graduating from Trinity College, Watters began working as a production assistant at Fox News in 2002. The next year, he worked in production for The O’Reilly Factor and soon began providing comedic relief segments for O’Reilly.
That is, at least, segments white conservatives found to be funny. Asian Americans didn’t appreciate him strolling through New York City’s Chinatown and asking them if they knew how to do karate, or had their watch stolen, or if he should bow to them. Journalist Amanda Terkel didn’t appreciate Watters stalking her car for two hours while she was on vacation. Watters later admitted he “ambushed her because O’Reilly told me to get her.”
But in the years since Fox News fired O’Reilly after The New York Times reported O’Reilly had settled five sexual harassment and abuse lawsuits, Watters has continued to rise to the top of the conservative-dominated world of Fox News. And with his rise, along came years of his own allegedly sexually coercive and misogynistic comments, which according to the ratings, white evangelicals don’t seem to mind.
‘Guys are going to be wild animals’
The latest controversy spreading online has to do with Watters’ response to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s announcement this month about checking the testosterone levels of soldiers.
“The guys that don’t need it are going to take it to triple boost,” Watters said on the July 16 episode of The Five. “And then they’re going to get out there. And women on base, you guys better be careful.”
Then he added through a laugh, “Port calls? Women in Asia? You better be careful because these guys are going to be wild animals. And you better watch out.”
Why would a man who jokes about men in the U.S. military raping women be so popular among conservative Christians? Are they simply so used to hearing him talk like this that they don’t notice it anymore? Or do they not care?