Fox News personality Jesse Watters was shut down by his own co-hosts after bizarrely comparing former President Donald Trump to King Kong—yes, the fictional giant gorilla that's become a pop culture staple—while making excuses for Trump's behavior during his ongoing New York hush money trial.
However, Watters' comparison was met with correction and amusement from his colleagues, who noted that Watters appeared to have forgotten that King Kong dies at the end of the 1933 film as well as at the end of remakes released in 1976 and 2005 respectively.
You can watch what happened in the video below.
Watters argued that Democrats see Trump as a threat “because he can play on their turf in the Rust Belt, and he can play in their base with Blacks, Hispanics, young people.”
He then claimed Trump is being unfairly "caged" by his political opponents, saying the treatment of the former president is not unlike the way King Kong was caged and used as a circus act by his captors:
“So they have decided to stop politicking and they just want to incarcerate the guy, and they caught him. They trapped him in a cage—we call it a courtroom, but it’s a cage—and he is like King Kong."
“They are sending [MSNBC anchor Rachel] Maddow down there and she is looking at him like an animal. ‘Man, his hair is really orange. Look at his eyes and his lips. He is angry, he is mad, he is upset.’ Watching him—they are not providing any sort of legal analysis."
“They’re acting like he’s a zoo creature. And what happens with King Kong? You remember. Boom! It’s not going to be good."
"So he’s going to bust out of this cage eventually. They’re not going to be able to keep him down.”
Co-host Harold Ford Jr. put it very succinctly:
“They killed King Kong.”
After co-host Jeanine Pirro chimed in with an enthusiastic "Yeah!" and co-host Dana laughed at Watters' error, Watters admitted:
“I don’t think I saw the end of that movie. ... Well, I think King Kong 2 was a little bit different."
There is no King Kong 2, however.
In the original film, the character is known as "Kong" by the Indigenous residents of the fictitious Skull Island. An American film crew, led by the greedy Carl Denham, captures Kong and transports him to New York City to showcase him as the "Eighth Wonder of the World."
Kong eventually escapes and climbs the Empire State Building, where he is attacked by weaponized biplanes and falls from the skyscraper. Denham remarks, "it wasn't the airplanes, it was beauty killed the beast," as Kong's initial climb up the building was driven by his desire to protect Ann Darrow, an actress originally kidnapped by the island's natives and offered to Kong as a sacrifice.
Watters was widely mocked for the bizarre comparison.
Watters was criticized earlier this week for complaining that people will "say anything for a paycheck," seemingly referring to witnesses testifying against Trump.
His comments mainly pertained to former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker's involvement in a "catch and kill" scheme to suppress damaging stories about Trump leading up to the 2016 election. These stories included allegations from former Playboy model Karen McDougal and adult film star Stormy Daniels, who both claimed to have had sexual affairs with Trump.
Watters dismissed these allegations as vindictive lies from Trump's adversaries, suggesting that "celebrities and billionaires" like Trump routinely pay money to "protect their brand."
