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The Fox News host insists, "I have to know — and they should tell."
In the words of his own cohost: "Jesse, what is wrong with you?"
Fox News pundit Jesse Watters is facing universal confusion after a bizarre segment on The Five in which he rebuked the U.S. military policy of "don't ask, don't tell" for all the wrong reasons.
The exchange began when cohost Dana Perino made a comment about avoiding politics in conversations, referring to it as a "don't ask, don't tell" subject. Watters then steered the conversation off course by sharing his own thoughts about the rule.
"I don't like 'don't ask, don't tell.' I need to know if someone is gay," Watters said in a clip of the segment shared by Media Matters. "I have to know — and they should tell."
The official policy forbid service members from being openly LGBTQ+ between 1993 and 2010, with those who were out or forcibly outed being dishonorably discharged. Officials estimate that approximately 100,000 service members have been expelled from the military because of their sexual orientation since World War II, including more than 13,000 under DADT.
Watters' comment prompted cohost Jeanine Pirro to respond by asking, "What is wrong with you?" Watters then doubled down on his line of reasoning.
"Ask and tell. And if you don't tell me, I know. And it's OK, I want to know," he continued.
Perino, who first referenced the policy, then asked Watters why he needs to know someone's sexual orientation, to which the conservative replied, "I'm so interested in it."
Watters's comment is the latest to enter his string of strange homophobic and misogynistic remarks. He said in another The Five segment in August that "when a man votes for a woman, he actually transitions into a woman.” He also questioned why “any man would vote Democrat,” claiming that it would have to be because of “mommy issues.”
