The set of “Fox & Friends” went full Kanye on Wednesday morning, defending the rapper over his remarks that slavery in America had been a “choice.”
“He came out and says slavery was a choice and then he went ahead and clarified on Twitter because it caused outrage — obviously — with that statement,” said co-host Brian Kilmeade before explaining what the rapper really meant.
“He said to think about 400 years ago and be in that mindset today is a choice. Get out of that mindset and think about now,” said Kilmeade.
“Lives in Hollywood. Getting a lot of backlash from the Hollywood folks out there. Many people out there. Liberal. They don’t like him. So for him to speak up, good for him. He’s tripling down,” said fellow co-host Ainsley Earhardt.
“He also — Kanye did — said that Donald Trump is one of rap people’s favorite guys,” added Steve Doocy.
On TMZ Tuesday, Kanye West managed to spark new levels of outrage from his fans after suggesting that African slavery in America was a choice.
“When you hear about slavery for 400 years — for 400 years?! That sounds like a choice,” West said to stunned staffer on set. “You was there for 400 years, and it’s all of y’all? It’s like we’re mentally in prison.”
The moment received outrage in predictable quarters. On CNN last night, anchor Don Lemon said the rapper was embarrassing himself and needed to read more.
“He’s embarrassing himself because he doesn’t know history,” said Lemon “He needs to read.”
Watch above.
Fox News' Jesse Watters: His 10 Most Offensive Moments (Videos)
Shortly after O'Reilly was ousted from Fox News, Watters took his own vacation from the network after coming under fire for making a comment about First Daughter Ivanka Trump, which some interpreted as inappropriate sexual innuendo.
Watters' recurring segment on "The O'Reilly Factor" involved sending the host out to various events and locations across the country for man-on-the-street style interviews that mock various cultural subgroups in their own communities. In a 2016 segment, Watters went after Italian Americans at the Feast of San Gennaro festival.
One of Watters' most controversial segments came in the form of a 2016 venture into New York's Chinatown. In the heavily criticized piece, Watters turned his signature schtick on Chinese Americans, resulting in a blatantly racist segment that played on Asian stereotypes and openly mocked its subjects.
Watters' October 2016 venture to the Amish community in Pennsylvania was turned into one recurring punchline -- over the fact that the Amish don't vote or pay much attention to presidential politics. "Lucky you," he tells several people.
In 2007, O'Reilly sent Watters to ambush Bill Moyers in the street after the PBS host released a documentary criticizing the Bush administration for the Iraq War. Bill O'Reilly would later go on to call that segment a contributing factor in Moyers' decision to retire.
Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com
In 2015, Watters went to Penn Station to criticize the "rise of homelessness" in New York City, pointedly asking those sleeping at the station about their drug habits and what they did to make money on the streets.
On the anniversary of 9/11, Watters went to a convention for Muslim Americans to ask them about terrorism and Islamic radicals. When a woman criticized the media for linking terrorism to the Islamic religion, Watters and O'Reilly both balked at the suggestion that "Christian terrorism" could even exist.
In 2009, Amanda Terkel, then the managing editor of Think Progress, wrote a column in which she said she was "followed, harassed, and ambushed" by Watters while on vacation after she ran a column criticizing Bill O'Reilly for his comments toward rape survivors.
Watters was caught on video getting into a fight at the 2016 White House Correspondents' Dinner afterparty with The Huffington Post's Ryan Grim. It was later reported that Grim approached Watters with a camera asking him to apologize to Terkel for his behavior in 2009.
O'Reilly sent Watters to Philadelphia for a tone-deaf segment about racism in which he mocked the Black Lives Matter movement, criticized political correctness and generally failed to elevate the conversation surrounding race relations in America.
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Bill O’Reilly protégé will have permanent seat on network when “The Five” moves to primetime
Shortly after O'Reilly was ousted from Fox News, Watters took his own vacation from the network after coming under fire for making a comment about First Daughter Ivanka Trump, which some interpreted as inappropriate sexual innuendo.
