Fox Host Jesse Watters Casts Doubt on Obama's 'American Perspective'

Fox News host Jesse Watters came under fire online after claiming former President Barack Obama is "never really looking at things from an American perspective," noting: "This is a guy whose father has roots in Africa."

Watters made the remarks on Monday during an appearance on Fox News show The Five, which he co-hosts, in response to comments by Obama about the relative media coverage received by the submersible that suffered a "catastrophic implosion" whilst heading to the Titanic wreck, and a migrant boat shipwreck in the Mediterranean which left hundreds missing.

During his presidency right-wing critics of Obama drew repeated attention to his Kenyan ancestry, sparking accusations of racism from his defenders. A number of prominent figures, including former President Donald Trump, incorrectly claimed Obama might also have been born in Kenya, thus making him ineligible for the U.S. presidency.

Referring to Obama, Watters said: "When you are a citizen of the world, you always think about the world instead of the United States.

"Remember, this is a guy whose father has roots in Africa. This is a guy who spent a lot of his childhood in Southeast Asia...and then spent a lot of time in Hawaii. Was that the last state to get a star on the flag? He's never really looking at things from an American perspective.

A 39-second clip of Watters' remarks was shared on Twitter by user Acyn, receiving more than 520,000 views.

The comments sparked an angry reaction from some online with David Dunn, a Twitter user from Oregon, replying: "They don't even try to hide the bigotry."

Another Twitter user added: "OMG! The hate and racism is so deep."

Watters, who it was recently announced will get Tucker Carlson's old 8 p.m. slot on Fox News, added: "We don't live in Europe, Barack Obama. This is the United States of America, and it shows how naive, detached, and how snobby he is to not understand that this is the United States.

"And as sad as it is, and it was a horrible story off the coast, this is not something that concerns most Americans in their spare time," Watters said, referring to the ship carrying up to 750 migrants that sank off Greece on June 14.

The Fox News host was responding to comments Obama made comparing the press attention received by the disappearance of OceanGate's Titan submersible while diving near the wreck of the Titanic, and the sinking of a boat carrying migrants from Libya to Europe, which resulted in hundreds of passengers dying or going missing.

Obama spoke about the discrepancy at a conference in Greece last Thursday, just hours before it was announced the submersible had imploded.

He said: "There is a potential tragedy unfolding with the submarine that is getting, you know, minute-to-minute coverage all around the world. And it's understandable because we all want and pray that those folks are rescued.

"But the fact that that's gotten so much more attention than 700 people who sank, that's an untenable situation."

The two-term Democrat reiterated this argument in an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, where he noted the "obscene inequality in coverage."

Newsweek has contacted Obama and Fox News for comment, via official media contact form and email respectively.