Fox News' Jesse Watters takes abrupt vacation after controversial remarks about Ivanka Trump
CNN's Brian Stelter and the CNNMoney Media team reported Wednesday that Watters, who co-hosts "The Five," would be missing two days of his first week in the network's 9 p.m. timeslot.
"I'm going to be taking a vacation with my family, so I'm not going to be here tomorrow," said Watters. "I'll be back on Monday, so don't miss me too much."
On a Tuesday night segment in which Watters was speaking on Trump's appearance at a women's conference, Watters commented on the way President Donald Trump's daughter held a microphone.
"It's funny, the left says they really respect women, and then when given an opportunity to respect a woman like that, they boo and hiss," he said. "So I don't really get what's going on here, but I really liked how she was speaking into that microphone," Watters said.
On Wednesday morning, Watters denied accusations that his comment carried lewd overtones.
"On air I was referring to Ivanka's voice and how it resonates like a smooth jazz radio DJ," Watters tweeted. "This was in no way a joke about anything else."
Watters has made controversial remarks in the past. During the 2016 presidential election, he was accused of racially stereotyping Asian-Americans during a television segment in which he was asking Asians whether it was the "year of the dragon," and asking if they knew karate.