Fox News host Jesse Watters invoked the spirit of Donald Trump to excuse himself for referring to a colleague by a demeaning nickname she reportedly hates.
Explaining on The Five on Monday that he used to see pioneering financial reporter Maria Bartiromo at the New York Stock Exchange when he worked there as an intern, Watters said he still uses her ’90s moniker.
“Maria Bartiromo was there and everybody called her ‘Money Honey,’” Watters said. “Later, we worked together at Fox News. Isn’t that great?”
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“I actually work with Money Honey. And I’ve been working with Money Honey for all these years.”
Money Honey is the name Bartiromo was given by New York tabloids for her looks when she covered financial news for CNBC for two decades.
While playing it off gracefully when asked about the name in public, in private Bartiromo is said to have “bristled” at it, feeling that it demeaned her work as a journalist.
Lisa Kennedy, picking Watters up on the anecdote, said Bartiromo was “not terribly pleased” when Kennedy introduced her to Watters at an event and he’d called her Money Honey.
“Does she not like that name?” Watters asked.
“Not at all,” Greg Gutfeld replied.
Waving off the faux pas, Watters justified his use of the nickname by telling the panel: “We can say it—Trump is in office!”
Bartiromo joined Fox Business in 2014 and hosts Mornings with Maria on the network.
