Skip to main content

Trending

  • Fox/Dominion Lawsuit
  • Meta
  • Twitter

Social Media Menu

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Utility Navigation

  • Take Action
  • Search
  • Donate

Media Matters for America

Main navigation

  • News & Analysis
  • Research & Studies
  • Audio & Video
  • Archives

Media Matters for America

  • Nav
  • Search

Main navigation

  • News & Analysis
  • Research & Studies
  • Audio & Video
  • Archives

Trending

  • Fox/Dominion Lawsuit
  • Meta
  • Twitter

Utility Navigation

  • Take Action
  • Search
  • Donate

Social Media Menu

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Fox News’ Jesse Watters suggest climate policies will “bring society back to the Stone Age”

Jesse Watters Primetime mocks efforts to reduce use of gas stoves

Special Programs Climate & Energy

Written by Allison Fisher

Published 02/02/22 3:22 PM EST

Share

  • Email
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Print

Comment

  • Comments

Over the chyron “Climate Crazies Coming For Household Appliances,” Fox News host Jesse Watters used well-worn climate denier tropes to mock and fearmonger about local efforts to reduce climate-causing greenhouse gas emissions.

On the February 1 edition of his new show, Jesse Watters Primetime, Watters suggested that climate advocates’ effort to ban gas stoves is an attack on progress while relying on a familiar Fox narrative which equates climate action with infringement on personal liberties.

Although the segment never specified, Watters was presumably referring to the passage of a recent bill passed by New York City to ban “gas-powered heaters, stoves and water boilers in all new buildings,” which follows efforts by other major cities tackling climate change at the local level through similar gas bans and clean energy policies.

Video file

Citation From the February 1, 2022, episode of Fox's Jesse Watters Primetime

The segment included controversial celebrity chef Andrew Gruel, who made the case that not only would shifting to gas stoves “change the face of cooking – we’re going to be microwaving absolutely everything,” but also made the false claim that doing so would be a “tax on the lower class” because of the cost “to retrofit and rip a lot of these ethnic kitchens apart that rely on things like the wok.”

Again, the actual local bans that have been passed apply only to new buildings and do not mandate retrofitting or forcing current residents to make the shift away from gas stoves. But while false, the argument that the burden of climate transition will be borne by the poor and working class tracks for Fox, as it allows the network to continue running cover for the industries responsible for the vast majority of climate emissions and environmental degradation. 

The segment also included Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo, who was the only one who came close to acknowledging the climate crisis – “Jesse, they are worried about methane emissions, that's what this is really about” – but then suggested that a shift to electric stoves would actually hurt efforts to reduce methane use because a large part of our electrical grid still relies on fossil fuel sources, ignoring that city bans like that in New York are being crafted in the wake of state laws that require a shift to renewable sources of electricity.

In fact, there are serious debates about how transportation and certain appliances that are wholly reliant on fossil fuels are going to equitably be converted to clean energy, in order to reduce the emissions that are threatening the planet. But Watters’ segment does not fit among those debates. Rather than laying out the crisis these actions are intended to address, he framed the bans around the idea that efforts to stem climate change represent a “relentless attack on progress,” reinforced later in the segment by the unsubtle chyron, “Green Lunatics Want To Take Your Appliances Away & Bring Society Back To The Stone Age” – a typical tactic in Fox’s ongoing campaign to undermine climate action through fear and misinformation.

The Latest

  1. On Infowars, Trump ally Roger Stone suggests the “deep state” orchestrated New York indictment to wipe other events out of the news

    Video & Audio 03/31/23 3:05 PM EDT

  2. “I smell a civil war”: Far-right TikTok users are alluding to violence following news of Trump’s indictment

    Article 03/31/23 2:22 PM EDT

  3. Media Matters weekly newsletter, March 31

    Article 03/31/23 1:33 PM EDT

  4. Meta is profiting from Trump’s ads that fundraise off of his indictment

    Article 03/31/23 1:10 PM EDT

  5. DeSantis follows Trumpworld’s command with extradition statement

    Article 03/31/23 12:14 PM EDT

Pagination

  • Current page 1
  • …
  • Next page ››

In This Article

  • Jesse Watters

    Jesse Watters
  • Climate deniers

    climate deniers
Comments
0 Comments
Share Count
0 Shares

Related

  1. Fox News applies old climate denial tactics to a new potential climate impact: severe and unseasonal tornadoes

    Article 12/15/21 11:00 AM EST

  2. Fox claimed Biden’s policies are responsible for surging gas prices 102 times in 3 days

    Article 11/11/21 11:49 AM EST

  3. Fox host criticizes those pointing out the potential link between the deadly Kentucky tornado and climate change

    Article 12/13/21 2:09 PM EST

Media Matters for America

Sign up for email updates

Footer menu

  • About
  • Contact
  • Corrections
  • Submissions
  • Jobs
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions

Social Media Menu

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

© 2023 Media Matters for America