Fox News host says fudge is ‘too gay’ for JD Vance
Fox News host Jesse Watters has sparked backlash after joking that fudge was “too gay” for US vice president JD Vance during a bizarre on-air segment about National Fudge Day.
At the end of an episode of The Five, Watters presented Vance with a pickle cake and quipped: “I was gonna do fudge [cake], because it’s National Fudge Day, for the VP, but I thought it’d be too gay, so I did pickle cake instead.”
The remark appeared to reference a homophobic slur directed at gay men, with Vance laughing before thanking the host for the cake.
The exchange quickly drew criticism online, with many commentators on social media noting that pickles are a phallic food item, making it a strange choice as a substitute if fudge is ‘too gay’.
One X user wrote: “The idea that ‘fudge’ is too gay for national television, but a pickle cake gets a pass. Because, of course, pickles aren’t all shaped like penises.” Another said: “Never in my life has anyone said fudge is gay. Pickles on the other hand…”
Vance appeared on the programme to promote his new memoir, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, which charts the Republican politician’s return to Catholicism after a period of atheism.
Speculation regarding Vance’s sexuality arose following his previous memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, where he detailed how he briefly convinced himself he was gay as a child. However, the vice president is not gay and has been married to his wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance, since 2014, and they have three children together.
Vance has previously said he opposes transgender rights, describing them as “gender ideologies that prey on our children”, and has downplayed the importance of same-sex marriage as a political issue.
The fudge remark is not the first time Watters has sparked controversy over comments about gender and sexuality.
Earlier this year, the Fox News host said: “One of the reasons you don’t drink from a straw is because of the way your lips purse. It’s very effeminate,” while setting out his self-described “rules for men”.
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