FNC's Arroyo, Watters Blast CNN's Hypocrisy on Public Confrontations

August 14th, 2019 5:33 PM

On Tuesday’s Ingraham Angle, guest host Jesse Watters and Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo teed off on Chris Cuomo’s profanity-laced altercation with a man who referred to him as “Fredo” and while they conceded that Cuomo did not deserve to be harassed in public, they also pointed out how CNN has had no problem when liberal protesters, egged on by Democratic politicians, have cornered members of the Trump administration and rank-and-file conservatives.

Watters opened by saying “you don’t want people coming up to someone, especially when they’re with their family out in the street having fun, and calling them names and getting in their face.” After stressing that he did not condone “that kind of mob mentality,” Watters slammed the “hypocrisy” of Cuomo and CNN, highlighting how “they’ve supported the Maxine Waters call to arms to get in your face...they’ve supported this Antifa nonsense that you see in the streets.”

 

 

“Chris Cuomo said that the Covington boy while the adult man was banging the drum in his face, he needed to walk away and didn’t handle himself correctly,” Watters added before asking Arroyo wondered where was CNN feigning outrage instead of praise for “ when Sarah Huckabee Sanders was thrown out of that Red Hen restaurant?”

Arroyo also brought up the harassment of Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi before slamming CNN personalities’ reactions to what they saw as “deserved attacks.” Arroyo specifically mentioned Ana Navarro’s declaration that “there’s a cost to pay for the decisions you make in life” and Don Lemon reacting to protesters accosting Cruz and his wife at a DC restaurant by saying “sometimes, the only agency you have is…to get in someone’s face.”

Later, Arroyo suggested that the same people defending and applauding Cuomo would have trashed Sanders as an “aggressive, horrible woman” if she had threatened the owner of the Red Hen restaurant. According to Arroyo, “we can’t have double standards here, Jesse. We’re all one American family; no matter who we work for, no matter who we support politically, we’re one family.” 

Earlier, Arroyo had summed up the lesson of Cuomo’s “Fredo” freak out: “Public people are entitled to private lives, particularly when they’ve got family and wives and children around.” If only CNN and everyone else in the liberal media would keep that in mind the next time a left-wing mob accosts a conservative public figure. If history serves as any guide, they will instead choose to praise the “good cause” of the left-wing protesters.

A transcript of the relevant portion of Tuesday’s edition of The Ingraham Angle is below. Click “expand” to read more.

The Ingraham Angle

08/13/19

10:51 PM

JESSE WATTERS: It’s the viral video everyone’s talking about. CNN anchor Chris Cuomo is confronted on the street and loses his cool.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CUOMO: Don’t f***ing insult me like that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What’s the prob…I didn’t insult you.

CUOMO: What the f***? You called me Fredo. It’s like I call you punk b****, you like that? You want that to be your nickname?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn’t call you that. I asked…

CUOMO: You called me Fredo. You know my name’s not f***ing Fredo.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought your name was.

CUOMO: You did not think my name was f***ing Fredo, don’t be a liar. I’ll f***ing ruin your sh**, I’ll f***ing throw you down these stairs like a f***ing punk.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please do.

CUOMO: Why? So you can f***ing sue? So you can f***ing sue?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why don’t you do it then?

CUOMO: Take a swing if you want to, call me Fredo, take a f***ing swing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I’m not gonna swing at you.

CUOMO: Take a f***ing swing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: Joining me now is fellow Italian Raymond Arroyo, Fox News Contributor. All right, Raymond, you and I agree that, you know, you don’t want people coming up to someone especially when they’re with their family out in the street having fun and…and calling them names and getting in their face. That kind of mob mentality, we don’t condone that. But, you know, just the hypocrisy because Cuomo and CNN, they…they’ve, you know, supported the Maxine Waters call to arms to get in your face. You know, they’ve supported this Antifa nonsense that you see in the streets. As a matter of fact, Chris Cuomo said that the Covington boy, while the adult man was banging the drum in his face, he needed to walk away and didn’t handle himself correctly so come on.

RAYMOND ARROYO: Look, Jesse, when I…when I saw people coming out and supporting Chris Cuomo, his network embracing him, I thought, good on them. But where were they when Sarah Huckabee Sanders was thrown out of that Red Hen restaurant…

WATTERS: Yep.

ARROYO: …with her entire family, when your previous guest Pam Bondi was taunted out of a movie theater with her boyfriend…

WATTERS: Yep.

ARROYO: …sent packing, Ted Cruz and his wife run out of a restaurant in Washington? Those were deserved attacks apparently. Ana Navarro, CNN Contributor said at the time when Sarah Sanders was thrown out, “there’s a cost to pay for the decisions you make in life.” Don Lemon, of Ted Cruz said “sometimes the only agency you have is to get in someone’s face.” Well, I think you and I would disagree with that. Public people are entitled to private lives, particularly when they’ve got family and wives and children around. That was horrible what happened, but I don’t know why Chris responded this way. He…something set him off.

WATTERS: Well, yeah, no, listen, I…

ARROYO: He was really triggered.

WATTERS: …I have…I have not handled myself well in certain public situations when I have kind of been confronted. It happens, you grow from it, you learn from it, you know, he’s never going to do this again. He took the bait and he responded. You know, the other day, I was at a lounge at the Delta sky situation trying to take off for a flight with my family and the actor Shia LaBeouf or whatever his name is, I think it was him, it looked exactly like him. I walked by and he calls…

ARROYO: Wow.

WATTERS: …me trash, right in front of my kids. You know, and I didn’t say anything…

ARROYO: Oh, no.

WATTERS: …I didn’t lose it. But, you know, these things happen but I think everybody just leave each other alone on the street.

ARROYO: Right.

WATTERS: You can tweet at him…

ARROYO: You know, Jesse…

WATTERS: …but, you know, don’t get in his face like that.

ARROYO: You should have called him…you should have called him Indiana Jones Jr; that would have shut him down immediately.

WATTERS: Yeah, what’s up with the Fredo thing? You…now you’re Italian; Fredo.

ARROYO: Yes.

WATTERS: Is that an ethnic slur?

ARROYO: No, it’s not an ethnic…an ethnic slur would have been to call him Don Corleone, you know, make the mob connection but Fredo. And here’s my other question. How do you get people to think you’re not Fredo by acting like Michael Corleone? I’m going to throw you down the stairs. I’m going to run your this, I’m going to break your that. Imagine if Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Jesse, had told the owner of the Red Hen I’m going to break the head off that hen and shove it right down your throat if you don’t get away from my table. That would have been front page news for days and people would have said look at the aggressive, horrible woman…

WATTERS: Yeah.

ARROYO: …who works for the Trump administration. We can’t have double standards here, Jesse. We’re all one American family; no matter who we work for, no matter who we support politically, we’re one family. And as Michael Corleone tells Fredo, don’t ever let me see you taking sides against the family. We have to remember that.

WATTERS: And here’s how we know…

ARROYO: The entire family.

WATTERS: …it’s not a slur because Chris Cuomo himself used it, roll the tape.

ARROYO: He did. He did indeed.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

CURTIS SLIWA: You see, I’ve dubbed it “la Cuomo Nostra.” That there is a…a group of people…of politicos who always hint that they might run but don’t necessarily plunge all the way, and they are members of la Cuomo Nostra.

CUOMO: So who am I then, Fredo?

SLIWA: Yes, exactly.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

WATTERS: You know, and we have a bunch of other tape. They say that word Fredo on CNN constantly, you know. Who knows?

ARROYO: Jesse, Cuomo Nostra sounds like an Italian slur to me, making the connection to the…the Cosa Nostra. I mean, he should have taken umbrage with that, not Fredo. We’ll leave it there.

WATTERS: All right, listen, if you see me on the street, don’t chirp at me. All right. Because I’m not going to even try to beat you up.

ARROYO: Won’t do it.

WATTERS: I’m walking the other way. We’ve got love for everybody here on Fox News, all right? Even the CNN people. Raymond, thank you very much.