Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, called on Fox News on Tuesday to fire host Jesse Waters for targeting him with a violent speech at a conservative conference earlier this week.
"This is horrific," Fauci told CNN of Waters' remarks. "And he's going, probably, unaccountable." . The man should shoot immediately."
Speaking Monday at the AmericaFest conference in Turning Point USA, Watters encouraged attendees to "ambush" Fauci's rhetoric with questionable questions about the National Institutes of Health allegedly funding "gain-a-job" research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
“Now you go for the kill shot. The kill shot? Ambush? Deadly,” Waters said.
Fauci — President Joe Biden's chief medical advisor and who served for 37 years as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — on Tuesday called Waters' comments "appalling."
"One thing I've done all these two years is encouraging people to practice good public health practices: get vaccinated, be careful in public, wear masks," Fauci said. “And for that, you have someone out there saying people should give me a killer shot to ambush me? I mean, what kind of madness is there in society these days?”
Fox News declined to comment on the record on whether it endorses Waters' comments or plans to take disciplinary action against him. Fox News also did not respond to a request for comment on Fauci's criticism of the network.
Fox News hosts, as well as Republican lawmakers, have repeatedly targeted Fauci throughout the coronavirus pandemic with inflammatory and personal attacks. Lara Logan, Fox News personality and host on the streaming service, compared to notorious Nazi doctor Josef Mengele earlier this month.
