Rosie O’Donnell is back in the United States, back in front of the cameras, and apparently back to being furious that conservative media wants to ask her questions.
The comedian and longtime President Trump critic lashed out at Fox News host Jesse Watters in a TikTok video after describing an encounter with a Fox News production crew outside the Daryl Roth Theatre in New York, where she was performing her autobiographical one-woman Off-Broadway show, Common Knowledge.
According to O’Donnell, the crew was waiting as she got out of her vehicle and attempted to get her attention.
“Today a fox crew was waiting for me to exit the car – they ran in mass screaming JESSE WATTERS WANTS TO TALK TO U – so what ? – I have no desire to talk to him or fox (we lie to Americans) ‘news’ – so say what u need and go the f**k away,” O’Donnell wrote in the caption accompanying her video.
Subtle.
In the video, which O’Donnell recorded while getting her hair done, she expanded on why she wasn’t interested in speaking with Watters or his crew.
“So here’s what I want to say to Jesse Watters and his gang of unruly reporter yellers at the theater today,” she said. “No, I don’t want to speak or answer a question from Jesse Watters.”
O’Donnell then said she doesn’t watch Watters and has no intention of starting.
“I’ve never watched Jesse Watters, and I don’t ever care to. Okay? I’ve read enough about what he said about women and who he is and how his career began on the Bill O’Reilly show, of all places.”
Of course, refusing an interview is O’Donnell’s prerogative. Nobody is required to stop and answer questions from a television reporter. But turning the encounter into a TikTok tirade is a curious way to demonstrate just how little you supposedly care about the person asking the questions.
O’Donnell also told Watters to stay out of her “orbit,” adding another chapter to her long-running involvement in America’s political and cultural battles.
The comedian relocated to Ireland following President Trump’s reelection before later returning to the United States. Her criticism of Trump, however, certainly didn’t remain overseas.
The video received renewed attention in mid-August as O’Donnell began a four-night stint guest-hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live! Instead of leaving the political fireworks backstage, she promptly brought them into her opening monologue.
O’Donnell referred to President Trump as “Mango Mussolini” and suggested that the president might be watching the program.
Because apparently late-night television hadn’t already received enough political commentary over the past decade.
The episode also illustrates the strange relationship between celebrities and political media. Hollywood personalities routinely use enormous platforms to criticize politicians, political movements and media organizations. Yet when a reporter from an outlet they dislike shows up with questions, suddenly the very concept of being questioned becomes outrageous.
O’Donnell is perfectly entitled to dislike Watters. She’s entitled to dislike Fox News. She’s even entitled to tell a camera crew that she isn’t interested and walk inside the theater.
But when a celebrity spends years publicly attacking President Trump and weighing in on national politics, reporters asking questions shouldn’t exactly qualify as a shocking development.
If O’Donnell really wants Jesse Watters outside her “orbit,” a lengthy TikTok video about Jesse Watters probably isn’t the most efficient way to accomplish it.
Then again, political celebrity feuds have never exactly been famous for efficiency.
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