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 marking National Fudge Day.
At the end of an episode of The Five, Watters presented Vance with a pickle cake instead of fudge.
“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,” Watters said.
The remark appeared to reference a homophobic slur directed at gay men. Vance laughed before thanking Watters for the cake.
The exchange quickly drew criticism online, with commentators pointing out that pickles are commonly read as a phallic food item, making them a strange substitute if fudge was considered “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 added: “Never in my life has anyone said fudge is gay. Pickles on the other hand…”
Vance appeared on the programme to promote his memoir, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, which charts the Republican politician’s return to Catholicism after a period of atheism.
Speculation about Vance’s sexuality previously surfaced after his memoir Hillbilly Elegy, in which he wrote that he briefly convinced himself he was gay as a child. However, Vance is not gay. He has been married to Usha Chilukuri Vance since 2014, and the couple have three children.
Vance has previously opposed 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 masculinity, 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”.
The latest segment has been widely mocked online, with critics accusing Watters of using casual homophobia as a punchline while attempting to police what is considered masculine.
