Jesse Watters cornered by blunt 'personal question' from Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed
Key Takeaways
- •Abdul El-Sayed, a physician and epidemiologist who previously directed the Detroit Health Department, secured the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters.
- •El-Sayed argued during the interview that the government should not dictate what kind of health care individuals can have, drawing on his medical background in a tense exchange over gender-affirming care for minors.
- •More than two dozen states have enacted bans or restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors, and a January 2025 executive order directed federal agencies to withhold federal funding for such care for patients under 19.
- •When Watters crudely questioned whether parents should be allowed to let a child undergo such procedures, El-Sayed responded by asking whether Watters was circumcised, prompting the host to laugh and want to move on.
- •The viral exchange comes amid a closely watched open-seat race in Michigan, a battleground state that backed Joe Biden in 2020 and flipped to Donald Trump in 2024, with Senate control contested in the November midterms.
Fox News host Jesse Watters found himself on the defensive during a fiery interview on his own program on Monday, after a blunt "personal question" from his guest left the host eager to change the subject.
Watters was interviewing Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive from Michigan who earned the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate race. A physician and epidemiologist who previously directed the Detroit Health Department, El-Sayed leaned on that medical background as the two became locked in a tense back-and-forth over a political topic that left Watters visibly uncomfortable — and during one exchange about health care, El-Sayed backed the host into a corner he was all too eager to escape.
"I think the government shouldn't tell you what kind of health care you should have," El-Sayed said, addressing the question of allowing health care providers to offer gender-affirming care to minors. "If you disagree with that, then we agree to disagree."
The question placed him squarely in one of the most contested fights in U.S. health policy: more than two dozen states have enacted bans or restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors, and a January 2025 executive order directed federal agencies to withhold federal funding for such care for patients under 19.
Watters followed up by pressing El-Sayed on his stance on genital mutilation.
"But, you're a doctor?" Watters shot back.
"I am," El-Sayed said.
"So, you think it's OK for a parent to allow their child to slash their ding-a-ling off?" Watters replied.
The conversation took an even stranger turn from there.
"Are you circumcised?" El-Sayed responded.
"Well, yeah, I am, but that's a bit of a personal question," Watters said, laughing.
"Then you probably want to move on," El-Sayed shot back.
The exchange captivated a number of onlookers, who shared their reactions on social media.
"Is this the first instance of someone being hit with an 'Are you circumcised?' in television history? So few original sentences left," Matt Rice, Washington correspondent for the New York Sun, posted on X.
"This is some of the cringiest s--- I've ever seen. Turn the fucking cable news circuit off, folks," the "Steak for Breakfast Podcast", an America First-aligned outlet, posted on X.
"El-Sayed is intelligent and rational. Watters is a total dips---. He's looking incredibly stupid, as usual," Michael Kasdan, a lawyer and NYU professor, posted on X.
Watters: You think it's ok to slash a ding-a-ling off El-Sayed: Do you really want to have this conversation? Are you circumcised? Watters: Yeah El-Sayed: Then you probably want to move on. pic.twitter.com/mC2w6dlv4o — Acyn (@Acyn) August 25, 2026
The moment now feeds into a closely watched statewide campaign. El-Sayed, who lost the 2018 Democratic primary for Michigan governor to Gretchen Whitmer, secured the nomination for the seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters — an open-seat race in a battleground state that backed Joe Biden in 2020 and flipped to Donald Trump in 2024, with Senate control contested in the November midterms.
Source: Raw Story
