Gaetz calls Fox hosts ‘childish’ for jokes about romance with Ocasio-Cortez

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) called Fox News hosts “childish” over comments they made on “The Five” last week, joking about a hypothetical romance between him and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). 

The comments, mostly from host Greg Gutfeld, were made after Gaetz and Ocasio-Cortez, along with other House members, introduced a bipartisan bill last week to ban members of Congress and their families from trading stocks while serving. 

“I smell a romantic comedy,” Gutfeld said. 

“They come together to fight one of the most corrupt practices in politics, and they fall in love,” he continued. “They can’t help themselves. She’s got a French poodle. He’s got a strange hairline. But somehow they’re going to make it work.” 

Gaetz said Tuesday during an episode of his podcast “Firebrand” that two members of Congress should be able to work together on policy to make Congress “more honest and more ethical without that type of, I think, very childish and immature commentary.” 

“It does seem a little childish to me that the media always has to oversexualize everything that AOC is involved with. They wouldn’t do that to men,” Gaetz said. 

Jesse Watters, another host on the show, interjected during Gutfeld’s comments that Gaetz is married and Ocasio-Cortez is engaged.

Gaetz said he appreciated Watters for noting “at the outset” that he is “happily married,” adding that Watters and his wife were present during Gaetz’s third date with his now-wife. 

He also criticized Jeanine Pirro, another host, for jokingly expressing interest in officiating a hypothetical wedding between Gaetz and Ocasio-Cortez.

Gaetz pointed out that Pirro had earlier in the conversation acknowledged that he is already married, and that she was present at Mar-a-Lago when he proposed to his wife. 

“By the end of the Greg Gutfeld rant, she’s bailed, and she’s wanting to be the officiant for me and AOC. So shame on you, Judge Jeanine,” Gaetz said. “You know better than that. You were there for my engagement.”