Fox News host says on air that he doesn’t wash his hands. Now he says he was joking
“Fox and Friends” weekend personality Pete Hegseth decided to share a little something-something about his personal hygiene habits on last Sunday that left some folks — including his co-hosts — a little grossed out.
After social media washed its hands of him, Hegseth said on Monday that he was joking.
He was on the air with Ed Henry and Jedediah Bila when, after a commercial, they started talking about Hegseth eating day-old pizza during the break, reported Newsweek, which posted video of the exchange.
“Yesterday was National Pizza Day, which means it’s National Pizza Weekend, which means ... Pizza Hut lasts for a long time,” Hegseth informed his co-hosts.
Bila said that Hegseth would eat anything that’s not nailed down ... “take the mugs off the table,” she joked.
“As I told you my 2019 resolution is to say things on air that I say off air ... I don’t think I’ve washed my hands for 10 years,” Hegseth said, inexplicably.
Henry and Bila laughed. Off-camera, someone let out a loud groan.
“Really, I don’t really wash my hands ever,” Hegseth continued.
“Someone help me,” Bila said. “Oh man.”
“I inoculate myself. Germs are not a real thing. I can’t see them. Therefore they’re not real,” Hegseth insisted.
“So you’re becoming immune to all the bacteria,” Bila replied.
“Exactly,” said Hegseth. “I can’t get sick.”
“My dad has that theory too,” Bila told him.
Meanwhile Henry invited the show’s viewers to sound off on what Hegseth had just shared.
“Look it, these hands look pretty clean to me,” Hegseth said, showing off his hands.
Then he apologized for “grossing” out viewers.
Anyone who couldn’t tell whether Hegseth was joking got an answer when he tweeted later: “DontWash.”
The declaration didn’t go over well with folks who commented on Hegseth’s Twitter timeline, some with this hashtag: #WashYourHands.
“After the incident got attention,” USA Today wrote, “Hegseth said he was ‘sitting back and literally watching my (Twitter) feed and laughing. It’s ridiculous to me because of how people take literal and serious certain things and their heads explode. It’s ridiculous.’”
He told the newspaper it “should have been obvious that he was joking,” USA Today wrote.
“My half-hearted commentary to the point is, we live in a society where people walk around with bottles of Purell in their pockets, and they sanitize 19,000 times a day as if that’s going to save their life,” he said. “I take care of myself and all that, but I don’t obsess over everything all the time.”
Last year Hegseth’s name popped up as someone President Trump was considering to replace David Shulkin as Veterans Affairs secretary.
“There was speculation before Trump took office that Hegseth, who also appears on other Fox News programs as a contributing analyst, was a top contender to lead the VA,” The Hill reported.
“Prior to television, Hegseth served in the U.S. Army National Guard. He was deployed three times overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan and served in Guantanamo Bay, earning two Bronze Stars.”
This story was originally published February 11, 2019 at 10:04 AM with the headline "Fox News host says on air that he doesn’t wash his hands. Now he says he was joking."