Gavin Newsom's Feud With Fox News Anchor Jesse Watters Is Packed With Pettiness

At some point in Gavin Newsom's Donald Trump social media cosplay, he absorbed the divisive president's pettiness. While Newsom doled out nicknames that even gave Trump a run for his money, the governor also partook in one of the Republican's favorite hobbies: Railing against news anchors whom Trump believes have wronged him in some way. In August 2025, Newsom's official press office took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share a compilation of Fox News anchor Jesse Watters calling the Democratic politician "Daddy." 

It's clear that the tweet's author didn't think the clip package was embarrassing enough on its own, so they also snarked alongside it, "Jesse, he's just not interested." At another point that same month, Ron DeSantis, who previously had a messy feud of his own with Newsom, joined Watters in criticizing him on his show. Although the Fox News anchor thankfully didn't use that strange moniker for Newsom in the clip, the governor still shaded him by reposting the clip on X and writing: "Jesse, please stop calling me Daddy. It's disturbing." 

Once he donned his Trump cosplay, Newsom naturally grew louder and pettier, tweeting, "JESSE WATTERS KEPT CALLING ME 'DADDY' (VERY WEIRD, NOT INTERESTED, BUT THANK YOU!)" Then, in a September 2025 episode of "Jesse Watters Primetime," the host revealed that he had bestowed a petty nickname on the governor: "Greasy Gavin," (via X). The vocal GOP supporter also questioned why he'd only managed to copy Trump's social media posts and not his genius policies. Newsom didn't mince his words while answering simply, "Because they are trash." Their messy spat wasn't just limited to petty insults either.

In June 2025, Gavin Newsom hit Fox News with a $787 million defamation lawsuit partially because of Jesse Watters' insulting on-air comments. The nexus of the case lay in a he-said-she-said moment that began when Donald Trump informed reporters that he had called Newsom on June 9 to condemn the governor for how poorly he was handling the anti-ICE protests in California. Shortly afterward, the Democratic politician took to X to clarify that the president was lying. But, according to Newsom's lawsuit, Fox News anchors like Watters had tried to falsely portray him as the liar.

During an episode of "Jesse Watters Primetime," he presented a screenshot showing that Newsom and Trump had spoken on June 7, which served as proof that the president's assertion that they had spoken on June 9 wasn't entirely accurate. However, the host completely ignored that fact and wondered instead, "Why would Newsom lie and claim Trump never called him?" (via the New York Times). His segment also included a banner that read: "Gavin lied about Trump's call." In addition to the hefty payment, Newsom also demanded an on-air apology from Watters. 

The outspoken anchor offered him a half-hearted one in July, admitting, "[Newsom] didn't deceive anybody on purpose, so I'm sorry, he wasn't lying. He was just confusing and unclear. Next time, governor, why don't you say what you mean?" (via The Independent). However, that "apology" wasn't enough to convince Newsom to drop the lawsuit. Safe to say that the Democrat has his hands full with feuds since Newsom is also locked in a bitter battle of the governors with Arnold Schwarzenegger.