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El-Sayed asks Watters if he is circumcised during Fox News interview

The exchange occurred during a discussion about gender-affirming care for minors.

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published
El-Sayed asks Watters if he is circumcised during Fox News interview

What this story says

  • Abdul El-Sayed, a Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan, asked Fox News host Jesse Watters if he was circumcised during an interview.
  • The question arose during a debate about gender-affirming care for minors.
  • El-Sayed used circumcision as a comparison to defend his stance on medical procedures for minors.
  • The interview also covered topics including immigration, Sharia law, and taxing the wealthy.

Who covered it

Left 23%(6)Centre 15%(4)Right 62%(16)

Percentages are shares of the 26 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 3 of the 29 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

42/100

Craft

61/100

Hype

68/100

29 sources · methodology

Thin on the left so far

Only 6 of the 26 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.

This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.

During a television interview, Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed asked Fox News host Jesse Watters if he was circumcised. The exchange took place on Monday during a discussion about gender-affirming care for minors. Watters had pressed El-Sayed on his views regarding medical interventions for young people.

Disagreement on the comparison

HuffPost reported that El-Sayed defended his position by comparing it to circumcision. In contrast, NewsBusters described Watters as confronting El-Sayed about castrating children versus circumcision, and The Post Millennial stated El-Sayed compared child sex change castration to circumcision.

What the coverage left out

None of the left-rated digests mention El-Sayed's defence of his stance on Sharia law, which was reported by right-rated outlets such as Washington Examiner and Fox News. Similarly, none of the centre-rated digests mention El-Sayed's specific comments on Sharia law.

Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 1 time, most recently on 25 Aug 2026, 12:30, and will add the sides that appear.

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

6 rated outlets

  • Left-rated reports focused on the personal question El-Sayed posed to Jesse Watters. HuffPost described the exchange as a "bonkers" detour and an effort to disarm the host. CNN and The Independent noted the question came after Watters asked about gender-affirming surgery for minors. Raw Story highlighted that Watters was "squirms" after the question, and Mediaite stated the interview took a "bizarre turn."

Centre

4 rated outlets

  • Centre-rated reports highlighted the clash between El-Sayed and Watters on various issues. Newsweek noted the interview covered transgender athletes, health care, and culture-war topics. Alabama Live mentioned El-Sayed slamming Senator Tuberville over Sharia law during the exchange with Watters. The Hill stated the interview involved clashes over gas prices, Sharia law, healthcare, and gender-affirming care.

Right

16 rated outlets

  • Right-rated reports frequently framed the interview as a "train wreck" or a "fail" for El-Sayed. Many focused on the candidate's question about circumcision, often linking it directly to his defence of sex change surgeries for minors. RedState suggested the appearance "may sink his chances." The Gateway Pundit stated El-Sayed "tries to filibuster his way" through the interview. Breitbart and The Post Millennial highlighted El-Sayed's comments on sex changes for minors, with The Post Millennial quoting Watters saying, "Circumcision is different than castration."

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover El-Sayed asks Watters if he is circumcised during Fox News interview?
Of the 26 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 23% are rated left, 15% are rated centre, 62% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 29. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is El-Sayed asks Watters if he is circumcised during Fox News interview left or right?
Neither side dominates it. Of the 26 rated outlets on this story, 23% are rated left, 15% are rated centre, 62% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
Is the coverage of El-Sayed asks Watters if he is circumcised during Fox News interview biased?
El-Sayed asks Watters if he is circumcised during Fox News interview is one event reported by 29 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which side is not reporting El-Sayed asks Watters if he is circumcised during Fox News interview?
When we first saw this story, outlets rated left had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
Which outlets covered El-Sayed asks Watters if he is circumcised during Fox News interview?
29 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
What happened during the interview between Abdul El-Sayed and Jesse Watters?
During an interview discussing gender-affirming care for minors, Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed asked Fox News host Jesse Watters if he was circumcised. El-Sayed used the question to draw a comparison to defend his position on medical procedures for minors.
What was the context of El-Sayed's question about circumcision?
Jesse Watters had pressed El-Sayed on his stance regarding sex changes for minors. El-Sayed then asked Watters if he was circumcised, comparing it to other medical procedures on minors.
What other topics were discussed in the interview?
Beyond the exchange about gender-affirming care, the interview also covered subjects including immigration, Sharia law, and taxing the wealthy, according to multiple reports.

Read it at the source

29 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

6

Centre

4

Right

16
Show 8 more

Not rated

3

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

Abdul El-Sayed Fox News interview | MediaBias News