Fox News anchor John Roberts apologized on the air Tuesday over an earlier comment he had made about former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s weight.
On Tuesday’s “America Reports,” Roberts discussed Christie’s entry into the 2024 Republican primary.
The former governor officially filed paperwork to join the race, CBS News reported.
According to polling from Morning Consult, Christie will begin his candidacy polling at 1 percent while former President Donald Trump polls currently at 56 percent.
Roberts questioned how Christie could have any impact on the race and compared GOP voters to two “milkshake” pools with one representing Trump voters and the other representing people who will consider voting for another candidate.
Mediaite reported Roberts said:
“We wonder about the net effect on the race, and to use a modification of a metaphor we were using on the panel earlier today. It’s like, you have two milkshakes, right?
“If the Republican Party is two milkshakes, and this one representing almost half the party — because that’s what the polling shows — has got one straw in it, and that’s Donald Trump’s straw.”
He added, “And the other milkshake, which represents the non-Donald Trump part of the Republican Party, has how many straws in it now?”
Roberts concluded:
“And now we’re gonna have Chris Christie’s straw in there, and judging by Chris Christie’s physical stature, he could drink a lot the milkshake if he wanted to. But you’re not affecting the Donald Trump milkshake.”
Roberts later appeared on the air alone and offered an apology he said he wanted to make after he had realized his comments were “hurtful.”
Fox anchor John Roberts apologizes for making a joke about Chris Christie’s weight
Here’s both the apology and what he originally said pic.twitter.com/rVRYJ8JfCI
— Lis Power (@LisPower1) June 6, 2023
“I just want to take a moment to address something, because I really do feel terrible about it,” Roberts said. “Earlier on the show, I was making an analogy to describe the Republican voter pool, and I made a comment that I meant to be light-hearted, but I immediately realized was hurtful toward Governor Chris Christie.”
The anchor concluded, “I should not have said what I said. I deeply regret it, and I sincerely apologize to the governor.”
Christie ran for president in 2016 but dropped out of the race in February of that year after he finished sixth place in the New Hampshire primary, the Associated Press reported.
The former governor has positioned himself as an alternative to Trump in recent months as he has teased a possible run.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.