“She laughed and said, ‘Well, this is awkward.’” Gayle King shocks everyone by striking up a friendly conversation with Jesse Watters after being seated beside him on a packed flight – leaving her liberal followers furious and accusing her of “getting too cozy with the other side.”

Passengers described the unlikely moment as “surprisingly warm,” with Gayle and Jesse exchanging laughs, even snapping a quick selfie that quickly went viral. What started as an uncomfortable seating mix-up turned into one of the most talked-about encounters of the week. Critics online didn’t hold back, calling Gayle’s friendliness “tone-deaf” and “disappointing,” while others praised her for showing grace and humor amid political division. The question spreading across social media now: did this unexpected moment mark the beginning of a rare friendship or just a fleeting truce at 30,000 feet?

Discover what Gayle really said during that flight and why the photo changed everything – full story below.

CBS News star Gayle King posted a smiling selfie with rival Fox News host Jesse Watters after the pair found themselves seated next to each other on a flight.

The photo, published to King’s Instagram on Monday, showed the unlikely duo grinning from ear to ear.

‘Two TV people from competing networks walk on to a plane and to the surprise of them both, they’re seated right next to each other for over four hours,’ King wrote in the caption to her more than 1.1 million followers.

‘How did it go? Speaking for [Watters] here: A good time was had by all! Hi, Jesse…saving your number!’

However, angry viewers were quick to slam the CBS Mornings host for her kind words.

‘I respect and love you, Gayle. Your seat mate, however, is harming our country,’ one wrote.

‘It was so fun to sit next to my new friend who promotes misogyny and racism for a living. What is happening?’ another added.

‘Are you kidding me? You haven’t said a thing about ICE raids and you post a photo of a white supremacist who gets paid millions to spew hate against women, Latinos, Black Americans, trans people, the working class, liberals, Asians, Democrats, Muslims, progressives. This is insulting to all the people that have supported you over the years,’ a third raged.

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CBS News star Gayle King posted a smiling selfie with rival Fox News host Jesse Watters after the pair found themselves seated next to each other on a flight

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Angry viewers were quick to slam the CBS Mornings star for her post

‘I thought you had more integrity than that,’ a fourth chimed in.

Back in 2019, Watters mistakenly mistook King for Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts. Watters later apologized for the error.

King’s network, meanwhile, recently hired a new editor-in-chief in Bari Weiss, a former New York Times opinion writer who resigned from the paper in 2020 while decrying its ‘illiberal environment.’

According to the Times, Weiss has reportedly already ruffled feathers with staffers by asking 60 Minutes staffers on October 14, ‘Why does the country think you’re biased?’

The network’s parent company, Paramount Global, recently merged with Skydance Media, giving control of the company to the son of billionaire Trump ally Larry Ellison.

Well-connected sources told the Daily Mail earlier this year that CBS News execs will ‘most likely’ not renew King’s contract when it expires in May.

CBS Mornings, hosted by King since 2011, has been plagued by poor ratings.