African-American woman in Congress speaks up against the president, Bill O’Reilly says he won’t listen because of her hair. pic.twitter.com/GVOkZNBNX9
— Media Matters (@mmfa) March 28, 2017
On Tuesday, Bill O’Reilly picked up the morning shift as a guest for Fox & Friends, where he was unable to go off on his own tangents with on-air counseling sessions for President Trump. Instead, O’Reilly was asked to remark upon the latest speech by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), a vocal Trump critic who stood on the House floor and called Trump supporters unpatriotic. While the footage of Water’s impassioned speech played, O’Reilly can be seen in a split-screen, where he forms bizarre mocking faces along with her words. Once the show’s hosts — Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt, and Brian Kilmeade — asked O’Reilly to speak on the matter, he simply responded, “I didn’t hear a word she said. I was looking at the James Brown wig.”
Naturally, this ad hominem attack did not go over well, and although male laughter can be heard in the back ground in response to the “joke,” Earhardt took issue with O’Reilly’s response. And of course, he made things worse:
Earhardt: “I’ve got to defend her on that. I have to defend her on that. You can’t go after a woman’s looks. I think she’s very attractive.”
O’Reilly: “I didn’t say she wasn’t attractive.”
Earhardt: “Her hair is pretty.”
O’Reilly: “I love James Brown, but it’s the same hair, James Brown — alright, the ‘Godfather of Soul’ — had.”
Nope. There are several reasons why O’Reilly should have never opened his mouth about Waters’ hair, but he’s not going to learn any lessons here. In fact, he was very amused by himself. Waters was trying to make a substantial point — “When we fight against this president, and we point out how dangerous he is for this society and for this country, we’re fighting for the democracy” — about how Trump tries to shut down all critics, and all O’Reilly could do was act like a high schooler.
Following this fine mess, Twitter became a hotbed of outrage, which was led by author Joy Reid. She pointed out that O’Reilly was allowed to make sexist (and racially charged) comments about a Congresswoman on a major network (that employs him). In addition, Reid also brought up recent domestic violence allegations against O’Reilly (which have not been proven), who was also recently the subject of a sexual harassment claim that was quietly settled by Fox News. (And jokes are flying about O’Reilly’s own hair.)
O'Reilly crosses a huge, bright, red line: says he "couldn't hear a word Rep. Maxine Waters said because of her 'James Brown wig." https://t.co/OPGj6Y09dF
— Mkay (@JoyAnnReid) March 28, 2017
A man accused of spousal abuse and sexual harassment is attacking a member of congress in crass racial and gender terms on a major network. https://t.co/2d2ldkCv92
— Mkay (@JoyAnnReid) March 28, 2017
UPDATE: O’Reilly has apologized in a statement from Fox News:
“As I have said many times, I respect Congresswoman Maxine Waters for being sincere in her beliefs. I said that again today on Fox & Friends calling her ‘old school.’ Unfortunately, I also made a jest about her hair which was dumb. I apologize.”
(Video via Media Matters & Fox News)