Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) has a lot of things going on, what with basically being one of the few members of Congress willing to fight the current administration tooth and nail and calling it out on all its bullshit. So it’s quite obvious that she doesn’t have time for Bill O’Reilly or his shenanigans trying to come for her hairstyle. She’s got way bigger fish to fry.
And Waters made that explicitly clear, appearing on MSNBC’s All in With Chris Hayes on Tuesday night to set the record straight on the whole thing.
When asked if she would like to respond to O’Reilly’s comments, Waters casually brushed them off like the flecks of dust they are.
“I am a strong black woman and I cannot be intimidated, I cannot be undermined, I cannot be thought to be afraid of Bill O’Reilly or anybody,” the congresswoman said.
O’Reilly caught the heat Tuesday after daring to come for Waters’ looks, saying that he couldn’t hear a word she said with that “James Brown wig.” Yes, let’s totally disregard everything a woman is saying because of her hair. The sexism present in that statement is mind-blowing. Or maybe it isn’t. This is O’Reilly, after all.
Anyway, O’Reilly later caught some sense shortly afterward and apologized Tuesday afternoon, tweeting that he “respects” the congresswoman for being “sincere in her beliefs,” and apologizing for the “jest about her hair which is dumb.”
But “sorry” doesn’t cool hot water, Bill. And the attack was recognized for what it was.
“We also know that when a woman stands up and speaks truth to power that there will be attempts to put her down. And so I’m not going to be put down, I’m not going to go anywhere. I’m going to stay on the issues,” Waters told MSNBC.
“I’d like to say to women out there everywhere: Don’t allow these right-wing talking heads, these dishonorable people, to intimidate you or scare you,” the congresswoman added. (Preach, Auntie Maxine.) “Be who you are. Do what you do. And let us get on with discussing the real issues of this country.”
Watch the segment below via MSNBC: