Bill O’Reilly is the crotchety, shouting canker sore of cable news.
For several years now, the FOX News host has made millions off of the vilification of Black bodies, spirits, and political ideologies. Most of us have tried to make peace with the sad reality that we can’t stop his shtick, thus, we try to ignore him as much as possible. However, there are still some instances in which we cannot ignore his bullshit. Say, when the loudmouth comes for the hair that sits on the head of the immaculate and always necessary Maxine Waters.
During a Tuesday appearance on another god-awful FOX News show, Fox & Friends, O’Reilly’s Vigo from Ghostbusters II looking somebody had the unmitigated gall to come for Waters’ wig. Earlier in the week, Waters gave an impassioned speech on the floor of the House of Representatives, condemning the president and arguing that those who are turning a blind eye to the destruction he has wrought lack sincere patriotism.
When questioned about her remarks, O’Reilly said, “I didn’t hear a word she said. I was looking at the James Brown wig.” Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earnhardt cut in to note, “You can’t go after a woman’s looks. I think she’s very attractive.” In response, O’Reilly said, “I didn’t say she wasn’t attractive… I love James Brown, but it’s the same hair.”
It’s actually not the same hair, but his confusion isn’t surprising.
After all, O’Reilly is the same man, who in 2007, went to Sylvia’s, a soul food restaurant in Harlem, with Al Sharpton and later said he was shocked that “There wasn’t one person in Sylvia’s who was screaming, ‘Motherfu*ker, I want more iced tea.'”
For the record, O’Reilly, that is not a James Brown wig. I happen to love Maxine Waters’ wig. That wig is very First Lady of the megachurch or Head Deaconess hair. In other words, the hair, like everything else with Maxine Waters, is anointed.
In that same segment, O’Reilly went on to say: “She’s a sincere individual. Whatever she says, she believes. She’s not a phony, that’s old school. So we’re giving Maxine a break here. I love you, Maxine. I want to see you on ‘the Factor’ and, when hell freezes over, I’m sure that’ll happen.”
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O’Reilly would later release a statement by Tuesday afternoon, apologizing for his remarks: “As I have said many times, I respect Congresswoman Maxine Waters for being sincere in her beliefs,” he said in a statement. “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.” However, considering his penchant for being a jackass with a deluded sense of moral authority, O’Reilly reminded everyone exactly who he really is by Tuesday evening’s airing of The O’Reilly Factor. While repeating his apology, O’Reilly snickered and would go on to lecture Waters about “demagoguery.” O’Reilly questioned her patriotism and argued that she and others on the left need to “stop the ideological nonsense and really focus on what America offers.”
Bill O’Reilly works on a conservative cable news station that serves as de facto state TV so it’s mighty rich that he, a man who routinely advocates for the “white establishment” while pretending white privilege is nonexistent, wants to lament about how ideology and demagoguery hurt the nation. Meanwhile, Waters made a stirring speech about a buffoonish president with dubious ties to a hostile foreign government that deserved real addressing, but O’Reilly opted instead to focus on her hair.
But since we’re talking hair, how did O’Reilly’s look when he allegedly masturbated on the phone with a former employee who filed a suit FOX News later (rather secretly) settled?
In response to his comments, Waters appeared on MSNBC’s All In With Chris Hayes and had this to say: “I’m a strong Black woman. I cannot be intimidated. I cannot be undermined. I cannot be thought to be afraid of Bill O’Reilly, or anybody. I’d like to say to women out there everywhere, don’t allow these right-wing talking heads, these dishonorable people, intimidate or scare you. When a woman stands up and speaks truth to power, there will be an attempt to put her down. I’m not going to be put down, I’m not going to go anywhere. I’m going to stay on the issues.”
Let O’Reilly tell it, Waters won’t appear on his show because she is afraid to be challenged by him. But it’s not at all fear. It’s more so Maxine Waters realizing everyone isn’t worth your time.
Certainly not some conservative blowhard who looks like old glue stuck on a wooden table. All hail Maxine Waters and to hell with Bill O’Reilly today, tomorrow, and every day thereafter.