Bill O’Reilly mocked Rep. Maxine Waters’ ‘James Brown wig’ on Fox News

Michael Bolton charity event in the Hamptons

I’ve been missing Gawker so much the past few months, and I was reminded of the site’s absence yet again this week. Gawker stayed on the Bill O’Reilly beat over the years, repeatedly reminding everyone that O’Reilly was little more than a physically abusive bully and a racist jackass. Well, funny story, you guys: Bill O’Reilly is still a racist d-bag. O’Reilly still has a primetime slot on Fox News, but he stopped by the morning Fox & Friends show and he ended up participating in a discussion about Congresswoman Maxine Waters, a California Democrat who has been on FIRE about Emperor Bigly and how he needs to be impeached. But why listen to any argument Representative Waters makes when you can mock her physical appearance, right? That was Bill O’Reilly’s thought process.

Bill O’Reilly is coming under fire for scorning Democratic congresswoman Maxine Waters on Fox and Friends Tuesday. “I didn’t hear a word she said,” O’Reilly remarked after watching a clip of Waters railing against Trump and the Republican party. “I was looking at the James Brown wig.”

A representative of California’s 43rd district, the congresswoman made headlines for a recent speech, in which she said, “We’re fighting for the democracy. We are fighting for America. We’re saying to those who say they’re patriotic but then turned a blind eye to the destruction that [Trump’s] about to cause this country, ‘You are not nearly as patriotic as we are.’”

O’Reilly initially mocked Waters by raising a fist during the clip and mouthing, “Right on.” After his comments, Fox and Friends cohost Ainsley Earhardt said, “You can’t go after a woman’s looks. I think she’s very attractive.”

“I didn’t say she wasn’t attractive,” O’Reilly retorted. “I love James Brown. But it’s the same hair James Brown had.” He later commented on her as a politician, saying, “She’s a sincere individual. Whatever she said, she believes, and that’s old-school. We’re giving Maxine a break here. I love you, Maxine.”

[From EW]

Just think… this is the man who sat back and did nothing while his boss, Roger Ailes, created a hostile work environment for every woman at Fox News. This is the man who has a long history of racism on and off the air. His own children don’t even want to have anything to do with him. And for him to sit there and take a swipe at an African-American congresswoman’s WIG?? Oh hell no.

Within hours, O’Reilly issued an apology, saying: “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.” He also apologized – sort of – on his show last night. Except he “snickered” as he apologized and of course he questioned Rep. Waters’ patriotism, so… yeah. For her part. Maxine Waters went on All In with Chris Hayes last night and she brushed off O’Reilly’s criticism and used her time to hammer Bigly Trump.

Photos courtesy of Getty, WENN.

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115 Responses to “Bill O’Reilly mocked Rep. Maxine Waters’ ‘James Brown wig’ on Fox News”

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  1. Nev says:

    Jackass.
    Her statement in response is everything.

    • Lightpurple says:

      Maxine is everything and she always has been. The jackass isn’t worthy of her attention.

      • SusanneToo says:

        Maxine and the rest of the Dem California delegation are really ripping trump a new one. I love them.

      • Mary mary says:

        When O’Reilly cannot argue with Waters and her thoughtful, honest, message, then he goes low to attack the messenger.

        O’Reilly doesn’t discredit the message, he discredits himself by reaching down and going low.

        Hurrah, for Maxine Waters and all the Democrats who are standing up to the abomination in the White House. Faux news talking heads refuse to respond in a thought provoking, intelligent manner. This says everything we already know about the white brigade on Faux news. O’ Reilly insults, discredits, disrespects a Congress woman and her appearance, he refuses to listen, to acknowledge, to learn. This is why Faux pundits appeal to the low information voters.

    • Megan says:

      He is a garbage person who makes a living by being an a$$hole. Maxine Waters doesn’t have time for trolls, she is busy trying to save this country from a fascist tyrant.

      • Saras says:

        O’Reilly looks like an angry, balding, sultana raisin. Love to line up all the old white GOP guys for a %ick punching every time I hear them say crazy crap!

    • Sunglasses Aready says:

      This outdated, sad, bitter, twisted old man should not be on TV. Period.

  2. trollontheloose says:

    Questioning her looks because she is questioning some politics. Totally in the alley of 45. It’s despicable.

    • Kitten says:

      Not just 45, but most of the GOP. They don’t believe women, minorities, or poor people hold any “intrinsic value” (to use a term that should never be used to describe humans) in our society.

      • trollontheloose says:

        it’s just their day-to-day talk/ behavior but now it’s seems ok because of 45: telling it like it is. I am at loss over t their supporters still going after people who criticized him. “Dems are so soft and so snowflakes. There is a war in Syria” etc.. yes because it’s convenient and as we needed to be reminded that people are starving and dying. It’s still misogyny. They didn’t have any limit going after Michelle’s looks but Oh now it’s “get over it”. Worse thing I saw many women in the pack of allowing this abuse.

      • INeedANap says:

        These are the people who believe that women only have value in their looks — and then complain when women use their looks to get ahead. Sometimes I think they see us like house elves. A breed of creature that exists only to serve others.

      • Betsy says:

        @trollontheloose
        I agree with you to a point, but it still isn’t up to women to police men’s crappy behavior.

      • Otaku Fairy says:

        This This This. It’s a combination of the same-old tired “If you don’t like the progressive points a woman of color is making, make the conversation about what she chooses to do with her hair” nonsense and the condescending use of looks to be dismissive of women, that’s really popular with the right.
        @INeedANap: Right? I’ve noticed what you’re talking about too- it’s like MRAs can’t make up their mind on where to focus their little misogynistic hang-ups about women and physical appearance.

  3. Nicole says:

    This is basically a glance at what black women do just to survive the work place. Cause we get the BS from all sides

    • Aiobhan Targaryen says:

      Yep. I am actually shocked she was not called an angry black woman or any other dog whistle terms for a black woman who does not put up with crap from men.

      • Wilma says:

        Actually, I thought it was weird to use the words ‘railing against’. Made me think of the angry black woman trope.

      • Nicole says:

        Well that other fox host talked about “putting down the crack pipe” which so damn offensive I could spit.
        But yea this is blatant microagression because lord forbid a black woman be respected when you have a resume like Maxine’s. We are the most unprotected class of people for a reason.

      • Megan says:

        @Nicole I don’t see a micro aggression here, I see flat out racist bull$hit from well known racists.

    • Erinn says:

      It honestly makes me so angry. I know I can never really begin to understand the kind of bullshit that you have to go through. But I also can’t at ALL understand the kind of arrogant, garbage behavior from people like O’Reilly. Does her wig affect your life in any way? No. STFU. And honestly – I see absolutely nothing wrong with it to begin with – she looks lovely. I just can’t imagine the kind of pathetic life someone has to live to tear someone down for something that makes them feel good that doesn’t in ANY way shape or form affect them.

    • Bluesky says:

      Absolutely! You took the words right out of my mouth. He knows he can’t compete with her from an intellectual standpoint so he tries to degrade her by mocking her appearance. He is loving the attention he is getting from this. This again goes to the daily micro aggressions black women have to face. People marveling at how you have a degree, speak coherently, live in a nice neighborhood, and don’t have 5 kids by 4 different men.

      • Nicole says:

        The number of times I’ve gotten the shocked faces when I talk about my education level or the fact that I don’t have a million kids at my age is too many too count.

      • SusanneToo says:

        ” and don’t have 5 kids by 4 different men”
        Unlike being orange and having five kids by three different women.

      • Kitten says:

        Absolutely. All of this..straight out of the Racist Republithug Playbook.

  4. nemera34 says:

    OH don’t miss the part where he did the fist up and mouthed “Right ON”.. yeah..

    He is a sack of shit. And it pisses me off when people like him make fun of what a black person is wearing.. Hair or cloths; then later we see someone copying the look then making it seem as if they invented it. He is a slag. And once again in this Culture of Trump we are seeing this asses come out with their racist comments. HEY BILL. it ain’t going to fly. And we as people of color will come for you.. Wait

    • swak says:

      That did not sit well with me either. When I read it, I just kind of went “WHAT????”.

    • hannah89 says:

      the crazy thing is…has he looked in the mirror?

      if he wants to takes hits at people’s looks, he better damn well be prepared for the reality clapback. dude, you are crusty and hideous. seriously. I wish these dinosaurs would just lie down and become fuel (the fuel they love so much 😉 )

  5. Mia4s says:

    Breaking News: BillO’Reilly is a racist piece of garbage whose own children hate him.

    I’m shocked I tell you, shocked!

    • bleu_moon says:

      At least he didn’t show up drunk this time. Fox News: setting the bar low.

    • vaultdweller101 says:

      Can you imagine having racist drunk garbage monster Bill O’Reilly as a father? That is a rough hand to be dealt in life. I hope those poor children got all of the therapy they needed.

  6. Aiobhan Targaryen says:

    Sexist trashbox says disgusting things. Is anyone surprised?

    I am glad she stayed on message going after Dump. The right need lame deflections like what Bill did and what Nunes is trying to pull, it is showing how desperate and hypocritical they are. They have no substantive arguments to make to defend Dump, his racist and incompetent administration, and their incompetent attempts to cover up their collusion with Putin, so they go after her hair. Lame.

  7. RussianBlueCat says:

    Bill O’Reilly belongs to that long list of people who say and do horrible things, who I bet has some deep dark secret they want hidden from the world. When that secret finally comes out people will enjoy seeing him crash and burn. It is just a matter of time

    • Lightpurple says:

      His secrets have been coming out for years in various sexual harassment lawsuits and in his divorce and custody proceedings.

      • RussianBlueCat says:

        And yet he, Trump and others like them are still merrily going along,leaving a trail of victims in their wake and no punishment. Money and privilege obviously have it’s advantages. Just sickening

      • Kitten says:

        “Rich and white” is the impenetrable force field that shields these f*ckers from any accountability for their behavior. Also required: an audience of supporters who sanction, condone, and often encourage racism/homophobia/misogyny.

    • Luca76 says:

      It’s no secret he’s a wife beater, sexual harasser and his children hate him.

    • Otaku Fairy says:

      Sort of like the Duggar family.
      I think this is the first time I’m hearing about him being a wife-beater though (although, a while back I did here about some Trumpster republican who got exposed for DV, but that might not have been him. It’s easy to confuse these kinds of guys these days. 😉

  8. Giulia says:

    Speak, blobfish.

  9. smcollins says:

    Just when I thought I couldn’t loathe him any more than I already do….

    • Esmom says:

      I know. There seriously is a special place in h$ll for him and anyone who supports him.

  10. Blah says:

    Do we expect any less from Fox News? If he was so distracted by the Congresswoman’s hair, how does he ever hear anything Prez Lucifer has to say?

  11. Lolo86lf says:

    I have never ever heard him make fun of a man or mock a man’s looks. Clearly he is biased against women. We are living in the age of Trump where is okay to make fun of women and their looks. It is terrible.

  12. Maria says:

    as bad as his comment was, there was another Fox commentator who said she should ‘lay off the crackpipe’ and his colleagues on the sofa all snickered and laughed. Appalling.

    I saw it on twitter. Will look for the video and add it.

    sorry, i just see that it was from 2012. The poor woman. It never ends.

    https://www.bustle.com/p/maxine-waters-was-also-once-told-by-a-fox-news-host-to-step-away-from-the-crack-pipe-47605

    • Almondjoy says:

      Yup. And he also said “you saw what happened to Whitney Houston.” So disgusting.

      Edit: posted this after you added the link!

    • Lolo86lf says:

      Wow, I just lost whatever little respect I had for O’reilly and Fox News.

    • Esmom says:

      Omg, I missed that. I am still shaking my head from an experience I had yesterday at jury duty. I was in a courtroom sitting with a panel being questioned for selection and the plaintiff’s attorney was asking inane questions about everyone and their interests, families, etc. He had asked a few people if they owned their home (the case involved a dispute between homeowners) but when he got to a black woman in the row in front of me he asked if she rented her home. She calmly replied that she’d owned her home for 26 years and to her immense credit showed no signs of offense at his clearly biased assumption. Grr.

    • Kitten says:

      WHAT. THE. F*CK. “Crackpipe”? I cannot believe I can still be horrified by how low these people will go….

      @Esmom – SMDH I don’t how black women handle the cumulative effect of all those micro-aggressions….the blatant and latent racism. I would just be enraged all the damn time.

      • Tiffany says:

        @ Kitten We have no choice but to be in control of our feelings. If we break, there is no rebounding from it. We always have to be the bigger person.

    • QQ says:

      Is Ok Auntie Max Had him extremely gathered, she didnt even need us for it https://twitter.com/allinwithchris/status/846881548360019968

  13. Giddy says:

    Maxine Waters is a class act and she has stayed on Trump’s case like she is superglued to it. I love watching her comments. She’s been tearing Cheetolini up. And Bill O’Reilly is a racist, sexist jackass whose crudeness is legendary.

    TLDR: Love her, hate him.

    • detritus says:

      Yup. She’s a total professional. While that turd shows his ass again, and again.

  14. Becky says:

    I don’t know much about Reilly except he’s a pos.

    used to be a regular reader of Gawker too, a few years ago. I heard about the lawsuit, when I went back onto the site it had closed 🙁

  15. Beth says:

    Has this Fox News creep ever looked in the mirror? He’s not one who should be making mean comments about hair

    • eggyweggs says:

      And the blotches. And the liverspots. And the little beady little raisin eyes. His job is to be on TV and talk and he gets away with being this ugly and lacking in charisma? We need to start objectifying men in the same way and invalidate everything a ugly men say. I’m so tired of this ish. I see Fox news on the TV at the gym and all of the women are blond and thin and contoured out the wazoo and then there are these hideous troll men saying hideous troll things.

  16. Indiana Joanna says:

    O’Reilly really isn’t bright or quick and his stabs at being clever always fall flat. Letterman ran circles around him on Late Night. O’Reilly always looks second rate next to anyone with talent.

    Love Rep. Waters–super smart and she knows baby fists is in big trouble.

    • Lightpurple says:

      Letterman once told him during an interview that he was full of sh** I think CBS even aired it unedited. He whined about it on his own show for weeks.

      • Indiana Joanna says:

        I saw that show and Letterman was completely within bounds because O’Reilly was spouting absolutely non-sensical bloviating garbage.

  17. SusanneToo says:

    O’Reilly’s sh1ttiness was addressed on Seth Meyers last night:
    http://youtu.be/AmlPhiAx45o

  18. Lightpurple says:

    O’Reilly hates women. Fox has had to settle numerous sexual harassment cases that interns and staffers have brought against him. One of the interns taped the phone calls he made to her in which he talked about what he wanted to do to her with a loofah. His divorce and ongoing child custody battle have shown him to be a horrible person. He never discusses the views of women, except to discount them and focus on appearance instead of content.

    Maxine is way out of that clown’s league and what she was saying deserves applause, not his mockery about her hair, which happened to look fine.

  19. Lolo86lf says:

    Bill O’reilly mocked a woman in 2009:

    http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/165696

  20. Taya says:

    Loved Maxine Waters response “I’m a strong black woman. I cannot be intimidated, and I’m not going anywhere.” 🙌

    So this explains why O’Reilly is such a big trump supporter. He probably never heard a word trump has said, he’s too busy looking at 45’s hair. 🙄

  21. Almondjoy says:

    Her response was just EVERYTHING. “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 anyone.”

  22. Snowflake says:

    He is such a POS. That’s pretty lame. Can’t come up With anything better? Lame, bill, lame. Conservatives talk about liberals/Democrats like we are the devil but we are so much nicer than them. Fox news sucks. The only good thing about this election is that the Reublicanans can no longer claim family values party.

    • Lightpurple says:

      They still will. Reagan started the use of that term among politicians and he was not a good father and cheated on his first wife, probably cheated on Nancy too. Then it got carried over by Newt Gingrich who is on his third wife and cheated on the previous two. That whole impeachment team was nothing but a gang of adulterers, with the exception of Lindsay Graham, who seems to fear women.

      • Christin says:

        Ronnie certainly snowed a lot of people. He was a slick hound who tried to create a legend at Carter’s expense.

  23. aang says:

    This man is disgusting. That smug look on his face makes me want to vomit.

  24. Merritt says:

    He is a racist piece of garbage. He has raged for years about black families yet he abused his ex-wife and his own children hate him. I hope his ex-wife Maureen is now happy in her new life.

  25. Kate says:

    Oh I’m sure Aunt Maxine’s hair will look damn fine … at Minute Maid Mussolini’s impeachment hearings.

  26. MellyMel says:

    Gotta love it when some of the ugliest (inside and out) people (O’Reilly, Trump, etc.) have the nerve to talk about someone else’s appearance. Comical…

  27. Rapunzel says:

    Maxine Waters should have said she had a James Brown wig cause she’s practicing her impeachment dance to “I feel good”

  28. IlsaLund says:

    He wants to take cheap cracks at Maxine Waters hair?? What about his boyfriend, Orange Cheeto’s hair? Talk about that shitty hairdo. Maxine has more class and brains than O’Reilly & Trump will ever have. Both are afraid of strong women.

  29. The Original Mia says:

    He’s a POS. Auntie Maxine has snatched and will continue to snatch his & Orangina’s wigs with the truth. As she said, she’s a strong black woman that won’t be intimidated or silenced by these deplorable people. Carry on, Queen!

  30. Svea says:

    O’Reilly is a devout Catholic who is filled with hate. That tension doesn’t make for a nice person. He allegedly dragged his wife down the stairs in front of his daughter who now hates him. So the hate came home to roost, as it does. There is nothing more pathetic than someone who is dry–wanting spirituality yet it eludes him and, lacking all self reflection, it always will. He is so dry, he is about to crumble.

    • BearcatLawyer says:

      I seriously hope “devout Catholic” was sarcastic. No true Catholic would ever treat people the way O’Reilly does!

      • jerkface says:

        Except for the crusaders and some of the past popes and a lot of the priests and the Irish churches who forced unwed mothers to give up their babies and work as slaves for the church up until the 90’s. But yeah other than that Catholics are practically saints.

    • Lightpurple says:

      O’Reilly has been ripped open by Catholics on his own show a number of times. One of the best was during the Terri Schiavo struggle and he brought on a “right to die” advocate and the Dean of Religious Studies at Notre Dame and was plugging it like it was going to be this great moral debate and the priest would side with him and win the argument. He smugly started with a statement that Schiavo’s First Amendment rights were being violated and she was being forced to go against “her Catholic faith.” The priest interrupted him, smiling, with “what Catholic faith is that, Bill?” because it wasn’t what he believed or preached at all. He then quickly and eloquently said that nothing in Catholicism supported keeping her on life support, science said she was dead, and she should be let go to return to God instead of being propped up as a misguided political statement. The facial expressions of the “right to die” advocate were priceless and by the time the priest finished, he was laughing so hard that he could barely get out that he agreed with the priest. O’Reilly was clearly shocked, flustered and stammered that they HAD to go to commercial repeatedly before they cut abruptly to some Fox promos. When he returned, the other guys were gone and he was desperately trying to fill the time with other topics

  31. adastraperaspera says:

    Maxine Waters is the tipping point. Bye bye racist losers!

  32. Tess says:

    How dare he? She was speaking so movingly and passionately and eloquently, as opposed to his angry sputtering and yelling! And her hair looked great, she looked absolutely fine!
    It was just a cheap cheap shot because he only likes geisha women like Trump.

    • Juls says:

      To be honest, I don’t think it really had anything to do with her looks. Reading between the lines, what I heard him basically say was, “this person is female, and a person of color, therefore I have 2 valid reasons to refuse to listen to a word she says.” He admitted, on air, to not listening to her speech. Also, he flat out knows that she could hammer his a** into the ground in a debate, no contest. So he resorted to the only thing am impotent, racist, misogynistic white male knows, to attack her looks. I loathe him and can’t wait for Karma to eat him alive.

  33. Lena says:

    And if she had worn her hair natural they would have criticized her for looking “unprofessional”. Or “like a black panther” or something like that. black women (or any women or any non-white people) can’t win with people like him.

  34. Eric says:

    Don’t mess with California. We are systematically taking Emperor Zero and his boobs in DC down, including “Californian” Nunes.

  35. Bunny says:

    Up until this point I had never even noticed she wore a wig. I was too busy listening to her WORDS.

    • stinky says:

      … and on top of everything else, SHE HAPPENS TO LOOKS AMAZING ANYWAY so wtf!
      its ridiculous on every level. I didn’t even know that sad pos still had a show on Fox, I sweartogod I thought he was long gone. gag. and as was referenced above, let us not forget he’s a wife-beater who’s kids despise him (not hard to imagine).

  36. jugil1 says:

    This is a man who terrorized his wife & lost custody of his kids. Nothing he does to humiliate women surprises me. He is a pathetic hypocrite whose disrespect towards women is appalling. I hope one day his ex-wife or daughter writes a tell all book about him.

  37. robyn says:

    Bill O’Reilly makes my skin crawl. Waters is amazing and has flicked his rude remarks off her shoulders. Always dealing in looks when it comes to women at Fox. When are people going to get wise about this network.

  38. Jess says:

    Yea, Bill is still the same racist, sexist d-bag he ever was. And Rep Walter is a bad ass. I came here to comment on Gawker. I read Gawker since day one (same with Wonkette, which I used to love and read religiously but now can’t stand because of the writing style) and have been missing them a lot these days. Gawker certainly wasn’t perfect and I disagreed with some of what they did there, but those voices would have been great to have around right now. At least there are still Gawker alum out there (I love Richard Lawson on Vanity Fair’s @little gold men podcast).

  39. Xtrology says:

    Bill O’Reilly can’t carry Maxine Waters panties!

  40. Abbess Tansy says:

    He hasn’t changed a bit but Maxine had something for him, didn’t she? She kept moving along like he wasn’t important. Perfect.

  41. manda says:

    This had better be as huge of a controversy as the Zendaya/skinny chick I can’t remember her name/dreadlocks controversy, because I would think Bill O’Reilly truly meant to be disrespectful, whereas the skinny lady was just trying to make a joke and failed

  42. Classy and Sassy says:

    What a revolting scumbag who is in no position to comment on someone’s appearance. But as a woman of color, Waters is fair game I suppose. Who cares what she’s saying? I found the laughter in the studio that followed chilling. I’m astounded people like him are still hired. But then, Fox.

  43. Kitten says:

    Everybody read this and you will instantly feel better (it’s NSFW and a bit…blunt but so funny) : http://verysmartbrothas.com/a-six-foot-long-hefty-bag-full-of-wet-farts-and-dog-nipples-and-20-more-things-bill-oreilly-looks-like/

  44. erbs says:

    How does he get away with it? He’s a horrible horrible man.

  45. Kath says:

    Oh HELL no. Dickhead needs to back away from my Maxine, whom I’ve loved for many years.

    Piss off, you sad pathetic little man.

    I choose to believe that Trump, O’Reilly etc. are the last gasp of an era when untalented ageing white male bullies ruled the roost. Their time is soon to be over and people like Maxine show these sad little men up for the mediocrities they truly are.

  46. brincalhona says:

    What do you have to say to get sacked from TV in the US? Does this not contravene some kind of broadcasting regulations?

    • mayamae says:

      Fox News is registered as entertainment, not news. Which allows them to get away this kind of garbage.

  47. jana says:

    These FOX newsmen are racist, misogynistic, sexist pigs, as are their viewers. They shouldn’t even be able to call it news, since 99% of it is alternative facts.

  48. Marianne says:

    And yet if she hadnt worn a wig she probably would have had comments made against her for looking “unprofessional” or some other crap.

    And of course Bill gets away with it.