Waters says she’s not intimidated by O’Reilly: ‘I am a strong black woman’

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) on Tuesday blasted Fox News host Bill O’Reilly for mocking her hair as a “James Brown wig,” saying she won’t be deterred by such comments.

“I am a strong black woman and I cannot be intimidated,” she told host Chris Hayes on MSNBC’s “All In.” “I cannot be undermined. I cannot be thought to be afraid of Bill O’Reilly or anybody.”

“And 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.”

{mosads}O’Reilly said earlier Tuesday he “didn’t hear a word” of Waters’s remarks on the House floor the day before because of her hair.

“I didn’t hear a word [Waters] said,” he said on Fox News’s “Fox and Friends.” “I was looking at the James Brown wig. If we have a picture of James, it’s the same wig.”

“I love James Brown, but it’s the same hair, James Brown — all right, the ‘Godfather of Soul,’ had,” O’Reilly continued, referring to the legendary singer who died in December 2006.

O’Reilly was reacting to Waters’s remarks Monday questioning the patriotism of President Trump’s supporters.

“[African-Americans] 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,” she said on the House floor.

“We’re saying to those who say they’re patriotic but they’ve turned a blind eye to the destruction that he’s about to cause this country, ‘You’re not nearly as patriotic as we are.’ ”

O’Reilly apologized later Tuesday for his remark, adding, “I respect Congresswoman Maxine Waters for being sincere in her beliefs.”

“Unfortunately, I also made a jest about her hair, which was dumb,” he said in a statement. “I apologize.”

O’Reilly opened Tuesday night’s broadcast of “The O’Reilly Factor” by saying his joke was a “mistake” but insisting Waters’s remarks about Trump deserve scrutiny.

“[Waters] is just spouting the left-wing company line, and anyone who disagrees with her, well, she doesn’t brook disagreement,” he said. “That’s not patriotism, madam. That’s demagoguery.”