Fox News Host, White House Spicer Spark Racial Controversy
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WASHINGTON (CBSMiami) - African-American women across the country are speaking out and sharing their stories of discrimination with #BlackWomenAtWork.
The hashtag started trending on Tuesday after Fox News Host Bill O'Reilly and White House press secretary Sean Spicer both made comments about two well respected black women that many found offensive.
O'Reilly started the social media firestorm after his comments about California Rep. Maxine Waters. During Tuesday morning's "Fox and Friends," the right-wing commentator said he was distracted during her speech because her hair looked like a "James Brown wig."
On the same day, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer touched a nerve when taking a question from African-American journalist April Ryan. Spicer accused Ryan of having a biased agenda and at one point told her "stop shaking your head."
"April, hold on. It seems like you're hell bent on trying to make sure that whatever image you want to tell about this White House," Spicer said.
"I'm just reporting,,," she started to say.
"I'm sorry, please stop shaking your head again," said Spicer.
Tuesday evening, O'Reilly apologized on his show, calling his comments a dumb joke.
"That was stupid, I apologize, that had no place in the conversation," he said.
Waters responded on MSNBC.
"I am a strong black woman. And I cannot be intimidated."
She also took to Twitter.
I am a strong black woman. I cannot be intimidated, and I'm not going anywhere. #BlackWomenAtWork
— Maxine Waters (@MaxineWaters) March 29, 2017
Waters late night tweet has been re-tweeted more than 31-thousand times and the hashtag tracker website Keyhole says the hashtag #BlackWomenAtWork has reached almost 2.5 million people.
