Bill O'Reilly Apologizes For Calling Maxine Waters' Hair A 'James Brown Wig'

Photo of Bill O'Reilly courtesy of YouTube.

Bill O'Reilly has apologized for an offensive remark he made earlier today directed at Rep. Maxine Waters.

During a segment on Fox & Friends, O'Reilly and several other Fox News pundits viewed video footage of Waters speaking on the House floor on Monday, where the congresswoman proceeded to question the patriotism of Donald 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," Waters said. "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.'"

Following Waters' comments O'Reilly responded by mocking her, saying afterwards he did not hear a word of what Waters said because he was distracted by "the James Brown wig."

"I didn't hear a word [Waters] said. I was looking at the James Brown wig. If we have a picture of James, it's the same wig," O'Reilly said.

O'Reilly's comments resulted in backlash, with plenty of people voicing their support of Waters.

O'Reilly ultimately apologized, saying that his comment on Waters' hair was "dumb."

"As I have said many times, I respect Congresswoman Maxine Waters for being sincere in her beliefs," O'Reilly said. "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."

This is not the first time a Fox News pundit has spoken inappropriately at Waters. Back in 2012, Eric Bolling said the following in response to another floor speech Waters had, that was directed at then-Speaker of the House John Boehner.

"Congresswoman, you saw what happened to Whitney Houston. Step away from the crack pipe, step away from the Xanax, step away from the Lorazepam, because it's going to get you in trouble," Bolling said.

The remarks made towards Waters from O'Reilly, as well as the hostility veteran news reporter April Ryan endured from Press Secretary Sean Spicer during a White House briefing that occurred yesterday, spawned the #BlackWomenAtWork hashtag.

But Waters and Ryan seemed unfazed by the respective attacks made against them, with the former tweeting "I'm a strong black woman and I cannot be intimidated," and the latter summarizing her experience with her own tweet.

Check out the video below.