In response to the outrage surrounding Bill O'Reilly's racist and sexist joke Tuesday — in which the Fox News host referred to Rep. Maxine Waters' (D-Calif.) hair as a "James Brown wig" — former Trump campaign adviser and congressman Jack Kingston took to CNN on Wednesday morning to defend O'Reilly. While speaking to host Chris Cuomo, Kingston claimed Washington politicians have "earned" the right to "humor and silliness."
"People make fun of Donald Trump all the time. They call him 'carrot top.' They say his whole skin is orange. They accuse him of all kinds of things," Kingston said to Cuomo during a debate with Jennifer Psaki, a former spokesman for former President Barack Obama. "It seems to me there is a double standard when somebody from the right is being criticized."
Continuing his defense, Kingston said, "What I don't like is the left always runs and clutches, 'Oh I'm a woman, don't say anything bad about me.' Or, 'I belong to a certain race.' It seems like it's always that card that's played."
On Tuesday, Waters herself responded to O'Reilly's comments, saying: "I'm a strong black woman and I cannot be intimidated." Psaki also fired back in the debate with Kingston, saying, "I don't think sexism is a partisan thing." Watch the segment below. Sarah Weldon