An insult made by a Black congresswoman from Texas against a white Republican member from Georgia that took the internet by storm was influenced by her grandmother, Rep. Jasmine Crockett has revealed.
A month ago, Crockett got into a heated exchange with Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia over derogatory remarks Greene made about Crockett’s eyelashes, and all the drama was televised.
“I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading,” Greene said of Crockett during a House Oversight Committee back in May.
Crockett described the moment that she clapped back at Greene, a far-right Republican and loyal supporter of former President Donald Trump, during a recent interview, “The Breakfast Club.” Host DJ Envy asked Crockett about the moment she said, “bleach blonde, bad-built butch body,” a clapback directed toward Greene that almost instantly went viral.
Wearing a T-shirt with the aforementioned insults, Crockett explained to the radio show hosts that she made a “list” of what she saw as Greene’s physical flaws.
“I literally looked over at her because she sits on the same row as me, and from head to toe is what I did. … literally from head to toe,” she said. “So, my granny used to talk about people being bad built, so that was an ode to my granny. That was something she used to say.”
Crockett said she came up with the gibes as she was awaiting committee chairman James Comer of Kentucky to respond to the appropriateness of Greene’s remarks made during the hearing.
Crockett opined, “I think that we have seen the devolution of politics because people aren’t pushing back,” but when she decided to push back, “there was all this attention on me.”
She went on to point out that her critics contrasted her response to Greene to the way former first lady Michelle Obama never responded to the many crude insults lobbed at her from right-wing trolls, saying she’s been told, “‘You were wrong, what did Michelle Obama say?'”
Crockett continued, “Like, nah, I don’t think that’s what the former first lady meant is for me to sit there and just have you talk to me crazy, and we’re on the same level, and we’re in a business setting.”
Radio host Charlamagne Tha God pointed to former first lady Michelle Obama’s popular catchphrase: “With the first lady, it’s interesting because the phrase ‘when they go low we go high’ I feel like that applied to the time that she was in. 2024 and beyond is a totally different time.”
Crockett responded: “It is a different time. But I also want people to evaluate the lens of which she was working from. She was the only Black first lady. She’s on a level up here. And what was happening is you had all of these trolls online, and they were saying all kinds of things, they were calling her all types of animals, they were talking about her appearance, they were doing all the things that racist people do, trying to tear her down physically.”
“What does it look like if the first lady is literally lowering herself to respond to somebody who is hiding behind a keyboard and got five followers,” she added. “That is literally going low. You are lower than her. We’re talking about, in this scenario, like which other first ladies were trying to come at her and talk about her. That’s not what that was. But literally, we are on the same level. “
The Texas Democrat, who has clashed with Greene in the past, said she received an unexpected phone call from her pastor during the committee meeting shortly after Crockett’s comments.
“My pastor actually called me while I was in committee,” Crockett said. “So, he was like, ‘Yo, you have to give me a warning before you say,’ and then he went into the phrase. So I was like, did my team put this on the internet? Because it was literally while I was still in committee. But I found out that it was going viral almost instantly.”
As for the fiery exchange between the two House members, it all began when Crockett asked Greene: “Do you know what we’re here for?” after Greene brought up a topic seemingly unrelated to the purpose of the hearing. The House Oversight Committee panel convened to deliberate on the contempt proceedings aimed at Attorney General Merrick Garland, who has been a target of House Republicans.
Greene responded, “I don’t think you know what you’re here for. … I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading.”
Crockett later asked the panel’s chairman, Kentucky Republican Rep. James Comer, why Greene’s words were not viewed as a personal attack. “I’m just curious. To better understand your ruling, if someone on this committee then starts talking about somebody’s bleach blonde, bad-built butch body, that would not be engaging in personalities, correct?”
