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Tennessee Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R) is facing backlash after she referred to Texas Rep. Al Green (D) as "boy" and suggested her colleague was concealing a gun in his cane.
During an interview with F.A.M.E. Ministries, a Johnson City, Tennessee Christian group, Harshbarger spoke out against Green, who was removed from President Donald Trump's joint address to Congress while protesting proposed cuts to Medicaid. Green waved his cane at Trump and interrupted the president's speech before he was ordered to be escorted out of the House chamber.
Harshbarger referred to Green, a 77-year-old Black man, as "boy" while discussing her take on his protest.
“Al Green was over here with his cane and I’m like, ‘Gosh dang it, boy,’” Harshbarger said. “He does not need that cane. That cane is a prop. I swear it’s not real.”
The Republican congresswoman went on to suggest that Green may have been concealing a gun in his cane.
“I’m wondering, one of my colleagues said, ‘Unscrew the gold part off of it and see if there’s a gun in there,’” Harshbarger said. “I’m, like, ‘I don’t know about that man. He’s just Weird Al.’”
Social media users slammed Harshbarger for her racially charged comments about the Texas Democrat.
"@RepHarshbarger called a black member of Congress, a boy today in an interview. She’s a racist," one person tweeted.
"Sounds like a racist to me," another wrote.
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