Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez fires back at uproar over her nearly $300 hairstyle: ‘They’re just mad we look good’
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is firing back at critics who tried to shame her for paying nearly $300 for a haircut and lowlights at a Washington, D.C., salon last month.
On Wednesday, the Washington Times reported that the freshman congresswoman was charged $80 for a cut and another $180 for lowlights at Last Tangle Salon, estimating that a 20 percent tip would have set her back another $52. The article included a quote from Richard Manning, president of Americans for Limited Government, accusing Ocasio-Cortez of profligate spending.
“AOC is the Eva Perón of American politics,” Manning told the paper, referencing the late Argentine first lady. “She preaches socialism while living the life of the privileged.”
Ocasio-Cortez’s critics also pounced on the Times report and accused the Democrat of being a hypocrite for splashing out on her hair while taking a stand against income inequality. The Times also contrasted her cut and color to Jeff Sessions’s reportedly thrifty trim, and suggested she should have saved money by visiting the House barber.
“She could get a cheap haircut and give the rest away to those in need,” read one complaint on Twitter.
Now the congresswoman, who turns 30 next week, is pushing back against the uproar. On Thursday, she interrupted her visit to Copenhagen for the C40 World Mayors Summit to call out the “right-wing” for fixating on her hair rather than tackling poverty.
She credited Democratic socialist policies for advancing “prosperity for working people,” sassily adding that critics are ‘just mad we look good doing it.”
40 million Americans live in poverty under today’s extreme inequality, yet the right-wing want you to blame Democratic socialism for their own moral failures.
Our policies, like Medicare for All, advance prosperity for working people.
They’re just mad we look good doing it 💁🏽♀️ https://t.co/l9gKGtyKra— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 10, 2019
“I wonder if Republicans care about corruption as much as they care about a woman’s cut and color,” she added in a follow-up tweet which referenced Vice President Mike Pence’s own expenses.
Won’t you look at that: Mike Pence used *taxpayer funds* - not personal ones - to spend several thousand haircuts’ worth of public money on a visit to Trump golf courses.
I wonder if Republicans care about corruption as much as they care about a woman’s cut & color. https://t.co/xBze4obZhv— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 10, 2019
Ocasio-Cortez isn’t the only one who found the backlash to be sexist. Many women came to her defense, arguing that the nearly $300 price tag wasn’t out of the ordinary and that she was being unfairly targeted because of her gender and politics.
$80 for a NYC haircut!? Good for you @AOC PUT THIS WOMAN IN CHARGE OF ALL OUR MONEY <3
— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) October 10, 2019
Look I wasn’t going to get involved in this @AOC hair scandal. I really wasn’t. Bc I’m a defense reporter and, why? But I cannot NOT remark that the story seems distressed that AOC, a “socialist,” got a $300 haircut instead of...a government-subsidized one?https://t.co/D7q9c4tL0p pic.twitter.com/OJ46UrkBOF
— Katie Bo Williams (@KatieBoWill) October 10, 2019
1) this would obvs never be a story about a man
2) this is not an expensive haircut/color for a public figure who is frequently on TV
3) if her hair was raggedy, that would be the lead story instead
4) 🙄🙄🙄🙄https://t.co/CyXaQ860ts— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) October 10, 2019
Literally nothing women do is the right thing in some people’s eyes
— Sarah Goodyear (@buttermilk1) October 10, 2019
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