Was Jasmine Crockett’s “butch body” clapback to Marjorie Taylor Greene homophobic?

In an epic rhetorical brawl at a House hearing two weeks ago, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) clapped back fiercely at Congress’s biggest bully, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) with the now-immortalized descriptor “bleach-blonde, bad-built, butch body.”

Not everyone is happy with her word choices.

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Anna Paulina Luna tried to show how offended she was with a nonsensical joke no one laughed at but her.

“While I was proud of Rep. Crockett for advocating for herself as fiercely as she advocates for others, I was upset at the inclusion of the word ‘butch’ in her take down of [Greene],” said Victoria Kirby York, director of public policy and programs for the National Black Justice Coalition.

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The insult exchange between Reps. Greene & Crockett

Crockett went viral following the epic exchange at a House hearing on May 16 after she hit back at colleague Greene when the Georgia Republican insulted her appearance.

Jasmine Crockett on Marjorie Taylor Greene’s “bleach blonde, bad built, butch body” during a House committee oversight hearing.

This started after MTG said her ‘fake eyelashes were messing up her reading’pic.twitter.com/kuPKMFAjFu

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) May 17, 2024

The hearing had already grown acrimonious after Greene offended one of the supporting players in the day’s drama, Trump impeachment manager Dan Goldman (D-NY), compelling Crockett to ask the Georgia congresswoman a question.

“Do you know what we’re here for?” Crockett asked Greene.

Greene replied, “I don’t know you know what we’re doing. I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading.”

That sent Democrats and even some institutional Republicans into a frenzy, with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) jumping to Crockett’s defense first.

“That is absolutely unacceptable! How dare you attack the physical appearance of another person,” Ocasio-Cortez said, before instructing Greene’s words to be removed from the record.

“Aww, are your feelings hurt?” Greene asked Ocasio-Cortez sarcastically.

Ocasio-Cortez hit back, “Oh girl, baby girl, don’t even play.”

“Baby girl?” Greene blurted. “I don’t think so.”

After an exchange with another supporting player and Trump impeachment manager, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Crockett delivered her stinging reply.

“I’m just curious,” Crockett asked committee chair James Comer (R-KY) in a point of order, “just 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?” 

That sent the hearing and Greene over the edge, and earned Crockett kudos from Democrats across Washington and the country for standing up to Congress’s most notorious bully.

But was Crockett’s insult demeaning to anyone besides Greene?

“As a fan of Rep. Crockett, I assume she intended her remarks to be specific to [Greene] and not broadly,” York told The Hill in an email.

“However, the brilliant legal and parliamentary rule she leveraged to ask for clarification set her words up to be easily misconstrued,” York continued. “Butch women, tom boys, and women with conditions such as hirsutism, alopecia, micromastia, deep voices have spent the last several days with newsfeeds full of posts of women like them being memed and made fun of alongside affirming comments focused on Rep. Crockett reclaiming her power after MTG’s insults.” 

Crockett’s “clapback is just as brilliant with one alliterative word removed — butch,” York said. “I hope everyone thinking of capitalizing off this viral moment, including Rep. Crockett, removes ‘butch’ from the alliteration.”

“Everyone,” apparently, doesn’t include the Biden reelection campaign. The campaign sent out a fundraising email on Wednesday with the subject line “BBBBBB,” a reference to Crockett’s alliterative rejoinder.

Crockett herself appears to be aware the “butch” reference may have rubbed some supporters the wrong way.

“I’ve always & will always stand 10 toes down with the community & meant no harm to anyone in the community,” Crockett posted to X — along with a round-up of her favorite songs set to the rhetorical slap.

I’ve always & will always stand 10 toes down with the community & meant no harm to anyone in the community.

— Jasmine Crockett (@JasmineForUS) May 18, 2024

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