WASHINGTON (WJHL) — Northeast Tennessee Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger is facing criticism after referring to a Black representative as “boy,” questioning his use of a cane, and referring to transgender people as “fairies.”

The Republican congresswoman’s comments came during an interview with local Christian group FAME Ministries.

A variety of subjects were discussed during the over half-hour-long interview. Near the end, the interviewer referenced Democrats holding up signs during President Trump’s joint address to Congress, during which Democratic Congressman Al Green was escorted out after he interrupted and heckled Trump.

Harshbarger said she wanted to “go over there and grab a few” of the signs, “but Al Green was over here with his cane.”

“And I’m like gosh dangit boy, put that – he does not need that cane,” Harshbarger said. “That cane is a prop. I swear it’s not real. And I’m wondering, one my colleagues said take the, screw the gold part off of it and see if there’s a gun in there, and I’m like, I don’t know about that, man. He’s just weird Al.”

Tuesday evening, Green held a press conference to address Harshbarger’s comments, calling her use of the word “boy” a slur. The 77-year-old Texas congressman said that when he was a child, he often heard people call his father “boy.”

“It wasn’t said to indicate that you are youthful,” Green said. “It was said to demean, to degrade, to denigrate.”

“Friends, it’s not about Al Green,” he said. “It’s about whether Black people in this society are going to allow slurs such as this to be normalized. We cannot allow the normalization of these kinds of slurs.”

About his use of a cane, Green said it provides him with more stability when walking, and even though there isn’t a weapon concealed inside, it could be used to defend himself if necessary.

Green also called out Harshbarger for something else she said during the interview. When the interviewer mentioned the Biden administration and transgender people, the congresswoman said: “Listen, I never saw so many fairies in the White House, dancing around. I’m like, I don’t know where they got them. But look, my job is to love them into the love of Christ, and I’ve got to watch what I say.”

Harshbarger had touched on the topic of gender identity and expression a few minutes earlier in the interview.

“But if you look at what some of these other countries are going back, they’re pushing off on these stupid things like transgender — you can pretend to be a man if you’re a woman or a woman if you’re a man — and all this junk,” Harshbarger said. “They’re getting back to what made them great. And we do want to make America great again. And it starts with God and with the family.”

News Channel 11 reached out to a spokesperson for Harshbarger on Wednesday but did not receive a response. The congresswoman took to social media to respond to criticism of her comments. In a post on X, Harshbarger wrote:

The weather is warming up, so naturally, the snowflakes are starting to melt!

I was discussing one of my colleague’s erratic behavior during President Trump’s Joint Address, and now he—along with the rest of the Radical Left—is blowing it out of proportion in a desperate attempt to get attention.

BOY oh boy, you just can’t catch a break between the FAKE NEWS and young men wielding canes!

Tweet by U.S. Rep. Diana Harshbarger

Green said during his press conference that he was not looking for an apology from Harshbarger.

“I never ask people to apologize. I ask people to tell the truth,” Green said. “If you just tell the truth, no apology is necessary.”

Harshbarger, a Kingsport native, has represented Tennessee’s First Congressional District since 2021.