Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is not happy that President Donald Trump awarded conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom during Tuesday's State of the Union address.

The freshman lawmaker made it clear that she believes Limbaugh did not deserve the "extraordinarily sacred" award because it puts him, in her words, on the "same level" as civil rights icon Rosa Parks.

"Rush Limbaugh is a virulent racist," Ocasio-Cortez said.



Ocasio-Cortez claimed that Trump violated "norms" and "humanity" by honoring Limbaugh during his State of the Union address rather than "dignifying" him with his own ceremony. She said Trump "cheapen[ed] the value" of the prestigious award.

But Ocasio-Cortez did not stop there.

She went on to bash Limbaugh for "pretending to be surprised," calling the reaction "such a joke," likening it to an "Oprah moment," and declared Limbaugh "disingenuous."

"To do that, and to give it to Rush Limbaugh when there were plenty of people in that audience that have contributed positively to the fabric of American society much more frankly than he has ... [Trump] wants to assert that Rush Limbaugh is somehow on the same level as Rosa Parks," Ocasio-Cortez said.

"It's truly nauseating," she added.

Despite her strong reaction, Ocasio-Cortez did not attend Tuesday's address. She announced earlier in the day that she would boycott Trump's speech because she did not want to "normalize Trump's lawless conduct & subversion of the Constitution."

Ocasio-Cortez's stinging criticism came just one day after Limbaugh announced he has stage 4 lung cancer.