Limbaugh on Buttigieg: ‘America’s still not ready to elect a gay guy kissing his husband on the debate stage’

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh is catching heat online for comments he made while discussing Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg’s electability if he were to face off against President Trump in the coming election.

During his nationally syndicated program on Wednesday, Limbaugh took aim at Buttigieg while sounding off on the leading Democratic presidential candidates and their performances in the primary race thus far.

“You’ve got Fauxcahontas way back there in the background barely out of the tepee bringing up the tail end,” Limbaugh said, referring to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) “Biden’s gone. So you’re faced with a dyed-in-the-wool socialist who’s not even a Democrat [and] a gay guy, 37 years old, loves kissing his husband on debate stages,” he continued, referring to former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Buttigieg, respectively.

“Can you see Trump have fun with that? And [Sen.] Amy Klobuchar [D-Minn.]. So you are whoever the grand pooh-bahs in the Democrat Party are,” he added.

“You’re looking at your options today, and you’re asking, ‘OK, can we win with Klobuchar? We don’t want to put Klobuchar up there because she doesn’t have a prayer,'” he said before shifting gears back to Buttigieg, saying, “Then they’re sitting there, and they’re looking at Mayor Pete, a 37-year-old gay guy, mayor of South Bend, loves to kiss his husband on the debate stage. And they’re saying, ‘OK, how’s this gonna look, a 37-year-old gay guy kissing his husband onstage next to Mr. Man Donald Trump? What’s gonna happen there?'”

“They gotta be looking at that,” Limbaugh continued, “They’ve gotta be saying that despite all the great progress and despite all the great ‘wokeness’ and despite all the great ground that’s been covered, America’s still not ready to elect a gay guy kissing his husband on the debate stage president. They have to be saying this, don’t they?”

Buttigieg’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.

The comments by Limbaugh drew swift criticism on Twitter and prompted the phrase “Mr. Man” to trend on the social platform later on Wednesday.

the thing about this is not Limbaugh’s homophobia about PB, which is garden-variety Limbaugh stuff. it’s the invocation of a pudgy old man with heavy makeup, a knee-jerk shriek of indignation at the slightest affront, and a lifetime of cushy, pampered living as “Mr. Man.” https://t.co/7C5JbZoftG

— Seth D. Michaels in the 2020s (@sethdmichaels) February 12, 2020

What an intolerant ass Limbaugh is. https://t.co/wrVN8J16IJ

— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) February 12, 2020

Casual homophobia. https://t.co/EdK72I7ZZj

— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) February 12, 2020

Limbaugh’s remarks come less than a week after he was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the president’s third State of the Union address — a move that was met with immediate backlash from congressional Democrats at the time.

The recognition by Trump arrived one day after the 69-year-old radio host announced he had been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.