Media

Limbaugh critics resurface incendiary comments after his death

by Dominick Mastrangelo 02/17/21 03:10 PM CST

Critics of longtime conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh used his death on Wednesday to recall his most bombastic comments and decry the rhetoric he often espoused over the airwaves.

Limbaugh, 70, died this week after being diagnosed with lung cancer last year. Over a 30-year career in broadcasting, he regularly attacked liberal Democrats, social progressives and the national media.

Activists, political pundits and observers of conservative media circulated clips on social media of Limbaugh’s more controversial comments during his decades in radio and television, about feminism, environmentalism and race issues.

Some users surfaced video of Limbaugh using the “N-word” with an “a” on the end of the word on his radio show and claiming “it’s not racist.”

Other comments Limbaugh made include saying that for men “no means yes if you know how to spot it” and saying the “sexual objectification” of women is “just the way of the world,” dismissing it as “boys chase girls.”

In another clip, Limbaugh mocked Chelsea Clinton when she was a teenager and compared her to a dog.

Others mentioned a controversy stemming from Limbaugh’s remarks calling Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown student, a “slut” after she argued before Congress that health insurance should cover her birth control.

A friend of former President Trump, Limbaugh was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom during Trump’s final State of the Union address.

“He is a legend. He really is. There aren’t too many legends around. But he is a legend,” Trump said after calling into Fox News after hearing of Limbaugh’s death, breaking his post-election loss silence. “And those people who listen to him every day, it was like a religious experience for a lot of people.”

Dozens of Republican officials and influential conservatives, including former president George W. Bush, rushed to eulogize Limbaugh after news of his death broke.

“While he was brash, at times controversial, and always opinionated, he spoke his mind as a voice for millions of Americans and approached each day with gusto,” Bush said.

Limbaugh’s death was announced on his show by his wife, Kathryn.

“One thing that I know that has happened over the 31-plus years of this program is that there has been an incredible bond that had developed between all of you and me,” Limbaugh said last year in announcing his cancer diagnosis.