Template:Short description Template:About Template:Pp-move-indef Template:Pp Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person Template:Conservatism US
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American conservative political commentator who was the host of The Rush Limbaugh Show, which first aired in 1984 and was nationally syndicated on AM and FM radio stations from 1988 until his death in 2021.
Limbaugh became one of the most prominent conservative voices in the United States during the 1990s and hosted a national television show from 1992 to 1996. He was among the most highly paid figures in American radio history; in 2018 Forbes listed his earnings at $84.5 million.<ref name="auto">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In December 2019, Talkers Magazine estimated that Limbaugh's show attracted a cumulative weekly audience of 15.5 million listeners to become the most-listened-to radio show in the United States.<ref name="late">Template:Cite news</ref> Limbaugh also wrote seven books; his first two, The Way Things Ought to Be (1992) and See, I Told You So (1993), made The New York Times Best Seller list.
Limbaugh garnered controversy from his statements on race, LGBT matters, feminism, sexual consent, and climate change. In 1993, he was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame and in 1998 the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame. During the 2020 State of the Union Address, President Donald Trump awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Early lifeEdit
Limbaugh was born on January 12, 1951, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri,<ref name=Biography.com>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> to parents Rush Hudson Limbaugh II<ref name=Biography.com /> and Mildred Carolyn (Template:Nee) Limbaugh. He and his younger brother David were born into the prominent political Limbaugh family; his father was a lawyer and a United States fighter pilot who served in the China Burma India Theater of World War II. His mother was from Searcy, Arkansas. The name "Rush" was originally chosen for his grandfather to honor the maiden name of a family member, Edna Rush.Template:Sfn
Limbaugh was partly of German ancestry.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The family includes many lawyers, including his grandfather, father and brother; his uncle, Stephen N. Limbaugh Sr., was a federal judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. His cousin, Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr., is a judge in the same court, appointed by George W. Bush. Limbaugh's grandfather, Rush Limbaugh Sr., was a Missouri prosecutor, judge, special commissioner, member of the Missouri House of Representatives in the 1930s, and longtime president of the Missouri Historical Society.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 1969, Limbaugh graduated from Cape Girardeau Central High School, where he played football and was a Boys State delegate.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> At age 16, he worked his first radio job at KGMO, a local radio station. He used the airname Rusty Sharpe having found "Sharpe" in a telephone book.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Limbaugh later cited Chicago DJ Larry Lujack as a major influence on him, saying Lujack was "the only person I ever copied."<ref name=NYT90 /> In deference to his parents' desire that he attend college, he enrolled at Southeast Missouri State University but dropped out after two semesters. According to his mother, "he flunked everything [...] he just didn't seem interested in anything except radio."Template:Sfn<ref>"Rush is Always Right." USA Weekend, January 24–26, 1992, p. 7</ref> Biographer Zev Chafets asserts that Limbaugh's life was in large part dedicated to gaining his father's respect.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
CareerEdit
1971–1988: Early radio careerEdit
In February 1971, after dropping out of college, the 20-year-old Limbaugh accepted an offer to DJ at WIXZ, a Top 40 station in McKeesport, Pennsylvania. He adopted the airname "Bachelor Jeff" Christie and worked afternoons before moving to morning drive.Template:Sfn The station's general manager compared Limbaugh's style at this time to "early Imus".Template:Sfn In 1973, after eighteen months at WIXZ, Limbaugh was fired from the station due to "personality conflict" with the program director. He then started a nighttime position at KQV in Pittsburgh, succeeding Jim Quinn.Template:Sfn In late 1974, Limbaugh was dismissed after new management put pressure on the program director to fire him. Limbaugh recalled the general manager telling him that he would never land success as an air personality and suggested a career in radio sales.Template:Sfn After rejecting his only offer at the time, a position in Neenah, Wisconsin, Limbaugh returned to living with his parents in Cape Girardeau.Template:Sfn During his time in Pittsburgh, he became a lifelong fan of the Steelers NFL team.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 1975, Limbaugh began an afternoon show at the Top 40 station KUDL in Kansas City, Missouri. He soon became the host of a public affairs talk program that aired on weekend mornings which allowed him to develop his style and present more controversial ideas.Template:Sfn In 1977, he was let go from the station but remained in Kansas City to start an evening show at KFIX. The stint was short-lived, however, and disagreements with management led to his dismissal weeks later.Template:Sfn By this time, Limbaugh had become disillusioned with radio and felt pressure to pursue a different career. He looked back on himself as "a moderate failure [...] as a deejay".Template:Sfn In 1979, he accepted a part-time role in group sales for the Kansas City Royals baseball team which developed into a full-time position as director of group sales and special events. He worked from the Royals Stadium.Template:Sfn There he developed a friendship with then-Royals star third baseman and future Hall of Famer George Brett. The two men remained close friends.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Limbaugh said that business trips to Europe and Asia during this time developed his conservative views as he considered countries in those geographic areas to have lower standards of living than the United States.<ref name=":2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In November 1983, Limbaugh returned to radio at KMBZ (AM) in Kansas City for a year. He decided to drop his on-air moniker and broadcast under his real name.Template:Sfn He was fired from the station, but weeks later he landed a spot on KFBK in Sacramento, California, replacing Morton Downey Jr. The show launched on October 14, 1984.Template:Sfn Limbaugh began to express his political opinions in 1985 when he mocked the Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament, which he considered along with the general anti-war movement to be "inherently anti-US, yet was reported as substantive and morally correct by a willing and sympathetic media".Template:Sfn The FCC's repeal of the fairness doctrine—which had required that stations provide free air time for responses to any controversial opinions that were broadcast—on August 5, 1987, meant stations could broadcast editorial commentary without having to present opposing views. Daniel Henninger wrote, in a Wall Street Journal editorial, "Ronald Reagan tore down this wall [the fairness doctrine] in 1987 ... and Rush Limbaugh was the first man to proclaim himself liberated from the East Germany of liberal media domination."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
1988–1990s: WABC New York City, syndication, and tie brandEdit
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In 1988, former ABC Radio Network executive Ed McLaughlin offered Limbaugh the nationally syndicated 12pm–2pm slot at ABC Radio Network to replace Owen Spann. Since many local radio stations of the time were hesitant to carry nationally syndicated programming during the daytime, he also secured Limbaugh a separate 10am–12pm show at WABC-AM in New York City to satisfy the provision of his contract requiring employment in a Top 5 market to leave KMBZ.Template:Sfn
Limbaugh began his new show at WABC-AM on July 4, 1988, with the first episode focusing on the Iran Air Flight 655 shootdown the previous day. His national program debuted on 50 stations the next month on August 1, and by three months later had expanded to 100 stations.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn He debuted just weeks after the Democratic National Convention, and just weeks before the Republican National Convention. Limbaugh's radio home in New York City was the talk-formatted WABC (AM), and this remained his flagship station for many years, even after Limbaugh moved to West Palm Beach, Florida, from where he broadcast his show.Template:Sfn Limbaugh's show moved on January 1, 2014, to WABC's cross-town rival WOR (AM), its final New York outlet.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
By 1990, Limbaugh had been on his Rush to Excellence Tour, a series of personal appearances in cities nationwide, for two years. For the 45 shows he completed that year alone, he was estimated to have made around $360,000.<ref name=NYT90 />
In December 1990, journalist Lewis Grossberger wrote in The New York Times Magazine that Limbaugh had "more listeners than any other talk show host" and described Limbaugh's style as "bouncing between earnest lecturer and political vaudevillian".<ref name=NYT90>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Limbaugh's rising profile coincided with the Gulf War, coupled with a stalwart support for the war effort and relentless ridicule of peace activists.Template:According to whom The program was moved to stations with larger audiences, eventually being broadcast on over 650 radio stations nationwide.
By the 1992 United States presidential election, Limbaugh had established himself as an influential political commentator. During the Republican Party presidential primaries, Limbaugh expressed a preference for Pat Buchanan over the incumbent George H. W. Bush, which Buchanan himself attributed to his early success in the primaries. Bush's campaign subsequently worked to court Limbaugh, culminating with an invitation to stay overnight at the White House's Lincoln Bedroom. Limbaugh was also given a seat at the president's box in the Houston Astrodome during the 1992 Republican National Convention, and both President Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle appeared on Limbaugh's program.<ref name=":9">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":10">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In November 1992, Democrat Bill Clinton was elected President of the United States. Limbaugh satirized the policies of Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton, as well as those of the Democratic Party in general. Following the Republican Revolution, in which the party regained control of Congress in the 1994 midterm elections after several decades, the freshman Republican class awarded Limbaugh an honorary membership in their caucus, crediting him with having had a role in their success.<ref name="Seelye">Template:Cite news</ref>
In 1995, Limbaugh started selling a line of neckties under the brand No Boundaries Collection,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> designed by his then-wife Marta without themes, ties to politics, or ties to issues. Limbaugh complained about coverage of the line, which he said underrated the ties' radicalness, and said media descriptions were emblematic of their general inaccuracy.<ref name="Franken">Template:Cite book</ref> Sold in nearly 1,500 retail outlets by 1996, the brand sold more than $5,000,000 worth in the first year. The New York Times described the designs: "Much like their promulgator, Mr. Limbaugh's four dozen or so styles seem designed to evoke maximum sensory outrage. Like Rainbow Black, whose interweaving rainbow strands and blue raindrops play around an Ionic column, atop which a cranberry-red pomegranate tree sprouts from an urn. Or Triangle Red, with colliding stacks of black-and-yellow triangles and disjointed horizontal black stripes on a background of speckled salmon."<ref name="Vinciguerra">Template:Cite news</ref> In 2000, Limbaugh rented the email list collected from the No Boundaries website to Rudy Giuliani's senate campaign.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The business dissolved along with his marriage to Marta<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="McCabe">Template:Cite news</ref> but in 2020 the ties were still being sold by TieGal, Inc., for $29 each.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2000sEdit
Limbaugh had publicized personal difficulties in the 2000s. In late 2001, he acknowledged that he had become almost completely deaf, although he continued his show. He was able to regain much of his hearing with the help of a cochlear implant in 2001.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>https://huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5207860Template:Dead link</ref>
In 2003, Limbaugh had a brief stint as a professional football commentator with ESPN. He resigned a few weeks into the 2003 NFL season after making comments about the press coverage for quarterback Donovan McNabb that caused controversy and accusations of racism on the part of Limbaugh. His comment about McNabb was:
I don't think he's been that good from the get-go. I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. I think the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. They're interested in black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well. I think there's a little hope invested in McNabb and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he really didn't deserve. The defense carried this team.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
The sportswriter Peter King construed the comment as "boneheaded".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The sports analyst Allen Barra wrote Limbaugh's viewpoint was shared by "many football fans and analysts" and "it isTemplate:Nbsp... absurd to say that the sports media haven't overrated Donovan McNabb because he's black".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
In 2003, Limbaugh stated that he was addicted to pain medication, and sought treatment.<ref name=CNN2003>Template:Cite news</ref> In April 2006, Limbaugh turned himself in to authorities, on a warrant issued by the Palm Beach County state attorney's office, and was arrested "on a single charge of prescription fraud".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> His record was later expunged.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2010sEdit
In 2013, news reports indicated that Cumulus Media, some of whose stations carried Limbaugh's program in certain major markets, including New York, Chicago, Dallas, Washington D.C., and Detroit, was considering dropping his show when its contract with Limbaugh expired at the end of that year, reportedly because the company believed that its advertising revenues had been hurt by listener reaction to controversial Limbaugh comments.<ref name="politico.com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Limbaugh himself said that the reports were overblown and that it was a matter of routine dollars-and-cents negotiations between Cumulus and his network syndication partner, Premiere Networks, a unit of Clear Channel Communications. Ultimately, the parties reached agreement on a new contract, with Limbaugh's show moving from its long-time flagship outlet in New York, the Cumulus-owned WABC, to the latter's cross-town rival, the Clear Channel-owned WOR, starting January 1, 2014, but remaining on the Cumulus-owned stations it was being carried on in other markets.<ref name="politico.com" />
2020sEdit
In January 2021, Limbaugh called the GameStop short squeeze "the most fascinating thing" to happen in a long time and said that "the elites are bent out of shape that a bunch of average, ordinary users have figured out how to make themselves billionaires".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The Rush Limbaugh ShowEdit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Limbaugh's radio show aired for three hours each weekday beginning at noon Eastern Time on both AM and FM radio. The program was also broadcast worldwide on the Armed Forces Radio Network.
Radio broadcasting shifted from AM to FM in the 1970s because of the opportunity to broadcast music in stereo with better fidelity (AM stations in the United States would not get the opportunity to broadcast in stereo sound until August 2, 1982). Limbaugh's show was first nationally syndicated in August 1988, on the AM radio band. Limbaugh's popularity paved the way for other conservative talk radio programming to become commonplace on AM radio. The show increased its audience in the 1990s to the extent that even some FM stations picked it up. Template:As of, about half of Limbaugh's affiliate stations were on the FM dial.
Limbaugh used props, songs, and photos to introduce his monologues on various topics. On his radio show, news about homeless people was often preceded by the Clarence "Frogman" Henry song "Ain't Got No Home".<ref name=NYT90 />
In March 2006, WBAL in Baltimore became the first major market radio station in the country to drop Limbaugh's nationally syndicated radio program.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2007, TALKERS Magazine again named him No.Template:Nbsp1 in its "Heavy Hundred" most important talk show hosts.
Limbaugh frequently mentioned the EIB (Excellence In Broadcasting) Network, trademarked in 1990. In the beginning, his show was co-owned and first syndicated by Edward F. McLaughlin, former president of ABC, who founded EFM Media in 1988, with Limbaugh's show as his first product. In 1997, McLaughlin sold EFM to Jacor Communications, which was ultimately bought up by Clear Channel Communications. Limbaugh owned a majority of the show, which is syndicated by the Premiere Radio Networks.
According to a 2001 article in U.S. News & World Report, Limbaugh had an eight-year contract, at the rate of $31.25 million a year.<ref>"Vital Statistics", U.S. News & World Report, July 30, 2001, p. 7.</ref> In 2007, Limbaugh earned $33 million.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A November 2008 poll by Zogby International found that Limbaugh was the most trusted news personality in the nation, garnering 12.5 percent of poll responses.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Limbaugh signed a $400-million, eight-year contract in 2008 with what was then Clear Channel Communications, making him the highest-paid broadcaster on terrestrial radio. On August 2, 2016, Limbaugh signed a four-year extension of the 2008 contract.<ref name="BondHollywoodRep08022016">Template:Cite news</ref> At the announcement of the extension, Premiere Radio Networks and iHeartMedia announced that his show experienced audience growth with 18% growth in adults 25–54, 27% growth with 25–54 women, and ad revenue growth of 20% year over year.<ref name="BondHollywoodRep08022016"/>
In 2018, Limbaugh was the world's second (behind Howard Stern) highest-paid radio host, reportedly earning $84.5 million.<ref name="auto"/> On January 5, 2020, Limbaugh renewed his contract again. Though media reports said it was "a long-term" renewal, (with no length specified), according to Donald Trump it was a four-year deal.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Regular guest host Ken Matthews was also selected a TALKERS Magazine "Heavy Hundred".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In May, Premiere Networks announced that on June 21, 2021, The Limbaugh Show radio timeslot would be taken over by Clay Travis and Buck Sexton in hundreds of markets.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Television showEdit
Limbaugh had a syndicated half-hour television show from 1992 through 1996, produced by Roger Ailes. The show discussed many of the topics on his radio show, and was taped in front of an audience. In the months after its debut on September 12, 1992, it was the third highest rated late-night television show after Nightline and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.<ref name=":9" /> Limbaugh said he loved doing his radio show,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> but not a TV show.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Other media appearancesEdit
Limbaugh's first television hosting experience came March 30, 1990, as a guest host on Pat Sajak's CBS late-night talk show, The Pat Sajak Show.<ref>Template:YouTube</ref> ACT UP activists in the audience<ref name="Newsday">Template:Cite news</ref> heckled Limbaugh repeatedly; ultimately the entire studio audience was cleared. In 2001, Sajak said the incident was "legendary around CBS".<ref>Template:Cite video</ref>
On December 17, 1993, Limbaugh appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Limbaugh also guest-starred (as himself) on a 1994 episode of Hearts Afire. He appeared in the 1995 Billy Crystal film Forget Paris, and in 1998 on an episode of The Drew Carey Show.<ref name="looper.com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 2007, Limbaugh made cameo appearances on Fox News Channel's short-lived The 1/2 Hour News Hour in a series of parodies portraying him as the future President of the United States. In the parodies, his vice president was fellow conservative pundit Ann Coulter. That year, he also made a cameo in the Family Guy episode "Blue Harvest", a parody of Star Wars in which Limbaugh can be heard on the radio claiming that the "liberal galactic media" were lying about climate change on the planet Hoth, and that Lando Calrissian's administrative position on Cloud City was a result of affirmative action. His later appearances on Family Guy were in the 2010 episode "Excellence in Broadcasting", and 2011's "Episode VI: It's a Trap!", a parody of Return of the Jedi.<ref name="looper.com"/>
ViewsEdit
Template:Sister project In his first New York Times best seller, Limbaugh described himself as conservative, and was critical of broadcasters in many media outlets for claiming to be objective.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He called for the adoption of core conservative philosophies in order to ensure the survival of the Republican Party.<ref name="Your Conservative Rock">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Get Off the Ledge, Conservatives! We Have Two Battles on Our Hands">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Unconscionable: McCain Staffers Attempting to Destroy Sarah Palin">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Limbaugh criticized the media and political activist movements such as feminism, environmentalism, and animal rights activism for allegedly serving as outlets for "anticapitalism, secular humanism, and socialism".Template:Sfn Limbaugh, a proponent of American exceptionalism, often criticized politicians he believed reject this notion seeing them as unpatriotic or anti-American.<ref name=":2" />
RaceEdit
Limbaugh was known for making controversial race-related statements regarding African Americans.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He once opined that all newspaper composite pictures of wanted criminals resembled Jesse Jackson, and another time that "the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons."<ref name="January 19, 2007 transcript">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Newsday" /> While employed as what he described as an "insult-radio" DJ, he used a derogatory racial stereotype to characterize a black caller he could not understand, telling the caller to "take that bone out of your nose and call me back", although he expressed guilt over this when recounting it.<ref name="Newsday" /> Limbaugh asserted in 2008 that African Americans, in contrast with other minority groups, are "left behind" socially because they have been systematically trained from a young age to hate the United States because of the welfare state.<ref name="October 14, 2008 transcript">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Limbaugh argued that liberal politicians have encouraged immigration from Latin America but have discouraged their assimilation to deliberately create racial inequality to manipulate as a voter base, and that their continued admission will cause a collapse of representative democracy and rule of law in the United States. He criticized the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 for this reason.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
He said of the genocide of Native Americans, "Holocaust 90 million Indians? Only 4 million left? They all have casinos, what’s to complain about?"<ref name=":8">Template:Cite news</ref>
TaxesEdit
James Fallows described Limbaugh's economic ideology as "a doctrinaire version of supply-side economics" and noted that he frequently cited The Wall Street Journal in his radio shows and books.<ref name=":10" /> Limbaugh has called for fewer taxes, including progressive taxes targeted towards the wealthy, and argued the wealthy were being taxed excessively because they continued to pay the majority of taxes in the United States.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Limbaugh further claimed that reductions in marginal tax rates would reduce poverty and inequality by removing obstacles towards economic growth, and that reducing marginal tax rates on the wealthy would increase tax revenue by increasing production. Limbaugh credited Reagan's tax cuts for ending the early 1980s recession, and blamed the early 1990s recession and rising rates of inequality on the American middle-class being "taxed at a confiscatory rate".Template:Sfn<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
LGBT and AIDSEdit
Limbaugh expressed anti-LGBT views and viewed homosexual sexual practices as unhygienic. He made serophobic statements about HIV/AIDS victims in the 1980s<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and 1990s, and called the virus "Rock Hudson's disease"<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and "the only federally-protected virus".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> For a time, Dionne Warwick's song "I'll Never Love This Way Again" preceded reports about people with HIV/AIDS on his radio show.<ref name="Remnick">Template:Cite news</ref> These later became "condom updates", preceded by The 5th Dimension's song "Up, Up and Away".<ref name="NYT90" /> Limbaugh defended President Reagan's response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and falsely claimed that AIDS did not "spread to the heterosexual community" in the United States.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> When Freddie Mercury died of complications from AIDS in 1991, Limbaugh played a snippet of "Another One Bites the Dust".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In the early 1990s, Limbaugh ran a recurring segment, "AIDS Update", which mocked the deaths of gay individuals from HIV/AIDS, and read aloud the names of the dead.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> During the segment, he would play songs like "I'll Never Love This Way Again" and Johnny Lee's "Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places"; the Los Angeles Times reported that Limbaugh said, "Gays deserved their fate."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Limbaugh later called the segment "the single most regretful thing I have ever done."<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 2013, Limbaugh commented on same-sex marriage by saying, "This issue is lost. I don't care what the Supreme Court does. This is inevitable. And it's inevitable because we lost the language on this. As far as I'm concerned, once we started talking about gay marriage, traditional marriage, opposite-sex marriage, same-sex marriage, hetero marriage, we lost. It was over."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In February 2020, Limbaugh predicted that Pete Buttigieg would not be able to win the 2020 presidential election because of his homosexuality.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Sexual consentEdit
Limbaugh dismissed the concept of consent in sexual relations.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Mazza">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He viewed consent as "the magic key to the left".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2014, Limbaugh criticized a policy at Ohio State University encouraging students to obtain verbal consent, saying "How many of you guys ... have learned that 'no' means 'yes' if you know how to spot it?"<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee used these statements to advocate a boycott of Limbaugh's show and advertisers, asserting that the statements were tantamount to an endorsement of sexual assault.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Limbaugh denied this, and his spokesman Brian Glicklick and lawyer Patricia Glaser threatened a defamation lawsuit against the DCCC.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> According to spokesperson Emily Bittner, the DCCC did not receive any correspondence from Limbaugh or his attorney.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Drug policyEdit
Limbaugh had been an outspoken critic of what he saw as leniency towards criminal drug use in the United States.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On his television show on October 5, 1995, Limbaugh stated, "too many whites are getting away with drug use" and illegal drug trafficking.<ref name="LATimes">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Limbaugh proposed that the racial disparity in drug enforcement could be fixed if authorities increased detection efforts, conviction rates and jail time for whites involved in illegal drugs.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He defended mandatory-minimum sentencing as an effective tool against the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Limbaugh accused advocates of legalization of non-medical cannabis in the United States of hypocrisy due to their advocacy of tobacco control and backlash against electronic cigarettes, and compared the advocates for its legalization in Colorado to Big Tobacco.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Limbaugh's past comments on drug users were highlighted by numerous media outlets after his own stint in a drug rehabilitation facility in 2003.<ref name="LATimes"/>
Environmental issuesEdit
Limbaugh was opposed to environmentalism and climate science.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He rejected the relationship between CFCs and depletion of the ozone layer, claiming the scientific evidence did not support them.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Limbaugh argued against the scientific consensus on climate change claiming it was "just a bunch of scientists organized around a political proposition"<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and argued that projections of climate change were the product of ideologically motivated computer simulations without the proper support of empirical data, a claim which has been widely debunked.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Limbaugh used the term "environmentalist wacko" both when referring to left-leaning environmental advocates<ref>e.g. {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and when referring to more mainstream climate scientists and other environmental scientists and advocates with whom he disagreed.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Limbaugh opposed pollution credits, including a carbon cap-and-trade system, as a way to disproportionately benefit major American investment banks, particularly Goldman Sachs, and claimed that it would destroy the American national economy.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Limbaugh wrote that "there are more acres of forestland in America today than when Columbus discovered the continent in 1492"; however forest cover is approximately 75% of what it was in 1630.
Limbaugh strongly opposed the proposed Green New Deal and its sponsor Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
FeminismEdit
Limbaugh was critical of feminism, which he viewed as advancing only liberals and not women in general.<ref name=":4">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In a newspaper column he stated that it "was established so that unattractive ugly broads could have easy access to the mainstream of society."<ref name=":8" /><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> He has criticized Democratic congressmen calling for more women in Congress as hypocritical due to their opposition to female Republican candidates.<ref name=":4" /> He has also regularly used the term "feminazi", described by The New York Times in 1994 as one of his "favorite epithets for supporters of women's rights".<ref name="Seelye" /> According to Limbaugh in 1992, for certain feminists, the "most important thing in life is ensuring that as many abortions as possible occur."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He also used the term referring to the half-million-large 2017 Women's March as the "Deranged Feminazi March".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He credited his friend Tom Hazlett, a professor of law and economics at George Mason University, with coining the term.<ref>Template:Cite book "I prefer to call the most obnoxious feminists what they really are: feminazis. Tom Hazlett, a good friend who is an esteemed and highly regarded professor of economics at the University of California at Davis, coined the term to describe any female who is intolerant of any point of view that challenges militant feminism. I often use it to describe women who are obsessed with perpetuating a modern-day holocaust: abortion."</ref>
AbortionEdit
For two weeks in 1989, on his Sacramento radio show, Limbaugh performed "caller abortions" where he would end a call suddenly to the sounds of a vacuum cleaner and a scream. He would then deny that he had "hung up" on the caller, which he had promised not to do. Limbaugh claims that he used this gag to illustrate "the tragedy of abortion" as well as to highlight the question of whether abortion constitutes murder.<ref name="Limbaugh_waythings">Template:Cite newsTemplate:Full citation needed</ref>
Middle EastEdit
Limbaugh was supportive of the Iraq War, and first suggested bombing Ba'athist Iraq in 2002 in revenge for the September 11 attacks.<ref name=":3">Template:Citation</ref> Even after no Iraqi weapons of mass destruction were found, he supported theories that they had existed.<ref name=":3" /> On the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal, Limbaugh said, "This is no different than what happens at the Skull and Bones initiation ... And we're going to ruin people's lives over it and we're going to hamper our military effort, and then we are going to really hammer them because they had a good time."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Speaking at the 2009 Conservative Political Action Conference, Limbaugh accused Democratic congressional leaders such as Harry Reid of deliberately undermining the war effort.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
During the 2019–21 Persian Gulf crisis, Limbaugh praised the 2020 Baghdad International Airport drone strike that resulted in the death of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps's commander Major General Qasem Soleimani, and accused opponents of the strike of supporting Iran over the United States.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On January 6, 2020, during an interview with President Donald Trump on his show, Limbaugh commended him for the strike.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
TradeEdit
In 1993, Limbaugh supported the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), joking in response to claims that it would lead to a transfer of unskilled labor to Mexico that this would leave the United States with only better jobs.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> During a 1993 televised debate against H. Ross Perot over NAFTA, Vice President Al Gore complimented Limbaugh as one of the "distinguished Americans" who pushed NAFTA forward in spite of the intense animosity between Limbaugh and the administration of President Bill Clinton.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He later became more critical of NAFTA and trade agreements in general, claiming that they had reduced national sovereignty by "subordinating" America to "world tribunals, like the World Trade Organization and the International Criminal Court and this kind of thing."<ref name=":5">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He also claimed that promises to stem mass migration by invigorating the Latin American economy had failed.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":5"/> He supported a renegotiation of NAFTA and the eventual United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement.<ref name=":5"/>
Limbaugh defended the first Trump tariffs and the China–United States trade war as a legitimate response to predatory Chinese trade practices and its Communist command economy.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Barack Obama conspiracy theoriesEdit
Template:Further Rush Limbaugh strongly opposed Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential election, and spread false claims that Obama was a non-citizen not born in the United States.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Limbaugh predicted that Obama would be unable to win the election.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On January 16, 2009, Limbaugh commented on the then-upcoming Obama presidency, "I hope he fails."<ref name="I Hope Obama Fails">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Limbaugh later said that he wanted to see Obama's policies fail, not the man himself.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Limbaugh frequently referred to the Obama administration or presidency as regime<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> or as the Obama regime, or even junta. Speaking of Obama, Limbaugh said, "He's my president, he's a human being, and his ideas and policies are what count for me."<ref name="I Hope Obama Fails" /> Limbaugh later discouraged efforts to impeach Barack Obama as politically unrealistic.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Limbaugh accused Obama of using his race to prevent criticism of his policies, and said he was successful in his first year in office only because conservative members of the 111th Congress feared accusations of racism.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Limbaugh featured a recurring skit in which his colleague James Golden, who described himself as an "African-American-in-good-standing-and-certified-black-enough-to-criticize-Obama guy", appeared in a cameo as the "Official EIB Obama Criticizer".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Limbaugh blamed Obama's foreign policy, including the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, for allowing the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Limbaugh also claimed that the 2012 Benghazi attack occurred due to a secret arms trafficking operation to the Syrian opposition authorized by Obama and coordinated by Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, speculating that the 2016 Democratic National Committee email leak would reveal evidence of it.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Limbaugh also criticized the Russian reset, viewing Vladimir Putin's rule in the Russian Federation as a thinly-veiled continuation of the Soviet Union and Marxism–Leninism.<ref name=":2" /> He was also critical of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, including of Obama's decision to ratify it as an executive agreement, and claimed that it was used as a pretext for surveillance against Obama's political opponents.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Limbaugh argued that side agreements of the JCPOA limited transparency and would obligate the United States to militarily defend Iran against an Israeli offensive, including a preemptive strike to prevent nuclear weapons development.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
During the West African Ebola virus epidemic, Limbaugh blamed Obama for allowing the spread of the disease to the United States in 2014, claiming that he should have stopped air travel to West Africa.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Better source needed He claimed that both the media and the government, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, deliberately downplayed its symptoms, expressing skepticism over the scientific consensus that the disease could be spread only through contact with bodily fluids and was not aerosol transmissible.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> When David Quammen criticized the idea of ending air travel to West Africa by pointing out that Liberia was founded due to slavery in the United States on Anderson Cooper 360°, Limbaugh suggested in response that the Obama administration was deliberately allowing Ebola to be transmitted to the United States due to its guilt over slavery, stating "People at the highest levels of our government say 'Why, why shouldn't we get it? Why should only those three nations in Africa get it? We're no better than they are.' And they have this attitude, 'Well, if they have it in Africa, by God, we deserve to get it, because they're in Africa because of us and because of slavery.'"<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Limbaugh joked that the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull were God's response to the Affordable Care Act being passed.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Relationship with Donald TrumpEdit
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Limbaugh was consistently supportive of the candidacy and first presidency of Donald Trump, although he endorsed Ted Cruz during the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries and took issue with Trump's treatment of Cruz.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Limbaugh later criticized Cruz's hesitance to endorse Trump after his nomination at the 2016 Republican National Convention, comparing it to Ted Kennedy's lukewarm support of Jimmy Carter at the 1980 Democratic National Convention.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> After the election he became supportive of deep-state conspiracy theories, claiming that the United States had entered a "Cold Civil War" in which the Democratic Party was attempting to illegitimately overturn the election results and that it was part of a trend of Democrats contesting elections beginning with the 2000 Florida election recount intended to eventually eliminate free elections in the United States.<ref name=":7">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In December 2018, Limbaugh criticized Trump for preparing to accept a continuing resolution that would fund the government through February 8, 2019, but included no funding for a border wall on the Mexico–United States border, a campaign promise repeatedly emphasized by Trump.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Trump would subsequently make a surprise telephone call to Limbaugh announcing his intent to veto the bill, a decision that would lead to the 2018–19 United States federal government shutdown.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Limbaugh would go on to support the shutdown, stating, "We have a president keeping promises left and right. And isn't it interesting to see how trivial Washington thinks that is?"<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> After Trump declared the National Emergency Concerning the Southern Border of the United States and the 116th Congress failed in its attempt to override it, Limbaugh called on him to completely close the border with Mexico.<ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Limbaugh was dismissive of controversies over myriad<ref name="Savage_Goldman_5/17/2023">Template:Cite news</ref> suspicious links between Trump associates and Russian officials and spies. He claimed that the FBI investigations of Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort, as well as the subsequent Special Counsel investigation directed by Robert Mueller, were orchestrated by Barack Obama and the Democratic Party to undermine the legitimacy of Trump's presidency, constituting an illegal coup d'état.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":6">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Limbaugh claimed that George Papadopoulos was entrapped by the FBI, which he claimed Joseph Mifsud was an informant for, through Stefan Halper as part of an "insurance policy" against Trump's election by the Five Eyes intelligence alliance.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Limbaugh advocated a full presidential pardon for all suspects indicted or convicted by the investigation.<ref name=":1" /> After the release of the Mueller report, he disputed its conclusion that WikiLeaks obtained the Democratic National Committee's emails from the Russian government and its depiction of Donald Trump Jr.'s Trump Tower meeting.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He claimed that allegations of obstruction of justice were leveled at Trump due to the Report's conclusion that Trump did not directly collude with Russian officials, and that Trump's intent to fire Mueller and Attorney General Jeff Sessions was legitimate.<ref name=":6" />
Limbaugh supported the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity as well as Trump's claims that he lost the popular vote due to voter impersonation by illegal immigrants.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
After the House of Representatives commenced a formal impeachment inquiry against President Trump due to the scandal over a 2019 telephone call to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, pressuring the Ukrainian government to prosecute 2020 Democratic primary candidate Joe Biden shortly after a freeze of military aid, Limbaugh argued that the two events were unrelated since Trump had made a decision to withhold military funds a month in advance. He additionally claimed that Trump's desire for the Ukrainian government to prosecute Biden was legally justified by a 1999 mutual legal assistance treaty with Ukraine and "was following the law to the letter when it comes to unearthing the long-standing corruption that has swirled in Ukraine and allegedly involves powerful Democrats like Joe Biden."<ref name=":7"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Alleging false flag attacksEdit
Limbaugh claimed that the October 2018 United States mail bombing attempts were perpetuated as a false flag operation to draw public attention away from Central American migrant caravans.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He reiterated these claims two weeks after the arrest of the primary suspect Cesar Sayoc, a registered Republican.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
On his show, Limbaugh said that the Christchurch mosque shootings of March 2019 may have been a false-flag operation. Limbaugh described "an ongoing theory" that the shooter was actually "a leftist" trying to smear the right. Despite providing no source or evidence, Limbaugh continued: "you can't immediately discount this. The left is this insane, they are this crazy."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Controversies and inaccuraciesEdit
Comedian Al Franken, who later became a Senator, wrote a satirical 1996 book, Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations, in which he accused Limbaugh of distorting facts to serve his own political biases.<ref name="Franken"/>
Of Limbaugh's controversial statements and allegations they have investigated, Politifact has rated 84% as ranging from "Mostly False" to "Pants On Fire" (signifying false statements that cannot be reasonably assessed as merely errors), with 5% of Limbaugh's contested statements rising to the level of "Mostly True" and 0% rated "True".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> These debunked allegations by Limbaugh include suggestions that the existence of gorillas disproves the theory of evolution, that Ted Kennedy sent a letter to Soviet General Secretary Yuri Andropov seeking to undercut President Reagan, that a recent lack of hurricanes disproves climate change, and that President Obama wanted to mandate circumcision.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Hu JintaoEdit
Limbaugh was heavily criticized for mocking Hu Jintao, then the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and paramount leader of the People's Republic of China, and the Chinese language during an episode. After proceeding to label Hu as a "Chicom dictator", Limbaugh mocked the Chinese language, primarily using words like ching chong.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Joseph KonyEdit
On October 14, 2011, Limbaugh questioned the U.S. Armed Forces initiative against Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), based on the assumption that they were Christians.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> "They are fighting the Muslims in Sudan. And Obama has sent troops, United States troops to remove them from the battlefield, which means kill them."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Upon learning about the accusations leveled against Kony, which included kidnapping whole schools of young children for use as child soldiers, Limbaugh stated that he would research the group.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="targets">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Deepwater HorizonEdit
In 2010, after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Limbaugh speculated on his show that eco-terrorists deliberately destroyed the oil well to justify President Obama's deepwater drilling moratorium.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Unite the RightEdit
After the white supremacist Unite the Right rally, in which a counter-protester was murdered in the Charlottesville car attack, Limbaugh claimed that the violence had been provoked by Black Lives Matter activists, Antifa, and Robert Creamer. He also claimed without evidence that the police response had been deliberately restrained by Terry McAuliffe as a botched attempt to start a presidential bid in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, and that it was part of a campaign by "international financiers" such as George Soros to start a Second American Civil War to remove its status as a global superpower.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Chelsea ClintonEdit
During the Clinton administration, while taping his television program, Limbaugh referred to media coverage of Socks, the Clintons' cat. He then stated, "But did you know there is also a White House dog?" and presented a picture of Chelsea Clinton who was 13 years old at the time.<ref name="Roberts">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Clay-Little">Template:Cite news</ref>
Michael J. FoxEdit
In October 2006, Limbaugh said Michael J. Fox, who has Parkinson's disease, had exaggerated the effects of his disability in a political TV advertisement advocating for funding of stem cell research.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Limbaugh said that Fox in the ad had been "shameless" in "moving all around and shaking", and that Fox had not taken "his medication or he's acting, one of the two".<ref name="washingtonpost.com">Template:Cite news</ref> Fox said "the irony of it is I was too medicated",<ref name="McNamara">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> adding that there was no way to predict how his symptoms would manifest. Limbaugh said he would apologize to Fox "bigly, hugelyTemplate:Nbsp... if I am wrong in characterizing his behavior on this commercial as an act."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2012, Fox said Limbaugh in 2006 had acted on "bullying instincts" when "he said I faked it. I didn't fake it.", and said Limbaugh's goal was to have him marginalized and shut down for his stem cell stance.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Phony soldiersEdit
In 2007, Media Matters reported that Limbaugh had categorized Iraq War veterans opposed to the war as "the phony soldiers". Limbaugh later said that he was speaking of Jesse MacBeth, a soldier who falsely claimed to have been decorated for valor but, in fact, had never seen combat. Limbaugh said Media Matters was trying to smear him with out-of-context and selectively edited comments.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> After Limbaugh published what he claimed was the entire transcript of phony soldiers discussion, Media Matters said that over a minute and 30 seconds of the transcript was omitted without "notation or ellipsis to indicate that there is, in fact, a break in the transcript."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Limbaugh said during the minute and a half gap Media Matters had pointed out, he was waiting for relevant ABC News copy on the topic, and the transcript and audio edits were "for space and relevance reasons, not to hide anything."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Senator Harry Reid and 41 Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, signed a letter asking the CEO of Clear Channel to denounce Limbaugh. Instead, the executive gave the letter to Limbaugh to auction. It raised $2.1 million, at the time an eBay record for an auction item for charity. Limbaugh said he would match the donation and give it to the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Bid for ownership of the RamsEdit
The NFL team moved to St. Louis, Missouri, and Limbaugh wanted to be a partial owner, but in October 2009, the group that planned to buy the Rams, dropped him.<ref>"Group Cut Ties With Limbaugh to Buy NFL Team" FOX News. Associated Press. October 19, 2009. Retrieved February 18, 2021.</ref> Limbaugh blamed Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, among others, for his bid failure.<ref>"Limbaugh Blasts Critics After Dropping Rams Bid" CBS News. October 15, 2009. Retrieved February 18, 2021.</ref>
Sandra FlukeEdit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} On February 29, 2012, Limbaugh, while talking about contraceptive mandates, included remarks about law student Sandra Fluke as a "slut" and "prostitute".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Limbaugh was commenting on Fluke's speech the previous week to House Democrats in support of mandating insurance coverage for contraceptives. Limbaugh made numerous similar statements over the next two days, leading to the loss of 45<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> to "more than 100"<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> local and national sponsors and Limbaugh's apology on his show for some of his comments. Susan MacMillan Emry co-organized a public relations campaign called Rock the Slut Vote as a response to Limbaugh's remarks.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
COVID-19 pandemic in the United StatesEdit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Limbaugh asserted that the virus was the common cold.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Limbaugh said on his radio show on February 24, 2020, "I'm dead right on this. The coronavirus is the common cold, folks," alleging it was being "weaponized" to bring down Trump.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Limbaugh's statement was called "wildly irresponsible" by The Washington Post.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Charitable workEdit
Leukemia and lymphoma telethonEdit
From 1990 until his death, Limbaugh held an annual fundraising telethon called the "EIB Cure-a-Thon"<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2006, the EIB Cure-a-Thon conducted its 16th annual telethon, raising $1.7 million,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> totaling over $15 million since the first cure-a-thon.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> According to Leukemia and Lymphoma Society annual reports, Limbaugh personally contributed between $100,000 and $499,999 from 2000 to 2005 and in 2007,<ref name="autogenerated2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Limbaugh said that he contributed around $250,000 in 2003, 2004, and 2005.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Society's 2006 annual report placed him in the $500,000 to $999,999 category.<ref name="autogenerated2"/> Limbaugh donated $320,000 during the 2007 Cure-a-Thon,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> which the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society reported had raised $3.1 million.<ref>Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Rush Limbaugh Cure-A-Thon Raises $3.1 Million for Society Mission. May 1, 2007.</ref> On his radio program April 18, 2008, Limbaugh pledged $400,000 to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society after being challenged by two listeners to increase his initial pledge of $300,000.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Marine Corps–Law Enforcement FoundationEdit
Limbaugh conducted an annual drive to help the Marine Corps–Law Enforcement Foundation collect contributions to provide scholarships for children of Marines and law enforcement officers and agents who have died in the line of duty.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The foundation was the beneficiary of a record $2.1 million eBay auction in October 2007 after Limbaugh listed for sale a letter critical of him signed by 41 Democratic senators; he pledged to match the selling price.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> With the founding of his and his wife's company Two if by Tea, they pledged to donate at least $100,000 to the MC–LEF beginning in June 2011.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Tunnel to Towers FoundationEdit
Template:Main article In July 2019, Nike announced a special Fourth of July edition of their Air MaxTemplate:Nbsp1 Quick Strike sneaker that featured the thirteen-star Betsy Ross flag. The company withdrew the sneaker after their spokesman Colin Kaepernick raised concerns that the symbol represented an era of black enslavement.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In response Limbaugh's radio program introduced a t-shirt imprinted "Stand up for Betsy Ross" with sale proceeds to benefit the Tunnel to Towers Foundation. Template:As of, the sales have earned over US$5 million for the foundation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Published worksEdit
In 1992, Limbaugh published his first book, The Way Things Ought to Be, followed by See, I Told You So, the following year. Both titles were number one on The New York Times Best Seller list for 24 weeks.<ref name="1992_best_seller">Template:Cite news</ref> His first book was dictated by himself, and transcribed and edited by Wall Street Journal writer John Fund.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 2013, Limbaugh authored his first children's book, entitled Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims: Time-Travel with Exceptional Americans. He received the Author of the Year Award from the Children's Book Council for this work.<ref name="Quinn_Annalisa">Template:Cite news</ref> Limbaugh's second children's book was released the following year, entitled Rush Revere and the First Patriots: Time-Travel with Exceptional Americans. This book was nominated as an author-of-the year finalist for the annual Children's and Teen Choice Book Awards.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Limbaugh's third children's book was released later this same year, written with his wife Kathryn and entitled Rush Revere and the American Revolution. The Limbaughs dedicated this to the U.S. military and their families.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- The Way Things Ought to Be, Pocket Books, October 1, 1992, Template:ISBN
- See I Told You So, November 1, 1993, Atria, Template:ISBN
- Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims: Time-Travel Adventures With Exceptional Americans, Threshold Editions, October 29, 2013, Template:ISBN
- Rush Revere and the First Patriots: Time-Travel Adventures With Exceptional Americans, Threshold Editions, March 11, 2014, Template:ISBN
- Rush Revere and the American Revolution: Time-Travel Adventures With Exceptional Americans, Threshold Editions, October 28, 2014, Template:ISBN
- Rush Revere and the Star-Spangled Banner: Time-Travel Adventures With Exceptional Americans, Threshold Editions, October 27, 2015, Template:ISBN
- Rush Revere and the Presidency: Time-Travel Adventures With Exceptional Americans, Threshold Editions, November 22, 2016, Template:ISBN
Personal lifeEdit
Limbaugh was raised and considered himself a Methodist.
He was married four times and divorced three times. He did not have any children.<ref name="Sheri & Bob">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was first married at the age of 26 to Roxy Maxine McNeely, a sales secretary at radio station WHB in Kansas City, Missouri. The couple married at the Centenary United Methodist Church in Limbaugh's hometown of Cape Girardeau on September 24, 1977.Template:Sfn McNeely filed for divorce in March 1980, citing "incompatibility". They were formally divorced on July 10, 1980.Template:Sfn
In 1983, Limbaugh married Michelle Sixta, a college student and usherette at the Kansas City Royals Stadium Club. They divorced in 1990, and she remarried the following year.Template:Sfn
On May 27, 1994, Limbaugh married Marta Fitzgerald, a 35-year-old aerobics instructor whom he met on the online service CompuServe in 1990.<ref name="Sheri & Bob"/> They married at the house of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who officiated.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The couple separated on June 11, 2004.<ref name="McCabe"/> Limbaugh announced his divorce on the air. It was finalized in December 2004.<ref>Herald Staff. "Rush's divorce final" The Miami Herald. February 19, 2005. Pg. 4A</ref> In September 2004, Limbaugh became romantically involved with then-CNN news anchor Daryn Kagan; the relationship ended in February 2006.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Limbaugh lived in Palm Beach from 1996 until his death in 2021. A friend recalls that Limbaugh "fell in love with Palm BeachTemplate:Nbsp... after visiting her over Memorial Day weekend in 1995."<ref name="NYT 2011-08-21">Template:Cite news</ref>
He dated Kathryn Rogers, a party planner from Florida, for three years;<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the couple married on June 5, 2010.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> At the wedding reception following the ceremony, Elton John entertained the wedding guests for a reported $1 million fee; however, Limbaugh denied that the $1 million figure was accurate on his September 7, 2010, radio show.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Through a holding company, KARHL Holdings (KARHL meaning "Kathryn and Rush Hudson Limbaugh"), Limbaugh launched a line of bottled iced tea beverages in 2011.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The brand name "Two if by Tea" was a play on the line from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Paul Revere's Ride", "one if by land, two if by sea". Production of the tea was put on hold in 2018 with a statement that "Due to rising manufacturing and shipping costs, we did not feel it was right to pass this on to our customers.".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Prescription drug addictionEdit
On October 3, 2003, the National Enquirer reported that Limbaugh was being investigated for illegally obtaining the prescription drugs oxycodone and hydrocodone. Other news outlets quickly confirmed the investigation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He admitted to listeners on his radio show on October 10, 2003, that he was addicted to prescription painkillers and stated that he would enter inpatient treatment for 30 days, immediately after the broadcast.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Limbaugh stated his addiction to painkillers resulted from several years of severe back pain heightened by a botched surgery intended to correct those problems.<ref name=wbna12536446>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
A subsequent investigation into whether Limbaugh had violated Florida's doctor shopping laws was launched by the Palm Beach State Attorney, which raised privacy issues when investigators seized Limbaugh's private medical records looking for evidence of crimes. Roy Black, one of Limbaugh's attorneys, stated that "Rush Limbaugh was singled out for prosecution because of who he is. We believe the state attorney's office is applying a double standard."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On November 9, 2005, following two years of investigations, Assistant State Attorney James L. Martz requested that the court set aside Limbaugh's doctor–patient confidentiality rights and allow the state to question his physicians.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Limbaugh's attorney opposed the prosecutor's efforts to interview his doctors on the basis of patient privacy rights, and argued that the prosecutor had violated Limbaugh's Fourth Amendment rights by illegally seizing his medical records. The American Civil Liberties Union issued a statement in agreement and filed an amicus curiae brief in support of Limbaugh.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> On December 12, 2005, Judge David F. Crow delivered a ruling prohibiting the State of Florida from questioning Limbaugh's physicians about "the medical condition of the patient and any information disclosed to the health care practitioner by the patient in the course of the care and treatment of the patient."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
On April 28, 2006, a warrant was issued for his arrest on the charge of doctor shopping. According to Teri Barbera, spokeswoman for the sheriff, during his arrest, Limbaugh was booked, photographed, and fingerprinted, but not handcuffed. He was then released after about an hour on $3,000 bail.<ref name=main1561324>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> After his surrender, he filed a "not guilty" plea to the charge. Prosecutors explained that the charges were brought after they discovered he received about 2,000 painkillers, prescribed by four doctors in six months, at a pharmacy near his Palm Beach mansion. In 2009, after three years of prolonged discussion regarding a settlement, prosecutors agreed to drop the charge if Limbaugh paid $30,000 to defray the cost of the investigation, completed an 18-month therapy regimen with his physician, submitted to random drug testing, and gave up his right to own a firearm for eighteen months.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Limbaugh agreed to the settlement, though he continued to maintain his innocence of doctor shopping and asserted that the state's offer resulted from a lack of evidence supporting the charge.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Before his addiction became known, Limbaugh had condemned illegal drug use on his television program, stating that "Drug use, some might say, is destroying this countryTemplate:Nbsp... And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up."<ref name=wbna12536446/><ref name=main1561324/>
Viagra incidentEdit
In June 2006, Limbaugh was detained by drug enforcement agents at Palm Beach International Airport.<ref name="viagra">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Customs officials confiscated Viagra from Limbaugh's luggage as he was returning from the Dominican Republic.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The prescription was not in Limbaugh's name.<ref name="viagra"/> After he was released with no charges filed, Limbaugh joked about the incident on his radio show, claiming that he got the Viagra at the Clinton Library and was told they were blue M&M's. He also stated that "I had a great time in the Dominican Republic. Wish I could tell you about it."<ref name="viagra" />
Health problems and deathEdit
Limbaugh described himself as being "100 percent, totally deaf".<ref name="RushLimbaugh.com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2001, he announced that he had lost most of his ability to hear: "I cannot hear television. I cannot hear music. I am, for all practical purposes, deafTemplate:Snd and it's happened in three months." He said that the condition was not genetic.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On December 19, 2001, doctors at the House Ear Clinic in Los Angeles were able to successfully restore a measure of his hearing through cochlear implant surgery. Limbaugh received a Clarion CII Bionic Ear.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
When questioned whether Limbaugh's sudden hearing loss was caused by his addiction to opioids, his cochlear implant doctor, otolaryngologist Jennifer Derebery, said that it was possible, but that there is no way to know for sure without performing tests that would destroy Limbaugh's hearing completely. "We don't know why some people, but apparently not most, who take large doses may lose their hearing."<ref name="ABC_GMA">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 2005, Limbaugh was forced to undergo "tuning" due to an "eye twitch", an apparent side-effect of cochlear implants.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
On December 30, 2009, while vacationing in Honolulu, Hawaii, Limbaugh was admitted to Queen's Medical Center with intense chest pains. His doctors attributed the pain to angina pectoris.<ref>"Template:Cite news</ref>
On April 8, 2014, on his radio program, Limbaugh announced his decision to 'go bilateral'. "I'm going to get an implant on the right side", he said.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> After bilateral tuning, there was a 100% improvement. "Coming from total deafness, it is miraculous! How can you not believe in God?", Limbaugh said in his national daily broadcast.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Limbaugh, a cigar and former cigarette smoker,<ref name="auto2">Template:Cite news</ref> was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer on January 20, 2020, after first experiencing shortness of breath on January 12.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He had previously downplayed the link between smoking and cancer deaths, arguing that it "takes 50 years to kill people, if it does."<ref name="auto2"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He announced his diagnosis during his radio show on February 3. He advised he would miss airtime to undergo treatment, and that he would try to continue the program "as normally and competently" as he could.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On October 20, 2020, Limbaugh announced that treatment had been ineffectual at containing the cancer, that his diagnosis was terminal, and that he had been given a time frame on when he should expect to die.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In his final broadcast of 2020, he said "I wasn't expected to make it to October, and then to November, and then to December. And yet, here I am, and today, got some problems, but I'm feeling pretty good today."<ref name="Flood dead">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Limbaugh made his last radio broadcast on February 2, 2021. He died on February 17, at the age of 70. According to his wife, Kathryn Rogers Limbaugh, his death was attributed to complications of his lung cancer.<ref name="Flood dead"/> Governor Ron DeSantis directed flags in the state of Florida be lowered to half-staff on the date of his interment.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Limbaugh was interred at the Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Influence and legacyEdit
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Limbaugh was widely recognized as one of the leading voices of the conservative movement in the United States, beginning in the 1990s. Former president Ronald Reagan thanked him in a 1992 letter, giving him credit "for all you're doing to promote Republican and conservative principlesTemplate:Nbsp... [and] you have become the Number One voice for conservatism in our Country."<ref name="Suddath">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In 1994, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives made Limbaugh an honorary member.<ref name="Seelye"/>
From 1994, Limbaugh served as the inspiration for the character of Birch Barlow, a conservative radio talk show host on The Simpsons.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 1995, Limbaugh was profiled on the PBS series Frontline in a one-hour documentary called "Rush Limbaugh's America". Limbaugh refused to be interviewed, but his mother, brother, and many Republican supporters took part, as well as critics and opponents.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
By the 1990s, Limbaugh had become known for his love of cigars, saying, "I think cigars are just a tremendous addition to the enjoyment of life."<ref name="Rothstein">Template:Cite magazine</ref> During his syndicated television program from 1992 to 1996, he also became known for wearing distinctive neckties. In response to viewer interest, Limbaugh launched a series of ties<ref name="Parker">Template:Cite news</ref> designed primarily by his then-wife Marta.<ref name="Vinciguerra"/>
Limbaugh was awarded the Marconi Radio Award for Syndicated Radio Personality of the Year by the National Association of Broadcasters five times: 1992, 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2014.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1993 and the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1998.<ref name="Gay">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Kidder">Template:Cite book</ref> By 2001, he inked a Template:USD million contract for eight years, which was renewed in 2008 for another eight years at $400 million.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> By 2017, Limbaugh was the second-highest-paid radio host in the United States, earning an annual salary of $84 million, second only to Howard Stern.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In 2002, Talkers Magazine ranked him as the greatest-ever radio talk show host;<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> in 2017, he was the most-listened-to radio host in the United States, with 14 million listeners.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Limbaugh is given much of the credit for having revived AM radio at a time when most people had switched to FM.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Conservative magazine Human Events announced Limbaugh as their 2007 Man of the Year.<ref name="Levin">Template:Cite news</ref> Later that same year, Barbara Walters featured Limbaugh as one of the most fascinating people of the year in a special that aired on December 4, 2008.<ref name="Dimond">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
On February 28, 2009, following his self-described "first address to the nation" lasting 90 minutes, carried live on CNN and Fox News and recorded for C-SPAN, Limbaugh received CPAC's "Defender of the Constitution Award", a document signed by Benjamin Franklin, given to someone "who has stood up for the First Amendment ... Rush Limbaugh is for America, exactly what Benjamin Franklin did for the Founding Fathers ... the only way we will be successful is if we listen to Rush Limbaugh", reads the citation.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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In his 2010 book, Rush Limbaugh: An Army of One, Ze'ev Chafets cited Limbaugh as "the brains and the spirit behind" the Republican Party's resurgence in the 2010 midterm elections in the wake of the election of President Obama.Template:Sfn Chafets pointed, among others, to Sen. Arlen Specter's defeat, after being labeled by Limbaugh as a "Republican in Name Only", and to Sarah Palin, whose "biggest current applause lineTemplate:Snd Republicans are not just the party of no, but the party of hell noTemplate:Snd came courtesy of Mr. Limbaugh." The author continued with ..."Limbaugh has argued the 'party-of-no' conservative course for the Republicans vigorously, notably since six weeks after Obama's inauguration, and has been fundamental to, and encouraging to, the more prominently noted Tea Party movement".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Rush Limbaugh was inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians on May 14, 2012, in a secret ceremony announced only 20 minutes before it began in order to prevent negative media attention.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A bronze bust of Limbaugh is on display at the Missouri State Capitol building in Jefferson City, along with 40 other awardees. Limbaugh's bust includes a security camera to prevent vandalism.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
On February 4, 2020, the day after he announced that he had advanced lung cancer, Limbaugh was a guest of President Donald Trump at the 2020 State of the Union Address, where he was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Melania Trump.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Select bibliographyEdit
ReferencesEdit
CitationsEdit
SourcesEdit
Further readingEdit
- Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Joseph N. Cappella (2010). Echo Chamber: Rush Limbaugh and the Conservative Media Establishment. Oxford University Press. Template:ISBN.
External linksEdit
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