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The exodus from Rush Limbaugh‘s syndicated radio show didn’t seem to slow today following his apology for calling Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute.” He made the comments last week after she urged Congress to require employer health insurance plans to cover contraception. The number of advertisers who’ve said that they’re withdrawing their support for the show rose to 35 according to a count by the politically progressive Web site Think Progress. The list now includes AccuQuote Life Insurance, Service Magic, PolyCom, Hadeed Carpet, Thompson Creek, and St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Connecticut. In addition, two radio stations have dropped Limbaugh: KPUA in Hilo, Hawaii and WBEC in Pittsfield, Mass. WBEC said that it would stop carrying the show beginning March 15 because ”Rush’s defamatory and disparaging remarks about Ms. Fluke clearly violated the standards we have set for our stations.” Clear Channel’s Premiere Networks, which syndicates Limbaugh, said that ”in an attempt at absurdist humor to illustrate his political point, Mr. Limbaugh used words that unfortunately distracted from the message he was trying to convey.” It added that he “did the right thing” by offering “his sincere and heartfelt apology to Ms. Fluke.” Bloomberg commentator Michael Kinsley says though, that ”the self-righteous parade out the door by Limbaugh’s advertisers is hard to stomach. Had they never listened to Rush before, in all the years they had been paying for commercials on his show? His sliming of a barely known law student may be a new low… but it’s not a huge gap” from criticisms that he has made about well known people including Nancy Pelosi and Michelle Obama.
Rush Limbaugh Loses More Advertisers Despite His Apology
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The market has spoken…
Yes – now it’s time for high blood pressure and cholesterol to speak.
You are right. Look at how Carbonite’s stock price is tanking. New advertisers are radio stations will jump right in as soon as the opportunity is there. In the end, businesses want real customers, not theoretical customers who never actually buy, just threaten to boycott.
Are these national or local?
His time is done. That generation is becoming increasingly less relevant the further into the 21st century we go.
It’s all history, repeating itself…..just no clerical collar.
Study up on the rise and fall of FATHER COUGHLIN; things got to the point where even the
Vatican wanted the Detroit priest to shut up.
How many Republicans are now wanting Limbaugh to be quiet and not make things
worse?
KRIS
Oh hey, conservatives, it’s the free market at work!
No, Its not. Its political pressure from a bunch of double standard hypocrites that caused this. It will be the free market that causes then to all drift back over number of years.
What double standard? People get plenty upset on both sides of the aisle when an innocent woman is targeted. MSNBC, if you’ll recall, suspended Ed Schultz for calling Laura Ingrham a similar name.
There’s a few things I don’t get. 1.) Don Imus made a similarly offensive, and racially charged comment, he gets fired. Limbaugh still has a job, though as more sponsors bail, on can hope. 2.) Is anybody suprised? This is a guy who calls strong women “Feminazi’s.” Where was the advertiser outrage then. 3.) If he has so many listeners, how come I’ve never met any of them? Wait, I can answer that…I’m just lucky, I guess.
Limbaugh is a majority owner in his show, which means he’s basically insulated from getting fired.
You need new friends. You sound like the NY Times reporter that said “I don’t know how Nixon won. No one I know voted for him.”
Liberalism is a mental disorder
That tends to become more prevalent the more educated someone is?
Read Rush’s “apology.” If you apologized to your wife like that you’d be sleeping in the car…forget the couch. That was not an apology. It was a self righteous attempt to make him the martyr instead of her…which predictably backfired. If he would have sincerely apologized he might have contained this…but his hubris can not be denied. I do not begrudge his right to say what he wants to say or advertisers right to associate their brands with who they choose. Remember every CEO either is a women, is married to a women and/or has daughters. So using the term “slut” associated with a harmless college student is not going to sit well around the CEO’s dinner table.
Liberals are hypocrites.
Why are people not jumping all over Patricia Heaton as well…?
I looked at the Facebook page for her show and it was full of negative comments. I know she apologized, but her comments were just plain ugly and I am done with her show. Her comments were just disgusting and very public.she should keep her opinions of private citizens to herself.
Is that all it takes. One dumb comment form a “celebrity” and you’re “done with her show?” You much not watch TV at all.
Small potatoes…
Probably because not many have heard about her Twitter comments. I had to Google her name just to find out what she’d done. While I found her (since deleted) tweets to be rude and asinine, they weren’t much compared to what Rush said.
They did, on Twitter. I think she had to shut down her page, at least for awhile.
That woman was just mean, bitter and a bully. I don’t care about her politics, but her ability to verbally slap around Fluke on stuff she never said in her testimony is disgusting. It showed her true character and I can’t watch The Middle without thinking “She deserves her horrible life in a dump with messed up kids.”
Heaton is just another shill for the ultra right wing of the Republican Party. She said what she meant and she meant what she said. She didn’t apologize. Her agent, managers, studio execs and the network apologized, it just came out through her Twitter account. She’s about as genuine as that gasbag, Limburger.
If Clear Channel is gonna protect the misogynist, then I’m spreading the word to boycott Clear Channel.
You mean like Maher, or Ed Shultz/Msnbc? Go ahead and play the media matters , Al and Jesse boycott game…we will do the same.
Last time I checked, Bill Maher said Sarah Palin looked like a flight attendant. He never said she was a slut and she should send him the sex tapes from her encounters. Further, MSNBC suspended Ed Schultz for his remark about Laura Ingraham.
What will Rush do without Pittsfield, Mass and Hilo? His empire will crumble!!
Ever been to either of those places? Ever get out of your parent’s basement?
Ever heard of sarcasm?
The exodus of 627 Radio Stations like all of your advertisers begins one at a time.
His apology was half-assed at best more eighth-assed really, why would that help. The problem isn’t that he insulted a law student it’s that he did so in a way that insulted every woman in America who ever used birth control. That is most of the women in America. He called us all prostitutes. His demands for sex tapes also put images in many of our heads of him enjoying said tapes, and no one wants to think about him in a sexual way.
agreed. the sex tape part was far grosser than the “slut” comment. and what he and his ilk don’t seem to get is the story this young woman was called on to testify about to congress was was in regards to a friend who needed birth control pills for hormone therapy to prevent ovarian cysts. she couldn’t afford it, went through menopause and at 31 years of age can no longer conceive. It had nothing to do with sex even though LImbaugh and his ardent followers can’t seem to get their heads out of the gutter long enough to acknowledge that.
This fat pig has been married 4 times and has no kids. Does anyone think his wives paid out of pocket for the pill? Or was it the mere appearance of the fat pig on top of them that caused their eggs to kill themselves?
he’s probably sterile; we’re witnessing Darwinism at work here.
Or he’s gay.
I like to think he’s never had sex.
You really are a nice person.
Mr. Francis, up above you said liberalism a “mental disorder”. What business does a troll have playing the nice card?
I’d put my bets with the eggs killing themselves – hahahahaha!!! (wouldn’t you, if you had to see him naked?)
Meanwhile, Obama’s superPAC is hanging on to the $1 million donation from Bill Maher, who called Sarah Palin a c**t, twat, slut and whore on his show. Remember, it’s only an outrage if the woman in question is a democrat.
While those are not nice names to call anyone, Maher’s comments on Palin (a public figure) are based on his view of her CHARACTER. The Limbaugh comments were directed at a young woman discussing contraception (which for some people is used as a part of sex). So while I applaud your effort to make this a Republican/Democrat issue please try and look at the context.
I don’t agree with Maher on what he said– he’s also called the president a “pussy” which was just as offensive and disrespectful in my opinion, but Palin and the president are at least public figures. This young woman was a college-aged, private citizen called on by congress to testify. And it wasn’t one “joke” or offhanded comment Limbaugh made. He said it once, doubled down on it the next day, and continued on for a couple more days after that. He crossed a line. Even he can see it, so it’s quite amusing his ardent supporters just don’t want to admit it.
Oh puleeeze. She was simply a mouthpiece for the libs, which is fine since this is America. The real issue is the mostly fake outrage over Rush’s comments have once again allowed the dems to hijack the issue and change the subject. (hey look, shiny keys). Rush’s point, conviently ignored by libs and Republicans with guilt issues, was that the government shouldn’t be allowed to force the Catholic church to dole out birth control in clear violation of their religion. It’s not about womens health (nice try) or the right to acquire birth control. It’s about the government staying out of religion.
Correct-a-mundo. Balance of anti-Rush comments can get in line to “come see the Egress.”
Not a Rush fan and what Rush said was wrong and he has correctly been called on it (whether you accept his apology or not is a personal opinion, not right or wrong), but let’s get one thing very clear, once you testify in front of Congress and inject yourself and your testimony into the public debate you ARE no longer a private citizen in regards to the discussion. I think its fair to question your motives, your allegiances, and what you have to gain/lose. Anybody on the Right/Left who says they wouldn’t vet or potentially try to minimize someone from the other side on something like this is lying.
I mean, does anybody remember what happened to Joe the Plumber? All that guy did was ask a question that made it on camera (I know, he was a repub plant).
“This young woman was a college-aged, private citizen called on by congress to testify. ”
WRONG! The dems knew about her before Rush’s comment [which was a bit too rough, although not exactly incorrect, imho] they tried to have her brought to Congress to be questioned officially, the Senate AND the House turned them down. So they set up an UNOFFICIAL meeting, called her and every camera they could find to come “testify.” She was not sworn in. She did NOT speak before an official Senate committee nor any House committee. As has been said, she is a Dem. shill who has admitted to having chosen Georgetown purposely because she wanted to challenge their rules and regs about insurance not covering unmarried sexual activities by providing the participants with free contraceptives. btw-FREE contraceptives were and are available to Ms. Fluke less than a mile down the street from her residence @ Planned Parenthood. Also, a month’s supply of her favorite contraceptive is available at Wal-Mart for just $9.
Not only is she a shill, she’s a lying one at that!!
ETA:30- years old isn’t exactly the usual age for a “young college student..,” That puts her a bit long in the tooth to be taken as a poor little innocent. Please look into her background and you’ll find she is a very active, skilled Democrat activist. She chose Georgetown because she wanted to challenge their faith-based exclusion of contraceptives from their insurance policies.
This 30-year old is demanding that a faith-based institution of the Catholic Church [protected by the Constitutional 1st Amendment] change THEIR religious beliefs to satisfy HER demands. If anyone should change, according to the Constitution, it is Ms. Fluke.
It’s apple and oranges there, Gordo. It’s ok to insult UP the food chain, not Down.
Bill Maher called her one of those things. You made up the rest.
Do you really not see the difference? And you’re making up two out of the the three things you listed.
You’re right. Everyone knows two wrongs always make a right.
Rush makes the Republican party look bad. I am a republican because I believe in less government and capitalism but I’m embarrassed by Rush… but with that said Bill Maher and Keith Olbermann should also be censored and lose their sponsors…it should be a two-way street but, unfortunately, the Republicans are punished more severely by the media, Hollywood etc… SAD!
No, genius, Bill Maher HAS no sponsors. Typical uneducated republican.
No, Bill Maher has no sponsors. Do your homework, you uneducated rhetoric-spewing blowhard.
Clear Channel, SEIG HEIL!
You must be confused with MSNBC.
Rush is never going to recover from this. Not because of what he said- but because of how he followed up on it. Kinsey is right- he’s said things just as bad before, and the advertiser’s “shocked reaction” is pretty much feigned (they knew who they were dealing with, and they knew the game he plays). But look at how this played out:
Wednesday:Rush slams Fluke. (The usual kind of drive-by smear he built his career on; nothing out of the ordinary- by itself).
Thursday: Rush has had a day to see what the reaction is. He COULD try to minimize it (I was misconstrued), or just act as if he never said it (his two normal tricks); instead, he makes the active choice to double-down on it- risky, but he’s gotten away with it before.
Friday: The backlash is starting to heat up; most guys would already be apologising- at the very least, he MUST realise he needs to put a bit of distance between himself and his remarks. Instead, he TRIPLES-down.
Saturday:He starts losing advertisers. He finally realises he’s gone too far,and HAS to apologise.It will, of course, be total B.S.- but it’s not SUPPOSED to be a “real” apology; just something to convince the sponsors he won’t go over the line next time.But he’s so inexperienced at it, he botches it- he ends up QUADROOPLING-down.
Monday: It’s a full-blown crisis, and this is his last chance to turn it around. The Saturday “apology” was only a press release- it’ll count as a “mulligan” if he can do it right for the on-air version. Annnnnd… QUINTUPLE! He simply can’t pull it off; he doesn’t have it in him to admit how bad he’s screwed up.
THIS is what’s hurt him- not the hateful misogynist rant ITSELF; but the fact that he quite clearly DOESN’T HAVE THE SKILL TO GET AWAY WITH IT.
Rush looks weak and old and not up to it anymore. He’s damaged goods.
And somewhere in there, Ms. Fluke doesn’t accept the apology.
That would be “non-apology”.
Rush will have no problem filling the spots. As stupid as his comments about Fluke were, he’s not going to lose audience. Media buyers wanting “dittohead” demographics will continue to buy time. It’s not like household advertiser names with no stomach for controversy (i.e. Proctor & Gambles of the world) were interested in Rush’s show to start with.
Rush tipped his hand this time by throwing his leaving advertisers under the bus. He has NO loyalty to them and that’s the take-a-way from this. He’s toast.
Rush may not be done, but this should put a dent in his 2012 income. Money talks, Rush.
It won’t put any dent at all. Other advertisers will quickly fill in.
The double standard is baffling. Rush’s comments were appalling, but so were Ed Schultz’s similar “slut” name calling comments last spring.
To be replaced by what? “As Seen On TV” and male enhancement products. Yeah, sure, those will bring in the ad revenue dollars.
The difference is that Schultz is actually a good guy.
You yanks are a comically lot. The democrats can call people really nasty stuff and be praised for it but when the republicans do it it is somehow evil. What a bunch of weenies. Seriously… you have become the laughing stock of the world especially since you can not see what the current administration to doing to you and the rest of the world. You are no longer a free people.
I hope this doesn’t give him another excuse to stage a fake heart attack and spread the rumor that he’s on life support in the ICU instead of eating ice cream in a private room.
Breitbart gone, Rush getting flushed, and Fox News parent News Corp swirling around the bowl. Looks like you rightwingers picked the wrong day to quit sniffing glue.
lol I heard this post in the voice of Jim Lahey…I’ll bet you are drunk and have pissed yourself, too
He will retire by the end of this year he will lose so many sponsors that his program won’t be profitable and he’ll announce this in December after the election regardless of who wins it. He’s earned so much money for so long that he no longer needs the 50 million a year he gets from the radio show. All that income came from sponsors he has a big audience and advertisers paid a premium for his air time. Rush was making a million bucks a week from advertising revenue.
A month from now he’ll still be on top after giving sweetheart deals to new advertisers. Their sales will spike so high they won’t notice when he ups the rates to normal levels.
Ive heard this Bill Maher comparison several times and it is purely idiotic. Fluke isn’t someone bashing people on a daily basis. Sarah Palin, Malkin, Colter etc spread hate daily for profit. Fluke should not remotely be compared to those loons. It’s apples and oranges and a stupid argument.
Rush is the slut, and certainly a prostitute.
Really childish tactics, and it bothers me to see others pick up on it. It’s all about yelling the loudest until somebody gives in. That’s what Rush was doing, that’s what his detractors are doing now.