There is no doubt that Rush has gone too far. He finally made a formal apology today for inappropriate remarks that he made on Wednesday and Thursday of this week, about Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown University law student who was invited to speak to Congress by House Minority Leader Nanci Pelosi (D). Sandra had previously been denied the opportunity to speak at a committee hearing by Rep. Darrell Issa (R), who had invited all male religious figures to discuss President Obama's current push to require reproductive health needs to be covered by all employers. Rush called Sandra a "slut," a "prostitute," and a "feminazi," and suggested that she should make sex tapes "so we can all watch."
It is astonishing to me that such a cold-hearted misogynistic person could have millions of followers. Every man has a mother and perhaps a sister, wife and daughter as well. If any of their family had been so insulted, Rush's followers would demand blood. I only make reference to his male followers as they make up 72% of his audience.
It is shocking to to me that he even has 28% female listeners. If these comments don't diminish that statistic dramatically it will be very sad indeed.
What responsibility do sponsors have when choosing programming?
In response to Tim’s Blog: Limbaugh’s sponsors take their dollars elsewhere, and he rushes to apologize.
ReplyDeleteWhat responsibility do sponsors have when choosing programing?
I believe sponsors do have a lot of say when they choose their programing, but they do not have control on what the host of the programing says. Rush Limbaugh is getting in trouble just like Don Imus did in the past. Imus on the other hand attacked Limbaugh after Limbaugh made his apology, which Don Imus thought was not good enough. He stated that Limbaugh’s apology was a "lame apology" after his "vile, personal attack" on Georgetown University law student, Sandra Fluke.” (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/05/don-imus-rush-limbaugh-sandra-fluke_n_1321016.html)
After the attack on Sandra Fluke most of Rush Limbaugh’s sponsors did leave him. “Sensa Wight Loss program, Telecommunications Company Polcycom and AccuQuote life insurance are among a slew of new advertisers who requested Tuesday that their ads be removed from Limbaugh’s show. So did clothing company Bonobos, insurance company Geico and John Deere.” Limbaugh’s radio stations WBEC in Pittsfield, Mass. and KPUA in Hilo, Hawaii have both stated that they do recognize Limbaugh’s 1st amendment right to state his opinions but they do not authorize the station to be used for personal attacks and intolerance.
What do you think about this issue?
Would you fire Rush Limbaugh like Don Imus was fired from his station when he broke the rules?
Link about this issue:
http://www.thewrap.com/media/column-post/rush-limbaughs-advertisers-flee-over-sandra-fluke-comments-35994