Dear Commons Community,

Rush Limbaugh issued an apology on Saturday for calling student Sandra Fluke a “slut” on his radio show this week.   Fluke, a law student at Georgetown University who was advocating for health insurance plans to cover the cost of contraception, became the target of a series of attacks by Limbaugh. Besides calling her a “slut,” he also called her a “prostitute,” said that he wanted her to make sex tapes and post them online, and speculated that she only had a problem paying for contraception because she was having “so much sex.”

Below is Limbaugh’s full statement of apology.  I am sorry but this is as tepid an apology as I have ever seen.  The only reason Limbaugh apologized” was because several of his sponsors and advertisers began to flee from his show.  There is little sincerity in his comments.  The Huffington Post reported that:

“Rush’s apology wasn’t actually an apology,” said Shaunna Thomas, a co-founder of UltraViolet, an online advocacy organization that does grassroots work on women’s issues. “He did little more than continue to expose himself as the anti-woman and offensive media personality that he is. Our campaign to pressure advertisers to drop their sponsorship of his show will continue next week. No radio show that attacks women should be rewarded with advertising dollars. And more than 84,000 of our members who signed a petition in the last day agree.”

As I have concluded on my other posts on this matter, for shame to WABC-AM in New York and the other radio stations around the country that give this vile individual air time to spout his venom and vitriol.

Tony

Full Statement of Rush Limbaugh

“For over 20 years, I have illustrated the absurd with absurdity, three hours a day, five days a week. In this instance, I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation. I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke.

I think it is absolutely absurd that during these very serious political times, we are discussing personal sexual recreational activities before members of Congress. I personally do not agree that American citizens should pay for these social activities. What happened to personal responsibility and accountability? Where do we draw the line? If this is accepted as the norm, what will follow? Will we be debating if taxpayers should pay for new sneakers for all students that are interested in running to keep fit? In my monologue, I posited that it is not our business whatsoever to know what is going on in anyone’s bedroom nor do I think it is a topic that should reach a Presidential level.

My choice of words was not the best, and in the attempt to be humorous, I created a national stir. I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for the insulting word choices.”