 |
| (Image Credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images) |
Four
sponsors have severed ties with Rush Limbaugh’s radio show after the outspoken
host called law student Sandra Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute.”
National
advertisers LegalZoom, Quicken Loans and Sleep Number along with West Coast ad
buyer The Sleep Train announced this week they were pulling all advertisements.
“We don’t
condone negative comments directed toward any group. In response, we are
currently pulling our ads from Rush with Rush Limbaugh,” Sleep Train wrote on
Twitter.
Sandra
Fluke, a Georgetown Law Student, was thrust into the spotlight this week after
Limbaugh called her a “slut” for her stance on a new insurance mandate that
requires employers to cover the cost of contraception.
“What does
it say about the college co-ed Sandra Fluke, who goes before a congressional
committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex, what does
that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute,” Limbaugh
said Wednesday.
The radio
host’s comments caused customers to lobby advertisers to pull their money from
the show or risk losing business.
The
California-based Sleep Train has enjoyed a relationship with Limbaugh since it
opened its first store in 1985.
Founder
Dale Carlsen told the Sacramento Bee in 2006 that Limbaugh was introduced to
him through an ad sales representative.
“The ad guy
said, ‘Now he’s a little bit controversial, but he needs a bed, would you take
care of him?’ ” Carlsen said. “I needed every sale that I could get at that
time, so I said, ‘Yeah, bring him in and I’ll take care of him.’ ”
Not only
did advertisers feel the heat, bit Limbaugh’s shot at Fluke has been drawn into
presidential politics. President Obama called Fluke Friday to make sure she was
okay, Fluke said.
The three
Republican candidates have been less eager to discuss Limbaugh, a favorite of
conservatives.
When asked
about Limbaugh today, Newt Gingrich criticized Obama’s phone call to Fluke.
“I think
the president will opportunistically do anything he can,” Gingrich said after a
rally at the Back Porch Saloon. “I think the most important use of language in
the last week has been the president’s apology to religious fanatics, and I
want to stay focused on what the president has said, and I think what he said
was inexcusable and is exactly the wrong policy at a time of life and death,
and playing political games is irrelevant as far as I’m concerned.”
Mitt Romney
was more measured in his response.
“I’ll just
say this, which is, it’s not the language I would have used,” Romney told an
Ohio crowd.
Rick Santorum
called Limbaugh’s comments “absurd,” but said Limbaugh was just being an
entertainer.
 |
Sandra
Fluke said President Obama told her that her
parents "should be
proud"
|
Related Articles:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.