Rush Limbaugh Blames Rappers for 'Slut' Comments
Rush Limbaugh has blamed hip-hop music for "double standards" regarding his egregious use of the word "slut" to describe Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke last week.
Last week, Rush Limbaugh called Sandra Fluke a "slut" and "prostitute" for her views on the government's role in mandating insurance companies to pay for contraceptives. Limbaugh continued his rant for three straight days, suggesting Fluke post "the videos of all this sex posted online so we can see what we are getting for our money."
Rush's apology came soon after, on Saturday via a statement on his website, RushLimbaugh.com. However, he suggested Monday that it was unfair for hip-hop entertainers' verbal assaults against women to be ignored, while his were brought to light and exacerbated by various media outlets.
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"You talk about a double standard," Limbaugh wrote on his website. "One of the greatest illustrations of it is that rappers can practically say anything they want about women, and it's called art. And they win awards for it."
Limbaugh went further, and suggested that hip-hop, along with other forms of media, are responsible for the "culture deteriorating" to a place where few have a "moral core."
"This is all part of the culture deteriorating, because fewer and fewer people and … businesses and … institutions actually have a moral core, or they're not willing to stand up for their moral core," wrote Limbaugh. "I have some television shows that I like … and the P-word that stands for urinate is common now. Or when you're ticked off, you are p-----. It's common. The word b---- is common. In sitcoms, in television dramas."
Critics in the hip-hop and African-American communities were quick to point out that the "rappers did it first" defense was last used to defend Don Imus' bigoted description of Rutgers women's basketball team players as "nappy-headed h--s."
In 2007, when Imus said the inflammatory statement on his radio show, he apologized, but blamed the African-American community for the phrase that "originated in the black community."
"I may be a white man, but I know that … young black women all through that society are demeaned and disparaged and disrespected … by their own black men and that they are called that name," Imus said on NBC's "Today" show.
Limbaugh, to date, has lost a total of 36 advertisers since calling Sandra Fluke the derogatory epithets. Major companies, like AllState Insurance, AOL, Carbonite, Capital One, JC Penney, Netflix, and Sears have all dropped their ads from his program.
Despite the controversy, there is little doubt "The Rush Limbaugh Show" will be severely hindered. Limbaugh's 3-hour radio broadcast is the highest-rated radio broadcast in the country, with over 15 million viewers per week tuning in.
