Right-wing U.S. talk radio host Rush Limbaugh dead at 70
Posted February 17, 2021 9:18 am.
Last Updated February 17, 2021 10:43 am.
Conservative U.S. radio host Rush Limbaugh has died. He was 70 years old.
According to Fox News, Limbaugh’s employer, his wife made the announcement of his passing on his radio show. The homepage of his website had a memorial photo up on Wednesday, with the words “In loving memory of Rush Hudson Limbaugh III,” written above “The greatest of all time.”
Limbaugh, an outspoken lover of cigars, had been battling stage 4 lung cancer. He was diagnosed in January of last year.
He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the highest civilian honour in the U.S. — in February of 2020.
At the time, former President Donald Trump said Limbaugh’s cancer diagnosis was not good news, but added, “What is good news is that he is the greatest fighter and winner that you will ever meet.”
A member of the Radio Hall of Fame, Limbaugh’s nationally syndicated show — The Rush Limbaugh Show — premiered in the summer of 1988.
He called himself an entertainer, but his rants during his three-hour weekday radio show broadcast on nearly 600 U.S. stations shaped the national political conversation, swaying ordinary Republicans and the direction of their party.
Unflinchingly conservative, wildly partisan, bombastically self-promoting and larger than life, Limbaugh galvanized listeners for decades with his talent for vituperation and sarcasm. He’s been heavily criticized for his controversial views, including denying the existence of climate change and consistently providing a platform for false and damaging information.
In one of his last shows, Limbaugh was criticized for repeating false claims that Joe Biden did not legitimately win the 2020 presidential election, even as Biden prepared to take the Oath of Office at his inauguration ceremony.
Blessed with a made-for-broadcasting voice, he delivered his opinions with such certainty that his followers, or “Ditto-heads,” as he dubbed them, took his words as sacred truth.
“In my heart and soul, I know I have become the intellectual engine of the conservative movement,” Limbaugh, with typical immodesty, told author Zev Chafets in the 2010 book “Rush Limbaugh: An Army of One.”
Forbes magazine estimated his 2018 income at $84 million, ranking him behind only Howard Stern among radio personalities.
