Rush Limbaugh, a conservative radio host and political commentator, died on Wednesday at the age of 70. The media personality died after a yearlong battle with lung cancer.
While conservatives mourned, many left-wing voices criticized Limbaugh, who has long been accused of defending racist, sexist and homophobic views throughout his career.
Although a radio pioneer, Limbaugh has spread conspiracy theories and used his platform to deny climate change.
His death caused many to comment on a particular period of his career, when his program discussed the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and 1990s.
The AIDS crisis, caused by HIV, has seen gays and bisexuals die of sexually transmitted diseases at alarming rates. This was at a time when homosexuality was still taboo.
On Thursday, the word “AIDS” was the third most searched term on Google next to Limbaugh’s name.
Rush Limbaugh had a segment called “AIDS update” with music where he mocked dying gays, so I really don’t want to hear about ‘talking bad about the dead’ today
– Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) February 17, 2021
The claim
Many prominent Twitter people commented that Limbaugh once had a segment on his show, The Rush Limbaugh Show, called “AIDS Update” which scoffed at gay deaths.
For example, columnist Jessica Valenti went viral with her tweet that stated: “Rush Limbaugh had a segment called ‘AIDS update’ with music where he mocked gay men dying, so I really don’t want to hear about ‘talking bad about the dead’ today.”
Another viral tweet came from Paul Elliott Johnson, an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh, who tweeted: “Rush Limbaugh had a regular radio segment where he read the names of gay men who died of AIDS and celebrated that and played horns and bells and stuff.”
British political commentator Ash Sarkar tweeted: “In the 1980s, Rush Limbaugh hosted a regular radio segment called ‘AIDS Update’, where he celebrated and mocked the deaths of gay and bisexual men. May the hatred he spread in life be buried with him.”
Similarly, playwright James Morrison added: “Rush Limbaugh scoffed at the death of Eric Garner, Parkinson’s disease by Michael J. Fox, cancer diagnosis by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Kurt Cobain, people who died of AIDS, feminists, civil rights activists and Native Americans. That’s the your legacy. “
Actor Harry Cook added: “Rush Limbaugh had a radio segment called” AIDS Update “where he read the names of gay men who died and celebrated with horns and bells. So the whole ‘don’t speak ill of the dead’ thing does not apply to this monster of absolute shit. Let it rot. “
AFP via Getty Images
The facts
Limbaugh did, in fact, have a radio segment on his show in which he mocked people dying of AIDS.
LGBTQ + Nation reported that author Ze’ev Chafets wrote about the segment in his book Rush Limbaugh: an army of one.
A passage reads: “He punished ‘militant homosexuals’ for their disrespectful behavior and shortly thereafter began broadcasting irreverent and tasteless segments of the ‘AIDS Update’ introduced by Dionne Warwick in” I will never love this again “.
THE Los Angeles Times published an article in 1998 on what has been described as the “popular” feature of Limbaugh’s program.
The publication stated that Limbaugh went so far as to say, “Gay men deserve their destiny.”
In addition, according to Snopes, the Cedar Gazette of Iowa reported in 1990 that the segment played songs like “Back in the Saddle Again”, “Kiss Him Goodbye”, “I Know I Never Love This Way Again” and “Looking for Love in all the wrong places. “
In Limbaugh’s native Missouri, the Missouri Biographical Dictionary 2001 referred to the segment as “Limbaugh’s first major controversy”.
“The homosexual community was offended by the segment and Limbaugh’s appearance in The Pat Sajak Show was interrupted by ACT UP, a group of AIDS activists, “states the book.” Although zealous for his views on his radio show, Limbaugh refused to engage in a battle with the group, and not long after, he stopped the ‘AIDS Update’ segments and sent $ 10,000 to the Pediatric AIDS Foundation. “
The New York Times reported that Limbaugh ended up interrupting the segment after a few weeks and said he was “very insensitive to people who were dying”.
He called it one of the “most pitiful things I’ve ever done”.
There does not appear to be any audio recording of this segment available online.
The decision
Truth.
Rush Limbaugh had a segment on his radio show in which he made fun of people dying of AIDS.