Rush Limbaugh - P 2012
Win McNamee/Getty ImagesTwo bedding companies on Friday dropped their sponsorship of Rush Limbaugh‘s radio program in reaction to the sexist comments the host has hurled at a college student and contraceptives coverage. Two more advertisers followed suit a few hours later.
Sleep Train and Select Comfort issued statements announcing that they would no longer associate themselves with Limbaugh, who called Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown student Republicans blocked from testifying about birth control, a “slut” and a “prostitute” on Wednesday. He went further on Thursday, saying that if women wanted contraceptives paid for by government insurance, they should post on the internet films of themselves having sex.
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Sleep Train is a California mattress store, while Select Comfort had ads for its Sleep Number bed run during Limbaugh’s show. “Due to recent commentary by Rush Limbaugh that does not align with our values, we’ve made the decision to immediately suspend all advertising on that program,” a spokeswoman for Select Comfort told MSNBC.
Those two companies were followed by the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team and Quicken Loans, with both companies saying that they would be pulling back in reaction to Limbaugh’s comments and the outrage they caused.
In a response to Limbaugh on Thursday, Fluke said, “We are fortunate to live in a democracy where everyone is entitled to their own opinions regarding legitimate policy differences. Unfortunately, numerous commentators have gone far beyond the acceptable bounds of civil discourse. No woman deserves to be disrespected in this manner. This language is an attack on all women, and has been used throughout history to silence our voices.”
The conservative firebrand did not back down, however, saying that Fluke was “having so much sex she can’t pay for it.”
President Obama reached out to offer support to Fluke, which Limbaugh also mocked.
