The radio host prompts a mass exodus of sponsors and stations by calling a law student advocating insurance coverage for contraception a "slut" and a "prostitute." Will his apology for "insulting word choices" stem the backlash?
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Add Rush Limbaugh to the list of those wondering if movies influenced the actions of Santa Barbara shooting suspect Elliot Rodger.
Limbaugh speculated on his radio show Tuesday about whether the violent content of The Hunger Games, on which Rodger’s father, Peter Rodger, was a second-unit director, might have inspired Rodger to go on his deadly rampage Friday night.
STORY: Santa Barbara Shooter’s Therapist Has Ties With Hollywood
“The kid’s father was an assistant director/secondary unit director of The Hunger Games,” Limbaugh said, according to a transcript. “Have you seen any of the Hunger Game movies? Do you know what they’re about?…This is crucial! This is what this guy’s dad did. It’s teenagers killing other teenagers. It’s a survivalist game. …They’re being forced to, but they’re still doing it…This kid might say he was forced to by societal pressure.”
Limbaugh also argued that the left is politicizing the incident and using it as a way to advance an anti-gun agenda, noting that the first three deaths were fatal stabbings and that Rodger could have killed as many people with a knife or another instrument as he did with a gun.
Limbaugh’s remarks come in the wake of Washington Post critic Ann Hornaday suggesting that films like Neighbors and those by Judd Apatow may have inspired Rodger, a link that Apatow and Neighbors star Seth Rogen both took offense to.
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