UPDATE: 2/4/20 10:15pm ET: President Donald Trump announced during his State of the Union address that he would be awarding his longtime friend Rush with the Medal of Freedom, our nation’s highest civilian honor. He stated: “Rush Limbaugh, thank you for your decades of tireless devotion to our country,” to applause. “And Rush, in recognition of all that you have done for our nation, the millions of people a day that you speak to and that you inspire and all of the incredible work that you have done for charity, I am proud to announce tonight that you will be receiving our country’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.” Then he turned to wife Melania and she did the honors, placing it around Rush’s neck. You can watch the video below.
Right-wing radio darling Rush Limbaugh, 69, stunned listeners on Feb. 3, 2020 when he revealed that he’s been diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. The cigar-loving broadcaster told listeners that he realized something was wrong during his Jan. 12 birthday weekend after having breathing issues, and got his diagnosis from two separate medical institutions on Jan. 20. He decided to go public with the news so that listeners heard it straight from him and not have it leaked by another outlet. “Worst thing that can happen is when there is something going on and you try to hide it and cover it up and eventually it’s going to leak and people are like ‘why didn’t you just say it? Why’d you try to fool everybody,'” he said.
Rush is going to start immediately undergoing life-saving treatments ,and told listeners that he may miss some shows as a result. He said that he would be out for the next few days, hoping to return to his microphone on Thursday, Feb. 6. “So this has happened, and my intention is to come here every day I can, and to do this program as normally and as competently and as expertly as I do each and every day because that is the source of my greatest satisfaction professionally [and] personally,” he said. Here’s five things to know about Rush.
1. Rush started his radio career in 1967 while still in high school. He started out in radio in his hometown of Cape Girardeau, MO at KGMO-AM, a local radio station. He used the on-air DJ name Rusty Sharpe.
2. Rush began his now eponymous radio show in 1984. He worked a series of DJ jobs in the 70’s and 80’s, but became disillusioned with radio and had frequent disagreements with management at his stations. He took over Morton Downey Jr.‘s time slot with his own talk show on KBFK-FM in Sacramento from 1984-1988. In 1987 the “Fairness Doctrine” was repealed by the FCC, which required free airtime to refute any controversial opinions that were broadcast by a station. Rush took full advantage of that, and began his conservative talk show with his personal opinions and beliefs on New York’s WABC-AM in 1988. The three-hour daily show then went into syndication.
3. Rush holds hard-core conservative views. He’s an outspoken critic of abortion, environmentalism and climate science, opposes homosexuality, and had made numerous statements critical of feminism and minority rights. He was a strong opponent of Democratic President Barack Obama and is close friends with current Republican President Donald Trump.
4. Rush made a list in 1988 “Undeniable Truths of Life,” which he updated in 1994 and took serious digs at women. Truth #24 was “Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women access to the mainstream of society.” On his updated list, truth #16 was, ”Women should not be allowed on juries where the accused is a stud.” He frequently uses the term “Feminazi” on his radio show.
Here's the audio of Rush Limbaugh announcing on his show that he has lung cancer. pic.twitter.com/V60pAOpf68
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) February 3, 2020
The First Lady just presented Rush Limbaugh with the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the #SOTU tonight.
God bless you, @limbaugh! pic.twitter.com/NUkSgBEeip
— Andrew Pollack (@AndrewPollackFL) February 5, 2020
5. Since 1996, Rush has broadcast his syndicated radio show from his home in West Palm Beach, FL. Florida does not have a state income tax and Rush has made millions in contracts. He moved from New York to Florida after falling in love with Palm Beach on a 1995 visit. Florida also does not have a state income tax. That came in handy when in 2008 he inked a $400 million, eight year contract with what was then Clear Channel Communications. In 2018, Forbes named him the second highest paid radio host, making $84.5 million that year. He came in just behind Howard Stern, who earned $90 million during that 12 month span.