CNN’s Brian Stelter Praises Rush Limbaugh’s ‘Connection’ with Audience at Length Following Brutal Film Package
CNN host and media reporter Brian Stelter praised deceased radio host Rush Limbaugh at length for his “connection” with the radio audience just moments after playing a film package featuring what Stelter described as “racist, sexist, and other offensive speech.”
As news of Limbaugh’s death broke, anchor John King tossed to a prerecorded obituary package that walked the line between lauding Limbaugh’s impact in his own conservative strata, and describing the many racist and other controversies that defined Limbaugh to many of those outside it.
“Fans known as ‘Dittoheads’ praised his brazen style, while critics blasted him for racist, sexist, and other offensive speech,” Stelter’s narration went, noting that “He accused Michael J. Fox of exaggerating his Parkinson’s disease,” then described and played a clip of the incident in which Limbaugh called activist Sandra Fluke a “slut.”
“In 2003, his stint as an NFL commentator on ESPN lasted only 4 weeks. He resigned in the face of public outcry after suggesting that Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was overrated because of his race,” Stelter added, playing another clip from that incident.
“A conservative media icon, whose legacy will always symbolize division,” the package concluded.
King then lauded Limbaugh as “a trailblazer without a doubt. Also someone who survived even as the business and the industry went into the digital era.”
Stelter agreed, and after describing Limbaugh’s final weeks, noted that the deceased host’s website now reads “In loving memory of Rush Limbaugh the greatest of all time. And that is very much how we will be remembered in right-wing media and by millions of fans who listened to him every day.”
He then referenced the film package, noting many other controversies were left out of it and said, “but you think about the daily relationship he had with listeners. And that is really what Rush Limbaugh was about.”
“That daily relationship, talking to people who are driving in their cars, turning on the radio at noon eastern time every day in their homes, wanting to hear from him every afternoon,” Stelter said. “The contact was very polarizing, I would argue oftentimes it was all about grieving grievance culture, making conservatives out to be the victims, and yet he had an incredible connection to his fan base with those daily themes, day in, day out. The kind of connection that made him the most prominent broadcaster in right-wing radio for decades.”
Stelter went on to tell King that “sometimes liberals would say to me ‘Rush Limbaugh, he’s a damaging force in the United States, he must be stopped,’ and my reaction in those conversations would be to say learn from him.”
“Go and listen to his show. See what he does that is so appealing to his listeners. And then if you’re a liberal activist, you can go try to do it better. If you’re a progressive advocate, go try to do it better,” Stelter said. “But the point is there are lessons to be learned from Rush Limbaugh. And some of them are about, there are times where he was crass, ugly, indecent, that’s absolutely true, I’m not saying those are lessons to be learned from his radio show. But he also was able to forge connections with his listeners and give people a reason to come back every day, and there were those sorts of skills that I would argue could be learned from Rush and from his career, and those are some of the reasons why this is a massive loss for the Republican party, for the conservative movement, because he was an icon for the party.”
Watch the clip above via CNN.
