Trump recently honored conservative and controversial radio host Rush Limbaugh with the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom, much to the chagrin of many. Limbaugh, 69, also recently revealed he has late-stage lung cancer.
“I have been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer, a diagnosis confirmed by two medical institutions back on January 20,” he said to his radio listeners. He learned of his diagnoses just in January.
“And I wish I didn’t have to tell you this, and I thought about not telling anybody. I thought about trying to do this without anybody knowing,” he said. “Because I don’t like making this about me. But there are going to be days that I’m not going to be able to be here because I’m undergoing treatment or I’m reacting to treatment.”
Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 69: Jamarlin Martin Jamarlin goes solo to unpack the question: Was Barack Obama the first political anti-Christ to rise in Black America?
While Trump may have praised Limbaugh with the medal and his fans may be worried about his health, others say this is not the time to forget the racist rhetoric Limbaugh has propagated over the years.
In 2016, most of his attacks were targeted toward President Barack Obama. In one segment of his radio show that year, progressive group Media Matters flagged the recording in which Limbaugh mocked President Barack Obama’s account of his high school basketball years with the crude racial quip, Mic reported.
“What adversity has Obama ever faced?” Limbaugh asked. “Seriously. You know what he said he faced? He went to this private high school in Hawaii, and he didn’t make the basketball team. And you know why he said he didn’t make the basketball team? You forgotten this? All right.”
“Barack Obama said that he wasn’t allowed to play on his private high school basketball team in Hawaii because he played Black-style basketball,” the radio host continued. “What is Black-style basketball? You empty the clip on your opponents? What is it? I’m just funning with you here, but really, what is Black-style basketball?”
Here are other racist quotes by Limbaugh we should not forget. He verbally attacked civil rights leader Jesse Jackson when he said: “Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?” South African freedom leader Nelson Mandela was even a target for the radio talk show host. “Right. So you go into Darfur and you go into South Africa, you get rid of the white government there. You put sanctions on them. You stand behind Nelson Mandela — who was bankrolled by communists for a time, had the support of certain communist leaders. You go to Ethiopia. You do the same thing,” he said.
Of the NAACP he said: “The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies.” And of Black people in general, Limbaugh seethed: “They’re 12 percent of the population. Who the hell cares?”
Limbaugh even raved about slavery when he said, “I mean, let’s face it, we didn’t have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: slavery built the South. I’m not saying we should bring it back; I’m just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark.”
