Diagnosed with advanced lung cancer in February 2020, conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, 69, provided an update Monday and his prognosis sounds bad.

Limbaugh said that he had received bad news earlier this month during treatment, Fox News reported.  

“We all know that we’re going to die at some point, but when you have a terminal disease diagnosis that has a time frame to it, then that puts a different psychological and even physical awareness to it,” Limbaugh said. 

Whereas before, scans showed that his cancer was dormant, recent scans showed some progression of cancer, he said. 

“I hate the way I feel every day. It’s tough to realize that the days where I do not think I’m under a death sentence are over,” Limbaugh said.

“The Rush Limbaugh Show” first aired in 1988 and earned awards and honors. Limbaugh is a five-time winner of the National Association of Broadcasters’ Marconi Award for “Excellence in Syndicated and Network Broadcasting,” a No. 1 New York Times best-selling author and a member of the Radio Hall of Fame and National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame, Fox reported. 

Within days of Limbaugh’s cancer diagnosis, President Donald Trump awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom during the State of the Union address.

In early May of 2020, Limbaugh projected that he had 43 million listeners, according to iHeart Radio.

In 2018, Limbaugh ranked No. 2 on Forbes‘ list of highest-paid radio hosts, with estimated earnings of $84.5 million from June 1, 2017, to June 1, 2018 based on data from Pollstar Pro and interviews with industry insiders. No. 1 on the list? Howard Stern, with $90 million in estimated earnings for the same period.

Limbaugh didn’t let the diagnosis end his radio career, but it did prompt discussion of his contentious legacy, USAToday reported in February 2020:

“He was very much a trendsetter in the movement of political media toward polarization,” said Kevin Wagner, a political scientist at Florida Atlantic University. “He was providing a voice for people who felt like they didn’t have a voice for their point of view. In a lot of ways, he was a precursor for how media has evolved.”

Despite the diagnosis, some people said this is not the time to forget the racist rhetoric Limbaugh distributed over the years.

“After all the years of lies and misguiding, I have no sympathy,” Doc Darnell tweeted.

“The world will be a better place without Hate Radio,” Mohamoud Osman tweeted.

“As someone who’s always disliked Rush, and will be voting Biden, this is still very sobering about life and death. I’d never say he isn’t eloquent. I hope Rush finds peace” John Stevenson tweeted.

“The guy called #COVID19 just the common cold. 220k Americans r dead and he is whining abt his life right now? Give me a break!” another person tweeted.

“I will not miss Limbaugh for I do not agree with him on anything BUT my heart feels for him on his cancer journey. My mother died of lung cancer & I understand the roller coaster ride,” Mik ‘MASK UP & VOTE EARLY’ Young tweeted.

In 2016, most of Limbaugh’s attacks were targeted toward President Barack Obama. “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.”

Here’s what some respondents wrote on Quora in answer to the question: Why is Rush Limbaugh’s radio show so popular?

• Dan Pepper: “Just as when a cold air mass meets a warm air mass, Rush Limbaugh creates a sociopolitical front. While an imperfect vessel, Mr. Limbaugh serves as catnip for Conservatives and a lightning rod for Liberals and Progressives.”
• Thomas Atilano: “Because he lights a fire under his base … here’s a man that once said that all drug addicts should do time in prison, and all the time he was hooked on drugs, painkillers (Oxy Contin) … He called president Clinton a draft dodger and all the time he received 3 deferments from the serving in the military … he preaches Christianity and family values but he has been married 3 times, and once he was committing adultery … Lush Limbaugh is the epitome of “Don’t do as I do, do as I say” kind of guy.”

Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 73: Jamarlin Martin Jamarlin makes the case for why this is a multi-factor rebellion vs. just protests about George Floyd. He discusses the Democratic Party’s sneaky relationship with the police in cities and states under Dem control, and why Joe Biden is a cop and the Steve Jobs of mass incarceration.

• Joshua Engel: “Limbaugh tells the truth and skewers the pretensions of those who think they know better. He is the only one willing to call out pseudo-intellectuals who defend their privileged status with a web of self-serving lies, and try to cover their tracks with a social opprobrium in the form of “political correctness”. He instills patriotism and support for key American values … He does all that with great showmanship and appeal. He deflates pretensions with humorous nicknames, and uses sarcasm to tell the truth in a funny way … This format is immensely appealing to a lot of Americans who agree with him. What’s not to like about being told that you are the best, smartest, and greatest country in the world, and that we will one day succeed in defeating America’s enemies both within and without?”

Here are more racist quotes attributed to Limbaugh:

• 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 in Limbaugh’s crosshairs: “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,” Limbaugh said. 

After all the years of lies and misguiding, I have no sympathy

— f.j. darnell, PhD (@DocDarnell) October 20, 2020