Rush Limbaugh's problems have staying power. So says the traditional media—in this case, ABC News. Their evidence is Premiere Network's decision to pull all of its barter ads, the ads they provide to affiliates in exchange for airing the program, for two weeks.
The company would not say whether the suspension, which runs from March 12 through March 23, was in response to the Limbaugh backlash, but the only two companies whose ads are exempted from the hiatus are LifeLock and Lear Financial, both of which have publicly said they will not pull their ads from Limbaugh’s show.
Premiere Networks spokeswoman Rachel Nelson said the memo was “part of Premiere’s overall strategy to update our processes and services to better meet our clients’ needs.”
Premiere is obviously hoping the scandal just blows over and they can get that revenue back. But with Limbaugh
rolling out ever-more crackpot theories and complaints about how he was set up to spend three hours a day for three solid days calling Sandra Fluke a "slut" and "prostitute," that might not happen. National advertisers maybe aren't going to want to be associated with a vulgar misogynist who also happens to be a crackpot conspiracy theorist.
There's also the little problem of how much the non-ditto head population (i.e., the majority) hates him. The PPP poll for Daily Kos found that 58 percent of the populate has a negative view of him, and 70 percent find his remarks about Fluke inappropriate, and an earlier Harris poll found him America's least favorite political pundit.
Add to that this Bloomberg poll in which a slim majority thinks he should lose his job over the Fluke episodes.
As for Limbaugh’s derogatory comments about Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke, men are split over whether the radio host should be let go from his job -- 49 percent say so, while 47 percent disagree. Fifty-six percent of women support the move compared with 39 percent who don’t. Almost one in three Republicans, 30 percent, say Limbaugh should be fired for the remarks.
To top it all off, there are
even rumors that Limbaugh's show is on the verge of cancellation, with the Premiere Network spokeswoman being forced to deny them. Who knows how the rumors got started, but it's certainly telling that they exist, and Limbaugh's bosses have to deny them. All of this does help strengthen ABC News' thesis: yes, Rush Limbaugh is facing a sustained battle to keep his advertisers and possibly his show.
Click here to email Rush Limbaugh's sponsors to tell them to pull their support for his radio show for good.