According to a ratings industry source, Rush Limbaugh’s popularity has taken a plunge after he called law student Sandra Fluke a ‘slut’ and a ‘prostitute.’ An analysis form Arbitron showed that key demographic ratings between March 29 and April 25 were down 27 percent in New York City, 31 percent in Houston, 37 percent in Jacksonville, and 40 percent in Seattle-Tacoma.

Surprisingly, Limbaugh is taking the bigger hits in the traditionally conservative parts of the country, while the San Francisco Bay Area and Las Vegas markets have seen an upsurge in those who tune in. Overall, however, the shock jock is seeing a significant downward trend.

Looks like Sandra Fluke isn’t the only one to have taken exception to being called a “slut.”

In late March, Limbaugh claimed that his ratings were up precisely because of the remark, despite the fact that some advertisers pulled out immediately after the on-air remarks. “The advertisers who hung in here are going gangbusters, yes,” Limbaugh boasted to his listeners. “I mean, that’s the simple truth. The only ones who got hurt are the ones who left.”

Some radio insiders speculate that the ratings went up briefly right after the infamous name-calling because listeners wanted to hear how Limbaugh would respond to the controversy. His lack of remorse and his defiance caused more advertisers to withdraw their sponsorship of the show. Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey said that his company had lost millions dollars and that the radio giant was “hit pretty hard” by the loss.

Limbaugh got into hot water back in early February when he called Sandra Fluke, a Georgetowon University law student, a ‘slut’ and a ‘prostitute’ after Fluke had testified in Congress in favor of contraceptive birth control coverage for student health plans.

At the hearing, Fluke said she and her fellow students at Georgetown, which is a Jesuit university, pay as much as $1,000 annually for birth control because campus health plans do not include coverage of contraceptives for women. The hearing was part of a lengthy and complex political issue involving organizations, such as some universities, which are administered by religious establishments opposed to contraception.

Limbaugh castigated Fluke’s position on air without much restraint:

"What does it say about the college co-ed Susan Fluke [sic] who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex -- what does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex. She's having so much sex she can't afford the contraception. She wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex."

Actress Patricia Heaton initially supported Limbaugh’s comments via her own tweets to her fans, in which she echoed Limbaugh’s sentiments. She lost many supporters as well, and had to cancel her Twitter account because of the vast onslaught of criticism.

Image Source Wikimedia Commons

Source

Source