Talk radio host Rush Limbaugh suggested that businesses who are sued for not providing services for same-sex marriage should say that they cannot do so because of fear of offending and provoking Muslims on Monday.

Rush began, “Well, one of the things we’ve learned recently, and I’m — frankly I’m a little bit — I’m pleasantly surprised by this, that so many people on the left have agreed with me. We go out of our way to not offend Muslims, and we chastise anybody who does anything along the lines of, say, drawing cartoon caricatures of the prophet Mohammed, right? We don’t permit that. We frown on that, and we condemn anybody that does that, because, why? Well, there’s no need to provoke millions and millions of Islamic people, Muslims who are not terrorists. Why do it? And anybody who engages in a cartoon rendering of the prophet Mohammed is chastised and ripped to shreds and criticized because we dare not offend our Muslim brothers and sisters.”

He added, “And yet in American media all over the place we are celebrating gay marriage, we are flaunting gay marriage, and I ask, does this not also offend Muslims?”

Rush continued, “Why, on the one hand, do we respect their wishes when it comes to cartoon renderings of the prophet Mohammed, and ignore their wishes and ignore what they claim upsets them and angers them when it comes to gay marriage? Therefore I have an idea. I know that many of you out there run businesses, that if a gay couple, a married gay couple came in and asked for your service, you would deny it on the basis that you disapprove, your religion does not sanction the approval of gay marriage.”

He concluded, “My idea for you is quite simple. Don’t use that as the excuse anymore. … Instead of telling the gay couple that you refuse to bake the cake for their wedding because you disapprove of homosexuality, you should now say you are not going to bake a cake for the gay wedding because you fear Muslim backlash. Or, due to your respect of Islam, you cannot bake a cake for a gay wedding. See how that flies.”

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