(MADISON) — Following today’s vote by Republicans in the Wisconsin State Senate to honor Rush Limbaugh, Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Ben Wikler issued the following statement:
“Today’s Republican resolution honoring Rush Limbaugh was another partisan political exercise aimed at further dividing our state. After refusing to even take up a resolution honoring Black History Month and the achievements of Black Americans with Wisconsin ties including Hank Aaron and Vice President Kamala Harris, Republicans made time today to honor a man who once made a racist parody song disparaging America’s first Black president a regular feature of his radio show.
“Make no mistake: the GOP effort to lionize Rush Limbaugh is a naked attempt to legitimize the race-baiting and fear-mongering that Limbaugh pioneered and that Donald Trump built his political career upon. By honoring Rush Limbaugh on the floor of the Wisconsin State Senate, Republicans are once again showing us exactly who they are, and we should believe them.”
Additional Background on who Republicans chose to honor today:
Early in his career, Rush Limbaugh once told a Black caller to “take that bone out of your nose and call me back.” Limbaugh once said that the NAACP should ‘practice riots’ and ‘get a liquor store and practice robberies.’ In 2004, Limbaugh suggested that the NBA rename itself the “Thug Basketball Association” and in 2007 he told his listeners that “The NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons.” That same year, he began airing the so-called parody song referenced above, “Barack, the Magic Negro.”
Read more about Limbaugh’s long history of racist comments here and here.