News anchor slams Rush Limbaugh for 'slut shaming,' accusing her of posing nude at 14
Hill TV news anchor Krystal Ball shared a Twitter thread on Thursday where she lambasted conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh for his slut-shaming remarks and unfounded accusations against her.
In a recent broadcast of “The Rush Limbaugh Show,” Limbaugh talked about Ball’s unsuccessful run for Congress in 2010 and claimed that she’d posed for nude photos at age “14 or 15.”
“Remember the name Krystal Ball with a K? Some thought she was attractive. She was running for Congress, and she got elected, and some tweets came out. She posed nude when she was 14 or 15,” he said.
“She was outraged. ‘How dare you!’ I said, ‘What do you expect to happen? You put a picture of yourself nude on Facebook or MySpace or, you know, my butt, whatever it is. Somebody’s gonna find that stuff,’” he continued.
Limbaugh’s claims were incorrect in a few ways. For one, Ball didn’t get elected. And there was no controversy about nude photos. Likely what Limbaugh was recalling were some saucy, but clothed, party photos of an adult Ball and her then-husband that made the rounds online during the 2010 campaign.
The conservative commentator went on to contend that the Ball incident led to others using “blackmail” against members of Congress. He added that “Republicans can do this too” ― apparently referring to threatening people ― and may be doing it in “certain places.”
On Thursday, Ball addressed Limbaugh’s allegations during her Hill TV show, “Rising,” as well as on Twitter.
The MSNBC alum said she “did not pose nude when I was 14 or 15,” adding that “Facebook and MySpace did not even exist when I was 14 or 15. I didn’t tweet about anything related to that.”
In his “very bizarre way,” Ball suggested, Limbaugh was probably alluding to those party photos.
“In the Trump era, this was so minimal that it was party photos that he felt the need to make this much more salacious in order to titillate his audience,” said Ball, who is now 37.
She emphasized that because Limbaugh has an audience of millions, she decided to use her own platform to set the record straight.
“I don’t want to feel like he can just slime whoever he wants and get away with it with no accountability. But if I did have some naked photos from when I was 14 or 15 or whenever, who frickin’ cares?” she said.
“It’s not your job to be the moral police or to shame me or any other young woman who is out there who may have nude photos that come out. If they want to run for office, if they want to be political leaders, they still can,” said Ball. “I wanted to make sure that I was able to put that out there.”
Ball’s Twitter thread explained the chain of events and included a video of her broadcast.
“I didn’t want this slut-shaming smear just hanging out there,” she wrote in one post.
So I have some sort of weird personal/public news. The other day on his show, Rush Limbaugh went on at length about how I posed nude when I was 14 or 15 (I did not.) I've been thinking for a few days about how to deal with this. Partly I didn't really want to call more attention.
— Krystal Ball (@krystalball) September 12, 2019
Maybe just ignore it and move on. But the reality is, his show has millions of listeners and the transcript is readily available online. I didn't want this slut-shaming smear just hanging out there. I'm also lucky enough to have a platform to set the record straight.
— Krystal Ball (@krystalball) September 12, 2019
But maybe the next person who get's smeared will not. I didn't want him to think he could just slime anyone with impunity. Most importantly though, if I did "pose nude" at 14, so fucking what? Should women be barred from public service because they have bodies and sexuality?
— Krystal Ball (@krystalball) September 12, 2019
Limbaugh doesn't get to be the morality police and I won't stand by when slut-shaming is being used to undermine yet another woman, even when that woman is me. Here are his full comments and my full response. Also for the record @esaagar is the greatest. https://t.co/uV3jU9MjDu
— Krystal Ball (@krystalball) September 12, 2019
Ball’s “Rising” co-host, Saagar Enjeti, backed her completely and even suggested she could pursue legal action against Limbaugh.
“He should know about America’s libel laws and that you would be fully within your rights in order to go after him,” said Enjeti.
On Twitter, many others rallied to show their support for Ball:
Proud to work on a show with a strong woman like Krystal who is not afraid to stand up to assholes like Rush Limbaugh. It's 2019, we're far past the point where slut-shaming should be tolerated. https://t.co/6RnjYGrqL9
— Tiffany Hudson (@TiffanyRHudson) September 12, 2019
Krystal you’ve got what Limbaugh never will: class, depth, & integrity.
He admitted to a crime. If confronted by law enforcement his smartest defense would be that he made it up.
Shame on the radio stations airing a man who says he looks at nude pix of kids.— David Cay Johnston (@DavidCayJ) September 12, 2019
Sending support and love. https://t.co/kzsOMnOFkv
— Marc Lamont Hill (@marclamonthill) September 12, 2019
Thank you for speaking out and Fuck that guy. https://t.co/h1qxvsKYki
— Molly Jong-Fast🏡 (@MollyJongFast) September 12, 2019
This isn’t the first time Ball and Limbaugh have been at odds. In 2012, Ball launched a website, Boycott Rush, that called for a boycott of advertisers on Limbaugh’s show following his incendiary comments about Sandra Fluke.
Fluke, then a law student at Georgetown University, was invited by Democrats to speak at a hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on so-called conscience clause exceptions for birth control coverage in health insurance plans.
Limbaugh talked about the hearing and Fluke in a broadcast afterward, calling her a “slut” and a “prostitute.” He was condemned by public figures on both sides of the aisle and later issued an apology, but not before nearly 100 advertisers dropped out of his show.
HuffPost has reached out to Ball, Limbaugh and Hill TV for comment on Limbaugh’s recent claims.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.