Bette Midler kicks dirt on late broadcaster Rush Limbaugh
Don’t count Grammy, Emmy and Tony Award winner Bette Midler among those mourning the death of broadcasting titan Rush Limbaugh, who lost his long battle with lung cancer last week.
Midler, who has traded barbs with Limbaugh’s old pal Donald Trump on Twitter, posted a cartoon on social media showing what appear to be several Ku Klux Klan members in sheets — one of whom is wearing a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The cartoon, drawn by “Seinfeld” and “The Simpsons” writer Ron Hauge, is labeled “Find Rush Limbaugh”
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) February 23, 2021
While Limbaugh has been celebrated as a pioneer of right-wing media since his death at the age of 70, he also leaves behind a well-documented legacy of racially offensive remarks, including undermining comments about a Black star quarterback that led to his stepping away from his 2003 gig at ESPN.
Then-President Trump awarded Limbaugh the Medal of Freedom on Feb. 4, 2020 — a day after the conservative pundit announced he had terminal lung cancer. The honor took place during the nationally televised State of the Union Address. That recognition was greeted with fiery criticism. Past recipients include civil rights champions Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Hank Aaron, Nelson Mandela and Muhammad Ali.
Some of Midler’s Twitter followers tried guessing which other right-wing pundits were under what appear to be white hoods alongside Limbaugh in the illustration she posted. Others guessed the artist may have been drawing ghosts rather than Klansmen and at least one observer wondered if Limbaugh might come back to haunt critics like the Divine Miss M. Others admonished the outspoken 75-year-old singer for not respecting the dead.
“God is watching,” wrote one follower, quoting a lyric from Midler’s 1985 hit “From a Distance.”
Midler has kicked dirt on Limbaugh’s grave several times since he died. On Feb. 17 — the day of his death — she took a guess at his final resting place.
“Bet it’s hot,” she tweeted.
