Why the NFL and Corporate America Reject Limbaugh and Beck

Limbaugh last week learned the overdue lesson that there are real-world consequences for trafficking in hate speech. That there are free-market penalties, including the fact that the NFL decided for itself that it can't, and won't, be connected with Limbaugh.

It's the same lesson Glenn Beck learned this year when he discovered that his niche, on-air rants (Obama is a communist-racist-fascist-Nazi) don't speak to the masses. Instead, they freaked out nearly 100 former Glenn Beck advertisers who have gone on record as refusing to be associated with his show. These are blue-chip, small-"c" conservative advertisers who've dropped Beck quicker than a wobbly JaMarcus Russell pass.

For both Limbaugh and Beck, the awkward realization in recent weeks and months is that viewed outside of the dark, paranoid confines of right-wing talk, both men are seen as toxic by the business elite they likely admire the most. It's like at a teen party in the basement when the lights suddenly get turned back on. Nobody in corporate America, and certainly nobody within the mighty NFL, wants to be seen holding hands with Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck.

In truth, Limbaugh's humiliating face plant was entirely predictable, because every few years Rush Limbaugh tries to leave the protected bubble of right-wing radio and venture out into everyday American culture ("tiptoeing into the mainstream," Limbaugh calls it), and every few years the reaction is swift and unambiguous -- get lost!

Read the entire Media Matters column here.

 

 

Follow Eric Boehlert on Twitter: www.twitter.com/EricBoehlert

Comments

[hippieforlife]

Oh yeah, Rush is so bad for business. He may have higher name recognition than the politicans in Wash DC.

His salary is very high and if a team needs ownership money, his money is green. The NFL is very far from "great character". Some of the players are criminals. Michael Vick is a convicted felon but he can play for a pro team.

This is not a good path to go down. Who will be the next celebrity to go down in flames? A business decision based on lies is not a good one.

Personally, I hope the Ram cannot find a buyer with enough money. It would serve them right.

[Jimboy17]

Go team grammar.

[supertim]

it was to the nfl's advantage to not expose the current plantation system they currently run with no guaranteed contracts for their (black) players, very strict free agency regs, and an almost entirely lily white overwhelmingly conservative ownership base that the league front office tries to obfuscate since "progressives buy football jerseys too"

[SamEllison]

The owners, with the help of LT crossing the picket line,
broke the union. Remember the replacement players?

Look at what hockey is doing to the blackberry guy.

[MsMassachusetts]

Rush, the NFL is just not that into you dude.

[mltaylor13pt1]

Excellent article. This was business decision - Rush is bad for business because of his history of racism, sexism, and misogny. NFL owners are focused on the bottom line and don't want to be associated with anyone or anything that adversely affects their bottom line.

[mredder4]

This was a business decision, not any ideological battle. In this instance, the only people Rush Limbaugh can be legitimately angry at are the other rich white guys in the group that was bidding for the NFL team. It was those other rich white guys that removed Limbaugh from the bid.

Not the NFL. Not the Player's Union. Not Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson. Not "the Left".

Maybe Limbaugh is just so surprised that he could have offended other rich white guys enough that they wouldn't just do what he wanted. He's used to getting that from any elected Republican, after all.

[vm12608]

Thinking people get that Limbaugh was rejected because he is hateful.

Rush says it's Al Sharpton's fault.

Before that, Rush said it was a left wing conspiracy.

Hey Rush...we just don't like you, fella.

[grailknight]

I seem to recall that nearly twenty years ago Rush tried being a pitchman for Pizza Hut. It didn't last very long, if memory serves correctly, and it usually does!

[Leebot]

Huffpo, please fix your broken link. Thanks.

Eric, good article. I especially thought your description of the insularity of the right-wing echo-chamber was well-stated. However, I question your opening statement and wonder if Rush or Glenn have "learned" anything, since they filter all of this through the lens of the victim, where any malfeasance is someone else's.