The right-wing radio talk show host indicates he's evacuating Florida, days after telling his listeners that warnings about Hurricane Irma were the media conspiracy to hype climate change.
- Sep 9, 2017
AceShowbiz - Rush Limbaugh had to swallow his words after insisting that warnings about Hurricane Irma were fake news. On Thursday, he hinted that he's evacuating his home base in Palm Beach, Florida, from which he broadcasts daily, in anticipation of the landfall.
"I explained how severe weather events are opportunities for big ratings boosts in the media and explained how it happens," he said. "I explained how severe weather events impact retailers and how some retailers are smart enough to coordinate advertising with television stations. It happens!"
He continued, "May as well go ahead and announce this. I'm not going to get into details because of the security nature of things, but it turns out that we will not be able to do the program here tomorrow. ... We'll be on the air next week, folks, from parts unknown. So we'll be back on Monday. It's just that tomorrow is going to be problematic. Tomorrow it would be, I think, legally impossible for us to originate the program out of here."
Limbaugh added, "You know, I had to cancel a bunch of stuff. I was going to go to a private movie screening this afternoon, and I had a bunch of stuff to do tonight, and now that's all blown to smithereens."
Responding to Limbaugh's announcement, "Today" weather anchor Al Roker tweeted, "Wait. What?"
Wait. What? https://t.co/L2aX4Dl6rN
— Al Roker (@alroker) September 8, 2017
Limbaugh previously said that Hurricane Irma was the media conspiracy to hype climate change, boost ratings and increase advertising revenue from businesses that stand to make money off purchases of batteries and bottled water.
"The media takes every extreme that is in a forecast such as this and runs with it as though it is gospel," he said on Tuesday. "And then they hype it and hype it and hype it. And then they tie it to climate change, and they tie it to whatever. And it’s not the hurricane center doing that. That is the media."
Roker was among the first who slammed Limbaugh over his comment on Hurricane Irma. He tweeted, "Do not listen to @rushlimbaugh when he says #Irma is not a dangerous #storm and is hype. He is putting people's lives at risk."
Do not listen to @rushlimbaugh when he says #Irma is not a dangerous #storm and is hype. He is putting people's lives at risk
— Al Roker (@alroker) September 6, 2017
"To have @rushlimbaugh suggest the warnings about #Irma are #fake or about profit and to ignore them borders on criminal. #ShameOnRush," he added.
To have @rushlimbaugh suggest the warnings about #Irma are #fake or about profit and to ignore them borders on criminal. #ShameOnRush
— Al Roker (@alroker) September 6, 2017
