'24' Star Mary Lynn Rajskub Says Being Forcibly Kissed By Rush Limbaugh Had Creepy Consequences

The late radio blowhard moved in on the unsuspecting actor at a Washington panel discussion, she said.
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Actor Mary Lynn Rajskub says in a new memoir that a widely photographed event where Rush Limbaugh forcibly kissed her on the lips generated creepy fallout.

Rajskub, who played Chloe O’Brian on the terrorism drama “24,” was invited with other cast members in 2006 to a Washington panel titled, “’24′ and America’s Image in Fighting Terrorism: Fact, Fiction, or Does It Matter?”

The event was moderated by Limbaugh, who introduced himself to Rajskub by basically ambushing her, she wrote in “FAME-ISH: My Life At The Edge Of Stardom.” The far-right media personality died in February 2021.

Mary Lynn Rajskub wrote that she didn't know how to stop the kiss from happening.
Mary Lynn Rajskub wrote that she didn't know how to stop the kiss from happening.
Win McNamee via Getty Images

“His way of saying “hello” was to bend down behind me,” Rajskub recalled in an excerpt published by The Daily Beast on Thursday. “I turned to look up and that’s when it happened. When I turned he was coming down to give me a kiss… on the lips?! I have no idea how he got his body around so quickly for a full-on kiss. As it happened, tons of camera flashes went out. He had to have known what he was doing. He knew there were 10 photographers there — I did not. I should have but I didn’t. I also didn’t know how to stop the kiss from happening.”

Rajskub, also a comedian who later starred in “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, said the widespread circulation of the photos put her in a difficult spot.

“In one shrewd move of his, an image went out into the world that showed I was a supporter of the right-wing cause. I was not,” she wrote. “It also showed I found Rush Limbaugh attractive. I did not. The kiss was weird. Intentional for him, and accidental for me.”

An old boyfriend assumed she was dating Limbaugh and chastised her, she said. He told her members of her favorite rock band were disappointed as well.

“To become a right-wing darling was too much,” Rajskub wrote. “Thank god it didn’t last more than one news cycle.”

Limbaugh’s behavior was on-brand. His career “was also one long exercise in misogyny,” HuffPost wrote after his death.

Limbaugh once wrote that feminism was established “to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society.” He infamously called law student Sandra Fluke a “slut” after she advocated that Congress provide birth-control access.

"The kiss was weird," Rajskub wrote.
"The kiss was weird," Rajskub wrote.
Win McNamee via Getty Images

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