Ed Schultz, a media personality who himself has made sexist remarks on the air, recently defended Rush Limbaugh's right to earn money for attacking women on his radio show.
Ultraviolet and its 325,000 members disagree. We took aggressive action to hold Rush Limbaugh accountable for his tirade against Sandra Fluke, including soliciting a sex tape and calling her a slut more than 60 times over a three-day period.
Schultz demonstrates that elites in the media who use sexist language to demean women, regardless of their political affiliation, will link arms in order to protect each other from the public that is holding them accountable. That's an unfortunate use of his platform and one that those who have taken action on this issue won't forget.
Ed Schultz is wrong. Here's why.
People have a right to vote with their dollars. When personalities like Limbaugh, Beck, Dobbs and yes even Schultz and Maher use their platforms to demean women, or African Americans or immigrants, people have a right to make their feelings about that known to the companies who promote these personalities.
What happened with Rush was that Americans everywhere asked themselves whether they wanted to live in a society where a man who solicits sex tapes from a college student and calls her a slut is rewarded with ad dollars and fame.
The answer was a resounding no. And that's a good thing.
If it means every other radio host will think twice about using demeaning and abusive language on the air, it's a good thing.
If it means every other radio host will be suspended or fired for similar rhetoric, it's a good thing.
If it means people can't get rich hurling hate speech at each other anymore, it's good thing.
It is unfortunate that progressive radio is being hurt by this.
But just like every radio personality (and human being) has a right to say whatever they want to say, listeners and consumers have a right to make their feelings about it known and to try to get accountability.
What's happening to Rush, and what Schultz objects to, is the free market playing out. It's saying that spewing hate is not a smart way to make money. Our 325,000 members agree.