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During his radio show on Monday, the popular conservative political commentator, 69, responded to the backlash directed toward hisrecent remarksabout openly gay Democratic hopeful Buttigieg, 38, that disparaged him for being gay.
“A … gay guy kissing his husband onstage next to ‘Mr. Man’Donald Trump— what’s going to happen there?” Limbaugh said on air last week, also adding that America was “still not ready” to elect anLGBTQpresident.
“Hell, the president even called me about this,” he said on his show,according toThe Hill. “[Trump] said: ‘Rush, I just got to tell you something. Never apologize. Don’t ever apologize.’ ”
From left: Rush Limbaugh and First Lady Melania Trump at the State of the Union.MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
“I think so. I think there would be some that wouldn’t [vote for a gay candidate], and I wouldn’t be among that group to be honest with you,” he said, according toPolitico.
Buttigieg’s sexuality “doesn’t seem to be hurting him very much but … there would be a group that probably wouldn’t. But you or I wouldn’t be in that group,” Trump told Rivera.
Inhis original criticism of Buttigiegand the2020 election, Limbaugh implied last week that Trump would “have fun” going head-to-head with the openly gay candidate, whom he nicknamed “Booty Judge.”
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Chasten (left) and Pete Buttigieg.Matt Rourke/AP/Shutterstock
During an appearance onFox News Sundayover the weekend, Buttigieg said he would be “saddened” if voters align with Limbaugh’s way of thinking when it comes to him andhusband Chasten’s relationship.
“I am in a faithful, loving and committed marriage,” he said. “I’m proud of my marriage. And I’m proud of my husband.”
Buttigieg added that he was “not going to be lectured on family values from the likes of Rush Limbaugh or anybody who supports Donald J. Trump as the moral as well as political leader of the United States.” (Both Limbaugh and Trump have been married multiple times.)
“America has moved on and we should have politics of belonging that welcomes everybody,” Buttigieg said. “That’s what the American people are for. And I am saddened for what the Republican Party has become if they embrace that kind of homophobic rhetoric.”
source: people.com
