Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

When news broke Wednesday morning that Rush Limbaugh had died of lung cancer, many of us made wisecracks on social media. Others admonished us for making wisecracks upon someone else’s death. But the fact is that making mockery of other people’s deaths was a regular running joke on Limbaugh’s radio show.

We assume you did not listen to the “Rush Limbaugh Show,” so we dug up these examples of Rush Limbaugh making cruel and horrible jokes about people who had just died.

The most accurate headline I've seen so far.

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Not mentioned here, but Rush Limbaugh also delivered AIDS updates mocking the dying during the crisis while playing Dionne Warwick's "I'll Never Love This Way Again" and called it "The Rock Hudson Disease." https://t.co/xGiOQCEGR1

— Kit Williamson (@kitwilliamson) February 17, 2021

JOKES ABOUT AIDS VICTIMS

The most cruel recurring segment on Limbaugh’s radio program was a 1980s stint called “AIDS Update,” where he would read off the names of people who’d died of HIV while playing Dionne Warwick’s “I’ll Never Love This Way Again” and Johnny Lee’s “Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places.”

Rush Limbaugh once happily chimed about “I CAN breathe because I follow the law” regarding Eric Garner.

How’s that working out for you now champ?

— Stimmy Hendrix (@KiLLaCaG) February 3, 2020

ERIC GARNER

After the 2014 chokehold killing of Eric Garner, who said “I can’t breathe” 11 times in the moments before his death, Limbaugh said on-air, “I can breathe because I follow the law.”

Ironically, Rush Limbaugh is now dead because his lung cancer left him unable to breathe.

Rush Limbaugh suggests Christchurch shootings might be a false flag

"There's an ongoing theory that the shooter himself may in fact be a leftist who writes the manifesto and then goes out and performs the deed purposely to smear his political enemies" https://t.co/3ja4K0wOUj pic.twitter.com/G4CAXczAhf

— Media Matters (@mmfa) March 15, 2019

THE CHRISTCHURCH SHOOTING VICTIMS

When the Christchurch mosque shootings left 51 people dead and 40 more injured at the hands of an admitted white supremacist in 2019, Limbaugh said that “There’s an ongoing theory that the shooter himself may in fact be a leftist who writes the manifesto and then goes out and performs the deed purposely to smear his political enemies.”

Remember when Rush Limbaugh said "Kurt Cobain was, ladies and gentleman, a worthless shred of human debris" the day after Kurt died? I do.

— Jim Walsh (@saintfabio) February 17, 2021

KURT COBAIN

Upon the 1994 suicide of Kurt Cobain, Limbaugh graciously remarked that “Kurt Cobain was, ladies and gentlemen, a worthless shred of human debris.”

RUTH BADER GINSBURG

When the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg had cancerous nodules removed from her lung in 2018, and still maintained her regular workout regimen, Limbaugh’s website published the article “Left Pins Hopes on Ruth ‘Buzzi’ Ginsburg Workout.’ You can see the Facebook post above, and the accompanying article is still on his website.

Republicans: "How dare you mock Rush Limbaugh's death? The man struggled with CANCER!"

ME: "Same Rush Limbaugh who mocked Michael J Fox's Parkinson's struggle?"

Karma motherf**{***s!🤣pic.twitter.com/oNU0IrAbHl

— T. Fisher King (@T_FisherKing) February 17, 2021

MICHAEL J. FOX

Back to the Future star Michael J. Fox is not dead, though was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991. You’d better believe Rush Limbaugh made fun of Fox for it.

“He is exaggerating the effect of the disease,” Limbaugh said, then engaging in highly theatrical arm movement mockery. “It’s purely an act. This is the only time I have ever seen Michael J. Fox show the symptoms of the disease he has.”

“Either he didn’t take his medication, or he’s acting.”

Rush Limbaugh’s lies and conspiracy theories about COVID:

“The coronavirus is the common cold, folks"
“The coronavirus is an effort to get Trump”
“You can't believe the virus numbers”
“They’re using the mask as a symbol of fear"

There are many more.https://t.co/qOITLSg4Mx

— Media Matters (@mmfa) October 9, 2020

PEOPLE WHO DIED OF COVID-19

Last February 24, Limbaugh said on his radio show that “Now, I want to tell you the truth about the coronavirus … I’m dead right on this. The coronavirus is the common cold, folks.”

Dead right, indeed. As of today, 2.5 million people worldwide have died from COVID-19.