Who is Rush Limbaugh’s replacement?
THE VOICE of conservative American Rush Limbaugh passed away on Feb. 17, 2021, after battling stage four lung cancer for over a year.
Limbaugh, 70, dominated the airwaves for over three decades with his show The Rush Limbaugh Show, which drew a weekly audience of more than 15 million listeners.
Who will be Rush Limbaugh’s replacement?
Rush's timeslot will be taken over by Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.
The pair will host the debut episode of "The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show" on June 21 from noon ET.
iHeartMedia president Julie Talbott said that the late radio star's show would not be replaced.
"We’re not going to replace Rush Limbaugh, we’re going to have an evolution of the show with fresh voices—those that grew up on Rush and admired him," Talbott said.
“No one can replace Rush Limbaugh,” said Hosea Belcher, senior vice president of affiliate marketing for iHeartMedia Inc.
Travis, 42, said that the fresh pair has "the unique ability to offer a perspective that many people in their 20s and 30s are desperate to hear" before paying tribute to Limbaugh.
"Rush’s connection with his audience is one of the primary legacies of his show," Travis said.
The pair have both had experience on the radio, with Travis having hosted a Fox Sports Radio show since 2016, and Sexton, 39, having a three-hour self-titled weekday evening show.
When did Rush die?
Rush's wife Kathryn announced his death on his radio show on February 17, 2021.
In February 2020, Limbaugh announced he was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer.
It's widely believed that Limbaugh's lung cancer diagnosis was correlated with his history of smoking, however, the radio host never confirmed those claims.
Throughout his decades-long radio host career, Limbaugh often raised eyebrows when speaking about topics like climate change and smoking.
Limbaugh said he started smoking cigarettes as a teenager, and it's uncertain if he ever quit smoking completely.
He reportedly gave up cigarettes after he went through a particularly bad battle with bronchitis in the 1980s, however, he was a well-known cigar enthusiast who long defended tobacco use.
Limbaugh appeared on the cover of the magazine Cigar Aficionado in 1994, five years before he announced he had lung cancer, and often dismissed the connection between secondhand smoke and cancer.
In a 2015 episode of The Rush Limbaugh Show, the 70-year-old went as far as to say second-hand smoking can yield to health issues in the long run, before going on to state that smokers deserve more recognition.
"[Second-hand smoke] has been disproven at the World Health Organization and the report was suppressed.
"There is no fatality whatsoever. There’s no even major sickness component associated with secondhand smoke.
"It may irritate you, and you may not like it, but it will not make you sick, and it will not kill you," he told a caller at the time.
“Firsthand smoke takes 50 years to kill people if it does. Not everybody that smokes gets cancer. Now, it’s true that everybody who smokes dies, but so does everyone who eats carrots.”
What did his wife say about his death?
"Rush will forever be the greatest of all time. Rush was an extraordinary man. A gentle giant. Brilliant, quick-witted, genuinely kind," Kathryn said on his show the day of his death.
"Extremely generous. Passionate. Courageous. And the hardest working person I know."
"From today on, there will be a tremendous void in our lives, and on the radio.
"Rush encouraged so many of us to think for ourselves. To learn and to lead. He often said it did not matter where you started or what you look like, as Americans we all have endless opportunities like nowhere else in the world," she said.
Kathryn also thanked "each and every one of you who prayed" for Rush while he was battling cancer on behalf of their family.
"In Rush's honor, may we all continue Rush's mission in our individual lives and communities. I know all of you listening are terribly sad.
"We all are. I'm terrible sorry to have to deliver this news to you. God bless you Rush. And God bless our country."
Before his death, Limbaugh's net worth was a whopping $600million – he was among the most highly paid figures in American radio.
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