Limbaugh Threatens to Sue DCCC Over Sexual Assault Comments

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh is threatening to sue the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for defamation based on controversial comments he made about sexual assault, The Daily Caller reported.

Limbaugh’s lawyer, Patty Glaser, warned of the potential litigation in a letter to the DCCC while demanding a public retraction and an apology over a fundraising campaign the Democrats launched against him following his remarks.

The letter said that the DCCC "has intentionally disseminated demonstrably false statements concerning Rush Limbaugh in a concerted effort to harm Mr. Limbaugh, and with reckless disregard for the resulting impact to small businesses across America that choose to advertise on his radio program."

Claiming that Limbaugh’s comments were taken out-of-context," it added, "Mr. Limbaugh clearly, unambiguously, and emphatically condemned the notion that ‘no’ means ‘yes.'"

The potential lawsuit stems from Limbaugh’s radio show in September when he was discussing Ohio State University's new sexual consent policy, which was introduced after a four-year civil rights investigation by the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights.

Reading from the new policy, he said, "After you and your partner decide that you're going to make out or have sex, you agree to do it, then you agree — you have to agree on why. Consent is the act of knowingly, actively, and voluntarily agreeing explicitly to engage in sexual activity. The absence of no does not mean yes. It must be asked every step of the way. It cannot be implied or assumed even in the context of a relationship."

But Limbaugh scoffed at the policy's insistence on explaining the "why" behind any consent given.

"Agreeing on the 'why' takes all the romance out of everything — takes [out] all the seduction," he said during his show. "Seduction used to be an art, now of course it's 'brutish' and it's 'predatory.' How many guys, in your own experience with women, have learned that no means yes if you know how to spot it? Are these [policies] not lawsuits waiting to happen?"

Several news outlets and listeners took issue with Limbaugh's comments about "no" in the context of seduction, and the DCCC in particular jumped on his statements. "Let’s be clear: Rush Limbaugh is advocating for the tolerance of rape," the DCCC said in a September fundraising email.

In the days following the comments, the DCCC sent out several emails and a few dozen tweets asking people to sign their petition asking Limbaugh's advertisers to drop his show.

But the letter from Limbaugh’s legal team said, "The DCCC may believe it to be immune from liability by quoting words, taken out of context. This is untrue."

Citing a precedent, the letter noted that "if a party accurately quotes ‘a statement actually made by a public figure, but presents the statement in a misleading context, thereby changing the viewer’s understanding of the speaker’s words,’ that constitutes defamation."

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