I heard back from ESPN about Lush Blimptoy

Here is their reponse...
Subject: Re: Rush Limbaugh
>Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 12:11:18 -0700
>
>Thank you for your e-mail.
>
>Rush is an excellent communicator and a big sports fan. He was hired
>for those two reasons, not his politics. His role will be, not as an
>analyst, but as someone who will provide the fans perspective and to
>create discussion and debate.
>
>Sincerely,
>ESPN Viewer Response
>

along with mine back...

Thank you for your reply. You are indeed correct he is both a "big" sports fan and an excellent communicator. Too bad that what he communicates is derogatory towards women, gays and minorities. To suggest that he was hired because of those skills and that his politics can be viewed seperately is laughable. Are you seriously suggesting that if David Duke were a big-enough sportsfan ABC/ESPN would be able to get over his politics and focus on his ability to create discussion and debate?
I find that hard to believe.

You have lost one formerly faithful viewer.


It probably won't matter a hill of beans but I feel a whole lot better...

TB

Others here who have written ESPN have received that, I'm sure I will too at some point today.

I already started watching more college and h.s. football. The billionaire republicans who own these teams are milking the public cash cow(in Cleveland it was "sin" taxes) to build their stadiums. Just like chimpy did in Texass with condemnation and imminent domain of land to turn the unwilling into a coalition of the willing. Then these pukes say with a straight face how they abhor the gov. and love ind. property rights,MAKES ME VOMIT! Hypocritical nazi bastards.

As I said yesterday, I'm hoping this will be his undoing. Sure, he has a lot more finesse than Michael Savage, but eventually his true colors will shine right through his "sports commentation."

So he got hired by ESPN, who the hell cares? The only reason why they hired him is because of his huge middle america audience. Don't sweat the small stuff, dude.
The 22 year old URI grads who are sending and receiving these emails are probably all in the ESPN customer service room mocking you're response (I say this only because a few years ago, I was a 22 year old working in customer service at a .com ) All those complaints are going to fall on deaf ears, and unfortunately because of hiring RUSH, more people are probably going to watch ESPN, personally i'm not missing any SportsCenter over it.

..besides since they dropped coverage of Formula One and CART I have no reason to watch that channel anyway...The older I get the less important it is for me to keep up on the antics of the over-paid athletic felons anyway!!! :-)

TB

talk about appealing to "middle America". Do they really need Rush when they've got the "overpaid felons"?

Small stuff"? The "librul media" becomes more fascistic every day and Mr No Syntax tells us to get over it? I won't. I won't watch ESPN unless they fire the hatemonger and wrote them so. So put that in your (not you're) pipe and smoke it! In my home fascism is not allowed. Stupidity either.

A dancing sponge is? get a grip,
ESPN DOES NOT CARE ABOUT WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT THEM HIRING RUSH. But feel free, waste your time writing emails if it makes you sleep better.

More people are going to watch? Bullshit. They will alienate more people than they gain; most people, including some conservatives, hate Rush, and don't want to listen to him on a football broadcast.

Probably not going to hurt game ratings all that much.

Mark my words, plenty of people are going to tune out.

The 22 year olds may be giggling, but if they get enough e-mails they will act.

Disney dumped racist hatemonger Bob Grant because of the complaints...ABC had to back off from hiring the old Porkbutt from Monday Night Football because of complaints..

Listen, i am not trying to offend anyone, but wake up.
For every one email you send them there are probably 2 from Fran and Earle Jones from Green Bay saying congrats to ESPN. The 22 year olds are giggling at them too.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

Would the Disney Corp. be more responsive if we threatened to take our kids to Universal instead? Or watch NBC instead of ABC? Katie instead of Diane?
Wondering...

Leave Disney alone, focus on ESPN - on the Limpballs show, on the producers and on the sponsors. We did clean out his radio show sponsors (it goes now as pure propaganda -proving that the "free market" BS doesn't work in politics) And, whatever you do, let them know, you aren't watching.

Disney owns ESPN, which means they have some hefty strings to pull.

Which complained that some 22 yr. old was laughing while typing a scripted reply. I was suggesting that maybe there's a way around that 22 yr. old?

Oh yeah ... I remember when the Patriots won the SuperBowl, he went off saying that the Pats symbolized socialism because they acted like a team and didn't single out particular players.

I'm sure most football fans thought the same thing too :eyes:

All I need to say is GO TO AND BOOKMARK:
www.TakeBackTheMedia.com/RushBusted.html

...what they sent back to me. It looks as if they are getting so many complaints that they just have an automated response.

with another complaint...here was my response...

"Rush communicates nothing but hate and lies on a daily basis. And so what if he is a big sports fan? For all we know Charlie Manson is too.
Here's a website that catalogs a few of his more recent public lies.

http://groups.msn.com/RushversusReality/rvr2001.msnw

Is this the sort of journalism we can expect from ESPN from now on? Phony statistics, botched facts and outright lies?

"...here is Limbaugh's mocking take on the NAACP, a group with a ninety-year commitment to nonviolence: "The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies."
When Carol Moseley-Braun (D-IL) was in the U.S. Senate, the first black woman ever elected to that body, Limbaugh would play the "Movin' On Up" theme song from TV's "Jeffersons" when he mentioned her. Limbaugh sometimes still uses mock dialect -- substituting "ax" for "ask"-- when discussing black leaders. "

http://www.fair.org/articles/limbaugh-color.html

Are we going to see him start mocking black athletes because of their race?
What fan's perspective is he supposed to provide? Far right wing racist multi-millionaire fans? He sure doesn't speak for me, or for any decent people I know.
If he is added to your broadcast, I for one will not be watching, and I will loudly join in any public boycott I can find."



askespntv@espn.twdc.com

and I responded similar to you. They think we're stupid. I let them know Rush couldn't possibly provide this fans perspective, that's for sure. No way would I sit and watch that blowhard try to "entertain" me about football.
I told them they were making a mistake with this deal......

edit- spelling :(

Rush will end up going the same way as Dennis miller on Monday Night Football. It's just a matter of time.

and you're staying true to your principles. So it should mean a lot to you, too. :)

Here's my letter to them:

By now I am sure you are aware of the situation concerning the
possible hiring of Rush Limbaugh as a spokesman for NFL games.

The NFL is a very diverse organization and deserves better than to
have someone who rails against opportunities for women and
minorities, especially when they have labored over generations to
earn them.

I bring this to your attention because the NFL and ESPN are willing
to listen to a powerful voice such as your own. Thank you for your
time.

considering the diversity of the organization, but at the same time, I would prefer if the NAACP would divert their attention to some real issues. I think the NAACP loses credibility when they get involved with these type of issues.

when he discovers that he won't be doing locker room interviews.

Let's concentrate a boycott on the sponsors

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

Here's my reply:

Thank you for the boilerplate response. However, I would have expected a respected broadcast network such as ESPN (and ABC) to address my concerns at a personal level.

Perhaps you should take up the hiring of Mr Limbaugh with Michael Wilbon:

(http://www.fair.org/articles/limbaugh-color.html)
June 7, 2000
Limbaugh: A Color Man Who Has A Problem With Color?

by Jeff Cohen and Steve Rendall

Talk radio host Rush Limbaugh may be returning to television. He recently auditioned for a job as color commentator on ABC's "Monday Night Football." The tryout followed weeks of self-promotion by the self-styled "truth detector" to the millions who listen daily to his syndicated radio show on some 600 stations.

Limbaugh's audition is stirring controversy. Sports columnist Thomas Boswell quipped that if Limbaugh joins "Monday Night Football" then baseball's game of the week broadcasters might "team up with John Rocker."

Veteran sports writer Michael Wilbon, who is black, indicated a boycott might result: "If Rush Limbaugh is put in that booth, I will NOT listen to the broadcast," he wrote in a Washington Post chat session. "His views on people like me are well documented and I would find it insulting and hypocritical to watch him...There are tens of thousands, probably hundreds of thousands who feel the same way I do."

(more)

If you truly want to appeal to the largest audience possible, then Mr Limbaugh is NOT your man. You'll have to exclude (these are all DIRECT QUOTES taken from his show)

woman:

"Feminism was established to allow unnattractive women easier access to the mainstream."

Sexual harassment at this work station will not be reported. However...it will be graded!!!
-sign on Limbaugh's office door

hispanics:

"If we are going to start rewarding no skills and stupid people--I'm serious, let the unskilled jobs that take absolutely no knowledge whatsoever to do--let the stupid and unskilled Mexicans do that work."

the downtrodden: (perhaps a new ESPN event?)

"One of the things I want to do before I die is conduct the homeless olympics...the 10-metre shopping cart relay, the dumpster dig, and the hop, skip, and trip."

and blacks:

"Why should Blacks be heard? They're 12% of the population. Who the hell cares."

There are plenty more, but these are sufficiently representative.

Thank you for your attention.
--Steve

to not watch it. But I will be watching those particular games with the sound off. (or maybe on the SAP channel audio, which is usually Spanish, but, for some reason last season, had no commentators, but retained the sounds of the game)

I think you would be more effective in writing and boycotting the advertisers that support ESPN. They will ONLY respond to their money. Go after their money.

It's always about the money.

I think this country is doomed anyway. Too many redneck, reactionary, religious republicans now that don't question the word of "god" or the talking points handed down by their leaders.

Intelligence isn't cool. Reactionary blustering is.

You have to remember that these fools don't have earthly accountability. They think they have a greater reward after they die. They don't care what damage they do in what they mistakenly believe is just a phase of their existance.

Insanity, stupidity, or just plain ignorance. Take your pick.

So, I guess the thing to do is to go after the program sponsers. A national boycott of any sponser will do much to awaken their sense of civility.