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Limbaugh "apologized" for being "wrong" that Michael J. Fox "didn't take his medication," then suggested Fox over-medicated himself "so you would really, really hate Republicans" During the October 26 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh "apologize " for being "wrong" in "speculating" that actor Michael J. Fox either "didn't take his medication or he was acting" in a recent campaign advertisement for Missouri Democratic Senate candidate Claire McCaskill, but then immediately returned to attacking Fox by baselessly accusing him of intentionally taking too much medication to induce the tremors visible in the ad. Highlighting an October 25 interview Fox gave on NBC's Access Hollywood, during which, Limbaugh stated, Fox "himself said he took too much medication" before shooting the McCaskill ad, Limbaugh declared: "He didn't do that when he goes on Boston Legal, but it happened for the taping of this ad; and I think the reason for that is so you would really, really hate Republicans." In fact, while Fox acknowledged on Access Hollywood that his tremors were a result of having taken "too much medication," he did not say he had intentionally done so. Indeed, after Limbaugh's remark, Fox appeared on the October 26 edition of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric and confirmed that the tremors he had experienced during the taping of the ad occurred because it is difficult to "calculate" the correct dosage of medication and, "sometimes, it kicks in too hard."
Additionally, Limbaugh claimed that the media have engaged in "an irresponsible misuse of video from my ditto cam" in that "many cable outlets have taken that snippet of video," in which Limbaugh is mimicking Fox's tremors in the McCaskill ad, "and they're speeding it up, I am told," "to make (Limbaugh's impression) look even more exaggerated to fulfill their claim that" Limbaugh was "making fun of Fox." Limbaugh declared that he was merely "trying to describe for viewers on my ditto cam what I had seen" in the ad.
As Media Matters for America has previously noted, on the October 23 edition of his radio show, Limbaugh, noting that Fox is "moving all around and shaking" in the ad, declared: "And it's purely an act. This is the only time I have ever seen Michael J. Fox portray any of the symptoms of the disease he has." While making this characterization, Limbaugh imitated Fox's involuntary movements in the ad. Limbaugh added that "this is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn't take his medication or he's acting, one of the two." Later in the broadcast, Limbaugh stated, "I will bigly, hugely admit that I was wrong, and I will apologize to Michael J. Fox if I am wrong in characterizing his behavior on this commercial as an act, especially since people are telling me they have seen him this way on other interviews and in other television appearances."
On October 26, Limbaugh "apologized" after airing a clip of Fox's interview on Access Hollywood, in which Fox stated: "The symptoms that I had in the interview or the ad that I did, that's called dyskinesia. That's actually from taking too much medication." But later in the broadcast, Limbaugh asserted that "there's no question about it," Fox's ad "is a planned, late-stages of the campaign tactic. ... These ads are scripted by Democrat (sic) campaigns. ... And (McCaskill's campaign) worked with Michael J. Fox on deciding how they wanted him to appear. ...They wanted it to appear this way. ... You know, I want to stress this. They wanted it to appear this way."
http://mediamatters.org/items/200610270019
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