Right-wing US radio host Rush Limbaugh dies aged 70
Controversial right-wing US radio personality Rush Limbaugh has died aged 70.
Limbaugh’s wife Kathryn Adams announced his death this afternoon, after being diagnosed with lung cancer last year.
The shock jock became one of the most prominent voices of America’s conservative movement in the 1990s, with many pundits crediting him with paving the way for the Donald Trump presidency.
Limbaugh’s radio programme was consistently one of the highest rated in the US in its prime and his show became the model for other right-wing conservative broadcasters such as Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson.
He has been often criticised for a long backlog of statements that have been considered to be racist, homophboic and sexist.
Limbaugh was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom last year by Melania Trump at a ceremony in Washington.