In a case of trolls-trolling-trolls, rabble-rousing celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred has called on Florida prosecutors to charge cigar pin-up model and oxycontin aficionado Rush Limbaugh for calling Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke a "slut" and a "prostitute." Allred sent a letter to the Palm Beach County Attorney's Office this week saying prosecutors should charge him under an obscure 1883 law which makes it a misdemeanor to question a woman's chastity. "He has personally targeted her and vilified her, and he should have to bear the consequences of his extremely outrageous, tasteless and damaging conduct," Allred told the Daily Mail.
Limbaugh set off a media firestorm last week when he mocked Fluke, who had testified before Democratic House members to explain why Georgetown students' contraception should be covered by health insurance. He spent a few days bloviating about Fluke "and the rest of you feminazis," saying idiotic things like, "here's the deal: If we are going to pay for your contraceptives and thus pay for you to have sex, we want something for it. And I'll tell you what it is. We want you to post the videos online so we can all watch." As a result, he lost tons of sponsors to his show, and was forced to give a quasi-apology ("My choice of words was not the best, and in the attempt to be humorous, I created a national stir.") in which he compared the debate over birth control to...sneakers.
Political pundits were unimpressed with the sorta-mea culpa; sponsors were still angry, and continued to drop his show; and Sandra Fluke said it sounded like an empty apology to her. And Allred told Politico she understand why sponsors are abandoning him: “I think sponsors that remain with him are supporting him and providing commercial dollars to him and his program, condoning what he said. Hitting him economically is one price that he has to pay. He needs to be accountable in every way possible.”
Allred cited a state law (Section 836.04 of the Florida Statutes) that reads, "Whoever speaks of and concerning any woman, married or unmarried, falsely and maliciously imputing to her a want of chastity, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree." She acknowledges that prosecutors may balk at using such an obscure, old law, but thinks it should still be used to make a point to Limbaugh: "I'm sure he has an army of highly paid attorneys in his entourage to advise him about how he should defend himself," she told Daily Mail. 'I'm concerned about the impact that he has had and that he wished to have had on women who choose to speak out and exercise their free speech."
Despite Limbaugh saying things about her like, “She’s having so much sex it’s amazing she can still walk," Fluke told Time Magazine she doesn't regret becoming involved with a national debate on contraception: “It can be overwhelming at times, but what I am trying to focus on is my main goal in the situation, and that is continuing to advocate on behalf of women affected by the contraception regulation and making sure that policy is implemented in a strong way...I would do this again, because these issues are that important to me.”
