Rush Limbaugh’s sarcastic imitation of the Chinese language has riled at least one Asian-American lawmaker who is demanding an apology from America’s most listened to conservative talker, according to the Associated Press.
During his January 19th broadcast, Limbaugh said during a joint press conference with President Obama, Chinese leader Hu Jintao was “speaking and they weren’t translating.”
Indeed, the afternoon presser was marred by long stretches of time where translation would be conducted only after each statement from the two leaders was concluded.
“Normally, you’d have somebody translate every couple of words,” Limbaugh explained, “but Hu Jintao was just going ‘ching cha, ching chow cho cha, chan cha ching, chee ba ba ba, hon chong hee, ee kah ah ahh! Che, cheech eh! Jing ja, bo ba, ya ya, cha che cheech che! Cha gee! Doohhh, kit bah le bah! Bah, cheech cho bah!'”
“Nobody was translating,” Limbaugh concluded, “but that’s as close as I can get.”
Listen to the audio:
The 17-second string of nonsense syllables evoked the ire of one Asian-American California state senator.
“Today, Rush Limbaugh reached a new low as he mocked the Chinese language and culture,” read a January 19th statement from Senator Leland Yee, Democrat of San Francisco. “His comments belittle the contributions of the Chinese community and are sadly indicative of the bigotry that has often plagued his commentary and lined his pockets.”
Yee demanded that Limbaugh apologize “for this pointless and ugly offense.”
The next day, Limbaugh swatted the accusation, explaining that “back in the old days, Sid Caesar, for those of you old enough to remember, was called a comic genius for impersonating foreign languages that he couldn’t speak. But today the left says that was racism; it was bigotry; it was insulting. And it wasn’t. It was a service.”
On January 26th, a follow-up statement by Senator Yee entitled, “Racist Limbaugh Fan Sends Death Threat to Yee,” detailed a fax purportedly sent to the senator’s office that was rife with racial epithets, a reference to “Rush…kick[ing] your Chink ass,” and a death threat against “all Marxists! Foreign and Domestic!”
“It is quite disturbing that such racist sentiment still exists in our country,” said Yee. “As I have said in the past, it is unfortunate acts like these that demonstrate why we must continue to be vigilant against hate and intolerance. Such vitriol has no place within our political discourse or anywhere in our society.”
Linking rhetoric to violence, or threats of violence, reached new levels in the immediate wake of the January 8th Arizona shooting spree by alleged gunman Jarod Lee Loughner that resulted in 6 deaths and 14 injuries, including a head wound to Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
And it appears even outspoken Pima County, Arizona Sheriff Clarence Dupnik is being tied at least rhetorically to the investigation surrounding this fax, following the sheriff’s request for information about a similarly formulated message Senator Yee received in April 2010.*
As detailed in Senator Yee’s “Death Threat” release, the senator’s office announced that “the Pima County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona contacted Yee regarding the April faxes and a possible connection to faxes found during the investigation surrounding the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.”
Loughner’s motivations, while still unclear, seem disconnected from any political influence. Even President Obama, speaking at an Arizona memorial for the victims, emphasized that Americans must “remember that it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy. It did not.”
Yee has since launched a campaign for a boycott against the talker’s radio program entitled “Help Stop the Hate from Rush Limbaugh.”
Senator Yee’s office claims to have “over one thousand people” who have signed the petition.
No word yet from Limbaugh on the matter. But it may be time for announcer Johnny Donovan to make one of Rush’s most heard tag lines a little more inclusive:
“For your convenience, broadcasting almost exclusively 100% in English, with a little Spanish (and Chinese) lingo. Rush on the EIB Network.”
*Story corrected to clarify Sheriff Dupnik’s involvement in the April 2010 fax investigation.