Update 5:22 p.m. Pacific: Peter Gabriel asks music not be used on show.
Rush Limbaugh returned to his more comfortable role as self-promoter Monday even as more advertisers and two radio stations dropped his show.
The conservative talk show host told listeners to his radio program Monday that advertisers “have profited handsomely from you. These advertisers who have split the scene have done very well due to their access to you, my audience, from this program.”
“They've decided they don't want you or your business anymore. So be it,” he said.
“I reject millions of dollars of advertising a year, much to the chagrin of my hard-working sales staff.
(Click here for a transcript at RushLimbaugh.com)
AOL Corp. became the latest sponsor to suspend ads on the show Monday.
"At AOL one of our core values is that we act with integrity. We have monitored the unfolding events and have determined that Mr. Limbaugh’s comments are not in line with our values” read a statement on the company’s Facebook page.
AOL is among nine sponsors who have suspended advertising on Limbaugh's show, which is hosted by Clear Channel's Premiere Radio Networks Inc. Others include mortgage lender Quicken Loans, florist ProFlowers, retailers Sleep Train and Sleep Number, software maker Citrix Systems Inc., tax mediation company Tax Resolution Services Co., online data backup service provider Carbonite and online legal document services company LegalZoom.
Hilo, Hawaii, station KPUA, said Monday it was dropping the show. The station was one of three in the state that airs the Limbaugh program, according to the show's website. Late Monday, New England Public Radio news reported WBEC in Pittsfield, Mass., was also canceling.
Elsewhere, singer Peter Gabriel, whose 1980s hit "Sledgehammer" is used on the show, asked Limbaugh not to use his music, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Monday's show included advertising from auto insurance provider Geico; Winning Our Future, a group allied with Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich; weight loss products; and a herbal "hormone balancing" product for menopausal women.
The controversy started last week when Limbaugh called Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke a “slut” and “prostitute” after she appeared before members of Congress advocating the wider availability of contraceptives.
Saturday, after the first run of advertisers fled, Limbaugh issued a written apology. Fluke dismissed it.
CNBC's Brian Schactman looks at how much the controversy may have cost Limbaugh so far.
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Reuters contributed to this report.
