Did rush limbaugh accuse michael j. Fox of exaggerating symptoms?

Claim: Radio host Rush Limbaugh once claimed that actor Michael J. Fox was "exaggerating" his Parkinson's disease symptoms in a political ad. In February 2020, conservative

radio host Rush Limbaugh announced that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer. While U.S. President Donald Trump honored the controversial commentator with the Presidential Medal of

Freedom, some social media users noted that Limbaugh had a history of making demeaning comments on his program. For instance, one widely shared video clip supposedly showed Limbaugh mocking

actor Michael J. Fox and claiming that he was "exaggerating" symptoms of his Parkinson's disease. This is a genuine clip of Limbaugh describing Fox on his program. Media

Matters archived the full audio of this segment, which originally aired during an Oct. 23, 2006, episode of Limbaugh's radio show. Here's a partial transcript of the segment: > 

In this commercial he is exaggerating the effects of the disease. He > is moving all around and shaking and it's purely an act. This is the > only time I've ever seen Michael

 J. Fox portray any of the symptoms > of the disease he has. He can control himself to keep himself in the > frame of the picture. And he can control himself enough to keep his > 

eyes right on the lens, the teleprompter. But his head and shoulders > are moving all over the place. This is really shameless, folks. This > is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. 

Either he didn't take his > medication or he's acting. Fox, who is probably best known for playing young conservative Alex P. Keaton on the show "Family Ties" and the

time-traveling high school student Marty McFly in the "Back to the Future" series, was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1991. In 2006, he filmed a 30-second ad for former

Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill and her support of stem cell research: [embedded content] Limbaugh was commenting on this advertisement in the above-displayed clip. The segment

stirred considerable controversy at the time and even drew an apology from Limbaugh. The Guardian reported: "Hours later the talkshow host was forced to retract. 'I will bigly,

hugely admit that I was wrong.'" While Limbaugh initially apologized, he would later say on his show that he never made fun of Fox and that this controversy was created by the

"drive-by" media. Limbaugh also renewed attacks on Fox and said that the actor was "allowing his illness to be exploited" and was "shilling for a Democratic

politician." The Washington Post reported: > After his apology, Limbaugh shifted his ground and renewed his > attack on Fox. >  > "Now people are telling me they have 

seen Michael J. Fox in > interviews and he does appear the same way in the interviews as he > does in this commercial," Limbaugh said, according to a transcript > on his Web 

site. "All right then, I stand corrected. . . . So 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." >  > Then Limbaugh pivoted to a different critique: "Michael J. Fox is > allowing his illness to be exploited and in the 

process is shilling > for a Democratic politician." Fox responded to the criticism a few times over the years. Here he is talking to reporter Katie Couric a few days after

Limbaugh's segment: [embedded content] While Limbaugh accused Fox of either "acting" or forgetting to take his medication, the actor told Couric that he was actually "too

medicated" in this ad: > The irony of it is that I was too medicated and was dyskinesic. > Because the thing about, the thing about being symptomatic is that > it’s not 

comfortable. Nobody wants to be symptomatic; it’s like > you want to hit yourself with a hammer. You want at all times to be > as comfortable as you can be. At this point now, if I 

didn't take > medication, I wouldn't be able to speak. Limbaugh has made several controversial statements during his career. However, it should be noted that some quotes

attributed to him have been presented without proper context or sourcing.