Pete Buttigieg, In ‘Ellen Show’ Appearance, Again Responds To Rush Limbaugh

Ted Johnson

February 20, 2020 at 10:12 p.m.·3 min read

Pete Buttigieg is in Los Angeles today for campaign events and an evening fundraiser co-hosted by Seth MacFarlane and Lee Daniels, but he also squeezed in time for a guest spot on The Ellen Show.

Host Ellen DeGeneres asked him to respond to Rush Limbaugh’s questioning a gay man debating President Donald Trump.

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“How is this going to look? A 37-year-old gay guy kissing his husband on stage next to Mr. Man Donald Trump?” Limbaugh said on his show earlier this month.

Buttigieg told DeGeneres, “Look, I guess he just has a different idea of what makes a man than I do. Look, I’m not going to take lectures on family values from the likes of Rush Limbaugh or anybody who supports Donald Trump, frankly.

He added, “You know, when I was packing my bags for Afghanistan, Donald Trump was working on Season 7 of Celebrity Apprentice. I’m just done with that kind of… And since when is strength about the chest-pounding and the loud-mouthed guy at the end of the bar? The strongest people I know are not the loudest people; they’re the ones who have the deepest sense of who they are and what they value and what they care about. And one of those people, by the way, one of the strongest people I know is my husband, Brad Pitt.”

The reference to Pitt was an apparent joke Buttigieg has with his husband, Chasten, who tweeted a response and clip from DeGeneres’ show.

This joke comes full circle tomorrow… https://t.co/4r0dNtOPeD pic.twitter.com/gVGQ5v8FT7
— Chasten Buttigieg (@Chas10Buttigieg) February 21, 2020

At a CNN town hall earlier this week, Buttigieg was asked to respond to Limbaugh’s claim that Trump told him to “never apologize” for the remarks.

At the town hall, Buttigieg said, “The thing about my marriage is it has never involved me having to send hush money to a porn star for cheating on my spouse.”

Buttigieg’s Los Angeles visit on Thursday also included a town hall event sponsored by Fox 11 and USC Center for the Political Future. His fund-raising event ranged in price from $54 per person up to $2,800 per person.

The campaign is under the gun to raise millions in advance of Super Tuesday, when California and 13 other states hold primaries and caucuses. Buttigieg’s campaign sent out an email to supporters saying that they needed to raise $13 million to stay competitive, after raising $6 million in January and $11 million so far this month.

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