After Rush Limbaugh lambasted him Wednesday, Anderson Cooper spent some time on his Thursday CNN show returning the favor,

According to The Huffington Post, conservative talk radio host Limbaugh discussed on his Wednesday show how CNN  went through its lowest rated month in a decade. Limbaugh then blamed the decline on Anderson Cooper. He further criticized the latter for spending too much time in gossip columns.

“I swear, that guy is reported more in gossip columns at the gym, or at that bar or restaurant than he is in the studio,” Limbaugh said. ”And CNN probably thinks that’s great: ‘That’ll be good for the demo! Anderson out there doing all this stuff, people will be curious and tune in and watch.’ It isn’t working!” Rush Limbaugh declared.

THP reported that Anderson Cooper responded by featuring Rush Limbaugh on Cooper’s ‘RidicuList’ segment. Cooper described Limbaugh as the “broadcaster of the highest caliber known for taking a carefully measured, well thought out approach to each topic he tackles.”

After playing Limbaugh’s critical clip, Cooper compared it to Limbaugh’s infamous attack on Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke.

“I don’t know if you noticed, but he spoke for a quite a while there and didn’t call me a slut even one time,” he noted. ”Now I don’t have my Rush to English dictionary handy, but I’m pretty sure that means we’re best friends now.”

Professing surprise at learning “that Rush Limbaugh was such an avid gossip enthusiast,” Anderson Cooper said he could count the amount of bars he’s been to on one hand. He also confirmed that he does frequent the gym- and then encouraged Limbaugh to
“try the gym from time to time.”

Finally, Anderson Cooper invited Rush Limbaugh to prop up “the National Enquirer right there on the Elliptical, crank up the volume on Access Hollywood, and get [his] research done at the same time [he's] improving [his] big heart.”

Another artist has followed the footsteps of Peter Gabriel who recently pulled out his music from the radio show of Rush Limbaugh, the host who called Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke a “slut” and “prostitute. ” Canadian rock band Rush is the latest addition to the roster of people who wants out from “The Rush Limbaugh Show.” The band has demanded Limbaugh to stop using their music.

As if the increasing number of sponsors bolting from his show isn’t enough, Rush Limbaugh has also been served with a cease-and-desist letter from Rush, the Canadian band with 24 gold albums whose classic rock songs include “Tom Sawyer” and “The Spirit of Radio.” The band has demanded Limbaugh to stop using their recorded music during his radio show, even threatening the host with a lawsuit for copyright and trademark infringement. Rush was outraged when they discovered Rush Limbaugh was playing their song “The Spirit of Radio” while he ranted about wanting to see sex tapes of Sandra Fluke. The Canadian rock band got even more upset when they learned it wasn’t the first time Limabaugh has used their music on his show.

Radio programs generally don’t need explicit permission from songwriters to play their music. Instead, most radio stations pay flat fees to performance rights organizations such as ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC for blanket licenses.

But in the cease-and-desist letter of the band Rush against Rush Limbaugh, it’s being claimed that the “public performance of Rush’s music is not licensed for political purposes and any such use is in breach of public performance licenses and constitutes copyright infringement.” The letter continues, “Accordingly, we hereby demand that you immediately stop all use of Rush’s music and confirm that you will do so.”

The Rush band asserts that when Rush Limbaugh plays their music, he is infringing their trademarks and implying an endorsement. It should also be noted that the said Canadian band takes its trademarks seriously enough to pursue action when cease-and-desist threats are ignored.

After the negative comments of Rush Limbaugh against Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke, he lost not only bigtime sponsors, but artists as well. The newest addition to the ongoing exodus from Limbaugh’s radio show is singer-songwriter Peter Gabriel. He demanded Rush Limbaugh to immediately cease from using his music on his radio show.

The song of Peter Gabriel called “Sledgehammer” provided the background music for the insult of Rush Limbaugh on Sandra Fluke, calling her a “slut” and “prostitute.” Gabriel is obviously not pleased with the association. In the official Facebook page of Peter Gabriel, a statement reads, “Peter was appalled to learn that his music was linked to Rush Limbaugh’s extraordinary attack on Sandra Fluke,” adding “It is obvious from anyone that knows Peter’s work that he would never approve such a use. He has asked his representatives to make sure his music is withdrawn and especially from these unfair aggressive and ignorant comments.”

The 62-year-old Peter Gabriel is the latest in the list of people who seek to distance themselves from the radio host Rush Limbaugh, who continues to lose advertisers in the wake of the Sandra Fluke controversy.

Despite the apology of Rush Limbaugh, sponsors such as ProFlowers, Quicken Loans, Sleep Number beds, Sleep Train, Citrix Systems Inc, Carbonite, LegalZoom, Tax Resolution Services Co., AOL Inc. and the Cleveland Cavaliers have ditched the radio show, and it has also been dropped entirely by Hawaii’s KPUA.

‘The Middle’ star Patricia Heaton apologized to Sandra Fluke after Heaton posted a barrage of tweets verbally assaulting Fluke. Sandra Fluke is the same Georgetown student whom radio host Rush Limbaugh insulted by calling her a “slut” and “prostitute” on his radio show last week after hearing Fluke testify to Congress that her university’s health insurance should cover contraception for female students.

The 54-year-old Patricia Heaton, one of Hollywood’s outspoken Republicans, took to Twitter her attack on Sandra Fluke writing: “G-Gal: you’ve given yer folks great gift for Mother’s/Father’s Day! Got up in front of whole world & said I’m having tons of sex- pay 4 it!” and “Hey G-Town: stop buying toothpaste, soap, and shampoo! You’ll save money, and no one will want to sleep with you!” Heaton also wrote, “Hey G-Town Gal! If your parents have to pay for your birth control, maybe they should get a say in who u sleep with! Instant birth control!”

On Saturday, Patricia Heaton took back everything that she said against Sandra Fluke, and at one point deleted her account, but then returned, writing: “Tweatons: Finally heard all the commentary. I crossed the line w/@SandraFluke. Don’t agree w/her views, but I was not showing Christ’s love.”

Heaton also added, “I apologized to Ms Fluke last week. I may not agree with her views but I didn’t treat her with respect and I’m sorry. I was wrong. Mea Culpa.”

And in yet another response to a follower, Patricia Heaton wrote, “No, I still disagree w/ her views but I didn’t treat her w/ respect which was wrong.”

Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh continues to lose sponsors after his verbal assault on a Georgetown student named Sandra Fluke when she asked the university for free birth control.

The 61-year-old radio host, known for his pompous, hard-right commentary, has now lost a total of nine sponsors for “The Rush Limbaugh Radio Show” after calling Sandra Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute” on air last week when she testified before the House of Representatives on why birth control should be made freely available. Tax Resolutions and Internet giant AOL pulled their ads from his show on Monday, following the mass retreat of sponsors ProFlowers, Legal Zoom and Citrix Systems over the weekend.

The web company of AOL released a statement on their Facebook page in accordance to the insult of Rush Limbaugh on Sandra Fluke: “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. As a result we have made the decision to suspend advertising on The Rush Limbaugh Radio show.”

One of the sponsors, Tax Resolutions, also announced their decision to pull out on Twitter, writing, “Thank you for your concerns. We have decided to join other advertisers and suspend our sponsorship of The Rush Limbaugh Show.”

On Friday, bedding companies Sleep Train and Sleep Number, as well as Quicken Loans and the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team, also pulled out their advertising.

The mass exit of sponsors continue despite the issued apology of Rush Limbaugh, which he posted on his website on Saturday after continuing his assault on Thursday and Friday, when he said that Sandra Fluke was “having so much sex she can’t pay for it” and that women who want insurance plans to cover their birth control should post videos of themselves having sex online.

“For over 20 years, I have illustrated the absurd with absurdity, three hours a day, five days a week,” Limbaugh wrote regarding the Sandra Fluke incident. “In this instance, I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation. I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Sandra Fluke.”