WASHINGTON, Aug. 13 (UPI) -- Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh faced backlash on the Internet after suggesting actor Robin Williams killed himself because he was a "leftist."
On The Rush Limbaugh Show Tuesday, the conservative pundit said the "leftist worldview" caused the "darkness" and "sadness" that drove Williams to hang himself in his California home Monday night.
The backlash was swift and fiery. Internet users called the comments "stupid" and "horrible." Media Matters for America, a liberal-leaning watchdog group, called Limbaugh's remarks "exploitative." Tim Morrison, the managing editor of The Charlie Rose Show, said the radio host's opinion was less than surprising."Now, what is the left's worldview in general? What is it? If you had to attach not a philosophy but an attitude to a leftist worldview, it's one of pessimism and darkness, sadness. They're never happy, are they? They're always angry about something. No matter what they get, they're always angry ... He had it all, but he had nothing. He made everybody else laugh but was miserable inside. I mean, it fits a certain picture, or a certain image that the left has."
The 5 stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, acceptance, Rush Limbaugh says something dumb. http://t.co/FndUHHiOHQ via @TPM
— Tim Morrison (@tjmorrison) August 12, 2014
Comedian Lewis Black called Limbaugh's comments "beyond cruel and stupid."
"[Expletive] YOU Rush Limbaugh. Your statements were beyond cruel and stupid. They were intolerable. Enough is enough from you. You are an idiot. Don't you ever demean the death of another human being. He was my friend. You disgust me," wrote Black in his post.
Limbaugh is not the only one to make negative remarks about the actor's untimely death. Zelda Williams, Robin's 25-year-old daughter, disabled her social media accounts after Internet trolls barraged her with digitally edited images of dead bodies with her father's likeness.