Comedy Gold: Al Sharpton Threatens to Sue Rush Limbaugh

I guess the architect of the Tawana Brawley hoax doesn't like it when people point out his ugly history.

Say you're sorry, Rush - or the the Rev. Al Sharpton is suing.

The civil rights activist, angered by a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece written by Rush Limbaugh, threatened a defamation lawsuit Saturday against the conversative [sic] talk radio host.

"Unless Mr. Limbaugh apologizes and clarifies his statements, attorneys for Rev. Sharpton will move forward with a lawsuit," said a statement from Sharpton. Limbaugh lashed out at Sharpton over his failed attempt to purchase a piece of the St. Louis Rams.

Sharpton "played a leading role in the 1991 Crown Heights riot (he called neighborhood Jews 'diamond merchants') and 1995 Freddie's Fashion Mart riot," Limbaugh wrote.

The hard-line conservative also mentioned Sharpton's accusations in the Tawana Brawley case, and the reverend's "blind hatred" - although Sharpton took no issue with those remarks.

Limbaugh "has the right to criticize Rev. Sharpton, but he does not have the right to accuse him of criminal activity," the Sharpton statement said.

Sharpton pointed out that he was never in Crown Heights until after the violence that broke out following a traffic accident that killed a young black boy.

Maybe he arrived five minutes later, but he did nothing but stoke racial hatred afterward.

I guess it's OK to use made-up quotes to trash Rush, but he's not supposed to use a man's history to point out what a lowlife he is?

Since Sharpton and those who smeared Limbaugh are eager to use Wikipedia as a sourse, then how about seeing what they have on Sharpton and the Crown Heights riots.

The Crown Heights riot began on August 19, 1991, after a car driven by a Jewish man, and part of a procession led by an unmarked police car, went through an intersection and was struck by another vehicle causing it to veer onto the sidewalk where it accidentally struck and killed a seven-year-old Guyanese boy named Gavin Cato and severely injured his cousin Angela. Witnesses could not agree upon the speed and could not agree whether the light was yellow or red. One of the factors that sparked the riot was the arrival of a private ambulance which, on the orders of a police officer worried for the Jewish driver's safety, removed the uninjured driver from the scene while Cato lay pinned under his car.[42] Cato and his cousin were treated soon after by a city ambulance. Caribbean-American and African-American residents of the neighborhood rioted for four consecutive days fueled by rumors that the private ambulance had refused to treat Cato.[38][42] During the riot blacks looted stores,[42] beat Jews in the street,[42] and clashed with groups of Jews, hurling rocks and bottles at one another [43] after Yankel Rosenbaum, a visiting student from Australia, was stabbed and killed by a member of a mob shouting "Kill the Jew."[44] Sharpton, who arranged a rally in Crown Heights after Cato's death,[42] has been seen by some commentators as inflaming tensions by making remarks that included "If the Jews want to get it on, tell them to pin their yarmulkes back and come over to my house"[45] and referring to Jews as "diamond merchants."[46]

Sharpton marched through Crown Heights and in front of "770", shortly after the riot, with about 400 protesters (who chanted "Whose streets? Our streets!" and "No justice, no peace!"), in spite of Mayor David Dinkins's attempts to keep the march from happening.[47]

Sharpton indeed was the chief instigator and the riots went on for days, But we're supposed to pretend he wasn't there?

Also noted is the Freddie's Fashion Mart incident. Notice how Sharpton doesn't want to talk about that.

In 1995, a black Pentecostal Church, the United House of Prayer, which owned a retail property on 125th Street, asked Fred Harari, a Jewish tenant who operated Freddie's Fashion Mart, to evict his longtime subtenant, a black-owned record store called The Record Shack. Sharpton led a protest in Harlem against the planned eviction of The Record Shack.[48][49][50] Sharpton told the protesters, "We will not stand by and allow them to move this brother so that some white interloper can expand his business."[51]

On December 8, 1995, Roland J. Smith Jr., one of the protesters, entered Harari's store with a gun and flammable liquid, shot several customers and set the store on fire. The gunman fatally shot himself, and seven store employees died of smoke inhalation.[52][53] Fire Department officials discovered that the store's sprinkler had been shut down, in violation of the local fire code.[54] Sharpton claimed that the perpetrator was an open critic of himself and his nonviolent tactics. Sharpton later expressed regret for making the racial remark, "white interloper," and denied responsibility for inflaming or provoking the violence.[13][55]

Sharpton may as well have put the gun and flammable liquid in this maniac's hand, but denied responsibility, of course.

Here's the Limbaugh piece from the WSJ.