Actress Mary Lynn Rajskub played a counterintelligence expert in the spy drama “24,” but in her new memoir, she claims to have been duped into an unwanted kiss from late right-wing broadcaster Rush Limbaugh.
According to Rajskub’s book that came out Tuesday, “FAME-ISH: My Life at the Edge of Stardom,” that forced kiss came in 2006 when she was invited to a conservative gathering in Washington, D.C., that was moderated by Limbaugh.
The 50-year-old actress recalls being unsure why she was at the event, other than to promote “24,” which aired on Fox. She also remembers that when Limbaugh was introducing the panel, he surprised her with a “full-on” kiss on the lips that gave a lot of people the wrong idea.
“In one shrewd move of his, an image went out into the world that showed I was a supporter of the right-wing cause. I was not,” she writes in an excerpt published by The Daily Beast Thursday. “It also showed I found Rush Limbaugh attractive. I did not. The kiss was weird. Intentional for him, and accidental for me.”
According to Rajskub, media outlets including NPR reached out to ask about her connection to the outspoken conspiracy theorist, who died in February 2021. She said a furious ex-boyfriend called to ask how she could be involved with a man like Limbaugh, despite her insistence there was no relationship. She was even told that the members of one of her favorite bands, the name of which she doesn’t mention, were no longer fans of hers because of that unsolicited, one-sided smooch.
Rajskub had previously addressed the Limbaugh incident in a 2011 podcast where she speculated that Limbaugh, being media savvy, knew his unsolicited kiss would make headlines. She posted a photo of that kiss on Facebook in 2018 and recalled how “liberal media outlets” speculated that she and Limbaugh were an item.
In her book, Rajskub claims she did a lot of things to make “24″ a success, but being made “a right-wing darling was too much.”
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