Posted on 03/02/2010 12:53:21 AM PST by bruinbirdman
From Oprah to Rush, they're all household names. But who ranks where will surprise you.
Rush Limbaugh is courted by political kings and queens and leads a fawning army of more than 13.5 million followers. As the country's most listened-to radio host, he has an eight-year contract worth an estimated $400 million. Speaking engagements and a highly-trafficked Web site have earned the conservative host millions more.
So it's no surprise he'd be on our list of the Most Influential Celebrities. What may surprise you is how far down he's ranked.
Despite his vast following and torrents of media attention, Limbaugh, 59, gets trumped by an unlikely array of household names on our poll, including Dr. Mehmet Oz, Steven Spielberg and even U2 frontman and international do-gooder Bono (who also owns a stake in Forbes through Elevation Partners).
In Pictures: Hollywood's Most Influential Celebrities
Topping them all, of course, is Oprah Winfrey. Limbaugh may lead masses, but Winfrey is America's tastemaker, turning books into best-sellers, films into must-sees and guests into super stars with a quick focus of her attention.
According to surveys by E-Poll Market Research, which ranks more than 5,000 celebrities on 46 different personality attributes, 55% of the U.S. population would use the term "influential" to describe Winfrey, compared to 41% for Limbaugh. (To put that in perspective, the average "influential" score among those measured by E-Poll is less than 11%.) To determine who else makes our list of Hollywood's Most Influential Celebrities, we also factored in both likability and awareness metrics provided by the Encino, Calif.-based firm.
In Winfrey's case, her diversified portfolio of media businesses and work in television, film, radio, magazine, Web and on stage, has kept her highly visible for more than two decades. "Celebrities are always trying to
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
totally bogus.
Should the question be: “why would I be influenced by celebrities?”
...but why bother? I think it’s a wonderful situation. The most witty and credible interviewer/newsmaker/cigar smoker in the country is somewhat ‘hidden’ in a ranking that many people seem to take serious.
This is ideal. Rush can ‘do his thang’ in the shadows, so to speak; I mean: as long as false representations as this one are published, there are considerably fewer bullets for the real loonies to shoot him, metaphorically.
Isn’t this what the term ‘grass roots’ was invented for?
another liberal poll... sigh...
Why do they even list Rush as a “Hollywood” celebrity?
He is a national radio talk show host.
Did they list the others in his group, such as Savage or Levin?
I, of course, have NEVER been into celebrity worship.
I would not watch Winfrey, even if I could.
I would not even recognize her if she walked up to me.
Hit piece on Rush.
“Rush Limbaugh is courted by political kings and queens and leads a fawning army of more than 13.5 million followers”
The dead giveway here is the word “fawning”. Another liberal writer spewing garbage.
there using Rush in the headline to sell something. Rush is talented enough not to do interviews. He doesn’t book authors or anything else. If he mentions a book it’ll sell.
There they go race baiting. Shame on Forbes.
Interesting info. So when the left complains about the influence of Rush, this article gives us statistics to disprove that. He is far less influential than they say. The truth is, America is more conservative than they’d like.
Merkel was ranked beneath the Google founders simply because the average uneducated Hollyweird personality follower hasn’t a clue who Angela Merkel is or what she has done.
Madonna said that, like, Rosie doesn’t like the way, like, Barbra , like, told Oprah about how Rush, like, should be treated. So natch, I hate Rush. Yah.
Where does Jim Robinson rank? ;-)
Two clues to this article: the use of “fawning” and the photo.
Forbes has always been the source for “List-omacy”. They have been publishers of the US/World’s richest anything for years. Lacey Rose definitely has a Lefty-view and she writes a lot about the Hollywood Celebs and is immersed in the Pop culture cesspot. This Entertainment Today mentality is a fact of American Life that is not going anywhere and Andrew Briebart with his Big Hollywood site is attempting to bring some balance into the entertainment/pop culture area. Also this is probably another idiot E-Poll!
Very high with me.
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