The longtime producer for Rush Limbaugh told Tucker Carlson a story about the celebrated conservative radio host from decades ago. James Golden — better known by his radio pseudonym Bo Snerdley — caused Carlson to become “emotional” while talking about a generous act of kindness carried out by Rush before he became a well-to-do talk radio juggernaut.
Golden appeared on “Tucker Carlson Today” to promote his new book “Rush on the Radio: A Tribute from His Sidekick for 30 Years” last week. During the interview, Golden told a touching story about Limbaugh from early in their working relationship.
Golden recalled he was on the phone with creditors. Apparently, Golden was a bit too loud in speaking to the creditors, and Limbaugh overheard the conversation. After the phone call, Limbaugh asked Golden to come to his office.
Limbaugh asked Golden, “So listen, I don’t mean to pry, I don’t wanna get inside your business or anything, but I heard you on the phone. Is everything okay?”
Golden told Limbaugh that he owed $5,000, which he noted is a lot of money for him now but an “unheard of” amount for him back then.
Limbaugh told Golden, “Don’t sweat it, everything is gonna be cool, everything is gonna work out.”
The next day, Limbaugh called Golden into his office.
Golden recalled, “Rush has an envelope. He pushes the envelope to me, he says, ‘Here.'”
“Inside it, there’s a check for $5,000,” Golden revealed.
Golden stressed to Carlson that the benevolent gesture happened before Limbaugh rose to prominence and became wealthy.
“I want you to keep in mind, this is before Rush Limbaugh signed any big syndicated deals,” Golden told Carlson, the Daily Wire reported. “This is before Rush Limbaugh-the-multi-millionaire, this is before Rush Limbaugh-I’m-on-the-track-to-blazing-success — this is before any of that. This is before there’s a Bo Snerdley, because Bo Snerdley didn’t exist then; this was James Golden, this black kid from Queens sitting in the newsroom, who used to take Rush’s stories.”
A choked-up Golden divulged, “What Rush said to me was, ‘I don’t want you to tell anybody about this, this is between you and me; this is not a loan, this is a gift, because good things need to happen to good people once in awhile.'”
Carlson, taken aback by the heartwarming story, admitted, “You’re making me emotional.”
Golden exclaimed, “That’s who he was. That’s who this man was. There were tens of thousands of those stories.”
Also in the interview, Golden revealed what happened the day that Limbaugh told the staff that he was stricken with lung cancer.
Golden — who became an executive producer of the nationally syndicated “Rush Limbaugh Radio Show” in 1992 — said that the first thing Limbaugh did was apologize for his illness to the staff because he felt like he was letting down his colleagues.
“Still breaks my heart,” Golden said. “That’s who he was. He cared about his staff. He cared about all of us.”
“Tucker, he was one of the most exceptional human beings you could ever meet,” Golden proclaimed.