Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg has issued a sharp new response to comments about his sexuality from right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh.
Speaking at a televised CNN town hall, Mr Buttigieg said: “One thing about my marriage is it’s never involved me having to send hush money to a porn star after cheating on my spouse with him or her.”
Referring to Mr Limbaugh and Donald Trump, he continued: “So they wanna debate family values? Let’s debate family values. I’m ready.”
Mr Limbaugh has been the target of bipartisan criticism since he argued on air that the US is not ready for a gay president, and that many voters would not react well to the sight of a gay candidate kissing his husband on stage.
After his comments were met with outrage, he claimed that Mr Trump had told him in a private phone call to “never apologise”, and that low-information voters probably hadn’t known about Mr Buttigieg’s sexuality until he talked about it on his show.
Mr Limbaugh, who has a long history of making homophobic remarks, has long been a supporter of Mr Trump. He is currently married to his fourth wife, having been divorced three times.
Mr Buttigieg’s reference to paying a porn star describes Mr Trump’s alleged affair with actress Stormy Daniels, who received $130,000 from Mr Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen in 2016 as part of a nondisclosure agreement. Mr Buttigieg has alluded to the Daniels affair before, once calling vice-president Mike Pence the “cheerleader of the porn star presidency”.
Mr Trump also stands accused by multiple women of sexual harassment and assault.
The fracas over Mr Limbaugh’s comments comes as Mr Buttigieg tries to retain his frontrunner status in the fight for the Democratic presidential nomination.
While he claimed victory in the Iowa caucuses and ran a close second in the New Hampshire primary, national polls put him well behind Bernie Sanders heading into the next contest in Nevada.
