Don Imus: latest celebrity punished for racist remarks

Arts & Sciences Arts & Entertainment
1

Following in the footsteps of Mel Gibson and Kramer. . . .

Don Imus is well known in the US for making rude and obnoxious remarks on the radio. Apparently this time he went too far, referring to the Rutgers womens basketball team as a bunch of “jigaboos” and “nappy-headed hos” . . . followed later by an attempted apology.

youtube.com/watch?v=aaGnu0l8 … ed&search=

. . . and an apology to Rev Al Sharpton. But his remarks went too far and he’s being punished for it.

nbcsports.com/cbk/1347510/detail.html

bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= … U&refer=us

Imus’s defense is that, “you gotta understand, I make rude remarks about everyone on this show, you gotta put it in context.” In fact he does make plenty of rude remarks. Is that a valid excuse? Does he need an excuse? Should he have been canned long ago?

Prior Don Imus remarks

[quote]African Americans
“Chest-thumping pimps.” (Description of the New York Knicks.)
“William Cohen, the Mandingo deal.” (Former Defense Secretary Cohen’s wife is African-American.)
“Wasn’t in a woodpile, was he?” (Responding to news that former black militant H. Rap Brown, later known as Abdullah Al-Amin, was found hiding in a shed after exchanging gunfire with police. Imus is alluding to the expression “nigger in the woodpile.”)
“We all have 12-inch penises.” (When asked what he has in common with Nat Turner, Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan, New York Knicks basketball player Latrell Sprewell, and Al Sharpton.)
“A cleaning lady.” (Reference to African American journalist Gwen Ifill. Imus has said he did not make that statement.

Gays
“I didn’t know that Allan Bloom was coming in from the back end.” (The homosexuality of Bloom, author of The Closing of the American Mind became widely known after Bloom died.)
"The enormously attractive [NBC political correspondent] Chip Reid, I can say without being accused of being some limp-wristed 'mo [homosexual].

Handicapped people
“Janet Reno’s having a press conference. Ms. Reno, of course, has Parkinson’s disease, has a noticeable tremor. […] I don’t know how she gets that lipstick on [laughter] looking like a rodeo clown.” Reno was U.S. Attorney General in the Clinton administration.

Japanese
“Old Kabuki’s in a coma and the market’s going up. […] How old is the boy? The battery’s running down on that boy.” (Refering to Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, who died the next week.)

Jews
“I remember when I first had [the Blind Boys of Alabama] on a few years ago, how the Jewish management at whatever, whoever we work for, CBS, or whatever it is, were bitching at me about it. […] I tried to put it in terms that these money-grubbing bastards could understand.”
“Boner-nosed … beanie-wearing Jewboy.” (Describing Washington Post columnist Howard Kurtz, a frequent guest on Imus in the Morning.)

Native Americans
“The guy from F-Troop, Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell.” (A reference to the zany Indian characters on the TV sitcom F-Troop who had names like “Roaring Chicken,” “Crazy Cat,” and “Chief Wild Eagle.”)[/quote]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co … minorities

He also referred to Rush Limbaugh once as a “fat pill-popping loser” and has made comparable comments of various others.

2

How anyone finds Imus interesting is beyond me. I turned on MSNBC a few times when I was in NY. He’s a bore. And any drunk idiot on a barstool is far more entertaining than he is.

3

Interesting to hear you say that. I think I’ve heard a little of his routine, but not much and I don’t really recall the jist of it. But I got the feeling he’s often provocative, on the edge, pushing the line, and that was what made him such a big hit for so many years. To be entertaining to the masses on radio one can’t be boring, middle-of-the-road, safe, I suppose, but must be a little off the wall. That’s what I figured he was all about. And, given that, it’s not surprising that occassionally he might inadvertently take it just a little too far. Seems like an obvious hazard of his career and chosen strategy. 99% of the time it works, entertaining the masses and only pissing off the victim of his attacks or the few prudes who don’t listen to his show anyway. But 1% of the time – like now – it goes just too far and pisses off enough people that they put serious pressure on the corporate sponsors who make it all possible for him.

But my point is, though I don’t really know his show, I would’ve thought a guy like you might have found it pretty entertaining – for it’s pushing the line approach – when it doesn’t go too far.

4

Sorry to disappoint you. :smiley:

I feel that the only line he pushes is tolerance. He was entertaining because lots of commuters like antagonistic drivel in the morning.

I wish the FCC would allow the use of racist language on the air. Then …hopefully…more people would just switch him, and others like him off.

5

I didn’t mean any offense by that. As I said, I don’t really know what his show is like. I figured it is similar to Howard Stern (who I also admittedly have barely heard). I figured both would often be characterized as rude, obnoxious, pushing the line, or even hilarious (by some), but seldom as boring.

Anyway, I guess you’re not alone. One gets more hits when doing a google search for Don Imus and boring (229,000) than one does for Don Imus and obnoxious (47,600).

6

btw, I said he was a “bore” not boring. :wink:

Al Gore is boring. :smiley:

7

Some can say it…some can’t…it just depends on …context…

8

[quote=“TainanCowboy”]Some can say it…some can’t…it just depends on …context…

[/quote]

Not only context but whom…:unamused:

But MSNBC has dropped him and CBS has still given him a 2 wk vacation with no pay. His wife can’t do her book tour because of the incident.

It did offend me but it also was a breath of fresh air after 2 months of non fwakin stop programming about Anna Nicole Smith :fume: .

9

Wow, that’s it. CBS fired Imus yesterday, meaning he is now completely out of work, after a 30+ year career.

[quote]Off the Air: The Light Goes Out for Don Imus

CBS brought a weeklong confrontation over a racial and sexual insult by the radio host Don Imus to an end yesterday when it canceled the “Imus in the Morning” program, effective immediately.

The move came a day after the cable television network MSNBC, a General Electric unit that has simulcast Mr. Imus’s radio program for the last 10 years, removed the show from its morning lineup. The two moves, taken together, mean that Mr. Imus, who has been broadcasting the program for more than 30 years, no longer has a home on either national radio or television. . .[/quote]
nytimes.com/2007/04/13/business/13imus.html

Here’s a good article on how it all fell apart for him, how the elements conspired, the situation worsened, and there was no way he could salvage his career:

[quote]For a few days, it seemed as if Don Imus would somehow pull out of the death spiral. After all, once he came under fire, Mr. Imus said he was sorry for the racial insult, said he was sorry again and then began a week of penance, raising money on his own show for sick children and turning up at various other microphones to renew his apology.

But even as he went through the ritual of public mortification, his backers began to see what he did not: the drumbeat was not going to stop. The controversy metastasized and by Monday, the media began to lock and load. Mr. Imus, who had shrugged off the initial criticism last week, was fighting for survival.

"All the elements were there,” said James Carville, the political consultant who has appeared on the show and has seen a few stories blow up in his time. “You had some dry brush, gasoline, high winds, no rain and low humidity and before you know it, man, it was a wildfire.” . . . [/quote]
nytimes.com/2007/04/13/busin … rr.html?hp

I gotta say, it was a pretty stupid remark. Why the hell would you refer to a bunch of college basketball players as nappy-headed hos? What’s the point? It was not just racist and sexist but stupid. Oh well.

10

So now can we expect apologies from Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson on their comments about the Duke soccer team allegations that were proven false?
Just askin’…?
added: from Howie Carr (great columnist from Boston)

[quote]Beautiful People left I-man bleeding by side of the road
By Howie Carr, Boston Herald Columnist
Friday, April 13, 2007 - Updated: 02:40 AM EST

Ask not for whom the cross burns, it burns for Don Imus.
Poor I-man, kicked down the stairs like a Bob Gamere, abandoned by the Beautiful People he served so faithfully these past few decades. We won’t be MSNBC’ing the senile old crackhead anymore. No more summer party invitations from his media enablers in the Hamptons. Henceforth, he is a nobody on Nantucket.
Wherever will we get our fix of Doris Kearns Goodwin now?
And what’s the over-under on how many days until trophy-wife Deirdre walks out forever?
Don Imus - $10-million dollar salary, 10-cent brain. From the penthouse to the outhouse.

Just a few days ago, he was the Grand Dragon of WTKKK. Now Bob Grant is feeling sorry for him.
But the most interesting thing about Imus’ sudden demise is how few of the assorted coatholders, front-runners, bumkissers and drive-by pundits who called in every morning could be bothered to stand up for the I-man in his moment of need.
These liberals may be good company at a cocktail party in Vail, but you wouldn’t want to share a foxhole with them. When the I-man’s phone didn’t ring, he knew it was Joe Lieberman. Or maybe Frank Rich.
Until his idiotic flameout, Don Imus was the nearest thing the liberals ever had to a success story in talk radio. He worshipped John Kerry. He fawned over Maureen Dowd. He cursed the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. After Saddam was executed, Imus joked with a local plagiarist about how Dick Cheney would handle himself on the gallows.
Who knew Imus would walk the Green Mile before Karl Rove?
The I-man thought he was one of the Beautiful People, but in the end it turned out like one of those Bob Dylan songs he used to play going into the breaks. Everybody said they’d stand behind him when the game got rough. But the joke was on him, there was nobody even there to bluff.
And now I do believe he’s had enough.
All his new so-called friends ran away and hid on him. Think about that unctuous NBC rumpswab David Gregory. Wednesday night, he went on MSNBC looking like his dog just got run over. But by yesterday morning, Gregory was back on top of his game. He apologized to Jesse Jackson for ever having gone on the Imus show.
But Gregory just did what was expected of him. When the going gets tough, the tough - hey, come back here!
The Beautiful People spent all week stampeding to the microphone to announce, as one female from Time magazine said yesterday, that they won’t be appearing on the Imus Show anymore.
No kidding, honey. Nobody will ever be appearing on the Imus show again, not even Imus.
How many regular-people talk-show listeners did Imus have at the end? Not many, would be my guess. Didn’t notice any truck-drivers blowing their horns in support, did you?
It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
On his final show yesterday, Imus was moaning how the “hypocritical” newspapers had turned on him. Talk about clueless - he was counting on editorial writers to save him.

Too bad Imus “outgrew” all the people who used to listen to him on WNBC. Basically, he forgot who brung him to the dance.
Barney Frank - another target of Bernie McGuirk’s barbs - used to say that, as a politician, your base isn’t the people who will stand behind you when you’re right, but the people who will stand behind you when you’re wrong.
In the end, Imus had no one who would stand behind him, period. That’s why he won’t be down for breakfast.
And what can you say except, There’s no fool like an old fool.
news.bostonherald.com/columnists … eid=194555[/quote]

11

And in a related item…

[quote]Nappy-headed hos demand apology for being compared to basketball players
By Ima Broad, Women Reporter, April 13, 2007

HARLEM – Nappy-headed hos held a press conference here this morning to demand an apology from radio host Don Imus for comparing them to “lanky-ass” women’s basketball players.

“Look at dis!” said Taneesha Brown, 24, while slapping her leopard-skin-miniskirt-clad backside. “I fine! Ain’t no lanky-ass basketball playin’ freak got curves like this! Look at dis booty! Hunh!”

Kawanda Carter, 33, said she broke down in tears when she heard Imus call the Rutgers women’s basketball team “nappy-headed hos.”

“We work really hard to look this good,” Carter said. “It takes a lot of time to nappy-up our hair, skank-out our wardrobe, deface our bodies with hideous tattoos and get strung out on crack. For him to compare us to basketball players. . . it really, really hurt. I cried so hard I couldn’t work for two days. But then I ran out of crack, so, you know, I had to hit the streets again, no matter how much my heart was still hurting.”

A few blocks away, a group of call girls held a press conference to demand that Imus distinguish between pretty black hookers and “those nappy-ass skanks.”

“Just because we’re black, that don’t mean we nappy,” said Regina Tyler, 22. “You don’t see no nap here. I got class. My ass costs $400 an hour, baby! And it’s covered in cashmere and silk. If he doesn’t apologize, I know at least 13 high-priced attorneys in Manhattan who would be happy to sue him.”

The Rev. Al Sharpton attended both press conferences and demanded that all white reporters covering the events apologize for writing the term “nappy-headed ho.”

“I demand an immediate apology from every white reporter who types the term ‘nappy-headed ho’!” Sharpton said. “You African-American reporters, you’re good. But don’t let any white editors touch that term back in the newsroom. If they so much as retype it, they’re gonna have to apologize too. If anyone’s going to degrade black women, it’s going to be us black men.”
gunsnbutter.typepad.com/gunsnbutter/[/quote]

12

Don’t kid yourself. Imus will be back with another network before you know it. I don’t imagine he’s terribly concerned.

Exactly. While what Imus said is indefensible IMO, rap stars are ‘rewarded’ for calling each other racist names, and talking about black women as they do, often in a much worse manner than what Imus rattled off. Double standard.

[quote=“TainanCowboy”]So now can we expect apologies from Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson on their comments about the Duke soccer team allegations that were proven false?
Just askin’…?[/quote]

Very, very good point TC. Don’t expect any apologies. Heads are too far up asses.

13

Though the Duke lacrosse team was not found guilty, it doesn’t mean that nobody’s guilty. The DNA evidence did not come from any member of the lacrosse team, and therefore the case never went to court. However, the lacrosse team did hire the woman to dance naked at their party. She did show the marks of being sexually assaulted, according to a doctor.

Actually, Jesse Jackson offered to pay for the woman’s college tuition, as he said, “So she will never again, in an act of desperation, have to expose her body.” Supporting education for economically disadvantaged people doesn’t make him a racist.

But it is racist to agree that a woman’s basketball team is comprised of “hos” (whores), and you know they’re black, because they’re nappy headed. It’s not an excuse to say that all that black people are singing about is “hos” and black people only sing about black women. Imus just doesn’t understand who they mean by “ho”. If he thinks it means “whore” and now everybody knows a female black basketball player is a ho… The team has received more than 600 vicious emails since the comment. Luckily for Imus’ marathon, he is receiving support in droves. Seems like everyone makes money who calls all women “hos”, because that’s what all females are, bitches and hos. (just kidding)

Rush Limbaugh called the two women strippers “hoes,” and later apologized saying “I regret you heard me say that.” What did Al Sharpton say about the lacrosse players that was so racist, anyway?

14

…

15

This is about the best comment on Imus that I’ve seen:

philnugentexperience.blogspot.com/2007/

Read the whole thing.

16

[quote=“MikeN”]This is about the best comment on Imus that I’ve seen:

philnugentexperience.blogspot.com/2007/

Read the whole thing.[/quote]

Ha!
I really like that. Great find!

17

Don Imus was fired from CBS? I gotta get satlelite radio now because Howard Stern must be having a field day!

18

[quote=“Wookiee”][quote=“MikeN”]This is about the best comment on Imus that I’ve seen:

philnugentexperience.blogspot.com/2007/

Read the whole thing.[/quote]

Ha!
I really like that. Great find![/quote]

Hear, hear! I don’t subscribe to blogs, but this one may be worth a start. Drop the “2007” from the link ( philnugentexperience.blogspot.com ) and it’ll work… it’s under April 15th under his great eulogy to Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. with the catchy title "Making Carefully Nuanced Distinctions Regarding the Totally Unacceptable "

19

Saw this today, thought it was relevant enough to this discussion.
While I can appreciate what issues they are trying to raise at panel discussions like this, I’m against the censorship of music.

[quote]Debaters Question if Hip-Hop Hates Women
AP - Sat, 28 Apr 2007 23:32:49 -0400 (EDT)
By CARLA K. JOHNSON

A panel discussion titled “Does Hip-Hop Hate Women?” drew more than 400 people Saturday – a sign that the furor that erupted over Don Imus’ comments isn’t over yet.

As Imus struggled in vain to keep his radio-host job earlier this month, he claimed that rappers routinely “defame and demean black women” and call them “worse names than I ever did.” That led to some music-industry navel-gazing, but too little action, some panelists at the University of Chicago said.

Some criticized music executives failing to make a strong statement against violent and demeaning language in mainstream rap music when they met earlier this month in New York.

Others blasted hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons for not doing enough when he called this week for the recording and broadcast industries to ban three words – “bitch,” “ho” and “nigger” – from all so-called clean versions of rap songs.

“How is no one saying to Russell, ‘Yo, we already bleep out those words’?” said Joan Morgan, an author and commentator on hip-hop and feminism.

Others at the event said hip-hop shouldn’t be made a scapegoat for what’s wrong in America.

“We allow this language to go on,” said Amina Norman-Hawkins, a Chicago hip-hop emcee and executive director of the Chicago Hip-Hop Initiative. “As a community, we aren’t responsible for our children. So we don’t teach our little boys how to grow up to be men and respect women. We allow them to learn from the street what’s acceptable.”

Some said Imus’ April 12 firing by CBS Radio over a slur he used to describe Rutgers University’s women’s basketball team has provided a new opportunity to galvanize public opinion on the issue.

“Sexism is too convenient within the black community for black men,” said David Ikard, an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee. “This issue of Imus came up and I asked the black men in my hip-hop course what were their stakes in it. They were like, ‘Well, we don’t really have any stakes in it. It seems trivial.’”

He called on black men to do more to speak up for black women.[/quote]

20

well if Imus was a black dude there would be no issue and on top of it he was right those are some rough looking girls. All taken into context it really doesn’t matter. Put suchafob on it she will whip everybody into shape at least until she comes to terms with the fact that she is a closet lesbian (sorry had to go Imus style on this).