Imus apologizes for remarks UPDATE- Imus program dropped from MSNBC

[lonestar]

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[KFDM COOP]

[bleacher_bum]

He's an idiot.  That kind of stuff ruins careers...

[KFDM COOP]

CBS Radio, MSNBC say they will suspend Imus for two weeks after inappropriate comment

By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer

April 9, 2007

NEW YORK (AP) -- CBS Radio and MSNBC both said Monday they were suspending Don Imus' morning talk show for two weeks as a protest grew about his reference last week to members of the Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos."

The suspension begins next Monday.

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MSNBC, which telecasts the radio show, said Imus' expressions of regret and embarrassment, coupled with his stated dedication to changing the show's discourse, made it believe suspension was the appropriate response.

"Our future relationship with Imus is contingent on his ability to live up to his word," the network said.

Imus, who has made a career of cranky insults in the morning, was fighting for his job following the joke that by his own admission went "way too far." He continued to apologize Monday, both on his show and on a syndicated radio program hosted by the Rev. Al Sharpton, who is among several black leaders demanding his ouster.

Imus could be in real danger if the outcry causes advertisers to shy away from him, said Tom Taylor, editor of the trade publication Inside Radio. The National Organization for Women is also seeking Imus' ouster.

"Everyone is on tenterhooks waiting to see whether it grows and whether the protest gets picked up more broadly," Taylor said.

Imus isn't the most popular radio talk-show host -- the trade publication Talkers ranks him the 14th most influential -- but his audience is heavy on the political and media elite that advertisers pay a premium to reach. Authors, journalists and politicians are frequent guests -- and targets for insults.

He has urged critics to recognize that his show is a comedy that spreads insults broadly. Imus or his cast have called Colin Powell a "sniffling weasel," New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson a "fat sissy" and referred to Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado, an American Indian, as "the guy from `F Troop."' He and his colleagues also called the New York Knicks a group of "chest-thumping pimps."

On Sharpton's program Monday, Imus said that "our agenda is to be funny and sometimes we go too far. And this time we went way too far."

Imus made his remark the day after the Rutgers team, which includes eight black women, lost the NCAA women's championship game to Tennessee. He was speaking with producer Bernard McGuirk and said "that's some rough girls from Rutgers. Man, they got tattoos ..."

"Some hardcore hos," McGuirk said.

"That's some nappy-headed hos there, I'm going to tell you that," Imus said.

The Rutgers comment has struck a chord, in part, because it was aimed at a group of young women at the pinnacle of athletic success. It also came in a different public atmosphere following the Michael Richards and Mel Gibson incidents, said Eric Deggans, columnist for the St. Petersburg Times and chairman of the media monitoring committee of the National Association of Black Journalists. The NABJ's governing board, which doesn't include Deggans, wants Imus canned.

"This may be the first time where he's done something like this in the YouTube era," Deggans said. Viewers can quickly see clips of Imus' remarks, not allowing him to redefine their context, he said.

On his show Monday, Imus called himself "a good person" who made a bad mistake.

"Here's what I've learned: that you can't make fun of everybody, because some people don't deserve it," he said. "And because the climate on this program has been what it's been for 30 years doesn't mean that it has to be that way for the next five years or whatever because that has to change, and I understand that."

New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine spoke to Rutgers players Monday and said later that he strongly condemned Imus' words.

"There is absolutely no excuse for his conduct, and he is right to apologize," Corzine said. "Only the Rutgers women's basketball team, however, can decide to accept his apology. If Mr. Imus really wants to go and learn from this, he should watch how these young ladies carry themselves. He might just learn from their example."

Rutgers players said they planned to make a public statement on Tuesday.

Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, whose presidential candidacy has been backed by Imus on the air, said he would still appear on Imus' program.

"He has apologized," McCain said. "He said that he is deeply sorry. I'm a great believer in redemption. Whether he needs to do more in order to satisfy the concerns of people like the members of that team, that's something that's between him and them. But I have made many mistakes in my life ... and I have apologized, and most people have accepted that apology."

Imus' radio show originates from WFAN in New York City and is syndicated nationally by Westwood One, both of which are managed by CBS. The show reached an estimated 361,000 viewers on MSNBC in the first three months of the year, up 39 percent from last year. That's the best competitive position it has ever achieved against CNN (372,000 viewers).

Imus' fate could ultimately rest with two of the nation's most prominent media executives: CBS Corp. chief Leslie Moonves and Jeff Zucker, head of NBC Universal.

"He will survive it if he stops apologizing so much," said Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers. Imus clearly seems under corporate pressure to make amends, but he's nearly reached the point where he is alienating the fans who appreciate his grumpy outrageousness.

Even if he were to be fired, he's likely to land elsewhere in radio, Harrison said.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson and about 50 people marched Monday outside Chicago's NBC tower to protest Imus' comments. He said MSNBC should abandon Imus and MSNBC should hire more black pundits.

Julian Bond, chairman of the NAACP board of directors, said it is "past time his employers took him off the air."

"As long as an audience is attracted to his bigotry and politicians and pundits tolerate his racism and chauvinism to promote themselves, Don Imus will continue to be a serial apologist for prejudice," Bond said.

Imus was mostly contrite in his appearance with Sharpton, although the activist did not change his opinion that Imus should lose his job. At one point Imus seemed incredulous at Sharpton's suggestion that he might walk away from the incident unscathed.

"Unscathed?" Imus said. "How do you think I'm unscathed by this? Don't you think I'm humiliated?"

AP writers Deepti Hajela and Jacques Billeaud contributed to this account.

[DenisGScott]

Imus should be left alone, there was no personal malice on his part, he didnt single any players or coaches out by name at all.  I dont think Imus was really wrong, if it had been a group of white women with tats and body piercings and he said basically the same thing no one would have really cared. Its funny how all these hip-hop "songs" (and I use song VERY loosely) can talk about ho's and all and that that genre of music promoters talk about how mainstream it is, well if its so mainstream then dont play the offended card when someone calls you on it. 10 years ago before all this hip hop revolution crap, the phrase would have just been "man, those are some scary looking girls" or "man, those are some ugly girls" and NOTHING would have been mentioned but the black race itself brought this new slang or lingo to the masses and then gets offended when someone other than them uses it to refer to them. I'm not buying it. If it had been a black personality who referred to them as "nappy headed ho's" or such it would have never been an issue, the double standard has got to go.

[KFDM COOP]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/news/story?id=2831636

[Guest WeedBegone]

Imus should be left alone, there was no personal malice on his part, he didnt single any players or coaches out by name at all.  I dont think Imus was really wrong, if it had been a group of white women with tats and body piercings and he said basically the same thing no one would have really cared. Its funny how all these hip-hop "songs" (and I use song VERY loosely) can talk about ho's and all and that that genre of music promoters talk about how mainstream it is, well if its so mainstream then dont play the offended card when someone calls you on it. 10 years ago before all this hip hop revolution crap, the phrase would have just been "man, those are some scary looking girls" or "man, those are some ugly girls" and NOTHING would have been mentioned but the black race itself brought this new slang or lingo to the masses and then gets offended when someone other than them uses it to refer to them. I'm not buying it. If it had been a black personality who referred to them as "nappy headed ho's" or such it would have never been an issue, the double standard has got to go.

He's an idiot.  That kind of stuff ruins careers...

DGScott--i totally agree with you.  It is out of hand.  This stuff only ruins careers of a certain color. I do not condone racism nor do I participate---but I cant stand seeing Sharpton and Jackson take this crap out of context and exploit it.  They are the idiots and they are making a career out of that.  1 Karma point to you.

[baddog]

Why does the basketball player in the video have on long sleeves?

DG Scott, I couldn't have said it better. (can I copy/paste it on another forum? I'll not take credit)

I wonder what Chris Rock will say when he does his takeoff?

[DenisGScott]

I dont mind knock yourself out, youre right if it had been Chris Rock who said it NOTHING would have ever been mentioned about it, but because its a white guy who said it now all hell must break loose, it's BS

[lonestar]

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[bleacher_bum]

Jackson and Sharpton are idiots, but that does not make Imus right.  He was broadcasting on a nationally syndicated radio show.  He can't be allowed to speak of people like that.  Heck, even on this little ole SETX forum, Coop wouldn't allow any of us to call anybody names like what he used.  Would Coop be keeping us from free speech?

I totally agree about how Sharpton and Jackson make issues with things, even like this with Imus, but just because I don't like those two guys, doesn't mean i agree with what Imus did.  Heck, what if it were one of our daughters he was talking about.  I'd want to beat the crap out him.

Bottom line, people shouldn't talk about people that way, no matter the color.  IMO.

[DenisGScott]

Imus like Stern gets paid to stir the pot.  He could have said "man those were some ugly girls" in stead of "man some nappy headed ho's" but because he took a slang language the black culture brought to the public and used he gets villified for it? I just cant agree.  It should have been over and done with the apology, no suspension, nothing like that.  Found this one article, written by a black columnist, who seems to get the point....

COMMENTARY

Imus isn’t the real bad guy

Instead of wasting time on irrelevant shock jock, black leaders need to be fighting a growing gangster culture.

By JASON WHITLOCK - Columnist

Thank you, Don Imus. You’ve given us (black people) an excuse to avoid our real problem.

You’ve given Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson another opportunity to pretend that the old fight, which is now the safe and lucrative fight, is still the most important fight in our push for true economic and social equality.

You’ve given Vivian Stringer and Rutgers the chance to hold a nationally televised recruiting celebration expertly disguised as a news conference to respond to your poor attempt at humor.

Thank you, Don Imus. You extended Black History Month to April, and we can once again wallow in victimhood, protest like it’s 1965 and delude ourselves into believing that fixing your hatred is more necessary than eradicating our self-hatred.

The bigots win again.

While we’re fixated on a bad joke cracked by an irrelevant, bad shock jock, I’m sure at least one of the marvelous young women on the Rutgers basketball team is somewhere snapping her fingers to the beat of 50 Cent’s or Snoop Dogg’s or Young Jeezy’s latest ode glorifying nappy-headed pimps and hos.

I ain’t saying Jesse, Al and Vivian are gold-diggas, but they don’t have the heart to mount a legitimate campaign against the real black-folk killas.

It is us. At this time, we are our own worst enemies. We have allowed our youths to buy into a culture (hip hop) that has been perverted, corrupted and overtaken by prison culture. The music, attitude and behavior expressed in this culture is anti-black, anti-education, demeaning, self-destructive, pro-drug dealing and violent.

Rather than confront this heinous enemy from within, we sit back and wait for someone like Imus to have a slip of the tongue and make the mistake of repeating the things we say about ourselves.

It’s embarrassing. Dave Chappelle was offered $50 million to make racially insensitive jokes about black and white people on TV. He was hailed as a genius. Black comedians routinely crack jokes about white and black people, and we all laugh out loud.

I’m no Don Imus apologist. He and his tiny companion Mike Lupica blasted me after I fell out with ESPN. Imus is a hack.

But, in my view, he didn’t do anything outside the norm for shock jocks and comedians. He also offered an apology. That should’ve been the end of this whole affair. Instead, it’s only the beginning. It’s an opportunity for Stringer, Jackson and Sharpton to step on victim platforms and elevate themselves and their agenda$.

I watched the Rutgers news conference and was ashamed.

Martin Luther King Jr. spoke for eight minutes in 1963 at the March on Washington. At the time, black people could be lynched and denied fundamental rights with little thought. With the comments of a talk-show host most of her players had never heard of before last week serving as her excuse, Vivian Stringer rambled on for 30 minutes about the amazing season her team had.

Somehow, we’re supposed to believe that the comments of a man with virtually no connection to the sports world ruined Rutgers’ wonderful season. Had a broadcaster with credibility and a platform in the sports world uttered the words Imus did, I could understand a level of outrage.

But an hourlong press conference over a man who has already apologized, already been suspended and is already insignificant is just plain intellectually dishonest. This is opportunism. This is a distraction.

In the grand scheme, Don Imus is no threat to us in general and no threat to black women in particular. If his words are so powerful and so destructive and must be rebuked so forcefully, then what should we do about the idiot rappers on BET, MTV and every black-owned radio station in the country who use words much more powerful and much more destructive?

I don’t listen or watch Imus’ show regularly. Has he at any point glorified selling crack cocaine to black women? Has he celebrated black men shooting each other randomly? Has he suggested in any way that it’s cool to be a baby-daddy rather than a husband and a parent? Does he tell his listeners that they’re suckers for pursuing education and that they’re selling out their race if they do?

When Imus does any of that, call me and I’ll get upset. Until then, he is what he is — a washed-up shock jock who is very easy to ignore when you’re not looking to be made a victim.

No. We all know where the real battleground is. We know that the gangsta rappers and their followers in the athletic world have far bigger platforms to negatively define us than some old white man with a bad radio show. There’s no money and lots of danger in that battle, so Jesse and Al are going to sit it out.

[lonestar]

I liked how Imus asked today one of his biggest critics, Al Sharpton, when he would apologize to the Duke lacrosse players that Sharpton had been bashing for a logn time now.

[Morgan]

i think he deserved to get fired because of what he said...

[Morgan]

and also, chris rock and imus should not be compared.......chris rock is a comedian, making fun of people is one of the things he does......but imus on the other hand is supposed to be a morning show host and is supposed to act better than that

[Guest Kelly Football]

i think he deserved to get fired because of what he said...

I disagree, people have said much worse!!

[Morgan]

I disagree, people have said much worse!!

i know but somebody in imus' position should not have said that.......if his show was on comedy central it would be different but his show is on a news channel

[DenisGScott]

Imus should have been left alone, he's not just a morning show host, he's almost like an editor doing an editorial, it's his opinion, not a news fact, he's paid or his opinions and entertainment.  calling someone nappy headed ho's is now a big joke, heard people from all walks of life doing it all week. 

[bleacher_bum]

Imus like Stern gets paid to stir the pot.  He could have said "man those were some ugly girls" in stead of "man some nappy headed ho's" but because he took a slang language the black culture brought to the public and used he gets villified for it? I just cant agree.  It should have been over and done with the apology, no suspension, nothing like that.  Found this one article, written by a black columnist, who seems to get the point....

COMMENTARY

Imus isnt the real bad guy

Instead of wasting time on irrelevant shock jock, black leaders need to be fighting a growing gangster culture.

By JASON WHITLOCK - Columnist

Thank you, Don Imus. Youve given us (black people) an excuse to avoid our real problem.

Youve given Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson another opportunity to pretend that the old fight, which is now the safe and lucrative fight, is still the most important fight in our push for true economic and social equality.

Youve given Vivian Stringer and Rutgers the chance to hold a nationally televised recruiting celebration expertly disguised as a news conference to respond to your poor attempt at humor.

Thank you, Don Imus. You extended Black History Month to April, and we can once again wallow in victimhood, protest like its 1965 and delude ourselves into believing that fixing your hatred is more necessary than eradicating our self-hatred.

The bigots win again.

While were fixated on a bad joke cracked by an irrelevant, bad shock jock, Im sure at least one of the marvelous young women on the Rutgers basketball team is somewhere snapping her fingers to the beat of 50 Cents or Snoop Doggs or Young Jeezys latest ode glorifying nappy-headed pimps and hos.

I aint saying Jesse, Al and Vivian are gold-diggas, but they dont have the heart to mount a legitimate campaign against the real black-folk killas.

It is us. At this time, we are our own worst enemies. We have allowed our youths to buy into a culture (hip hop) that has been perverted, corrupted and overtaken by prison culture. The music, attitude and behavior expressed in this culture is anti-black, anti-education, demeaning, self-destructive, pro-drug dealing and violent.

Rather than confront this heinous enemy from within, we sit back and wait for someone like Imus to have a slip of the tongue and make the mistake of repeating the things we say about ourselves.

Its embarrassing. Dave Chappelle was offered $50 million to make racially insensitive jokes about black and white people on TV. He was hailed as a genius. Black comedians routinely crack jokes about white and black people, and we all laugh out loud.

Im no Don Imus apologist. He and his tiny companion Mike Lupica blasted me after I fell out with ESPN. Imus is a hack.

But, in my view, he didnt do anything outside the norm for shock jocks and comedians. He also offered an apology. That shouldve been the end of this whole affair. Instead, its only the beginning. Its an opportunity for Stringer, Jackson and Sharpton to step on victim platforms and elevate themselves and their agenda$.

I watched the Rutgers news conference and was ashamed.

Martin Luther King Jr. spoke for eight minutes in 1963 at the March on Washington. At the time, black people could be lynched and denied fundamental rights with little thought. With the comments of a talk-show host most of her players had never heard of before last week serving as her excuse, Vivian Stringer rambled on for 30 minutes about the amazing season her team had.

Somehow, were supposed to believe that the comments of a man with virtually no connection to the sports world ruined Rutgers wonderful season. Had a broadcaster with credibility and a platform in the sports world uttered the words Imus did, I could understand a level of outrage.

But an hourlong press conference over a man who has already apologized, already been suspended and is already insignificant is just plain intellectually dishonest. This is opportunism. This is a distraction.

In the grand scheme, Don Imus is no threat to us in general and no threat to black women in particular. If his words are so powerful and so destructive and must be rebuked so forcefully, then what should we do about the idiot rappers on BET, MTV and every black-owned radio station in the country who use words much more powerful and much more destructive?

I dont listen or watch Imus show regularly. Has he at any point glorified selling crack cocaine to black women? Has he celebrated black men shooting each other randomly? Has he suggested in any way that its cool to be a baby-daddy rather than a husband and a parent? Does he tell his listeners that theyre suckers for pursuing education and that theyre selling out their race if they do?

When Imus does any of that, call me and Ill get upset. Until then, he is what he is a washed-up shock jock who is very easy to ignore when youre not looking to be made a victim.

No. We all know where the real battleground is. We know that the gangsta rappers and their followers in the athletic world have far bigger platforms to negatively define us than some old white man with a bad radio show. Theres no money and lots of danger in that battle, so Jesse and Al are going to sit it out.

Can't really argue with this, and I pretty much agree.  Its just, Imus is not in the business of making fun of people, like a comedian.  It wasn't appropriate.  I don't think he should be fired, but now, almost all of his sponsors are pulling out anyway.  Mainly due to the fact of what's happening right here with us.  Just plain ole bad publicity.  They don't want to be a part of.  Like I said, it ruined his career, even if its right or wrong.

Good article though, thanks DenisG...

oh and P.S., give me back my karma,  ;D

[DenisGScott]

I disagree, he got on TV thru his popularity of his radio show, which was part morning show, part satire, part editorial comment.  SO while he is not s stand up comedian per se, its not like he has only cracked on black people, he has been pretty equal opportunity when it comes to stirring the pot unlike Al Sharpton.  There's someone who should be fired but has no job, and should never be put in front of people again ever