Now CBS fires Don Imus from radio show

[KFDM COOP]

CBS fires Don Imus from radio show

NEW YORK -- CBS fired Don Imus from his radio show Thursday, the finale to a stunning fall for one of the nation's most prominent broadcasters.

Imus initially was suspended for two weeks for calling the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos" on the air last week, but outrage continued to grow and advertisers bolted from his programs.

"There has been much discussion of the effect language like this has on our young people, particularly young women of color trying to make their way in this society," CBS President and Chief Executive Officer Leslie Moonves said in announcing the decision. "That consideration has weighed most heavily on our minds as we made our decision."

Rutgers women's basketball team spokeswoman Stacey Brann said the team did not have an immediate comment on Imus' firing but would be issuing a statement later Thursday evening.

Time Magazine once named the cantankerous broadcaster as one of the 25 Most Influential People in America, and he was a member of the National Broadcaster Hall of Fame.

But Imus found himself at the center of a storm after his comments. Protests ensued, and one by one, sponsors pulled their ads from Imus' show. On Wednesday, MSNBC dropped the simulcast of Imus' show.

The Rev. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson met with Moonves to advocate Imus' removal, promising a rally outside CBS headquarters Saturday and an effort to persuade more advertisers to abandon Imus.

Sumner Redstone, chairman of the CBS Corp. board and its chief stockholder, told Newsweek that he had expected Moonves to "do the right thing," although it wasn't clear what he thought that was.

The news came down in the middle of Imus' Radiothon, which has raised more than $40 million since 1990 for good causes. The Radiothon had raised more than $1.3 million Thursday before Imus learned that he lost his job.

"This may be our last Radiothon, so we need to raise about $100 million," Imus cracked at the start of the event.

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press

[DenisGScott]

and all the radio and TV stations and programming thereof that CBS is a part of will be pulling scripts and music with that language when?????

[BigPurpleMan32]

this is so stupid

where was "the reverend" and his sidekick when dave chappelle was painting his skin white and making fun of "crackers"

or any time chris rock makes fun of white people

im not an imus fan, AND DEFINITELY NOT A RACIST, but am very sick of living in a world where middle-class white males get the shaft in everything

[KFDM COOP]

Valid point!!

[lonestar]

this is so stupid

where was "the reverend" and his sidekick when dave chappelle was painting his skin white and making fun of "crackers"

or any time chris rock makes fun of white people

im not an imus fan, AND DEFINITELY NOT A RACIST, but am very sick of living in a world where middle-class white males get the shaft in everything

I somewhat agree BPM, but when we try and point out the hypocrisy, we are immediately branded as racists.

[baddog]

Imus looked like a long-haired, freakin' hippie dope fiend. Gee, can I get fired for that?

Here's something to ponder: Next time you see these Rutgers basketball players, let's see if they are wearing long or short-sleeved shirts. I'll bet the house they dress the part.

[adminbaberuth]

Who's next ?

[DenisGScott]

but some act like Sharpton is a messiah.... lets take a stroll down memory lane shall we....

1987: Sharpton spreads the incendiary Tawana Brawley hoax, insisting heatedly that a 15-year-old black girl was abducted, raped, and smeared with feces by a group of white men. He singles out Steve Pagones, a young prosecutor. Pagones is wholly innocent -- the crime never occurred -- but Sharpton taunts him: "If we're lying, sue us, so we can . . . prove you did it." Pagones does sue, and eventually wins a $345,000 verdict for defamation. To this day, Sharpton refuses to recant his unspeakable slander or to apologize for his role in the odious affair. He hasn't paid the judgment, either.

1991: A Hasidic Jewish driver in Brooklyn's Crown Heights section accidentally kills Gavin Cato, a 7-year-old black child, and antisemitic riots erupt. Sharpton races to pour gasoline on the fire. At Gavin's funeral he rails against the "diamond merchants" -- code for Jews -- with "the blood of innocent babies" on their hands. He mobilizes hundreds of demonstrators to march through the Jewish neighborhood, chanting, "No justice, no peace." A rabbinical student, Yankel Rosenbaum, is surrounded by a mob shouting "Kill the Jews!" and stabbed to death.

1995: When the United House of Prayer, a large black landlord in Harlem, raises the rent on Freddy's Fashion Mart, Freddy's white Jewish owner is forced to raise the rent on his subtenant, a black-owned music store. A landlord-tenant dispute ensues; Sharpton uses it to incite racial hatred. "We will not stand by," he warns malignantly, "and allow them to move this brother so that some white interloper can expand his business." Sharpton's National Action Network sets up picket lines; customers going into Freddy's are spat on and cursed as "traitors" and "Uncle Toms." Some protesters shout, "Burn down the Jew store!" and simulate striking a match. "We're going to see that this cracker suffers," says Sharpton's colleague Morris Powell. On Dec. 8, one of the protesters bursts into Freddy's, shoots four employees point-blank, then sets the store on fire. Seven employees, ironically most Hispanic, die in the inferno.

He should never be allowed to speak again to the public. 

[baddog]

I saw the Rutgers players on the news last night. They were all wearing long-sleeved shirts indoors....hmmmmm.

[Guest WBFan09]

Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are now officialy racist.

They attack Imus for saying stuff but when rappers like snoop dog rap about insulting things about black women its ok???

They repeatedly back the stripper that was hired by the Duke Lacrosse Team. Than it turns out the Lacrosse team really did nothing wrong and neither of them have apoligized for their remarks on the case. The Duke boys should sue those to for their last penny.

If nothing happens about these two "racists" soon there is going to be a big problem

[baddog]

The Port Arthur News has a great "opinion", by Jason Whitlock (Kansas City Star), in the sports section.

[Guest WBFan09]

is there a link baddog?

[KFDM COOP]

This is all i could find..

http://www.panews.com/

[baddog]

Try this link from the Kansas City Star where Whitlock writes. The PA News doesn't always have every article available to the internet, especially on same day issue. This is not the same article as the PA News, but you can see the man's stance. Whitlock is a black man who can see beyond his race....

http://www.kansascity.com/182/story/71084.html

[Guest WBFan09]

i believe in his opinion as well