A Tempest In A Teapot Over Imus In The Morning

Radio Host Is Suspended Over Racial Remarks

I really do not understand the rancor over Imus. His prejudices and racism has been out in the open for years. He, like other "shock jocks," including Howard Stern, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Geraldo Rivera, Maury Povich, Jerry Springer, et al, have all said and done outrageous things that illustrate their hatred toward various groups. Springer and Povich demonstrate their hatred of women and minorities merely by the consistent content of their shows. O'Reilly, Imus, and Limbaugh have demonstrated their hatred of anyone poorer than they are by their adherence to ideologies that punish the poor, immigrants, women and minorities. Rivera, Springer, Povich, Limbaugh and O'Reilly are all media opportunists. At least Imus sometimes offers a small voice of reason in some of his comments, although one has to look hard and fast for the small bits of reason he might offer.

So Imus is prejudiced and hates black women that play college basketball. But as a black commentator in an MSNBC aftermath interview pointed out, a lot of MTV, BET and VH1 videos--produced and played by black rap and hi-hop celebrities--call black women whores, bitches and other things that are equally outrageous, but there hasn't been a call for suspension of the executives that are directing, producing and profiting from these shows... and they are whiter and more prejudice than Imus.

Don't get me wrong. I think Imus is a silly ultra-conservative bastard that doesn't deserve to be on the air. I think the same thing about Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Timothy LaHaye, Benny Hinn, Ann Coulter, James Dobson and George W. Bush... and on the other side of the coin, I see similar issues with Al Franken, Bill Maher, Howard Stern, Michael Moore, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and others that are extreme in their liberal ideologies. But we are becoming a nation that is wrought and distraught with our own hypocrisy. We give these folks our undivided attention--all the while ignoring voices of love, compassion, and reason--and them complain when they act in accordance with their beliefs, values and ideology.

The definition of insanity is repeating the same behavior over and over while expecting different results... and we keep putting extremists in positions of power over the media and expect that they will not be extreme in their views or behaviors. But I believe in the power of the consumer and the rational nature of intelligent human beings... so I do not listen to this stuff with expectations that anything other than trash will be forthcoming. I am not shocked when one of these idiots spews forth with the garbage that they think and believe.

But hey, we live in a time where public apologies seem to allow for such outrageous behaviors and a two-week vacation is all that Imus needs to consider how he can spew forth his garbage ideologies without falling into another moment of being caught for revealing his nature and the nature of the ultra-conservative agenda. I do not believe that if it was left up to Imus he would apologize. But he is caught in the middle of corporate politics. The MSNBC executives need to demonstrate that they are not really the ideologues that put Imus in control of the microphone on the radio and on television; that they are not owning, promoting and distributing Imus's hateful and prejudiced ideology; and that they genuinely care for the consumer... at least when they are willing to put their money where their ears are.

The radio talk show host Don Imus was suspended for two weeks yesterday after the outcry over his racially disparaging remarks about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team.

The suspension will begin Monday.

NBC News, which does a simulcast broadcast of Mr. Imus’s radio program on its cable news channel MSNBC, was the first to act, suspending Mr. Imus and calling his comments “racist and abhorrent.”

A short time later, CBS Radio, which is his chief employer, followed, saying it, too, would take Mr. Imus, 66, off the air for two weeks.

NBC also served notice yesterday that it would not tolerate insensitive remarks in the future. Mr. Imus had promised to change the tenor of the show, NBC said in a statement, and had agreed that the suspension was appropriate.

“Our future relationship with Imus is contingent on his ability to live up to his word,” NBC said. CBS made no statement other than that it was suspending Mr. Imus, who has been the host of “Imus in the Morning” for more than 30 years.

MSNBC will replace Mr. Imus’s program with news coverage. CBS was undecided about how it would fill the time.

The actions came at the end of a day of intensifying pressure on Mr. Imus from black leaders, who expressed outrage at his description last Wednesday of the Rutgers team as “nappy-headed ho’s.”

Mr. Imus tried to stave off calls for his resignation by appearing yesterday on a syndicated radio program that has the Rev. Al Sharpton as its host and making a more complete apology for what he said were “repugnant, repulsive, and horrible” comments.

He said he was also trying to reach out to the team, its coach and players’ parents to issue an apology.

Mr. Imus said he wanted to try to “see if they’ll forgive me and if there is something that can be established here that I can do to begin to build something positive out of this — and then who knows?”

But his job still appeared to be in jeopardy, with Mr. Sharpton and other black leaders calling for Mr. Imus to be fired, threatening to initiate a boycott of sponsors and demanding that the Federal Communications Commission take action against him and radio stations that carry his program.

It is unclear whether members of the Rutgers team will agree to meet with Mr. Imus. The Rutgers athletic director, Robert E. Mulcahy III, said in a statement yesterday, “I have relayed the message of Don Imus and his offer to apologize in person to the students and asked them to let me know how they wished to respond if at all.”

It is also still unclear how much support Mr. Imus can expect from the roster of politicians, authors and media figures who make up his daily guest list. Some of his regular guests, like the author Tom Oliphant and the editor at large of Newsweek, Evan Thomas, have already appeared with him and offered support. But Mr. Sharpton said yesterday that he would be asking “all the candidates running for president if they plan to appear on the show.”