Don Imus Fired

[RonJonSurfer]

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 given a two-week suspension, to start Monday, 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.

[Kevin]

I knew this was coming and dreaded it . It seems an apology isn't worth squat now , unless a lawsuit and/ or huge media coverage is behind it .

Simple forgiveness is NOT the American way anymore ... sad ! Is this what the framers had in mind ?!

[Uncle Joe]

Yet Jesse and his ilk somehow retain their "jobs".

[Kevin]

Grab your hard hats all, 'cause the sky is falling !

P.s. . I want Joe fired as a mod because .... uh.... I think he said something really nasty about me once ... before .... uh ...sometime ! Dammit ! -cut me to the core too , as I recall ! }

I want justice !

[Henry David]

http://www.kansascity.com/182/v-print/story/66339.html

osted on Wed, Apr. 11, 2007

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.

To reach Jason Whitlock, call (816) 234-4869 or send e-mail to jwhitlock@kcstar.com. For previous columns, go to KansasCity.com

© 2007 Kansas City Star and wire service sources.

[RonJonSurfer]

I like how Mr. Whitlock deftly blames Rutgers Women's Basketball program. Don Imus, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are idiots that deserve each other for eternity. Vivian Stringer knows and admits that her players need to change their ties to a culture that doesn't prepare them one bit for life after Rutgers. She makes them cover tattoos as much as possible and try to solid citizens...and she does a great job.

Imus...a brilliant broadcaster and businessman had to know what would happen if he attacked a bunch of college basketball players this way. Innocent or not. Say that about some rapper or NBA player and nothing happens. He had to know the trouble he would get into.

So Rutgers women, the only victim here, uses the media to say they were hurt...so what?

Mr. Whitlock seems to have a pretty nice agenda too.

[daslied]

That guy rules.

[Sweet Jane 61]

I for one am glad he got fired. I am not a fan of his, never have been. Being in radio when someone makes remarks or does something that causes harm or backlash on the air, they deserve what they get. You can push the envelope on the air without being an ass.

[Jenny]

I see Whitlock's point. Not having watched the press conference, I can't judge the coach of Rutgers, but Sharpton and Jackson are publicity whores ready to jump on anything that smacks of race without checking it out first.

Yes, what Imus said was insensitive, and to the young girls who accomplished so much this year, being personally called the slur must have been hurtful. An apology should have been sufficient.

I also agree that if a race or nationality does not want to be perceived as a stereotype, the best thing to do is to not propagate it.

Edited April 13, 2007 by Guest

[Tenacious_Peaches]

I basically agree with Whitlock's statement, but he's being as much of a publicity whore as anyone else involved in this fiasco. Jumping on this bandwagon has lessened his credibility in my eyes. And if this was a one time incident for Imus, an apology would have done it. But he's been an insensitive a-hole for years, so the canning is justified as the sum of the parts kind of a thing, in my ever so humble opinion.

[daslied]

Sure, Whitlock's got an agenda, but I much prefer his to Jesse Jackson's. I love this statement:

"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."

[phil]

Imus said a very stupid thing. Should he have been fired? I don't think so. Imus isn't David Duke in a cowboy hat, he's an entertainer, who said something hurtful and DUMB. Once this dies down, I guarantee he'll be on satellite radio, probably making more $$$. Danny Bonaduce is still around for @!@#! sakes.

[Henry David]

I have never heard Imus. He sounds like a jerk.

I posted the article because I believe he has a big point! Scapegoating is not going to solve the bigger issues. And, it has to come from within. I disagree with his ageist statement about Orpah and Bill, but overall, I think points need to be made about how all women, especially black women are portrayed by rappers with no peep about it.

[Ombre Vivante]

Don Imus is FRIED! He could make twice what he used to make once he goes the way of the Rap artist - just add a few jerky/crappy beats and there he goes

[Uncle Joe]

It was in the early 70's that I first heard Don Imus on radio. He was brilliant and very funny. I used to listen to him on WABC out of New York on my way to work in Bucks County, PA.

He poked fun at things that needed poking. His parodies on (what was at the height of its popularity) TV/Radio Evangelism was some of his funniest work. He played the Right Reverand Billy Sol Hargas. I have copies of some of these parodies if you'd like to hear them.

I don't think Imus has any more venom in his attacks than did Mort Sahl, Lenny Bruce or Richard Pryor. Unfortunately in trying to be flip and funny and biting he has said things over recent years that have deeply offended many. Poor judgement on his part. He's paying dearly. We each have our own opinions on whether the punishment fits the crime. His good acts (of which there are many) have not mitigated his guilt in this case. So be it.

The saddest part for me is seeing him villified by two of the biggest publity/media whores of all time...Jackson and Sharpton. If either of them had been fired after the third or fourth time they made racist statements we'd never have heard of either of them. We're so slow to blast jerks like them for fear of being labeled racist.

[miamisammy29]

The first time I saw Don Imus was when he was one of the original VeeJays on a fledgeling VH-1 (circa 1985). Didn't like him then; don't like him now. I even liked the other Veejay better....it was Rosie O'Donnell.

However, I don't think that what he said warranted his firing. He is a comedian (and I use that term loosely; he's no Yakov Smirnoff, for Christssakes), and what he says is supposed to be perceived as comedy, or at least as parody.

You don't see Jesse Jackson or that Sharpton character going after dudes like Andrew Dice Clay, Carlos Mencia, Paul Rodriquez, or Chris Rock, who have built a virutal empire on poking fun at the varied races and their sterotypes.

It was supposed to be funny, people! Helloooo!! However unfunny it may have been should be of no consequence. Hell, the guy's been around for some 40-odd years and has said very little that is funny. If he wasn't fired over those 40 years, there's no reason why he should have been fired now.

^My two cents, y'all.

[Steel2Velvet]

Didn't Jesse Jackson make some anti-semetic remarks once? How come he's still considered to be influencial in fighting speech indiscretions?

I don't defend insensitivity on any level, but it was Eleanor Roosevelt (whose face was probably the butt of many a joke) who said, "Name-calling cannot hurt you; unless you let it."

I would almost guarantee that Imus' remarks degraded no one but himself.

[Kevin]

Just watch : next Christmas some will wince and demand that Santa's familiar laugh be changed or omitted as it may be construed as offensive to others ...

" Ha, ha , ha ! Happy Holidays , everyone ! "

Reportedly , Disney is already under by lobbyist pressure to dub the famous hieght challenged character's work song's lyrics to ' Hi -How , Hi -how , it's off to work we go ! "

...and pirates are apparently being strongly encouraged to sing ' yo-har-har , and a bottle of rum ' - if they must .