Imus Calls Rutgers Women's Basketball Team "Nappy Headed Hos"

[Dreadsox]

I still don't really understand why anyone would listen to him. Certainly you can hear any of these political guests he has on about 6 separate networks per day, not to mention on shows like Stewart or Colbert, not to mention print interviews, Larry King and whoever else is out there.

It isn't as if none of them will appear elsewhere. So unless you find him independently witty or something, I just don't get why anyone would want to listen to him either.

I listen to the radio between 7:20 and 8:45 daily. that is it.

I do not have the time to watch network shows. I work until 6-7 every night. I then read with my children, play games ect, unless I am at meetings until 9 PM.

Larry King does not interest me. I am rarely able to stay awake to watch the Daily Show or Colbert.

Generally, the important guest of the day is on between 7:30-8:00.

 

[sulawesigirl4]

I am rarely able to stay awake to watch the Daily Show or Colbert.

Me neither, but then I discovered this wonderful little invention called the internet. Now I can watch the shows that I choose to watch when I have time.

as far as Imus goes, I don't know who he is as I make a point not to listen to "talk" radio (possibly the most worthless use of time invented), but he's free to say whatever he wants. Of course, that freedom comes with the onus of being responsible for what comes out of his mouth, and we're just as free to criticize him for saying racist bigoted trash. I don't see how this constitutes thought policing at all. Free speech cuts both ways.

 

[deep]

Gellman: Imus Must Repent for His Remarks

After a decade as a regular on his show, I would not call him a bigot. But the talk-show host does need to take spiritual steps of repentance in order to be saved.
WEB EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY
By Marc Gellman
Newsweek
Updated: 10:15 a.m. PT April 9, 2007

April 9, 2007 - I have the two best possible credentials for writing about the recent Don Imus flap. First, I was a regular on his radio show for over 10 years, along with my partner and friend Monsignor Tom Hartman, and, secondly, I have been on the "Imus banned for life list" for almost two years. Imus’s recent racist remarks about the Rutgers women's basketball team—he called the players "nappy-haired hos"— have ignited the largest and most recent wildfire of criticism calling for him to be fired or resign. He has apologized, and yet the fires still burn hotly around him.

This is what I think about Imus. I think somewhere along his life journey he confused cruelty with satire. Satire is the witty skewering of pretension, arrogance and foolishness. Satire is holding up the actions of the powerful and the famous to the standards of common sense and reason. Satire is iconoclasm, but its focus is on the foolish things people in power do. Cruelty is humiliating people for what they are, and what they cannot change, and what does not have any moral significance whatsoever. Whether a person is fat or black or Jewish or gay or homely just does not matter, but sadly it matters to Imus, and this is the root of his problem now. He has turned mean. This has led him to have little or no sensitivity to racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, misogynist statements that creep into the program with annoying frequency. He has forgotten what to make fun of and what to respect.

Even though I have no trouble calling Imus cruel, I would not call him racist or anti-Semitic or homophobic or sexist because I generally find it unfair and foolish to take a complex human life and stuff it into a little box with just one label on it. Imus is smart, philanthropic, literate and curious—and most bigots are not. His work to raise money for the rehabilitation of wounded American soldiers was truly laudable. He helped my friend Tommy raise money for an AIDS hospice in memory of his brother Jerry Hartman without us even asking him to help. I have also seen large checks come into charities we support from Donald with no fanfare and no desire for public acknowledgment. Imus is the best interviewer I have ever heard, and he reads voraciously. He is a complex mosaic of a man with some very good and some very bad pieces in his life's design. How this all adds up is for my Boss to decide, not me. What I do know is that Imus, like most of us, could do better— and now must do better—if he is to keep his job.

The next thing I know is about repentance—and this is the only thing that can save Imus now. Repentance as it has been shaped by the Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam involves three spiritual steps, of which Imus has taken only the first. Repentance requires a sincere admission of the sin. Imus has done that now. Repentance then requires a change of behavior. This takes time, but it must begin immediately. Specifically, Imus and Bernie and Charles and Rob and Larry must cut out all their bits that make fun of a person's race or religion or sex or sexual orientation. Bernie must stop his anti-Catholic impersonation of Cardinal Egan. Imus must just stop using crude stereotypes to get a crude laugh. If he cannot get a laugh through wit, he should just pack it up.

 

[deep]

Reverend Sharpton would do well to remember that, “He who lives by the sword will surely die by the swoard”.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

I never heard of this guy until this story was all over the news, I have to say, he sounds like a bit of a douche...

 

[Dreadsox]

Me neither, but then I discovered this wonderful little invention called the internet.

You have noticed a decrease in my posting right?

 

[Dreadsox]

Rabbi Marc Gellman was one of my FAVORITE guests on Imus in the morning. He and Father Tom were always able to show how two faiths are not so far apart. What a great article about this situation.

 

[deep]

wow, this is kind of tough to watch


and then there is the video of the Sharton show out there, too

 

[Irvine511]

i found it a good apology. i also hope it helps people realize why he is so good on the radio.

we should be clear that Imus is not Limbaugh or Hannity or O'Reilly, nor is he Howard Stern. he's his own personality. love him or hate him, he does do his own thing.

it is what it is. it was a stupid, bad comment.

 

[Justin24]

why? it's filled with racist, sexist, bigoted speach... why is it when imus is making jokes it's racist, but when it's done with a cartoon character it's just satire? who gets to draw the line?

I guess no one has an answer to this because they it would make them look hypocritical?

 

[Irvine511]

well, i think cartoons naturally lend themselves to satire -- they are, by definition, caricatures of people.

Don Imus is a person.

the greatest pieces of satire in modern culture is/are The Simpsons and South Park. why do they work? because they are cartoons.

 

[deep]

i found it a good apology.

the part where he says there is a difference

between a person that shoots somebody

and when a gun accidentally goes off
and someone gets shot


Well, I was thinking I would not want either of them to have a gun
especially if this was not the first time the gun has actually gone off and hit somebody

also, there is a part two
where he says that he took heat for being friends with Harold Ford of Tenn

that his listeners would call up and call him a N---- Lover, and he had the Blind Boys of Alabama on and his listeners called up and give him shit for having N*ggers on.

well, what is he sending out,
that these kind of people are his listeners ?

 

[ntalwar]

MSNBC suspended Imus for 2 weeks, per CNN.

 

[deep]

Imus: From Non-Apology Apologies to Non-Excuse Excuses

The needle on the Don Imus Contriti-o-meter took another wild set of swings back and forth this morning. Last Thursday, after having referred to the Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos," the radio/MSNBC host said that anyone who was offended should "relax" about a line that was meant to be funny. Friday morning, after it became increasingly apparent that people were not quite so ready to relax, he offered a more straightforward apology.

This morning, after a weekend of repeated calls for his firing and unsympathetic news reports that were apparently insufficiently understanding for his liking, he offered another apology. With "context." It was a bizarre two-step he danced, saying there was no excuse for what he said--then offering up excuses. It's no excuse but... I've hosted sick minority children at Imus Ranch! It's no excuse but... I joke like this all the time! It's no excuse but... I supported Harold Ford! It's no excuse but... I advocated for sickle-cell anemia research! And--his tone gets petulant here--"No black journalist called me. Nobody ever called me about any of that!"

There were more bizarre defenses too: "I wasn't drunk," he said at one point, as if calling women "nappy-headed hos" while sober is actually better. Also, "I'm not some angry, raving nut on a nightclub stage," implying that there's a difference between him and Michael Richards. Which there is: Richards did not have the same extensive public history of bigoted comments for which he was excused again and again.

Imus closed, though, on a meek, pleading note. "I'm a good person," he said. "But I said a bad thing." Fair enough. It is possible to be a good person and yet say bad things. It is also possible to be a good person who has a history of saying equally, hatefully bad things, over and over, while being excused again and again by the pols and journos who rely on your show for publicity.

And it is finally possible to be a good person who, when you think about it, should maybe not have a live national radio show.

in one of the live feeds

I think he also kept bring his wife into the story

and then he says he calls his wife a "green ho".

 

[Dreadsox]

and then he says he calls his wife a "green ho".

Have you heard his wife on the show? Do you know what she says to him and about him on the air? It's part of the schtick.

I also question your comment about the kind of listeners that listen to him. I suppose I am now a racist because I have listened to him?

While I liked the Rabbi article you posted this one stinks! The article is clearly written by someone who does not know that Imus is a recovering alchoholic and drug addict, and that was why he made the comments about not being drunk.



Irvine made an excellent point.....He is a good interviewer.

 

[ntalwar]

The article is clearly written by someone who does not know that Imus is a recovering alchoholic and drug addict, and that was why he made the comments about not being drunk.



Irvine made an excellent point.....He is a good interviewer.

Wikipedia says he's been sober for 18 years.
Supposedly, the Rutgers team will hold a news conference Tuesday. It'll be interesting to see how his supporters feel after that. MSNBC even apparently now feels more strongly about Imus' comments than a lot of FYMers.

 

[deep]

Have you heard his wife on the show? Do you know what she says to him and about him on the air? It's part of the schtick.

I also question your comment about the kind of listeners that listen to him. I suppose I am now a racist because I have listened to him?

While I liked the Rabbi article you posted this one stinks! The article is clearly written by someone who does not know that Imus is a recovering alchoholic and drug addict, and that was why he made the comments about not being drunk.



Irvine made an excellent point.....He is a good interviewer.

I don't listen to the show

and my guess is that the Rutger's Womens Basketball Team do not listen to the show.

I can accept he is good interviewer

perhaps, he should leave this show

and get a new one where he just interviews,

It seems all of his past problems like this one, have not come from that part of his show

 

[Dreadsox]

MSNBC even apparently now feels more strongly about Imus' comments than a lot of FYMers.

What a crock. I said he should be suspended in this very thread. So do not characterize people with the courage to stand up and speak their mind in here as not caring.

 

[Dreadsox]

http://www.syndication1.com/sharpton/missed.html#

 

[Dreadsox]

Ummmm.....

He practically self destructed on Al Sharpton's show about half way through the commercial break saved him.

CBS has suspended him as well, and I think that would mean the radio.

 

[verte76]

I'm not familiar with this guy's show. The impression I get of him is that he's not a bad guy, he just says terribly inappropriate things. He's a "shock jock". At least he apologized.

 

[clipper699]

Imus strives to be humorously provocative. I think to describe his show as "comedy" is misplaced. He made a foolish, careless mistake. He's taking the well-deserved heat and scorn. Nevertheless, despite his occasional churlish behavior, on balance Imus has been a caring and concerned community member who has put the interests of others before him. If you don't like what he spews, don't listen. But unless you listen and understand the show's context, I don't believe that you can legitimately criticize it overall ambition to inform and entertain while also making you feel uncomfortable. Avant-garde artists have been doing it for years and we have all managed to survive.

 

[Irvine511]

Imus strives to be humorously provocative. I think to describe his show as "comedy" is misplaced. He made a foolish, careless mistake. He's taking the well-deserved heat and scorn. Nevertheless, despite his occasional churlish behavior, on balance Imus has been a caring and concerned community member who has put the interests of others before him. If you don't like what he spews, don't listen. But unless you listen and understand the show's context, I don't believe that you can legitimately criticize it overall ambition to inform and entertain while also making you feel uncomfortable. Avant-garde artists have been doing it for years and we have all managed to survive.

well said.

it was a terrible thing to say, but i don't know anyone who gets a better interview.

 

[deep]

a "shaved head ho" (he gots tattoos)

sorry guys

but white males listeners of the show are the best people for an objective opinion here

 

[ntalwar]

He made a foolish, careless mistake. He's taking the well-deserved heat and scorn. Nevertheless, despite his occasional churlish behavior, on balance Imus has been a caring and concerned community member who has put the interests of others before him.

This precisely describes Michael Jackson as well.

If you don't like what he spews, don't listen. But unless you listen and understand the show's context, I don't believe that you can legitimately criticize it overall ambition to inform and entertain while also making you feel uncomfortable.

I don't listen. But when it becomes a news story, it goes beyond the show. The Rutgers women probably did not listen to him either.

 

[clipper699]

This precisely describes Michael Jackson as well.

It is, at a mimimum, insincere to compare Jackson's alleged child abuse to Imus' impropriety. You've reached too far to make your point.


I don't listen. But when it becomes a news story, it goes beyond the show. The Rutgers women probably did not listen to him either. [/B][/QUOTE]

News story? Yeah, it's just like the media to not sensationalize, exaggerate or take things out of context.

How do you know to what the Rutgers women listen? Are you assuming that African-American femal athletes cannot relate to political or cultural satire?

 

[ntalwar]

It is, at a mimimum, insincere to compare Jackson's alleged child abuse to Imus' impropriety. You've reached too far to make your point.

Fine - then refer to the speeding ticket example used by the caller to Sharpton's show.

How do you know to what the Rutgers women listen? Are you assuming that African-American femal athletes cannot relate to political or cultural satire?

I believe that was mentioned in the Sharpton interview.

 

[deep]

How do you know to what the Rutgers women listen? Are you assuming that African-American femal athletes cannot relate to political or cultural satire?

Well,

They probably do not listen to a show where

Imus said Gwen Ifill* reminds him of a "cleaning woman?

*A veteran journalist, Ifill joined NBC News from The New York Times where she covered the White House and politics. She also covered national and local affairs for The Washington Post, Baltimore Evening Sun, and Boston Herald American.

"I always knew I wanted to be a journalist, and my first love was newspapers," Ifill said. "But public broadcasting provides the best of both worlds - combining the depth of newspapering with the immediate impact of broadcast television."

A native of New York City and a graduate of Simmons College in Boston Ifill has also received 15 honorary degrees. She serves on the board of the Harvard University Institute of Politics, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Museum of Telev166811182410386--

 

[deep]

Imus and the Money Grubbig Jews

That morning, the program, which is produced in New York by WFAN and simulcast on MSNBC, was going to host a group of gospel singers known as the Blind Boys of Alabama. In anticipation of their appearance, Imus recalled reservations voiced by station supervisors prior to an earlier appearance by the group.

“I remember when I first had ’em on a few years ago,” Imus said. “The Jewish management at, whoever we work for, CBS, were bitchin’ at me about it.” WFAN is a subsidiary of WCBS radio.

“We had a meeting in my office,” Imus continued. “They were furious, but of course I don’t care what they say and never have.”

At this point, the show’s executive producer, Bernard McGuirk, a regular on-air presence, said of the Blind Boys, “Even if you wear a beanie, how can you not love these guys?”

“I tried to put it in terms that these money-grubbing bastards could understand,” Imus replied. “I said: ‘They’re handicapped, they’re black and they’re blind. How do we lose here?’ And then a light bulb went off over their scummy little heads.”

Imus co-host Larry Kenney, an impressionist who appeared earlier in the program as the Rev. Jerry Falwell, then said: “They probably were trying to push a more Semitic group on you. I don’t know, maybe the Paralyzed Putzes of Poland, or something like that.”

“You can’t believe what goes on behind the scenes, at least with me with these people,” Imus said. “And fortunately, I don’t care.”

 

[deep]

"boner-nosed, beanie-wearing Jew-boy,"

Howard Kurtz, media critic for The Washington Post and host of CNN's "Reliable Sources," said Imus is known for his comedy, but, he said "the problem is... his comedy too often strays into the offensive."

Kurtz, whom Imus once called a "boner-nosed, beanie-wearing Jew-boy," said Imus may now understand that his remarks about the Rutgers team crossed the line.

"Imus should be held accountable for some of these offensive things that he says, but there is also a good side to Don Imus, and I don't think that should be completely obliterated in all of this chest thumping," he said.

“Thieving Jews”

Shortly before Christmas last year, syndicated radio star and MSNBC host Don Imus called the book publishers Simon & Schuster “thieving Jews” (Imus in the Morning, 12/15/04), returning to the subject later in the program to offer a mock apology, saying that the phrase he used was “redundant.”