Don Imus-Fired By CBS (Personal Statement)

Almu, I don't care what you call your wife or your friends, but if I called my wife a w****, or "Ho," she'd kick my ass. It wouldn't occur to me to use the "n word" with the Black friends I have. It wouldn't occur to me to make some crack about Jews to the Jewish friends I have. Maybe I just come from a different generation, but I was raised not to use ethnic or religious slurs. The couple of times that I did as a kid, my father got out his belt and reminded me that it was an illiberal thing to do and grossly offensive. That we were trying to remedy generations of ignorance and prejudice, and that making a joke out of what amounts to discrimination against peoples race and religion was intellectually dishonest, as well as exhibiting how stupid one happened to be, not to mention how offensive it was to those that were the target of the slurs, directly, or indirectly.

I'm no saint, as I think I've proved here often enough, nor have I ever claimed to be, and I use what would be considered bad language often enough. I don't use that kind of language, however, and I happen to agree with Dad... it's thoughtless, lazy, and offensive. I think I was pretty lucky to have grown up in a working class neighborhood in Southeast Houston with a father who managed to turn the GI Bill into a career in academia, becoming a department chair in his 30's, the first in his family to get a degree. (that anyone knows of) In my neighborhood in the 1950's, prejudice was a common as dirt. I was very lucky.

To tell you the truth, I think this whole Imus thing is unspeakably boring. If I see anymore coverage about it on the news, I just may hurl. I'm tired of all involved. Imus, the Talking Heads, the various network people, the sharks in the water, the Rutgers coach, and now the parents of the players who were slandered being interviewed on the tube.

It was interesting at first, but no longer, not for me.



D&D. Too much Salt Lick BBQ.

 

The Dixie Chicks got death threats. Radio stations stopped playing them despite them having population records (reacting to a vocal minority). All because they said something like Bush is an idiot, the war is BS, and he isn't my president at foreign concert--they were not continually ranting on about their hatefull stereotypical views. It wasn't just 1 comment with Imus. It was the straw the broke the camels back--and he was fired because advertisers for one of the biggest media companies said enough is enough, that we can't be associated with anything like that. Market driven.

 

We've probably seen the end of Borat, too.

 

Imus was a hate filled little man that delighted in calling black folks hoes, animals and the n-word ... after 30 years time got him.

good riddance to the hateful racist.

 

I'm glad he's gone, but we all know that this is not going to stop racism in the least bit. There is still a big gap/lack of trust on every side that is going to prevent race relations from progressing in a satisfactory way.

 

The sad irony is that this will only make people agrier towards blacks, in particular Al Sharpton.

Imus got attacked by a lynch mob. Plain and simple.

 

agreed. if he said the same thing towards any other group no one would give a shyt. but we were taught that only blacks and jews can be victims. rosie o'donnel should also be fired for making those comments about Asians. wtf is the outrage from media ho's like sharpton and jackson? their whole "we are for equal rights for all people and especially that rainbow coalition is a joke.


the whole thing is out of control.

 

You'r just wrong.


Black dj's and producers made fun of asian tsunami victims and staff were fired and suspended.

'Tsunami Song' fallout: 3 suspended, 2 fired

By David Hinckley, New York Daily News

February 2, 2005

Hoping to quell the storm over its "Tsunami Song," WQHT yesterday fired morning-show producer Rick Del Gado, who created the song, and morning-team member Todd Lynn, who cracked on the air, "I'm gonna start shooting some Asians."

But Hot-97 did not meet the demands of some critics and fire the rest of the Miss Jones morning show, which aired the parody for four days last month.

Miss Jones, DJ Envy and production assistant Tasha Hightower will all be suspended for two weeks, said the station. They have been off since last Wednesday.

Reaction from critics was swift yesterday and not all favorable.

"Their statement is a joke," said City Councilman John Liu (D-Queens). "They need to fire Miss Jones, but even more important, they need to accept corporate responsibility."

Noting that Hot-97 pledged a million dollars to tsunami relief, Liu said, "That's a joke, too. It should be $10 million. They said employees will donate a week's pay to relief funds. Fine. So they should donate a week of corporate profits."

Hot-97's statement yesterday cited Del Gado for the song and Lynn for "offensive, racially insensitive comments," calling them "singularly egregious."

Miss Info, the other member of the morning team, was not suspended, though she also has been off the air since last week. Miss Info, who is Asian, said on the air that the song offended her - which sparked the heated exchange during which Lynn made his "shooting" remark.

Racial banter and exaggeration are not uncommon on morning shows, but critics said Lynn went way over the top.

The "Tsunami Song" itself, set to the tune of "We Are the World," has been blasted for use of racial slurs and for making light of tsunami victims.

Kai Yu of the group Asian Media Watch called Hot-97's actions yesterday "a start," but said they fall short of "full accountability ... all the way up to the people who approved this going on the air."

Liu said further protest actions are planned: "We're only getting started."

Several Hot-97 advertisers temporarily withdrew after the initial controversy.

"The actions of the morning show were socially and morally indefensible," said Emmis President Rick Cummings. "The entire Emmis family is ashamed. Our decision ... sends a message that this type of insensitivity is utterly unacceptable."

Jay Smooth, whose HipHopMusic.com has been bulldogging the case and has recorded a half-million hits, had a sharp E-mail exchange yesterday with Lynn, who told Smooth that his on-air remarks were "taken out of context."

In the exchange, Lynn called the episode "one of the biggest mistakes of my life," describing the song as "very poor taste and bad judgment."

But, he added, "None of us are bigots."

Meanwhile, Miss Info will co-host an Asia Relief Fund Benefit on Saturday at Capitale on the Bowery with rapper Jin, who recorded a track blasting Hot-97.

The original New York Daily News article available at: http://www.nydailynews.com/02-02-20...3p-237107c.html

 

not exactly the same there... calling girls ugly, and making fun of the 200,000 people who died in a natural disaster.

and i'll be damned if anyone tries to tell me that "nappy headed ho" is a racist remark.

 

People were not given a choice to stop listening to him though - they were forced to give him up. He had his audience - and his audience had no say. This is censorship and there is no other way to describe.

You can support censorship or say it's fine in certain instances, but let's call a spade a spade here.

 

If he would have stopped at "those tattoo wearing, bizarre looking women",...I wonder if the emotion on this would be so strong?

I think the problem (not that I have heard him personally) is that from what I heard his reputation played into it...

This is my only say on this, and like many here, I believe it's a story that doesn't need to go on and on...

 

You might not be racist but pretty misogynistic. I'd kick my brother's ass if he called me a ho. I kick my husband's ass if he called me one too. Honestly I'd have a fit if any body called me a ho because its not ok. I have no idea where men get off calling women b****es and hoes and everything else thinking its ok because its not. I get so fed up with men and the way they talk about women.

I always wondered how men so flippantly call women such horrible things and then have the nevre to be upset if someone calls their little girl or their sister or their wife the same thing. Maybe you can explain that.

 

I disagree.

25 years ago, you simply did not hear people like Imus, Howard Stern, Glenn Beck, Dan Patrick, Rush Limbaugh & our local assclown Chris Baker on the radio. Nor did you see garbage like Nancy Chase on television.

Don Imus is not a remnant of a past bygone era. He is a symbol of what radio & TV talk has become in 2007...noisy, hateful, and arrogant.

The Fairness Doctrine had it's faults, but it should have been fixed rather than repealed. Look what the media has become without it.

 

I think that things are only what you make them to be. His wife may not be offended because she knows he is playing. It's all in context. Words themselves have no power, intent does. It's not what you say, but how you say it. That is why Imus is fired and Comedy Central will soon have another televised roast.

 

Amen. Love your post and agree with most of it.

I just watched the Imus MSNBC slot where I usually found Imus. It was hosted by David Gregory-- an Imus regular.

Did anybody see the woman editor from Essence Magazine... Angela Somebody?

She actually said on the air that could "spot" a racist. Oh, okay. Craig Crawford almost swallowed his tonsils.

Crawford pointed up the fact of Imus' years-long support of former TN Congressman Harold Ford and Imus' continuous support of his candidacy including his failed Senatorial bid; Crawford concluded by asking if that was the behavior pattern of a racist.

Angela Somebody said "it could be." Crawford then swalled his molars. Anybody who knows Imus can tell you that he respects and supports Harold Ford as much as anybody on his show.

This is a tragic circus. Imus is the sacrifice that hopes to bring it to a close.

 

did u even read the article? only a couple of people were fired, they were just patsies. making fun of the deaths of thousands of people should have gotten the entire show canned. the biotch miss jones is still there. Like i said in my previous post, i stand by my claim that this country is brainwashed into believing that only jews and blacks are victims. everyone else is fair game. u are wrong!

 

Or you can move to Canada, where people behave in a more civilized, friendly and human manner than they do here in the US.