First off let me state who I am where I grew up where i stay. I go by the name Malcolm thats my nickname from way back. I grew up on the northeast side of Houston from off of Homestead Rd and Mesa Rd back and forward. I've spend a lot of times in the 5wrd area hanging out with friends and family who live in that area. I am a witness to crime proverty and I have seen what it does to people. I have experienced racism while in the military from indivisiual of my own race. Reason why I state all this information is because I am the same Malcolm who called 790 last Friday when the question of the use of certain word in hip hop should not be ever said. I ponder that because when they attact the music that got me through hard times in the military. The music that told me when I was a young kid to keep my head up be prepared because they smartz. So when I hear anyone attacked that music I have to come forward and defend it. The hip hop listeners know when someone is being malicious with words and when they are doing it in a respectful manner. What does this have to do with Imus you ask. Its the fact they used the hip hop culture to justify Imus statement saying that if I can say it and they can say it in the music why can't he say it. This is the difference! Imus said this on a national radio show symolcast on national TV. Those rappers don't say it on the radio they say it on purchased albums and concerts which you have to pay for. As it comes to Imus I hate what he said it was an attack on the young ladies. But he did not do what has already done. The fact of the matter is the only reason why he was fired was because the sponsers dropped. Really I think Imus gets off by getting fired. The proper action would have suspend him for a month and he would have to take in phone calls the day he got back on air. He would have to explain his action and reck the concequences for his action. Firing i him only gives him an oppurnituny to go to satelite and make more money. Thats the point about our country is we do have freedom of speech we shouldn't shut somebody up we should make them hadle the resposibility for what they do say. The problem is our country is now overmediated and people in the media are looking for their big issue to get their face on tv. We prevent free speech we prevent solving any problem in this country. We are now waisting another time to talk about race relations in this country because people are afraid to talk about it. Thats what free speech is for to talk through the issue not quick fix it!!!!!!
that's going a bit too far in my opinion. They are political opportunists who are in line with Hillary and the DNC. Imus got canned by pressure from the Hillary gang. What's ironic is that Imus was actually imitating hip-hop artists and in a way mocking their language. But that gets kinda lost on people. If anything, he was mocking hip hop more then those girls.
They not terroist thats going a little too far. I will not defend Sharpton and I have a lot of issues with Jason Whitlock but I must say esse Jackson has done a lot for the poor in general. He out of those three don't contrictict himself as much as the other two. Whitlock is the indivisual I have issues with because he belives comfomatory or you don get an oppurnity. Im still highly upset with him about his comments about Scoop Jackson claiming his hip hop immage is a discrase to us black people. What he need to understand is that he dosen't speak for all black people. His costily attacks on hip hop culture is pointless and unneccesary. He has no credictabily speacking for black people in general. Just because Scoop Jackson is on ESPN like you and is as credable if not more than you and he wears the jearseys and the baggy clothing dosen't make him a discrase. It makes him a man who made himself from his website to a major network for his credible insites into the NBA. Without having to fake it smale cutt his hair wear a suit and become coperate like you Jason Whitlock!!!
I love how Don Imus being fired is now a Hillary Clinton conspiracy to help her election campaign. Wow, just wow.
Seriously, where does that connection come in. I have heard every spin on this story. I agree firing him was not justified and his sponsors bailed him out. They'll be back when he hits satellite radio.
Well, the Clintons HATE Imus from what happened at their roasting in '96. It's well known that Imus calls Hilary "satan" and evil on his show and they both hate eachother. On April 4th, Imus revealed on his show that Donald Trump appealed to Imus to let Hillary come onto his show. Imus replied, "never". He repeated this on the 6th, the day after the nappy ho incident. It's well know (reported even in New York Magazine) that Al Sharpton and HIllary clinton are allies. Al Sharpton's support is critical in helping Clinton get the black vote and compete with Obama. Sharpton isn't a big fan of Obama. And why should he be? Now - you look at all that, and you have to ask yourself - what one political candidate would want Imus out? And which of these candidates has allies is both Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton? And which one of these was just being insulted on Imus show and denied even being able to get on and deliver a message to his voting block - the only way to reach white independent male voters in fact. With one fell swoop - Hillary has avenged herself, gained strength with black voters, pushed Obama into an uncomfortable spot, and taken away an audience she couldn't reach from her competitors, thus leveling the playing field. Hillary Clinton is the clear winner of this Imus fiasco. I mean, it's nothing short of a bonanza. I mean, why did Al Sharpton decide to make a fuss - had he not, no one might have cared. What was Al Sharpton doing listening to Imus anyway? Why would everyone be so unforgiving of a sincere Imus apology? Could it be that Imus was a target? The vultures were waiting for him to say something that could him in trouble - and he obliged them to their delight.
Though the Duke lacrosse case gives this charge some heft, I just think they're civil rights activists who overstayed their welcome. I think their age and upbringing, in a racial context, probably has them fighting 30 yr old battles that don't speak to the majority of contemporary blacks, hence the disconnect with white America. (This probably applies more so to Jackson, Sharpton's younger and seems to have always had credibility issues.) Their roles, nowadays, are probably more appropriately and practically filled by black-district Congressmen, who, ironicaly enough, are probably marginalized and stigmatized because of their association with the two (and their lock-step untiy with only one political party). Jason Whitlock's an interesting contributor to black discourse, and it's good to hear this from a sports reporter, but his ESPN feud makes him seem like just a bit of a prick.
The show is being replaced by Mike and the Mad Dog...the highest rated sports show in America. They will be on twice. From 6-10am and then 2-6pm until they figure it all out. By the way, these two guys are of the conservative kind. But they only talk sports. No politics...I hope.
COWARDS KICK AWAY ANOTHER PIECE OF AMERICA'S SOUL By KINKY FRIEDMAN April 15, 2007 -- Author, musician and former Texas gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman has been friends with Don Imus since 1975, when they met on stage at The Bottom Line. I MET Imus on the gangplank of Noah's Ark. He was then and remains today a truth-seeking missile with the best bull-meter in the business. Far from being a bully, he was a spiritual chop-buster never afraid to go after the big guys with nothing but the slingshot of ragged integrity. I watched him over the years as he struggled with his demons and conquered them. This was not surprising to me. Imus came from the Great Southwest, where the men are men and the emus are nervous. And he did it all with something that seems, indeed, to be a rather scarce commodity these days. A sense of humor. There's no excusing Imus' recent ridiculous remark, but there's something not kosher in America when one guy gets a Grammy and one gets fired for the same line. The Matt Lauers and Al Rokers of this world live by the cue-card and die by the cue-card; Imus is a rare bird, indeed - he works without a net. When you work without a net as long as Imus has, sometimes you make mistakes. Wavy Gravy says he salutes mistakes. They're what makes us human, he claims. And humanity beyond doubt, is what appears to be missing from this equation. If we've lost the ability to laugh at ourselves, to laugh at each other, to laugh together, then the PC world has succeeded in diminishing us all. Political correctness, a term first used by Joseph Stalin, has trivialized, sanitized and homogenized America, transforming us into a nation of chain establishments and chain people. Take heart, Imus. You're merely joining a long and legendary laundry list of individuals who were summarily sacrificed in the name of society's sanctimonious soul: Socrates, Jesus, Galileo, Joan of Arc, Mozart and Mark Twain, who was decried as a racist until the day he died for using the N-word rather prolifically in "Huckleberry Finn." Speaking of which, there will always be plenty of Al Sharptons and Jesse Jacksons around. There will be plenty of cowardly executives, plenty of fair-weather friends, and plenty of Jehovah's Bystanders, people who believe in God but just don't want to get involved. In this crowd, it could be argued that we need a Don Imus just to wake us up once in a while. There probably isn't a single one of Imus' vocal critics who come anywhere close to matching his record of philanthropy or good acts on this earth. Judge a man by the size of his enemies, my father used to say. A man who, year after year, has raised countless millions of dollars and has fought hand-to-hand to combat against childhood cancer, autism, and SIDS - well, you've got a rodeo clown who not only rescues the cowboy, but saves the children as well. I believe New York will miss its crazy cowboy and America will miss the voice of a free-thinking independent-minded, rugged individualist. I believe MSNBC will lose many viewers and CBS radio many listeners. Too bad for them. That's what happens when you get rid of the only guy you've got who knows how to ride, shoot straight and tell the truth.
Francessa opened up today's show saying "I hope we're on for two weeks and the company then realizes they need to put Don back on." Charles has been on the majority of the hour chiming in with the same thoughts as Mike & the Mad Dog-- Imus said something stupid-- he apologized-- and he should still be on WFAN. Mike and the Mad Dog also spent some time bagging on Tim Russert and his thoughts on the Imus situation from yesterday's Meet the Press. Both called Tim out for abandoning Don after all Don did for promoting Tim, NBC and his books on the radio show. It's been an interesting hour to hear.
Well, I guess its not this one event, but a mirad of things he's done...I don't wish anyone to get fired as it sucks, however, isn't this a double standard...I hate to say it, but is ok for black people to say these type of things? IMO, it shouldn't be ok for anyone to say it, but that's just me... Apparently, Halle Berry will star in a movie called "Nappily Ever After"...Well, at least that's what its being called now, not sure if it'll stay that way... Halle Berry
Don't know if this has been posted yet, another article by Jason Whitlock: http://www.kansascity.com/182/story/71084.html Once again, he's hit the nail on the head
<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6GpAafmhBHQ"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6GpAafmhBHQ" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object> ...and you go after Imus ? That's like Dick Cheney hunting those quail manually stuffed in brush.
wow - is this guy really on the radio? How come they go after Imus and leave this guy alone? Geez, this just goes to show how insane PC has become. It's truly political.
What a great piece by Kinky. I'm sick of these people who want everyone to be perfect and, more importantly, be their version of perfection. Don Imus was a flawed man, need I say "flawed", as we all are flawed. He transformed his life from being an addict to being a champion of causes and he used his minor celebrity to further those causes. I think this Imus fiasco will be viewed as a watershed event in years to come-- an event we shall come to realize when we sacrificed something good iin a vain effort to feel good about ourselves.
Great (long) article which basically says stop using hip-hop as a scapegoat: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=boyd/070416 Imus shouldn't give hip-hop a bad rap By Todd Boyd Special to Page 2 Now that disgraced radio talk-show host Don Imus has been booted, can we finally get down to some "real talk" about the multiple issues embedded in this racial theater? There is a lot to sort through here, but after a week of debate centered around "nappy-headed hos," half-assed apologies, cries of censorship, and a curmudgeonly shock jock's lame attempt at being funny, many pundits have moved beyond the core issue and now are talking about the perceived double standard they feel exists between what Imus said and what often comes from the mouths of rappers. Yet Imus and hip-hop really don't have much in common. Imus was host of a radio show that focused on the real news of the day, while hip-hop is a fictionalized form of cultural expression. Imus is real, featuring real guests and humor based on real topics. However loudly hip-hop might claim to be real, it is not real; it is a form of representation. This is why so few rappers use the names on their birth certificates when performing. Rappers are in essence characters performing a fictional life. Though the culture is rooted in the notion and style of authenticity, it is decidedly fictional. If not, the cops could arrest every rapper who talks about selling drugs or killing someone in his or her lyrics. So we should be judging hip-hop the same way we judge a novel, a movie, or a television show, and to do so means we have to afford hip-hop the same latitude we afford any other form of artistic expression. Over the years, hip-hop has taken a lot of words -- "diss," "pimp," and "bling," for example -- that were once the exclusive domain of black street culture and put these words into widespread circulation. In many ways, one could say hip-hop took a private conversation and made it public. As hip-hop has grown from being a New York subculture into a global phenomena over the last 30-plus years, the language of the culture has come to present a number of complicated scenarios for a public that never really learned how to talk about race in the first place. There are times when I'm not even sure if we know what constitutes racism, really, short of someone getting beheaded while being dragged behind a pickup truck. On this point, many in America feel that with the end of legalized segregation in the 1960s, racism ended as well. Thus, racism is often viewed as something confined to the PBS "Eyes on the Prize" documentary series from the 1980s. The fact that someone like Barack Obama is currently mounting a serious challenge for the Democratic presidential nomination further complicates matters for those who subscribe to this "racism is dead" thesis. How could a black man be considered for the presidency if racism still existed, they ask ever so discreetly? Then there are those who seem to think racism potentially lurks around every corner. Any untoward gesture, remark, or idea, however slight or incidental, is thought to reflect America's problematic racial history rearing its ugly head once again. A good example of this type of paranoid thinking can be found in the 1992 film "Boomerang" where Martin Lawrence does a hilarious analysis of the racial symbolism of the colored balls on a pool table. In this line of thought, even the game of billiards has a racist undertone. While neither of these extremes is ultimately relevant, extremes often draw the most attention. This means that those who feel there is no racism and those who feel everything is racist tend to get all the airtime, while the thoughtful and logical tend to get short shrift. I thought about all of this while watching Imus and Al Sharpton on the latter's syndicated radio show. If ever there were two people who deserved each other, it would have to be Imus and Sharpton. While I am certainly not a supporter of Imus, I wish there had been a way to "fire" Sharpton as well. Sharpton needs Imus as much as Imus thought he needed Sharpton. Unless there are idiots like Imus who spout vile nonsense, then clowns like Sharpton wouldn't have anything to do. Sharpton and his race-baiting kin need public displays of racism in order for them to seem relevant. Racial opportunists like Sharpton are like ambulance chasers in this regard. So when the Imus train crashed, Sharpton was "Johnny-on-the-spot," ready to exploit fully every possible angle of this controversy for his own self-interest. As the curtain closes on this most recent performance of racial theater, though, hip-hop culture and the controversial use of language has now moved to center stage. Does the Imus firing represent a racial double standard with regard to hip-hop? For those who believe the firing does indicate bias, their evidence would be that rappers use such language all the time and they seemingly get away with it. In this case, these people conclude that there is a censoring of free speech when it comes to white people and their discussion of racial issues. This sentiment of a racial double standard goes back to the days of the landmark 1978 Supreme Court case, Regents of the University of California vs. Bakke, which helped to float the idea that came to be known as "reverse discrimination." Alan Bakke was a white male applicant to the medical school at the University of California, Davis, who had been denied admission several times. Bakke was regarded in some circles as a victim of reverse discrimination, because he had been denied admission, though several black students had been admitted under a quota system the school had used. In the end, the Supreme Court ruled quota systems unconstitutional and Bakke was admitted to the school. In the ensuing years, there were many who believed that the integration of black people into mainstream society came at the expense of whites. Rappers have long been held accountable because of their speech. For people who do not really pay attention to hip-hop, but only focus on stereotypes of the culture, this is something they might not be aware of. Here are but a few examples: In 1990, The 2 Live Crew was arrested, taken to court and eventually acquitted on obscenity charges. In 1992, then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton blasted rapper Sista Souljah and her lyrics, comparing Souljah's words to that of former Klansman David Duke. Ice T's single "Cop Killer" was deleted from the album "Body Count" and his band bearing the same name as the album was dropped by Time Warner because of the controversial song. William Bennett and the late C. Delores Tucker prompted congressional hearings on the impact of gangsta rap music in 1994, hearings that eventually lead to Time Warner selling its shares in Interscope Records and its rap subsidiary Death Row Records. Jennifer Lopez came under fire for her use of the n-word in the remix to her song "I'm Real" in 2001. A Nelly concert planned for Spelman College in 2004 was canceled because some of the women at this historically black woman's college felt his video for the song "Tip Drill" was demeaning to black women. Jadakiss received a great deal of heat for his rhetorical question "Why did Bush knock down the towers?" on his 2004 single "Why? " The point is, hip-hop history is replete with examples of the culture being challenged over its lyrical content, in the court of public opinion as well as in the real halls of justice. To say that hip-hop has received a free pass on its language and sexual politics is simply uninformed and ignores the ongoing heated debate that has been raging for some time now on hip-hop's societal impact. I mean, who hasn't heard about Bill Cosby's senile rants against hip-hop the past few years? Critics of hip-hop are a dime a dozen these days. In hip-hop, the widespread use of terms like "b****" and "ho" is often interestingly set against the overwhelming admiration of the mother figure. A good example of this was the late Tupac Shakur, whose love anthem to the plight of single mothers, "Dear Mama," was getting much airplay at the same time that he was in court on sexual-assault charges. While many rappers have disparaged women in general, many of these same rappers often celebrate their own mothers as role models of feminine virtue. This contradiction exposes hip-hop's at its weakest, most indefensible point. Sexism in hip-hop works to undermine the culture's strength and overall message of racial and economic empowerment. Though the culture has been progressive on a number of issues, when it comes to the representation of women, hip-hop is stuck in the 1950s. In order to address this, hip-hop must recondition its mind about women and their roles or else it will remain an easy target for those who want to see it shut down. Further, when rappers use these contested terms, it is often in relationship to women in general, as opposed to specific women. I guarantee you if a rapper was to single out the U.S. Olympic women's figure skating or gymnastics team by calling them the white equivalent of what Imus said, there would be a similar firestorm of protest and actions would be taken accordingly. The difference being that as one moves from the general to the specific, the stakes are raised accordingly. Ultimately, the fact that rappers are now being held accountable for something Imus said shows the bias many people have against hip-hop culture. Hip-hop is often the scapegoat of everything gone wrong in America, but hip-hop didn't slander the Rutgers women's basketball team, Don Imus did, so let's stay on point here. Let me add that if we are going to censor hip-hop, then let's not stop there. David Mamet has made a career in theater using similarly vulgar language like that in hip-hop, while Martin Scorsese has done the same in cinema. Are they not to blame, too? Should we be talking about canceling "The Sopranos" because of Tony's cursing? Perhaps Dick Cheney should have been impeached for his use of foul language toward a U.S. senator? The point is, hip-hop didn't invent cursing, slurs, bad language, sexism or misogyny, though hip-hop like so many other fictional forms of the culture uses this type of language as a form of expression, however problematic it might be. This expression represents the way people in the streets talk. It might not be pretty or politically correct, but it is a unique form of fictional expression that emerges from the minds and mouths of young black men. Censorship is a slippery slope. Once you start, it's not so easy to stop. Hip-hop is most certainly guilty of sexism in many cases. This is a point that cannot be denied. But the purpose of art is often to provoke, to shock, to annoy, to agitate, to say things that might not otherwise be permissible in real life. It might not always be appropriate, but it fulfills a purpose in a society that prides itself on free expression. Which leads me to my final point. I'm not so sure that firing Imus was the best course to take. Don't get me wrong, I am not losing any sleep over this, nor have I or will I shed a tear. Imus has made a lot of money over the years being a crude, obnoxious, insensitive bigot. At least that's the persona he projected. He was like Archie Bunker, only not nearly as funny. His firing will lead many to regard him as a martyr, which he most certainly is not. I'm sure he already has begun negotiating another radio deal. Make no mistake about it, just like Trent Lott, Imus will be back in some form or another. I have never spent five minutes listening to Don Imus. Why? Because I don't have to. I have choices. What is really great about America is there are choices. Haters of hip-hop don't have to listen to it, either. I don't particularly care for heavy metal or country music, but I'm not trying to censor it simply because I don't like it. They wave Confederate flags at NASCAR events all the time, but considering that NASCAR is not on my TiVo list, I could care less. Let's be real about this. Again, context is important. What Imus did was insult a group of innocent young women for no apparent reason. At the end of the day, this was slanderous. It was the equivalent of a verbal drive-by shooting. One of the main reasons Imus ultimately was fired was because once people saw the poise and class of the Rutgers woman's basketball team, Imus' unprovoked comment came across as that much more egregious. Imus likely would not have used the same phrase to describe a team of white women, so he was being racially specific with his otherwise sexist comment. Had Imus used the same phrase to describe, let's say someone like Star Jones, I doubt the furor would have been as strong. I'm not saying he would have gotten away with it, but Star Jones is someone who has generated enough public animosity that the insult would have seemed justified to many people. It also would have been personal. But considering Imus had no personal knowledge of the Rutgers team beforehand, and the fact the players simply were minding their own business after a great run to the NCAA finals, his unprovoked comments represented his own prejudiced view, not only of the team, but of black women in general. The bottom line here is we should hold Imus accountable for Imus, and not use this as an excuse to censor hip-hop culture, because, at least as it pertains to the Rutgers women's basketball team, hip-hop is innocent of all charges. Dr. Todd Boyd, a columnist for Page 2, is an author, media commentator and a professor of critical studies at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. His next book "The Notorious Ph.D.'s Guide to the Super Fly '70s" will be published in June.
That's one fine load of craaaaap. As far as I know, hip-hop insults women in general and I don't think the women of the Rutgers basketball team are exempted. Also, there are white women (at least one) on the Rutgers' women's basketball team.
