MSNBC suspends Imus simulcast for two weeks

[a_priori]

"NEW YORK - After a career of cranky insults, radio star Don Imus was fighting for his job Monday following one joke that by his own admission went “way too far.”

Two of the nation’s biggest media companies — CBS Corp. and NBC Universal — will ultimately decide the fate of Imus’ daily program after he referred last week to members of the Rutgers women’s basketball team as “nappy-headed hos.”

msnbc.msn.com/id/17999196/

 

[jc-servant]

Imus characterized it as “one joke” when in fact he and his show have a pattern of making these type of degrading remarks. The “nappy headed hos” remark was said in the midst of a show with other derogatory comments about these female college athletes.

As has been pointed out on CNN, this was not the 1st incident of this kind, just the most blatant recently. When William Cohen’s wife was on his show promoting her 1st book, they played “jungle fever” music referring to her being in an interracial marriage. She was also referred to as “brown sugar” which is demeaning and clearly a reference to her race. Mrs. Cohen was a professional black woman who was a guest on the Imus show to promote a book, not a stripper named Brown or Sugar who came on to share other assets such as happens on the Stern show. There is no way to diminish his offending the Cohens as some have done in the media to discount Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton speaking about the latest incident by saying that they too have offended or are hypocrites. I agree that both of them have offended also, but even a broken clock is right twice a day.

I could not believe Imus got a “mainstream” show on MSNBC while still tossing his thinly veiled racial remarks. Now he finally blurted out a more blatant remark and got “caught.” MSNBC is welcome to give him a 2 week slap on the wrist while they hope the story dies down. I personally don’t have to watch their channel or sister channels again. It is really a shame that “news” channels are getting nearly as bad as the “entertainment” cable channels for promoting things that would have been on the fringes of society not too many years back.

I’m waiting for Imus to offer a specific public apology to the intended victims of his show, the ladies on the college basketball team who were publically demeaned. If they don’t want see him face-to-face, it is no excuse not to offer a real apology either in written media or on TV. I can only imagine how this incident ruined their NCAA tournament experience after all of those years of hard work to hone their skills on and off the court.

What I saw Imus do today was not a real apology. It looked like a “save my own job” media tour. He did the usual “I’m not a racist” song and dance without ever explaining why he thought it was OK to make the remarks in the first place. It was not a badly executed joke but rather some racially oriented comments that still look racially motivated and insulting when heard in the context of the show.

 

[Kitty_Chan]

I figure with Al Sharpton yelling so loud, Imus probably hasnt had a chance to talk with the team. He will and indicated he has been trying to set it up. If Al thought it was soo important why didnt he get the team to come to his show?

Imus is a “shock jock” and its what hes paid to do, push the envelope everyday. Yea he can go overboard but he apologized and I notice that even before he did Reverend Al Sharpton said it wouldnt be enough. Fine Christian example of forgiveness. This whole thing could be used to promote some genuine unity and learning on how to get along with each other.

But its turning into a agenda fest, of shutting up voices that dont say as you say. dont agree with what you do. Making Christians look like intolerant jerks.

What he said was wrong, and hes said so. But he was also asked to make people laugh by saying these things. He cant be killed because he did what he was asked.

Besides he who is without sin cast the first stone, and that can start with Reverend Al. Who also has not had to step down because of accusing the other team unfairly.

Forgiveness, correction, understanding a chance to show christian faith in work. But TV ratings are apparentely first. Also what a lesson for children dont apologise no ones gonna take it cause you can never be sorry enough so theres no forgiveness for you.

What a mess, what precidents it all needs to be addressed. you cant legislatate caring individuals of a society, it has to come from ones heart and understanding each other perhaps even learning to love your neighbour and what a opportunity to show.it.

 

[Wisdom]

What about that forgiveness Rev AL and Rev Jackson. Its funny aren’t these the two guys who have also had shaddy race relations with whites and Jews to be racist you don’t only have to offend blacks.
Rev AL falsely accused white people of murder and Rev Jackson is guilty of calling Jews slanderous racist names. But gee they get a pass and of course forgiveness when the shoe is on the other foot they want whitey burned, tarred and feathered. As for Imus remarks they were plain stupid but I hear plain stupid remakrs from black rappers against thier own women and Rev AL and Rev Sharpton don’t seem to upset about that do they? Big double standard here. Imus is paying a price for a stupid remark but he doesn’t deserved to loose his job over it. He apologized and doesn’t seem to be a racist heck he agreed to be humiliated on Rev Al show a racist would not have done that.

 

[a_priori]

I will be honest. I have laughed at Imus from time to time. But he really does push these things too far. I was very offended by Bernard’s imitation of the Cardinal even before I became Catholic. It offends me even more now.

The racial thing has been a staple for years on his show. It’s just not right. He does have good political segments though.

 

[Biblioassistant]

I don’t like Imus, but I can’t stand to see him groveling at the feet of the likes of Sharpton. This is the man who used Tawana Brawley to become famous and the man who incited a riot at Freddy’s Fashion Mart. He’s a huckster pure and simple.

Also, if the remark that Imus said came out of the mouth of someone like 50 Cent, he’d sell a ton of CDs.

Imus should apologize to the members of the Rutgers team and then watch his mouth. Sharpton should just go away.

 

[davy39]

I don’t like Imus, but I can’t stand to see him groveling at the feet of the likes of Sharpton. This is the man who used Tawana Brawley to become famous and the man who incited a riot at Freddy’s Fashion Mart. He’s a huckster pure and simple.

Also, if the remark that Imus said came out of the mouth of someone like 50 Cent, he’d sell a ton of CDs.

Imus should apologize to the members of the Rutgers team and then watch his mouth. Sharpton should just go away.

I agree with you. But the PC police have struck again. It’s OK for Rosie and company to bash the Church every chance they get on the view, but the Church is always fair game by anybody. What he did say was stupid, but a two week suspension is enough. What do they want? Life in prison?

 

[Wisdom]

I agree with you. But the PC police have struck again. It’s OK for Rosie and company to bash the Church every chance they get on the view, but the Church is always fair game by anybody. What he did say was stupid, but a two week suspension is enough. What do they want? Life in prison?

Good point she can say Conservative Christians are more dangerous than Islamic terrorist and nothing happens to her. She falsely libled Cardinal Ratizinger as responsible for the child abuse situation in the church when he oversaw that problem in 2002 long after the child abuse cases where actually the problem which was in the late 60’s to early 80’s, he oversaw the situation after it was brought up to the media and it was not a problem under his watch, it was result of chaos in the seminaries when liberals like her ran the semenaries. The more recent semenarians under the watch of Cardianl Ratzinger now Pope Benedict are more conseravtive and in less troublemaking situations than the semenarians that were in the confused and debatched generation.

Anyway she’s also made some crazy talk about the Bush admin brining down the Twin Towers with explosives and the British were the cause of their own hostage situation and Iran was innocent in the whole deal. Anti-christian comments and conspiracy theories abound weekly with old Rossie but nothing gets done to here because she offends people who don’t have the poltiical pc power that do have the power to get you off the air. She also made racist comments mocking the way Asians speak and referred to them by the derrogatory term Oriental but of course we (I am Asian) don’t have the pull of the democratic black caucas so she remained on the air and although she did apologize she was easily off the hook, Imus apologized and he’s not easily off the hook they seem to want his head on a platter still.

 

[Biblioassistant]

Michelle Malkin (whose family is from the Phillipines) was very angry at Rosie about her mocking of the way Asians are supposed to talk. But Rosie goes on and on spewing hateful talk and getting away with it. Ditto Bill Mahr and Penn and Teller.

All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

 

[MysticalMan]

"NEW YORK - After a career of cranky insults, radio star Don Imus was fighting for his job Monday following one joke that by his own admission went “way too far.”

Two of the nation’s biggest media companies — CBS Corp. and NBC Universal — will ultimately decide the fate of Imus’ daily program after he referred last week to members of the Rutgers women’s basketball team as “nappy-headed hos.”

msnbc.msn.com/id/17999196/

GEE thats almost as bad as Coulters “fagot” joke!

These people make a living on insults!

 

[MysticalMan]

Michelle Malkin (whose family is from the Phillipines) was very angry at Rosie about her mocking of the way Asians are supposed to talk. But Rosie goes on and on spewing hateful talk and getting away with it. Ditto Bill Mahr and Penn and Teller.

All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

URRRR! Don’t get me started about Rosey! MOOOOOOOO!

 

[Orionthehunter]

Don Imus is a smart, cynical, sometimes cruel curmudgeon who sprinkles his show with off-color (pardon the pun) humor. While I believe that his intellect gives him a unique ability to probe political issues of the day, I only listen/watch him if he happens to have a guest that I believe will be interesting. His cynicism grates on me because a curmudgeon’s outlook is one that I don’t embrace. But, in total, I view his show as a contribution generally to political discourse. When a politician tries to get by with a shallow bromide, his intellect, wit, and curmudgeonness gives him an ability to pierce the comment with the precision of a scapel. Sometimes Imus is a a tougher interviewer than even Tim Russert.

This being said it is so ironic that he gets in trouble using a term to describe women that Black celebrities use all the time, especially in the context of music and comedy. He doesn’t get in trouble when he disparages Christians (especially evangelicals and Catholics).

How many times do we have to bear a comment like “But don’t let him near your young boys” every time a Bishop speaks out on a moral issue, especially if it is against gay marriage? Where is the outrage and the suspensions? Why is Rosie not suspended?

There are no suspensions because there is a double standard. Personally, I’m offended that what Imus said is so “offensive” that he deserves a suspension but what others say must not be offensive since they didn’t get suspended.

In my opinion, furthermore, Imus should not have been not forced to apologize. If he was sorry for what he said, he is free to express himself however he chooses. Neither should hosts or commentators who make over-the-top unfair comments about Catholics, Jews, liberals, conservatives, etc. Insincere apologizies just make the cynicism and courseness greater.

 

[StratusRose]

God help you if Al Sharpton accuses you of being a racist. But apparently if you’re black and make racist comments, you get second chances. Anyone remember Hymietown?

 

[MysticalMan]

God help you if Al Sharpton accuses you of being a racist. But apparently if you’re black and make racist comments, you get second chances. Anyone remember Hymietown?

Yes, I remember. Apparently you can be Anti-Jewish as long as you are not white.

 

[Crumpy]

there are many good comments here.

First and foremost, we should respect free speech. Let Imus and Sharpton and Jackson say what they will, but then let them live it down, if they can.

You see how people can’t live up to “front door” morality? No, we’re dealing morality here in the situation-based approach. We know it when we see it.

Imus was also using the phrase “come to Jesus” as a mockery of people trying to tell him anything about morality.

Of all the voices here, where is the Catholic Church? Why can’t we ever speak out and steal McCain’s lines about redemption?

And another thing. Let Imus cut a check for $10,000 to each of those ball players as a token of putting his money where his mouth is. If he’s sorry, let him prove it. Save the expense money of going to Rutgers for a media event. Let his money do his talking.

And, let’s say something against vindictiveness and retaliation. Imus says he’s been humiliated by the attention to his remarks. That’s as it should be. Let CBS and NBC each kick in $10,000 as retribution for the emotional damage to each of those women, too.

One of the women players was saying today that she was scarred for life. A little exaggeration there?

And, what about the hypocrisy that only whites are racist?

 

[DWPC]

This has absolutely nothing to do with Sharpton or Jackson, except they are, like we all should be, offended by Imus’ vicious cracks about some exceptional young women. Even with *their *records of hypersensitivity, Al and Jesse do have a right to be truly offended by this one. I don’t understand why some people seem to think Sharpton and Jackson’s interest in any way moderates or offsets Imus’ patently racist insult.

Enough with this “humor” based on cruel comments and bigotry. Imus validates the feelings in black people that whites remain hateful racists. He should be permanently dumped from the airwaves but fat chance of that.

 

[StratusRose]

This has absolutely nothing to do with Sharpton or Jackson, except they are, like we all should be, offended by Imus’ vicious cracks about some exceptional young women. Even with *their *records of hypersensitivity, Al and Jesse do have a right to be truly offended by this one. I don’t understand why some people insist on diluting the uglines of Imus’ insult by bringing them into the discussion.

Enough with this “humor” based on cruel comments and bigotry. Imus validates the feelings in black people that whites remain hateful racists. He should be permanently dumped from the airwaves. Fat chance.

I guess I would be more sympathetic to the team if Sharpton and Jackson weren’t involved. It just seems like they feel they have to raise a stink whenever a black person is involved (perhaps to attract attention toward themselves).

 

[DWPC]

I guess I would be more sympathetic to the team if Sharpton and Jackson weren’t involved. It just seems like they feel they have to raise a stink whenever a black person is involved (perhaps to attract attention toward themselves).

They are not “involved”. They have no relationship to the Rutgers women at all. They’re just exploiting it like ambulance chasers. Forget about them.

This is about Mr. Imus and how he’s enriched himself and his networks by popularizing a cynical brand of humor that’s rooted in insult and cruelty. He’s not the only one, and its time we pay attention to how his ilk are influencing our culture far more than we want to admit. Why on Earth do we invite such gutter level entertainers into our homes with their raunchy, nasty, and corrosive “humor”?

 

[aurora77]

This has absolutely nothing to do with Sharpton or Jackson, except they are, like we all should be, offended by Imus’ vicious cracks about some exceptional young women. Even with *their *records of hypersensitivity, Al and Jesse do have a right to be truly offended by this one. I don’t understand why some people seem to think Sharpton and Jackson’s interest in any way moderates or offsets Imus’ patently racist insult.

Enough with this “humor” based on cruel comments and bigotry. Imus validates the feelings in black people that whites remain hateful racists. He should be permanently dumped from the airwaves but fat chance of that.

It’s just hypocritical of them to be bigots themselves, but object to another person’s bigotry. I don’t listen to Imus, his program isn’t to my taste and I think what he said was wrong, but I have a hard time with Sharpton’s indignation. If Sharpton can make anti-Semitic comments, how can he think it’s wrong for Imus to say what he did?

 

[Cat]

I think his comments about the young athletes from Rutgers were absolutely horrible. I think he should be fired, and I think a broadcast journalism graduate from Rutgers should be given his job and allowed to make a fresh start with this radio program.

How would YOU feel if YOUR daughter were a member of an NCAA team in any sport playing for a National championship (not an easy thing to achieve), and some national media reporter with a big fat salary called her a degrading name over the airwaves?

The Rutgers team consists of young women, not media stars, not celebrities. Most of us couldn’t name one name of a Rutgers BB player. They didn’t ask to be insulted or denigrated. They just came to represent their college and play basketball. I’m sure a lot of them had never even been on TV before.

They are NCAA athletes, which means that they have to maintain some academic standards to play. The fact that they are in college is one reason to admire them, not insult them. The fact that they are playing sports in college is another reason to admire them. That’s a tough load.

Probably none of them will end up playing sports professionally, as most NCAA athletes end up in other professions. They step briefly into the public eye for a season or two, and then become just like the rest of us, good citizens earning a living and possibly raising a family.

They deserve better than cheap racial/sexual slurs from a rich DJ. He’s going to make a killing in publicity off of this, while they will get nothing out of it except distracted from their last few weeks of studying and finals.

He says he’s not a racist because of all the good things he does. Well, I personally would not want someone doing nice things for me but calling me “fatty” while they’re helping me. I would tell that person to take their good deeds elsewhere.

Yes, I agree, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Rosie O’Donnell, and others are troublemakers. It’s attention they crave. So ignore them. If everyone ignored them, they would not get any PR, and eventually, they would have to do honest work to make a living.

Their idiocy doesn’t have anything to do with what happened to the Rutgers BB team. The issue here is that some young women who deserve basic respect have been insulted publicly by a man in an influential, high-paying job who apparently has done this kind of thing before. He should be fired, they should be apologized to by the NETWORK, not just by the insulter, and all of us should be careful to remember to treat people the way we would like our DAUGHTERS to be treated.

My daughters were both on a national champion sports team in high school (synchronized skating), and I would have come up swinging if anyone had dared to use a racial or sexual slur against them and their friends.