Don Imus (Page 1 of 2)

Hey man,
Big debate you just brought up. Just wanna ask, do you think he should be fired from his job and have his livlehood destroyed for one comment. Mind you it is a radio show, he is playing a character on the radio, and he's in entertainment.

Chris Rock could of said the exact same thing and not a thing would be said. Its just his act. Imus shouldn't of said it because he should know that there is a double standard by which he will be judged. It was just part of his act he is a Shock Jock and that is what he did.

While the 1st amendment is valid (you can say whatever you want), it doesn't mean that you don't have to face repercussions from saying whatever you want, and employers don't have to let you say it at their workplace.

Even though it might be done in an entertainment fashion, or comedic diatribe, I think there is just way too many uncalled for remarks these days that give fuel to hate and discontent.

An article quoting Chris Rock just recently mentioned that even Chris thought it was time for EVERYONE to quit using the "n" word, as an example. Chris used that word many thousands of times as a term of affection or in a comedic tone and it was perfectly acceptable, but it wouldn't have been acceptable in almost any other context. The tone of the interview with Chris was that in order to expect people to not use that kind of language then everyone has to realize that its not OK.

I understand all of the arguments for Don Imus' being able to say whatever, I just think its not necessary and gets a whole negative firestorm brewing when we really and truly have either more significant matters to ponder or more positive things to enjoy. Negativity is easy, low hanging fruit that doesn't require a lot of effort to partake in.

I don't think he should be fired - firing a person for making a mistake is a little extreme. Especially if it was an expected mistake. (he's done similar before and that is part of his schtick) But I also believe that his job will survive or not based purely on the business case going forward. If people are willing to buy enough ads on his show then he will be there, if not they will fill the time slot with something else. The same is true for most all media programming.

Imus was 100% wrong for saying what he said.  He made a racist comment, but I don't think he is a racist and I don't think he deserved to be fired.  Imus has pushed the envelope before and caused some minor paper cuts, this time he went too far and the result was a massive hemorhage.  Imus used poor judgment and made a mistake.  I don't think he intentionally meant to hurt anyone, nor was his comment premeditated.  I think he is genuinely sorry, but in his position, he can't afford to be so careless with his choice of words. If the sponsors didn't withdrawl, the suspension would have worked, but in this case money talked and the bullcrap is walking.

Imus is actually a humanitarian on many levels and had no problems speaking up for the African-American victims of Katrina.  I don't consider myself a racist either, but I have to say Al Sharpton reminds me of the boy that cried wolf; many times, not always, he carries things way to the extreme and has his own agenda.  Double standards in this arena have reached the point of ridiculous and have everyone doing a balancing act on a tightrope of political correctness.

COMMENTARY
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 )

Let me say Jason Whitlock doesn't always get it right on sports and this shows one reason why.

C. Vivian Stringer has only held herself and her team with class and decorum in regards to this issue.

If it wasn't for Don Imus, her and the Rutgers team wouldn't have been involved. It is only because of his words that they are. I doubt her or her team wanted anything to do with this.   And in regards to Recruiting, they had the No. 2 team in the NCAA in the women's division so yeah, they need alot of help with recruiting.  It's not her outstanding record as a basketball coach that would get her recruits, no, it's a news conference.  Jason go back to NCAA 101.

The only agenda C. Vivian Stringer and her team have is to try to win the Title and the ladies further their education and development and maybe get into the WNBA if that is their and the teams from the WNBA desire.

Don Imus is a shock jock and I bet this was a shock for him especially since his own guy gave the rope for Imus to hang his career.  Epic.   His agenda is to make money off of hate speech.  Hate speech of everyone, even his wife.  He may end up on satelite radio.

Just because he's a shock jock, it doesn't give him license to say whatever he wants without any repercussions.  If Jason wants to recall 1963, he should know that part of what people went through was being demoralized and oppressed by these types of remarks and intentions.

Maybe this can further the discussion regarding Gangsta Rap and the ramifications it has on our communities and our youth.

Hi Susan,
I'm so glad you brought up about the Duke Students...I was thinking the same thing about Jackson and Sharpton, it's outrageous and totally unfair.  One of the opposing lawyers comments was something like...don't feel so sorry for the Duke Lacrosse players because they are white and privledged!!!   Believe me, I have so much to say on the whole subject and many of the issues that skirt it, especially reverse discrimination. As I see it, the white American male is a victim of discrimination on college campuses today. On a personal level, something happened about 2 weeks ago in my own household that still has my head spinning...a case of reverse discrimination.  But, I don't want to be the first bannned fan under the Off Topic area, so I'm not going there.

I was in Boston over Easter for about a week.  The Sunday paper had a feature story on Bill Cosby and his Ph.D paper he wrote as a student for University of Mass, still relevant 30 years after he wrote it. I'd speculate the timing of that article wasn't a coincidence.  Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are not necessarily helping the black community rise above racial injustice and problems that African-Americans face today. 

I hope something good comes from Imus being taken off the airwaves and the whole culture that promotes the wording of these racist songs is re-evaluated. Yep, I do think the free speech rights have been pushed too far on this end.  I had no idea that such a terrible song with horrible lyrics won a Grammy.  What kind of message does that send?? I also didn't realize that around 60% of the hip-hop music is being purchased by whites.  Totally irrelevant, but an African-American commentator mentioned that he would love to know what music is on the atheletes ipods. Yikes!

I may be especially tuned into this because of many factors, one being I live in New Jersey, one of my friends is a professor at Rutgers, my kids had to tell me what the last word in Imus's comment meant...my 16 year old heard it at school between white upper middle class girls kidding around...almost like calling your friend an idiot in a joking fashion. Yikes again!  AND

One of our friends has a son who plays lacrosse in college. (not Duke) Last August he was down the Jersey shore and was arrested for a hate crime against an African-American off duty Philadelphia police officer.  The officer was beaten with a baseball bat while racial slurs were yelled at him, absolutely horrible.  The officer was with 2 friends who were very drunk and identifed my friend's son along with 2 other boys he didn't even know.  Four months later, our friend's son was totally acquited as a case of mistaken identity, the 2 other boys were charged with a hate crime.  Outrageous, unfair things took place all along...in the lineup, etc.  In the meantime, his life was turned upside down...suspended from school, couldn't play on the lacrosse team, his reputation, the humiliation and on and on...No one can imagine how long four months feels when you are being charged with such a horrific crime.  The stress on the family was unbearable at times.   

What I couldn't believe overall was how judgmental people in our town were, even aquaintances of this very decent family.  Because of the bad rap of the Duke lacrosse players, people assumed this boy was capable of the same violent behavior.  And because the boy was Italian and his parents had the means to pay for his legal defense, they were capable of paying people off. (implied mob involvement)  My point is, many of these unnecessary situations have ripple effects and have a way of multiplying negatively. Stepping down from my soapbox...

Now to make light of a lot of negative stuff, maybe living in New Jersey, home of the Sopranos breeds prejudice!  And back to Imus, our wonderful governor offered his mansion in Princeton, neutral territory for the Rutgers atheletes and Imus to meet. He unfortunatley was critically injured in an auto accident on route to the meeting.  The Governor rarely wears a seatbelt and indirectly enforces our law that everyone has to wear a seatbelt!!!  The newspaper stated that the state police would surely give him his $46.00 fine when he was feeling better.  The Governor will probably never be the same, I feel sorry for his current situation, he's still in critical condition.  Maybe I'm warped, I thought it was really ironic about the seatbelt.  I can just see the opponents campaign mudslinging if Corzine runs again for office.  The world of politics, going around and coming around.

OK. Now I've joined Susan in saying my piece.

I think Phil hit the nail on the head. I don't think Imus was fired for what he said, I think he was fired because it was an "over the top, politically incorrect" statement, it brought a firestorm of attention, and the show sponsors started jumping ship. The almighty dollar was his demise.