# Imus fights for job in wake of insults



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

AP Photo/RICHARD DREW

NEW YORK (AP) -- 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."
Imus continued to apologize Monday, both on his show and on a syndicated radio program hosted by the Rev. Al Sharpton, who is among several black leaders demanding his ouster.
Imus could be in real danger if the outcry causes advertisers to shy away from him, said Tom Taylor, editor of the trade publication Inside Radio.
"Everyone is on tenterhooks waiting to see whether it grows and whether the protest gets picked up more broadly," Taylor said.
Imus isn't the most popular radio talk show host - the trade publication Talkers ranks him the 14th most influential - but his audience is heavy on the political and media elite that advertisers pay a premium to reach. Authors, journalists and politicians are frequent guests - and targets for insults.
He has urged critics to recognize that his show is a comedy that spreads insults broadly. Imus or his cast have called Colin Powell a "sniffling weasel," New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson a "fat sissy" and referred to Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado, an American Indian, as "the guy from `F Troop.'" He and his colleagues also called the New York Knicks a group of "chest-thumping pimps."
On Sharpton's program Monday, Imus said that "our agenda is to be funny and sometimes we go too far. And this time we went way too far."
The Rutgers comment has struck a chord, in part, because it was aimed at a group of young women at the pinnacle of athletic success. It also came in a different public atmosphere following the Michael Richards and Mel Gibson incidents, said Eric Deggans, columnist for the St. Petersburg Times and chairman of the media monitoring committee of the National Association of Black Journalists, which also wants Imus canned.
"This may be the first time where he's done something like this in the YouTube era," Deggans said. Viewers can quickly see clips of Imus' remarks, not allowing him to redefine their context, he said.
On his show Monday, Imus called himself "a good person" who made a bad mistake.
"Here's what I've learned: that you can't make fun of everybody, because some people don't deserve it," he said. "And because the climate on this program has been what it's been for 30 years doesn't mean that it has to be that way for the next five years or whatever because that has to change, and I understand that."
Imus' radio show originates from WFAN in New York City and is syndicated nationally by Westwood One, both of which are managed by CBS. CBS Radio just replaced chief executive Joel Hollander with Dan Mason. With Imus' radio show reaching an estimated 2.5 million people a week, his future could conceivably be decided by CBS chief Leslie Moonves.
CBS has denounced Imus' remarks and said it will monitor his show for content.
The show is simulcast daily on MSNBC, where it reached an estimated 361,000 viewers in the first three months of the year, up 39 percent from last year. That's the best competitive position it has ever achieved against CNN (372,000 viewers).
If MSNBC were to decide against showing Imus, it would need to quickly come up with an alternative, which would almost certainly be more expensive. MSNBC is owned by NBC Universal. NBC said it was reviewing the case.
"He will survive it if he stops apologizing so much," said Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers. Imus clearly seems under corporate pressure to make amends, but he's nearly reached the point where he is alienating the fans who appreciate his grumpy outrageousness.
Even if he were to be fired, he's likely to land elsewhere in radio, Harrison said.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson and about 50 people marched Monday outside Chicago's NBC tower to protest Imus' comments. He said MSNBC should abandon Imus and MSNBC should hire more black pundits.
Julian Bond, chairman of the NAACP board of directors, said it is "past time his employers took him off the air."
"As long as an audience is attracted to his bigotry and politicians and pundits tolerate his racism and chauvinism to promote themselves, Don Imus will continue to be a serial apologist for prejudice," Bond said.
Imus was mostly contrite in his appearance with Sharpton, although the activist did not change his opinion that Imus should lose his job. At one point Imus seemed incredulous at Sharpton's suggestion that he might walk away from the incident unscathed.
"Unscathed?" Imus said. "How do you think I'm unscathed by this? Don't you think I'm humiliated?"
---

Information From: AP Wire Services


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## Andy0921 (Jan 12, 2006)

You should have heard Sharpton running his mouth about this...


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## justanotherparatrooper (Aug 27, 2006)

I cant stand the guy, he farts out his mouth.


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## KozmoKramer (Apr 25, 2004)

This is a outrage!! THIS-IS-A-OUTRAGE!!
I only hope Jesse "Hymietown" Jackson and Al "Not To" Sharpton (you know, the guy behind the little Tawana Brawley and "Kill the Jew" peccadilloes are as self-critical...

Fuckin hypocritical assholes... "Nappy Headed Ho's"... Big f'ing deal...
I'd love to hear how Rutgers female BB players speak in the locker-room. It would make even the most hardcore Masscoppers blush.
3 Cheers for Political Correctness folks!!!


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## pahapoika (Nov 5, 2006)

PC run amuck


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## Andy0921 (Jan 12, 2006)

KozmoKramer said:


> This is a outrage!! THIS-IS-A-OUTRAGE!!
> I only hope Jesse "Hymietown" Jackson and Al "Not To" Sharpton (you know, the guy behind the little Tawana Brawley and "Kill the Jew" peccadilloes are as self-critical...
> 
> Fuckin hypocritical assholes... "Nappy Headed Ho's"... Big f'ing deal...
> ...


Amen, brother!


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## sdb29 (Jul 17, 2002)

Ya know, I remember a song a long time ago by Stevie Wonder- I don't remember he song, but I remember a line in it that went something like "thinking back to when I was a nappy headed little boy". 

So it's ok sometimes but not others? Some can do or say it but others can't?

Geez I think some a those suck a** syncopants write policy for my department.


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## SOT (Jul 30, 2004)

Well it only took Imus 40 years to get to where Howard Stern was about 2 years into his career.


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## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*Sorry Imus booted, but only for two weeks*
By *Gayle Fee & Laura Raposa*


*CBS Radio* and *MSNBC* suspended radioactive blowhard *Don Imus* last night in the wake of his "nappy-headed 'hos" fiasco. But the racially charged controversy...


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## spdawg0734 (Nov 25, 2004)

1984 Thought police alive and well!


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## OutOfManyOne (Mar 2, 2006)

Wolfman said:


> What, a has-been? I lost any respect for the man the minute he placed his whining apologetic nose in Al Sharpton's ass.
> 
> Nature of his comments notwithstanding, this is America, and if you can burn our flag and call it free speech Imus should be able to state his opinion and if you don't like it, don't listen to him. The past 48 hours of him saying he's sorry only empowers the PC terrorists who will dictate how the rest of us think and speak.


 While I agree with you on freedom of speech, he is an employee of CBS and NBC, so he represented them when he made those statements. I am sure if you called someone a nappy headed ho when issuing a cite , the Colonel would not be too happy.:mrgreen:


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## Guest (Apr 10, 2007)

Wolfman said:


> What, a has-been? I lost any respect for the man the minute he placed his whining apologetic nose in Al Sharpton's ass.
> 
> Nature of his comments notwithstanding, this is America, and if you can burn our flag and call it free speech Imus should be able to state his opinion and if you don't like it, don't listen to him. The past 48 hours of him saying he's sorry only empowers the PC terrorists who will dictate how the rest of us think and speak.


:dito:



OutOfManyOne said:


> While I agree with you on freedom of speech, he is an employee of CBS and NBC, so he represented them when he made those statements. I am sure if you called someone a nappy headed ho when issuing a cite , the Colonel would not be too happy.


You're comparing apples to moonrocks. As a talk show host, it's Imus' job to comment on politics, current events, etc. It's not a police officer's job to offer commentary in the line of duty.

I absolutely despise Don Imus, simply because I think he's an arrogant windbag, but I fully support his right to free speech. He should have told everyone to lighten-up, and been done with it.


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## SOT (Jul 30, 2004)

not to confuse the issue further, this is NOT a free speech issue at all.
This is a money issue, free speech is your right to say what you want, it's not the right for you as an employee of a corporation to say what you want.
If the corporation deems it offensive, that is up to them...and that IS NOT a free speech issue. That is a corp decision based on potential loss of revenue.


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## Deuce (Sep 27, 2003)

SHAME! SHAME SHAME SHAME!! Shame on Imus. How dare he speak like that. And hooray for everyone who's all over his ass. 

Imus is just wrong.. *None* of dem hoes had nappy hair....


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## OutOfManyOne (Mar 2, 2006)

_(PS: I don't issue cites. I fix TV sets.)
Just old TV sets or newer Plasmas too? 

_


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## Guest (Apr 10, 2007)

SOT said:


> not to confuse the issue further, this is NOT a free speech issue at all.
> This is a money issue, free speech is your right to say what you want, it's not the right for you as an employee of a corporation to say what you want.
> If the corporation deems it offensive, that is up to them...and that IS NOT a free speech issue. That is a corp decision based on potential loss of revenue.


It absolutely is a free speech issue. What Imus' employers choose to do about it is a corporate decision, but he has the right to say it.


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## NewEngland2007 (Dec 31, 2005)

So when is Al Sharpton having all the hip hop "artists" on his show to answer for their idiocy? Or are we not supposed to bring that up?


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## SOT (Jul 30, 2004)

I agree that he has the right to say it as a person but maybe not as an employee of a company.

Examples include crap that you can do at home and say at home but would not get away with at work as it creates a hostile work environment.



Delta784 said:


> It absolutely is a free speech issue. What Imus' employers choose to do about it is a corporate decision, but he has the right to say it.


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## spdawg0734 (Nov 25, 2004)

I had three parographs and lost them, let me start again cause my blood is boiling. It is not a money or corporation issue, my point is that we are living in an age where our thoughts, words and expressions are constantly being policed by the PC/thought police. Have you noticed how you can not have a conversation now a days without literaly looking over your shoulder to see who is listening. For fear that the thought guestapo is going to report you to their lawyer as opposed to the govt to suck money or destroy you personaly? That is something I saw in movies about living under communist rule, but no... it is everywhere in our sociaty. Now I do not subscribe to vulgaraty in speech, I cant stand Howard Stern for example because he is just disgusting, but as an adult I can listen to him or turn him off. Imus i can take or leave, and I do not support degrading comments but to be honest, I laughed at the statement and took it for what it was, an attempt at adult humor. What also bothers me is that I have heard more degrading statemtents directed at Condolezza Rice and Colin Powel directly by name and with intent to degrade by the very left individuals who are so upset at this stupid comment. As a Black man, I am extremely proud of Ms Rice and Mr. Powel, I am also supportive of President Bush, for he is the only president in the history of the office that actualy placed men and women of color in the most powerful positions in government for their merit and because he believes in them. But no, the so called leaders that are so offended at the ho comment, never raised an eyebrow at Harry Belafontes house ***** comment directed at Mr. Powel and the questioning of the blackness of Ms Rice. These two fine americans that should be celebrated in every corner of this country by those of us of color are constantly degraded by the same community they proudly represent. But no.....Silence is what you hear from those that march today. The thought/pc police dictate what our morals should be toward marrige, imigration, religion, security. Any diviation opens you to a barage of insults and attacks in the most disgusting manner. Those attacks like the likes of Fatty O'Donnel, are celebrated and applauded by the rest of the sheep in this country. Our soldiers fight back and we are oppressors, the British pussy out and they are heroes. The Iranians kidnap our allies and they are praised for their defense of their border, our border patrol engages smugglers looking to poison our sociaty and we put them in jail. Thugs shoot children and innocent people on the streets of Boston, and everyone wants to find out what is wrong with them and how sociaty has failed them, A police officer in the execution of his duty fires a gun, and all they want is his head on a spit while all the simpathy is left for the criminal..... he was just turning his life around. Scooter Libby could not remember a conversation with a reporter- he should be sent to jail, liar scum bastard. A Democrat President lies on camera and under oath, and thats ok....it is a conspiracy... he should be given a new chance.... he is the first real black president... (never appointed a person of color to a position that matters) but he and his wife are the darling of Al Sharpton and Jacksons of the world. Imus jokes about hoes and they want to hang him from a yard arm... black and white rappers celebrate drug trafficking, murder, rape in their songs and they are held as artists expressing life...... Have I made you puke yet? The sheep in this country are unraveling the very fabric of this society, that is part of the implication of the Imus thing. Stay Safe


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## SOT (Jul 30, 2004)

No, the Imus thing it's a corporate issue. The rest of the stuff, well that's the difference between people some are smart some are dumb...the problem is there's a lot more dumb people now...blame it on the welfare state.


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## KozmoKramer (Apr 25, 2004)

What a shocker; MSNBC announced they dropped the IMUS in the Morning simulcast.

MSNBC drops simulcast of Don Imus show 
Network apologizes to Rutgers women's basketball team for racial remarks
MSNBC staff and news service reports
Updated: 7:50 p.m. ET April 11, 2007
NEW YORK - MSNBC said Wednesday it will drop its simulcast of the "Imus in the Morning" radio program, responding to growing outrage over the radio host's racial slur against the Rutgers women's basketball team.
In a statement, NBC News announced "this decision comes as a result of an ongoing review process, which initially included the announcement of a suspension. It also takes into account many conversations with our own employees. What matters to us most is that the men and women of NBC Universal have confidence in the values we have set for this company. This is the only decision that makes that possible."
The network statement went on to say, "Once again, we apologize to the women of the Rutgers basketball team and to our viewers. We deeply regret the pain this incident has caused."
(MSNBC TV is wholly owned by NBC Universal. MSNBC.com is a joint venture between NBC Universal and Microsoft).
The network's decision came after a growing list of sponsors - including American Express Co., Staples Inc., Procter & Gamble Co., and General Motors Corp. - said they were pulling ads from Imus' show for the indefinite future.
But it did not end calls for Imus to be fired from the radio portion of his program. The show originates from WFAN-AM in New York City and is syndicated nationally by Westwood One, both of which are managed by CBS Corp. For its part, CBS has not announced plans to discontinue the show.
Before the announcement was made, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) had appeared on the MSNBC program "Hardball," where host David Gregory asked the senator and presidential candidate if he thought Imus should be fired.

"I don't think MSNBC should be carrying the kinds of hateful remarks that Imus uttered the other day," Obama said. 
He went on to note that he and his wife have "two daughters who are African-American, gorgeous, tall, and I hope, at some point, are interested enough in sports that they get athletic scholarships. ... I don't want them to be getting a bunch of information that, somehow, they're less than anybody else. And I don't think MSNBC should want to promote that kind of language."
Obama went on to say that he would not be a guest on Imus' show in the future.

The rest of the story:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17999196/


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## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

Gov. Deval Patrick joined a growing chorus of voices condemning the racial comments of radio shock-jock Don Imus. (Staff photo by David Goldman)


*Deval on Imus and his slurs: 'I'm sick of it'*
By *Casey Ross*
Gov. Deval Patrick launched into an angry condemnation of radio host Don Imus yesterday...

» *Eagan:* Media hypocrisy muddles realities of race issues

» WTKK says it won't pull plug on shock jock

» *Arrends*: He turns you off? Then don't tune in

» Imus' ouster all about advertisers


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## SinePari (Aug 15, 2004)

The commie Bill Maher was on O'Reilly the other day but made a good point. He said we have a culture of "fake outrage" because it's the "in" thing to do. Imus is the only morning radio I listen to. Hillman is tired and Stern doesn't do it for me. Imus has called the president a slave driving criminal, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the rest of the high-powered officials have been called worse than nappy-headed hoes. Fake outrage, it brings corporate lackies (not "reverends") like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton $$$. If you listen to his show, and I'm sure the Rutgers basketball team didn't even know who Imus was until this, you'd know that everyone is lambasted by the crew there.


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## SOT (Jul 30, 2004)

That fake outrage thing sounds about right....but heck these are college girls trying to be good students and basketball players, save the racial insults for the thugs that are a growing portion of the NBA, white, black, or whatever.


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## Guest (Apr 12, 2007)

FIRED as of Monday.............


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## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*More Crap:*

*TIME COVER: WHO CAN SAY WHAT?...** 
**IMUS DROPPED FROM MSNBC...*

**VIDEO: NBCNEWS PRESIDENT...**

**CBS puts off any further action... *

*Obama calls for Imus to be fired...**

**Hillary: 'I've never wanted to go on his show...**

**Rosie on Imus: 'Thought police' are coming...**

**Pa. DJ Fired for Repeating Imus Comments...*


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## USMCTrooper (Oct 23, 2003)

*Imus fired by CBS in wake of Rutgers remarks *

New York, NY (Sports Network) - Radio personality Don Imus was fired from his CBS Radio job on Thursday, one day after MSNBC said it would no longer simulcast the "Imus in the Morning" radio show in the wake of derogatory remarks about the Rutgers women's basketball team. 
Imus was originally suspended for two weeks from MSNBC and CBS Radio, but he was lifted from the cable TV network Wednesday after a series of protests called for his ouster. 
The final blow to one of the nation's most recognized broadcasters came Thursday in an announcement from CBS President and Chief Executive Officer Leslie Moonves. "From the outset, I believe all of us have been deeply upset and revulsed by the statements that were made on our air about the young women who represented Rutgers University in the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship with such class, energy and talent," Moonves said in a statement. "Those who have spoken with us the last few days represent people of goodwill from all segments of our society - all races, economic groups, men and women alike. In our meetings with concerned groups, there has been much discussion of the effect language like this has on our young people, particularly young women of color trying to make their way in this society. That consideration has weighed most heavily on our minds as we made our decision, as have the many emails, phone calls and personal discussions we have had with our colleagues across the CBS Corporation and our many other constituencies."


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## sdb29 (Jul 17, 2002)

Wolfman said:


> ...and the world continues to end...


Who was the author that said something like, "And thus so it ends, not with a bang, but a wimper."


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## MCPHS401 (Feb 13, 2007)

Well, the first amendment was fun while it lasted, see you later free speech, nice knowing you.


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## spdawg0734 (Nov 25, 2004)

JakeDodge said:


> Well, the first amendment was fun while it lasted, see you later free speech, nice knowing you.


Speech is free if depending on who you are and if what you say is PC. Like I said the 1984 Thought Police is in the house, the fabric of this country is being unraveled and hypocracy rules the day.


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## Irish Wampanoag (Apr 6, 2003)

Like I have stated in other posts, facisim is creeping into the good ol USA. I better get fitted for my nazi uniform!!!


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## JoninNH (Jan 29, 2004)

Irish Wampanoag said:


> I better get fitted for my nazi uniform!!!


Take the State Police exam like everyone else!

From TIME Mag:

Say this for Don Imus: the man knows how to turn an economical phrase. When the radio shock jock described the Rutgers women's basketball team, on the April 4 Imus in the Morning, as "nappy-headed hos," he packed so many layers of offense into the statement that it was like a perfect little diamond of insult. There was a racial element, a gender element and even a class element (the joke implied that the Scarlet Knights were thuggish and ghetto compared with the Tennessee Lady Vols). 
Imus was a famous, rich, old white man picking on a bunch of young, mostly black college women. So it seemed pretty cut-and-dried that his bosses at CBS Radio would suspend his show - half frat party, half political salon for the Beltway elite - for two weeks, and that MSNBC would cancel the TV simulcast. And that Imus would plan to meet with the students he offended. Case closed, justice served, lesson -possibly - learned. Move on. 
But a reasonable person could ask, What was the big deal? And I don't mean the lots-of-black-rappers-say-"hos" argument, though we'll get to that. Rather, I mean, what celebrity isn't slurring some group nowadays? 
I exaggerate slightly. But our culture has experienced an almost psychotic outburst of -isms in the past year. Michael Richards and "******." Isaiah Washington and "******." Senator George Allen and "macaca." Mel Gibson and "f__ing Jews." 
But we also live in a culture in which racially and sexually edgy material is often - legitimately - considered brilliant comment, even art. Last year's most critically praised comedy, _Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan_, won Sacha Baron Cohen a Golden Globe for playing a Kazakh journalist who calls Alan Keyes a "genuine chocolate face" and asks a gun-shop owner to suggest a good piece for killing a Jew. Quentin Tarantino has made a career borrowing tropes from blaxploitation movies. In the critics-favorite sitcom _The Sarah Silverman Program_, the star sleeps with God, who is African American and who she assumes is "God's black friend." And the current season of _South Park_ opened with an episode about a Michael Richards-esque controversy erupting when a character blurts the word ******* on _Wheel of Fortune_. (He answers a puzzle - N-GGERS - for which the clue is "People who annoy you"; the correct answer is "naggers.") 
This is not to say that _Borat_ made Imus do it or to make excuses for Imus. Even in the midst of his apology tour last week, Imus did enough of that for himself, citing his charity work, his support of black Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr., even his booking the black singing group Blind Boys of Alabama on his show. (He didn't mention how, last fall, he groused about persuading the "money grubbing" "Jewish management" to okay the booking.) 
But in the middle of his stunning medley of sneer, apology and rationalization, Imus asked a pretty good question: "This phrase that I use, it originated in the black community. That didn't give me a right to use it, but that's where it originated. Who calls who that and why? We need to know that. I need to know that." 
So let's ask. 
Imus crossed a line, boorishly, creepily, paleolithically. But where is that line nowadays? In a way, the question is an outgrowth of something healthy in our society: the assumption that there is a diverse audience that is willing to talk about previously taboo social distinctions more openly, frankly and daringly than before. It used to be assumed that people were free to joke about their own kind (with some license for black comedians to talk about how white people dance). Crossing those lines was the province of the occasional "socially conscious artist," like Dick Gregory or Lenny Bruce, who was explicit about his goals: in Bruce's words, to repeat "'niggerniggernigger' until the word [didn't] mean anything anymore." 
Now, however, we live in a mash-up world, where people - especially young people - feel free to borrow one another's cultural signifiers. In a now classic episode of _Chappelle's Show_, comic Dave Chappelle plays a blind, black white supremacist who inadvertently calls a carload of rap-listening white boys "*******." The kids' reaction: "Did he just call us *******? Awesome!" The country is, at least, more pop-culturally integrated - one nation under Jessica Alba, J. Lo and Harold & Kumar - and with that comes greater comfort in talking about differences. 
But that's a harder attitude for older people - who grew up with more cultural and actual segregation - to accept or to mimic. Part of the problem with Imus' joke was that it was so tone-deaf. "That's some rough girls from Rutgers," he said. "Man, they got tattoos ... That's some nappy-headed hos there." The joke played badly in every community, raising memories of beauty bias (against darker skin and kinkier hair) that dates back to slavery. Tracy Riley, 37, of Des Moines, Iowa, who is of mixed race, said the incident was among her four kids' first exposures to overt racism. "Our kids don't see color the way we do," she said. "They don't see it as much. 'You're my friend or not,' but it's not about race.'" 
The line was as damning as anything for what it suggested about Imus' thought process: a 66-year-old white male country-music fan rummaging in his subconscious for something to suggest that some young black women looked scary, and coming up with a reference to African-American hair and a random piece of rap slang. (Maybe because older, male media honchos are more conscious of - and thus fixated on - race than gender, much of the coverage of Imus ignored the sexual part of the slur on a show with a locker-room vibe and a mostly male guest list. If Imus had said "******" rather than "hos," would his bosses have waited as long to act?) 
So who gets to say "ho," in an age when _Pimp My Ride_ is an innocent car show and _It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp_ is an Oscar-winning song? As even Essence Carlson, one of the Rutgers students Imus insulted, acknowledged at a press conference, black rap artists labeled young black women as "hos" long before Imus did. And while straight people may not be able to say "******," _Queer Eye for the Straight Guy_ and _Will & Grace_ helped mainstream the nonhostile gay joke for straight people. But all this reappropriation and blurring - distinguishing a good-natured "That's so gay!" from a homophobic one - has created a situation in which, when Richards went off on his Laugh Factory rant, it was possible to wonder if he was playing a character. 
The license to borrow terms other people have taken back can worry even edgy comics. A few months ago, I interviewed Silverman, who argued that her material was not racist but about racism (and I agree). But she added something that surprised me, coming from her: "I'm not saying 'I can say ****** because I'm liberal.' There is a certain aspect of that that I'm starting to get grossed out by. 'Oh, we're not racist. We can say it.'" 
Comedians work through these danger zones in the presence of other comics. In a comedians' get-together or a TV writers' room, nothing is off-limits: without airing the joke that goes too far, you can never get to the joke that flies in front of an audience. Trouble might come if material meant for that smaller audience went public, as in 1993, when Ted Danson got in trouble after word got out of a Friars Club routine he did in blackface, though his jokes were defended - and reportedly written by - his then girlfriend Whoopi Goldberg. 
Today, because of cable and YouTube, because of a media culture that rewards the fastest, least censoring mouth, we are all in the writers' room. (Friars Club roasts are now televised on Comedy Central.) Punditry and gonzo comedy have become less and less distinguishable. (And I'm not talking here about _The Daily Show_, whose host Jon Stewart is, ironically, one of the most conservative defenders of the idea of sober, evenhanded news - see his 2004 tirade against Tucker Carlson.) Got something on your mind? Say it! Don't think about it! If you don't, the next guy in the greenroom will! C'mon, it'll kill! 
Right-wing pundit Ann Coulter is probably the best example of this, playing a constant game of "Can you top this?" with herself, as in March, when she told the Conservative Political Action Conference that she would have a comment on Senator John Edwards, "but it turns out that you have to go into rehab if you use the word ******." Coulter is only the most egregious example - from Bill O'Reilly on Fox to Glenn Beck on CNN, offense is the coin of the cable realm. 
The flip side of the instant-attention era is the gotcha era. We may be more inured to shock than ever, but when someone manages to find and cross a line, we're better able to generate, spread and sustain offense. You get eaten by the same tiger that you train. Imus got special love from the media over the years because his show was such a media hangout. But when the controversy erupted, it snowballed in part because the media love to cover the media. 
Every public figure - athlete, pundit, actor - now has two audiences: the one he or she is addressing and the one that will eventually read the blogs or see the viral video. A few have adapted, like Stephen Colbert, whose routine at last year's White House Correspondents' Association dinner was decried by attendees as rude and shrill - but made him a hero to his YouTube audience. Imus, a 30-plus-year veteran of radio shock, seemed to underestimate the power of the modern umbrage-amplification machine. The day after his remarks, Imus said dismissively on air that people needed to relax about "some idiot comment meant to be amusing." Shockingly, they did not, and by the next day, Imus had tapped an inner wellspring of deepest regret. 
As in so many scandals, the first response may have been the most authentic - at least we're inclined to take it that way because the contrition cycle has become so familiar. You blurt. You deny. You apologize. You visit the rehab center or speak with the Official Minority Spokesperson of your choice and go on with your life. Although - or maybe because - it's so easy to get caught today, it's also easier to get forgiven. In 1988 Jimmy (the Greek) Snyder was fired by CBS for saying black athletes were "bred" to be better than whites. In 1996 CBS golf analyst Ben Wright was suspended indefinitely after he was quoted as saying that lesbians had hurt the sport. 
To his credit, Imus never played the "I'm sick" card. Perhaps he felt confident because he had been legitimized by his high-profile guests. Imus could have made a remark just as bad years ago and suffered few if any consequences. Scratch that: Imus did make remarks as bad or worse for years. Speaking about Gwen Ifill, the African-American PBS anchor who was then White House correspondent for the New York _Times_, he said, "Isn't the _Times_ wonderful? It lets the cleaning lady cover the White House." He called a Washington _Post_ writer a "boner-nosed, beanie-wearing ******" and Arabs "towelheads." 
Yet politicians and journalists (including TIME writers) still went on his show to plug their candidacies and books because Imus knew how to sell. "If Don Imus likes a book," says Katie Wainwright, executive director of publicity at publisher Hyperion, "not only does he have the author on, he will talk about it before, during and after, often for weeks afterwards." The price: implicitly telling America that the mostly white male Beltway elite is cool with looking the other way at racism. They compartmentalized the lengthy interviews he did with them from the "bad" parts of the show, though the boundary was always a little porous. And evidently many still do. "Solidarity forever," pledged Boston _Globe_ columnist Tom Oliphant in a phone interview with Imus on April 9. Senator John McCain and Rudolph Giuliani said they would return to the show. "I called him a little while ago to talk to him about it personally," Giuliani told the New York _Times_. "And I believe that he understands that he made a very big mistake." (Senator Barack Obama, who appeared on the show once, has said he will not go back; other politicians have hedged.) 
In fact, while there might be more media and blogger scrutiny of Imus' future guests, his suspension may have inoculated them - if his radio show survives. The show draws 2 million daily listeners, and it's a more valuable property on radio than it was on TV. (It brings in about $15 million annually for CBS Radio compared with several million for MSNBC.) But the show has already lost advertisers, including American Express, Staples and Procter & Gamble. 
Imus argued repeatedly that his critics should consider the "context" of his larger life, including the formidable work for sick children he does through his Imus Ranch charity. But it's not Imus Ranch he broadcasts from 20 hours a week. You can't totally separate the lives of celebrities from their work - it didn't excuse Gibson that he attacked the Jews in his free time - but finally what determines who can make what jokes is the context of their work: the tone of their acts, the personas they present, the vehicles they create for their work. 
That context is not as kind to Imus. He comes out of the shock jock tradition, but all shock jocks are not created equal. If Opie & Anthony or Mancow had made the "nappy-headed" comment, it wouldn't have been a blip because future Presidents do not do cable-news interviews with Opie & Anthony and Mancow. 
Then there's personality, or at least persona. Compared with Imus, for instance, his rival Howard Stern may be offensive, but he's also self-deprecating, making fun of his own satyrism, looks and even manly endowment. Imus doesn't take it nearly as well as he dishes it out. His shtick is all cowboy-hatted swagger, and his insults set him up as superior to his targets and the alpha dog to his supplicant guests. 
Imus uses jokes to establish his power, in other words. He's hardly the only humorist to do that. But making jokes about difference - race, gender, sexual orientation, the whole list - is ultimately about power. You need to purchase the right to do it through some form of vulnerability, especially if you happen to be a rich, famous white man. But the I-Man - his radio persona, anyway - is not about vulnerability. (The nickname, for Pete's sake: I, Man!) That's creepy enough when he's having a big-name columnist kiss his ring; when he hurled his tinfoil thunderbolts at a team of college kids, it was too much. "Some people have said, 'Well, he says this all the time,'" Rutgers' team captain Carson told TIME. "But does that justify the remarks he's made about anyone?" 
Of course, assessing Imus' show is a subjective judgment, and setting these boundaries is as much an aesthetic call as a moral one. It's arbitrary, nebulous and, yes, unfair. Who doesn't have a list of artists or leaders whose sins they rationalize: Elvis Costello for calling Ray Charles a "blind, ignorant ******," Eminem for peppering his lyrics with "******," Jesse Jackson for "Hymietown," D.W. Griffith for lionizing the Klan or T.S. Eliot for maligning Jews? 
You might say that there's no excuse and that I'm as big a hypocrite as Imus' defenders for suggesting that there is one. Which may be true. That's finally why "Where's the line?" is a misleading question. There are as many lines as there are people. We draw and redraw them by constantly arguing them. This is how we avoid throwing out the brilliance of a Sacha Baron Cohen - who offends us to point out absurdities in our society, not just to make "idiot comments meant to be amusing" - with a shock jock's dirty bathwater. It's a draining, polarizing but necessary process. 
Which may be why it was such a catharsis to see the Rutgers players respond to Imus at their press conference in their own words. "I'm a woman, and I'm someone's child," said Kia Vaughn. "I achieve a lot. And unless they've given this name, a 'ho,' a new definition, then that is not what I am." She stood with her teammates, a row of unbowed, confident women. For a few minutes, anyway, they drew a line we could all agree on and formed a line we could all get behind. 
_With reporting by Jeremy Caplan, Lina Lofaro and Andrea Sachs/New York and Betsy Rubiner/Des Moines_


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## SinePari (Aug 15, 2004)

John...who is going to read ALL of that??? Just that facts, man.


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## sdb29 (Jul 17, 2002)

Advertised for sale on "Froogle"-

"I'm a nappy headed ho" T shirts.


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