Imus Censured for violating 'double-standards' clause.

[Gurm]

So in case nobody is aware, Don Imus has been yanked from the air pending further discipline.

Why?

Because he referred to members of the Rutgers' womens basketball team as "nappy headed hos".

Was this an insensitive remark? Sure. But doesn't he get PAID to make insensitive remarks?

The 'net is abuzz with people upset because Imus has said "such a highly racist thing".

REEEEEEEALLLY?

It's ok for Farrakhan and Sharpton to insist that all whites must die - and they're SERIOUS. It's ok for Chris Rock to - as humor - use all manner of foul derogatory terms for whites. But since when is 'nappy headed' a slur?

Allow me to quote the great Stevie Wonder... "Lookin' back on when I was a little nappy-headed boy..." if Stevie puts it in a song, it's not a racial slur. That's my take on things, anyway.

And... so what?

My personal take on things? It's because he insulted a basketball team. It's a 3-for-1 in America's hypocritical sacrosanct catalogue:

- Blacks
- Women
- Basketball (esp. College Ball)

You can get away with insulting a race. You can get away with insulting women. But you just can't **** with college ball!

[rylan]

This will probably end up getting moved to the political forum, but never know, everyone might have a civilized discussion here

Yeah I've been following this, and I'm a long time listener to the Imus radio program. Imus is being suspended for two weeks because of the remark. If anyone heard it, it was obviously part of an unplanned joke, and was said while laughing.

I don't think its because he insulted a basketball team. I think all of the media attention is because there are a lot of people in the media who are trying to further their agenda, along with the likes of Al Sharpton and other professional race-card wielders. Imus is a perfect target for them, because he has a lot of political influence, and if they got rid of him there would be one less person to stand up against the PC censorship crowd.

[cjolley]

this was not an isolated slip by Imus.

http://www.slate.com/id/2163872/

On blacks:

"William Cohen, the Mandingo deal." (Former Defense Secretary Cohen's wife is African-American.)
"Wasn't in a woodpile, was he?" (Responding to news that former black militant H. Rap Brown, subsequently known as Abdullah Al-Amin, was found hiding in a shed in Alabama after exchanging gunfire with police. Imus is here alluding to the expression "nigger in the woodpile.")
"Knuckle-dragging moron." (Description of basketball player Patrick Ewing.)
"We all have 12-inch penises." (After being asked what he has in common with Nat Turner, Malcolm X, Minister Louis Farrakhan, Latrell Sprewell from the New York Knicks, and Al Sharpton.)
"Chest-thumping pimps." (Description of the New York Knicks.)
"A cleaning lady." (Reference to journalist Gwen Ifill, possibly out of pique that she wouldn't appear on his show. "I certainly don't know any black journalists who will," she wrote in the April 10 New York Times. The Chicago Tribune's Clarence Page used to appear, but after he made Imus pledge not to make offensive comments in the future, he was never asked back.)

On Jews:

"I remember when I first had [the Blind Boys of Alabama] on a few years ago, how the Jewish management at whatever, whoever we work for, CBS, or whatever it is, were bitching at me about it. […] I tried to put it in terms that these money-grubbing bastards could understand."
"Boner-nosed … beanie-wearing Jewboy." (Description of Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post, a frequent guest.)

On women:

"That buck-tooth witch Satan, Hillary Clinton." […] "I never admitted it when I went down there and got in all that big jam, insulting Bill Clinton and his fat ugly wife, Satan. Did I? Did I ever say I was sorry for that?"

On Native Americans:

"The guy from F-Troop, Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell." (This is a reference to the zany Indian characters on the 1960s TV sitcom F-Troop. They had names like "Roaring Chicken," "Crazy Cat," and "Chief Wild Eagle.")

On Japanese:

"Old Kabuki's in a coma and the market's going up. […] How old is the boy? The battery's running down on that boy." (Reference to Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, who died the following week.)

On gays:

"I didn't know that Allan Bloom was coming in from the back end." (The homosexuality of the author of The Closing of the American Mind became widely known when Saul Bellow published Ravelstein, a novel whose protagonist was based on Bloom, who by then was deceased.)
"The enormously attractive [NBC political correspondent] Chip Reid, I can say without being accused of being some limp-wristed 'mo."

On the handicapped:

"Janet Reno's having a press conference. Ms. Reno, of course, has Parkinson's disease, has a noticeable tremor. […] I don't know how she gets that lipstick on (laughter) looking like a rodeo clown."

Every one of these statements came directly out of Imus' mouth on his program. That's striking because Imus usually leaves it to other show regulars (especially McGuirk, the aforementioned point man on "nigger" jokes) to say the most offensive stuff, with Imus feeding them straight lines. It's safer that way.

[Jon P. Inghram]

What I'm confused about is, how'd anyone find out? Do people actually listen to Imus?

[rylan]

Sure, take a bunch of quotes out of context without understanding how his show works. Do that do almost anyone and it makes them look like crap. Hell, I could do that here and pull some choice quotes out of context from various threads and start waving the race card.

The point is that its beyond hypocritical for the so called minority leaders like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson and even the large media groups to be going after Imus when they allow worse things to be said by members of their own minority group.

[Gurm]

It's racism, is what it is.

Black "celebrities" are allowed to say "white honkies all rape babies and should die".

But I can't say "nigger" without getting lynched? That's RACISM.

[Dr Mordrid]

They're all shams; Don Imus, Howard Stern, Jessie Jackson & Al Sharpton are all scum and deserve each other. If you listen to them shame on you.

[Jon P. Inghram]

They're all shams; Don Imus, Howard Stern, Jessie Jackson & Al Sharpton are all scum and deserve each other. If you listen to them shame on you.

Guess it's a good thing the only talk radio show I ever listen to is Don & Mike.

[Dr Mordrid]

I listen to WJR 760's Paul W. Smith and Frank Beckmann.

Hard news/business/sports talk & not for wimps

[rylan]

Theres a difference. Don Imus has raised over $100 million for charaties, and its all gone directly to helping people.
The two professional race pimps Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton only make a big stink to make money for themselves on by appearing for speeches.

As Gurm said, its a 100% double standard and racism coming from these activist groups.

[Dr Mordrid]

So if you give money to charity it gives you a pass for being a racist, misogynistic a$$hole for 40+ years on a publicly regulated resource (radio)?

Pfffftttt....

That said Sharpton, Jackson, the rappers and the companies that produce them are likewise class AAA jerks. I hope they all burn.

[schmosef]

MSNBC drops simulcast of Don Imus show:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17999196/

[rylan]

I never said that giving money makes it OK to be a racist etc. However, since when is Imus a racist? Hes made jokes about everybody over the years, and it wasn't said with malice or while going off on a rant like other people recently (Mel Gibson etc). It was a passing joke, said in extremely poor taste. I don't think his career should be destroyed (and thereby damaging all of the childrens groups he helps) because some special interest groups and "leaders" want to futher their own personal political aspirations and views.

Its the hyprocisy and double standard that ticks me off the most. If some black person said it, nobody would be talking about it. Sharpton can insult whites and others as much as he wants, and women's groups can bash men all they want, but nothing can even be insinuated the other way without getting a full force attack.

[Dr Mordrid]

Agreed, but he's still an a'hole who's abused people for years on and off the air. If those kids were so important to him he'd have not put them at risk.

Good riddance.

[rylan]

I can see your point from that perspective.