There are probably legitimate joking uses for Imus' phrase. His was not one of them. He was not paraphrasing, putting himself in black shoes, or being ironic.

He was possibly substance-impaired, but that's no excuse. The only thing left is the door. It's not like he'll be on the street panhandling for beer money. Sayonara.

If Imus does get fired watch for him to lash out. What he said was horrid, but relatively mild compared to what you hear rappers and right wing talk radio saying every day.

Imus knows what these other cretins are saying and pretty much getting away with, and I think all this groveling he's doing is probably building some resentment inside him.

He might explode.

See a tongue-in-cheek visual of Imus and his newfound buddy, Michael Richards, hanging out and counting sheep...here:

www.thoughttheater.com

There has been a press conference, and the Rutgers womens' basketball coach will be on CNN's Situation Room today.

jconnorflynn,

Who really cares about erradicating hate speach. Let's erradicate racism.

Sure, that'll happen.  Maybe we could start by applying some accountability and fairness to the communications industry whereupon a more level playing field would compel these talentless creeps to really compete in a marketplace of ideas.

"After this, we can get all these creeps off the air who use the term 'fag' with abandon."

MJ,

From your mouth to G-d's ear. As a gay man, I will celebrate the day that happens!

Homer Hewitt

IMUS - ENOUGH ALREADY

Don Imus is now challenging the Trent Lott record for number of apologies. He has apologized daily on his show and in conversations with Al Sharpton and many others.
With the media paying undue and hyped attention to this story, his opportunities to apologize will be endless.

Imus needed to acknowledge his guilt for his thoughtless, reprehensible remark, but other than that, his sincere apology should be to the Rutgers basketball players whom he gratuitously insulted. We don't know what he may have done with respect to them or to Rutgers, but scholarship or other funds might not be a bad idea.

Those who know Don Imus, such as Tom Oliphant, are supportive since they know that he is in no way racist. That does not excuse the remark, but it certainly justifies forgiveness.

To put the matter in perspective, remember that a large part of his shtick is the cutting remark, often a bit offensive. He trades insults with his guests and attacks injustice with relentless criticism. Although close to the line, his comments are not really serious, such as when he called Governor Bill Richardson a "fat sissy" and the New York Knicks "chest-thumping pimps". Also, Imus constantly refers to Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld as "war criminals", although here he may be serious.

None of this excuses his Rutgers remark and, as Imus has said, he has been "humiliated". A two week suspension may be appropriate but cancellation of his program would not. His show is usually entertaining, it supports good charitable work, and it provides thoughtful, strong comment on political and other events by Imus and his
intelligent, influential guests.

And when generals and other high officials get away with reprimands or less for such actions as permitting Abu Ghraib or lying about Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman or Iraq's connection to 9/11 or nuclear materials, cancellation of Imus in the Morning would be overkill.

homer www.altara.blogspot.com

I don't know about Gwen Ifill and "shiv" sticking on her part - she is one class act. What a great response to Imus' crude insults and low class performance in popular media.

I don't think her point was revenge at all. Its an appeal to holding more civil standards in the hope that others don't suffer what she has in the past. Shit-canning Imus would be one good way to get the point across that insulting language and behavior are simply not acceptable in civilized society. Especially where the behavior is repetetive. What good is an apology when the perpertrator simply goes out to transgress-for-ratings again and again?

I have ALWAYS admired Ifill and am a big fan of "Washington Week." On the other hand, you can't pay me to listen/watch Imus and his ilk.

For those numbnuts that will try to make a "Free Speech" issue out of this, a reminder: 1st Amendment "free speech" is protected from state (e.g. government) action -- MSNBC is a private employer. They can - and should - fire someone for such insulting, degrading and un-civil conduct. Even if it does give ratings a temporary bounce to keep this moron on the air.

Jimmy the Greek said something far less egregious in my book and CBS fired him none-the-less. I think CBS is still on the air...?

Jimmy the Greek said: "During the slave period, the slave owner would breed his big black with his big woman so that he would have a big black kid—that's where it all started."

Remember that "Black" not "African-American" was the more widely used and politically correct term at the time (1988). "African American" was only just coming into use then.

Whatever.... go Gwen go!

Chris, it will happen. As Tony Kushner said in "Ange;s in America," history only moves forward. Of course, it lurches backwards alot too!

Very interesting -- and although I've never listened to an Imus show (I think I saw him once on Larry King and couldn't get over his drawling speech impediment), I find this whole dust-up very interesting.

Are you saying that Imus plays the role of the "court fool"? that he sticks a pin in the balloon of PR hyped celebritydom? that he is the voice of left-behind-males? of Barbara Ehrenreich's "Stiffed"?

And that this time, he put his pin in a myth (young black student-athletes) which the society isn't ready to give up on?

I imagine it might be harder to do than one thinks. For example, when Ann Coulter's daily e-mail updates are advertised on Talking Points Memo's main website...

Of course there's only so much a webhost can do to limit advertising links. However, it just shows how profitable advertisers think this kind of vile is. And, since everything in our society is run on money, well... we'll need a definite paradigm shift in bottom-line priorities.

~~~~~~~~~~~
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur.

Come visit PROJECT: Lucidity.

Speaking in my dual capacity as founder of the United Semitic Peoples' Kemalist Front (we have a few [7] high prestige single digit numbered membership cards available) and Ashkenazim for Divestiture, I implore my compatriots to eschew the conflation of "Semite" and "Israeli" (let alone the conflation of anti-Likudnik and anti-semite) One may see the swastika hidden in the mogen david without being an anti-semite.

nb. I am not a self-hating jew. I'm fine with me, it's those other guys who piss me off...

yup. Imus has a constitutionally protected right to be racist slime and he seems to exercise it regularly.

MSNBC is free to hire and fire racist slime.

I hope they will choose to exercise their freedom to fire this racist slime.

I have chosen to exercise my right as a civilized person to tune Imus and other demogogues OUT.

If enough people chose a similar exercise of freedom, Imus would have no audience, no ratings and no job.

In the broader context of public civility or whatever you wish to call all of this Imus strikes me as one of the least offensive of persons that entertain us daily. And if you include all forms of entertainment then there are a lot of people that ought not to be able to perform in any venue anywhere on this planet. I am especially mystified by black rappers that do and say the most outrageous things and get paid a lot for it with an awful lot of people paying to listen to it. I really think the black community ought to be looking inward because if there is one thing that is harming the black community in this country it is their own self-perception. The black children of this country have their self worth and perception of their place in society harmed every day because of this and nobody so much as bats an eye. There are boundless videos that depict the most awful treatment of black women by black rappers. It is nonsensical to think any of this will change if the black community doesn't change itself. Music and videos carry a powerful message and if that message is explicitly condoned within a community then the community has no authority to condemn others who do likewise. Imus was wrong and everybody gets it. I'm just not sure if the standard for rendering that judgement is commonly shared, across the board, by blacks and whites alike. My eyes and ears tell me it isn't.

thepeoplechoose

Imus was outraged at Katrina. Whoop de frickin' doo.

I don't think you were defending Imus, lally, but I just wanted to respond to that.

Imus is not a black rapper and black rappers didn't insult these women. Young women at college on scholarship ARE trying to change their community. What makes this so sickening is not just what Imus said, but the reaction of those like you who cannot see beyond what Imus said to who he said it about. This is about black college women insulted through no fault of their own.

As to blaming black rappers, I came of age listening to white rockers who had plenty of dirty language to use against white women, but I don't recall any establishment insider radio star assuming that such language applied to all white college women.

cfaller96.

Thanks for not confusing the words I quoted with my own opinions. Not all posters are so clear about those little details.

I wasn't defending Imus, but unlike the vast majority of posters on this subject, I have actually watched his program and am familiar with not only his stupid, sniggering, disgusting frat-boy "comedic" schtick but also how obsessive he gets about certain subjects that engage his interest and outrage.

Those posters who have pointed to Imus producer Bernie are correct in targetting his contributions to the tone of the show and I would add the creepy sidekick supposedly born-again Charles to the list. But Imus bears the ultimate responsibility as the roles both play are part of a long-standing mechanism employed by the show in guise of their "entertaining" comedy segments.

In addition, I have yet to see any mentions of one of the most frequent targets of Imus & company; Arabs and Muslims. They are not only used in the loose comedic sense, but are on the recieving end of real hate speech that doesn't even pretend to be funny.

Don't even get me started on the embedded sexism that runs throughout the whole program......

Bluebell's comment about rock is well stated. Mysogyny and racism in the broader culture is what we need to examine. We have plenty of examples where mysogyny and racism are held up and glorified. How many old westerns, deemed classics, are out there that show the cowboy harassing, exploiting, abusing women and people of color? How many commercials do I have to watch where something's being sold with a woman's body? Or where the value between a woman and beer is actually questioned? Even on this site there have been side-bar advertisements for checking out Paris Hilton's sex tapes or Pamela Anderson's boob falling out of her shirt. As a black woman I am constantly offended, and it's not only by rap videos! Why is no one here talking about how America really needs to take a look at itself and think about its character as a whole.

Well, if Imus goes, so should all the other "talking heads" who rave and ramp on tv and radio against "fair and balance" media! I can only hope that the ones who opened this Pandora's box is really ready for the lash-bash that may take place. So all you Rush listeners, heads up...and too all you other raving freaks who say crap and lie to hide your real intentions are given the boot!
Imus spoke with out thinking! He should be punished for his hate bashing, but this is against a sports team that is women, so what about the bashing of lies to persuade peoples views regarding the direction the Country has gone? What makes this different, only the population it bashes and not a class of people! Race is NOT the problem here, it is hate on people end of story, bottom line and all how talk rage should be give the boot right out the door!

Speaking of double standards, I'd be interested in hearing how you really feel about Arabs and/or Germans.