2008 Woodie Awards
Imus gets booted...twice
Luca Pataro, Staff Writer
Issue date: 4/18/07 Section: Editorials and Opinion
Comedian
and radio talkshow
host Don
Imus, who had
been talking to
nearly half a million people in New York every morning
since 1979 through his radio show "Imus in the Morning,"
received severe criticism last week after he made comments
on the air about the Rutgers University Women's
basketball team, calling them "nappy-headed ho's."
CBS, along with MSNBC the day before, officially
cancelled Imus' show, meaning that he will no longer be
seen on TV or heard on the radio.
"In our meetings with concerned groups, there has
been much discussion of the effect language like this has
on our young people, particularly women of color trying
to make their way in this society," CBS chief executive
Leslie Moonves told The New York Times last Thursday.
Imus, who apologized several times for his mistake,
admitted having gone "too far." He was evenly sitting on
the other side of the table a few days after the incident
when Rev. Al Sharpton asked for him to take part in his
syndicated radio show. Sharpton, who was upset and
expressed his wishes to see Imus fired immediately, asked
him during his show, "Do you repent once a decade?"
Imus answered, "What makes a difference, a crucial difference
is, what was my intent?"
Imus said that he intended to be funny and that he
simply wanted to make a joke, which failed miserably.
How do you make a joke by calling a women's basketball
team comprised mostly of black women "ho's" and then
expect laughs? In fact, there is a crucial difference
between a joke and an insult.
Rutgers coach Vivian Stringer, whose team was given
a chance to speak in a press conference to express its outrage,
said last Thursday that the team is accepting Imus'
apologies and was "in the process of forgiving." The team
demonstrated to be more mature than Imus during the
conference, where the players vented their anger without
insults. They expressed it by means of an intelligent attitude
and radio talkshow
host Don
Imus, who had
been talking to
nearly half a million people in New York every morning
since 1979 through his radio show "Imus in the Morning,"
received severe criticism last week after he made comments
on the air about the Rutgers University Women's
basketball team, calling them "nappy-headed ho's."
CBS, along with MSNBC the day before, officially
cancelled Imus' show, meaning that he will no longer be
seen on TV or heard on the radio.
"In our meetings with concerned groups, there has
been much discussion of the effect language like this has
on our young people, particularly women of color trying
to make their way in this society," CBS chief executive
Leslie Moonves told The New York Times last Thursday.
Imus, who apologized several times for his mistake,
admitted having gone "too far." He was evenly sitting on
the other side of the table a few days after the incident
when Rev. Al Sharpton asked for him to take part in his
syndicated radio show. Sharpton, who was upset and
expressed his wishes to see Imus fired immediately, asked
him during his show, "Do you repent once a decade?"
Imus answered, "What makes a difference, a crucial difference
is, what was my intent?"
Imus said that he intended to be funny and that he
simply wanted to make a joke, which failed miserably.
How do you make a joke by calling a women's basketball
team comprised mostly of black women "ho's" and then
expect laughs? In fact, there is a crucial difference
between a joke and an insult.
Rutgers coach Vivian Stringer, whose team was given
a chance to speak in a press conference to express its outrage,
said last Thursday that the team is accepting Imus'
apologies and was "in the process of forgiving." The team
demonstrated to be more mature than Imus during the
conference, where the players vented their anger without
insults. They expressed it by means of an intelligent attitude
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