Conspiracy theories suck. :p

Imus is the man and most of the people who would listen to his show are already listening to it. Most of the people boycotting his show weren't really listeners. :)

I'm amazed at how big a story this is. "Breaking News" are you kidding me?

^^
I agree with you. But at least it breaks up the monotony of the Anna Nicole Who's-Her-Baby-Daddy-Next-on-Maury coverage.

Haha, yeah it does. I get my news from CNBC, cuts out most of the nonsense.

I just heard somebody on CNN say we should blame the corporations for this mindset in America. The countdown is now on to see when a mysterious Bush-Imus connection will surface.

I'm sorry, but "Bushimus" is just a really funny word ... :p

If the station lost ad revenue...enough ad revenue.. and not just that , but I think that he would be in a pretty actionable situation, especially if any moentary hardship is experieced because of the sue happy nation in which we live.

I don't think he should get sued, but he could.

And from a liablity stand point...I mean, you have to draw a line if you're the guy in charge of the station. Because the station could sued/fined by FCC maybe both on top of poetentonlly loosing ad money. Not that I think there would be that much ad money in am radio, but from what I can gather, his was [is?] pretty popular. But I guess if show goes, then all the ad money for it would go, but they would just find another show.

I can imagine the players themselves suing, but even that seems pretty unlikely. It's really hard to imagine the FCC getting involved, but maybe they have standards that allow them to address racially offensive speech. (I think "nappy hos" is offensive, but IS it at a level the FCC would address?)

I'm sick of hearing "reporters" refer to Imus's "racist comments". Lets try "controversial" or "cruel".

You don't think the "nappy" makes it racial? Not that white people couldn't be nappy headed, but that wasn't the context.

I went back and read the transcript on the first page; it's pretty racially focused with the follow up comment too.

Now, I'm not saying that I believe Imus to be a racist based on the one comment, but the comment sure seems to be a racist one.

Not really, no.

Really, even with the follow up about Spike Lee movies?

How DO you see it? Just sort of anti-toughness and tattoos? Pro-femininity?

I think it was rude. I think he made a cruel comment on how the girls looked. I think he implied they were thuggish, but I don't think that made his comment racist.

I just think if its a situation where people like me and you sit down and analyze and debate whether its racist, the news certainly shouldn't refer to it as such.

But you know there are some people who think that "thug" has racial connotation.

I don't. I just think of a brutish tough guy, maybe with a mafia implication, but I had a conversation at lunch with some people about it, believe it or not, who think thug suggests something racial, if for example, you said of a teenage dressed in a rough way, that he looked like a thug.

I think the Imus comment is racist, but that he may not be. It probably didn't occur to him how bad it was going to seem.

It may be racist, but if its borderline, I don't like the media asserting it as though its a known fact.

I've got hos in different area codes. Maybe I've been listening to too much Nappy Roots. Maybe it's the song Nappy Heads.

This is a waste of political capital. You would think the slaughters of people in Darfur would get more protests than Imus - a guy that most black people don't even listen to anyway.

-Rudey

which kind of takes us back to many of the points in the Disney thread, except that everyone will be expected to punish Imus and his station for his comment whereas in the other instance. . .

Why isn't there a thread about this instead of Imus? I mean the crap you mentioned gets played over our airwaves (I think) pretty much all day, every day, in every city in the U.S. Why is it just a white radio talk host (and an obscure one at that) being called out?

Honestly, his comments are tame compared to many song lyrics which the FCC has no problem with. Whoever mentioned FCC sactions has got to be kidding.

Agree totally.

I don't watch his show, but I think his comment was way overboard and to me it sounded like a racist remark.

I think it's the fact that he's not obscure; Imus is pretty famous, at least along the east coast. I just assumed he was famous nationwide, but that could be my east coast bias.

Many of the reports I have heard have phrased it along the lines of "Don Imus's comments, which some/many consider racist." I think that's a better way for the media to phrase it.

I wonder when Imus will be checking into "rehab", that seems to be the new hot thing. I'm personally sick of hearing a bunch of tired apologies that don't amount to a hill of beans. Imus is not a stupid man, he knows exactly what he was saying when he said it. Hell, he's damn near 100, he's been around the block long enough to know what's appropriate and what's not.

I personally don't think that a two weeks suspension is enough. It seems that the only way for people to really learn a lesson is to gut punch them where it hurts and for Imus, that would be in his wallet. Bravo to Target, Biglowe, Staples and Protor & Gamble for pulling their ads from this show.

There are several, in the NPHC forums.

And I agree w/ KSigkid, I thought pretty much everyone knew who Don Imus is, the same as everyone knows who Howard Stern is whether they listen to him or not.

Definitely east coast bias. I've seen the guy on MSNBC and he sucks. I can't imagine actually voluntarily listening to that guy on my way to work. East coast radio must be horrible if that's the best y'all have to offer... or does the personality have to be a liberal douche to be accepted?

He's making a mistake by not deflecting any "blame." If black "artists" use words like that (and worse), no one bats an eyelash... but if a white guy on the radio says it... God help him.. national crisis... This whole situations is absurd.

Pansies. The 2-week hiatus is probably his publicist's idea though. Do you think he'll be sitting at home sipping cosmos during this time? Hell no. The guy's going to be on every talk show from Larry King to the "The View." He'll come back and his market share will have tripled.

To even think that you or Al Sharpton or whoever can teach a 70+ year-old man "a lesson" for daring to utter "insensitive" words is one of the dumbest ideas I've ever heard. For some reason, America seems to be lapping that up as well.

Sans the media circus over this and the repetition of the words over and over, no one would have even heard about this thing, the Rutgers women would have been spared their humiliation, etc. Imus' show and his words would have been like that tree falling in the forest where no one was around to hear it.

East Coast radio is good. There are a lot of morning shows to listen to. Imus is simply one of them. Not one of the best, just one of them.

Not necessarily. Different "controversies" receive different media attention. That doesn't mean the people who were the targets of the comments wouldn't have been affected without the media attention.

And it wasn't so much the media circus as it was persistent civil rights representatives (for gender and racial equality) who kept contacting Imus' people and putting this information out there via professional organization listserves. Every professional and social organization that I am a member of has issued a formal statement either to its membership or to Imus' people.

Imus' show has already lost 3 key corporate sponsors. I liked Imus but just read a news story from my gender group that chronicled his career antics. It's no longer about risque humor, a la Southpark or other sattires. Now I'm just wondering why people besides concerned Christian groups of the past hadn't spoken out.

I never said he's the best we have to offer - just saying that he's famous around here. East coast has a lot of other good radio hosts, Imus is just one of the famous ones (famous does not equal good).

I'm a Rutgers student and they're calling a rally today in support of the women's basketball team and against the racist/sexist attitudes in talk radio. I'll most likely be attending, but I wanted to pass this on for those of you who believe Imus should be fired - http://www.petitiononline.com/34628ppp/petition.html

Are they nappy headed? Are the players hos? If not, let it go. Life is too short

Get a job.

He was a Bush supporter in 2000, and he was no friend of the Clintons.
For the record, though, it can be noted that he has been inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame, and that in 2002, Talkers magazine rated him third (after Limbough and Howard Stren) in its list of the 25 Greatest Radio Talk Show Hosts of All Time. (Of course, looking at some of the other names on the list, skepticism may be in order.) He's been around a long time.

Where this will hurt him is in advertising. Some big companies have already pulled their advertising from his show, which charges some of the highest advertising rates in talk radio.

Disclaimer: I rarely listen to him, but I'll stick up for him just a little bit because of the way he lambasted Joe Barton on a daily basis for blocking funding for autism research.

Yeah, pretty sure you can say whatever you want....as long as you aren't a white male.

I haven't really commented on this thing....probably a good thing.....but I just can't help it. "Nappy Headed Hoes" is offensive? Furthermore.......it's racist???? People should be more offended by the fact that Tennessee and Rutgers collectively shot 37% from the field in the Championship. As for Al Sharpton....that bafoon should be kicked in the balls. If anyone listens to the Dan Patrick show on ESPN...you probably heard his recent comments. I was proud of him. He stood up for Imus and blasted Sharpton and Jessie Jackson for basically being hypocrites and ignoring the fact that black rappers have basically made it mainstream and acceptable to use words like that. Pretty ironic. Or maybe that its ok to talk like that.........so long as you are a rapper. He also pointed out that when Bill Cosby criticized rappers for calling women "bitches and hoes," he got criticized by the black community and was called an "Uncle Tom."

The "rappers do it so I can to!" argument is idiotic. :rolleyes:

That's not the argument.

The argument is that "rappers do it and aren't criticized, so I should be able to do it as well and not be criticized."

If you disagree with that argument, how exactly are you not guilty of asking for a double standard?

I'm not making that argument. Try again.

....also, you are clearly advocating a double-standard if you think that that kind of argument is "idiotic". How presh.

Can someone give me an explanation of why "nappy-headed" carries overtones of racial prejudice?

I'm fully aware of the history of the term, and the relatively nascent movement to recapture the 'nappy' look within a segment of the black population, but is it really a term with strong negative connotation?

Does it carry this same connotation in the context used, which compares a group of (what Imus considers) attractive African American women to another?

I would probably be more pissed if I were a woman than if I were black, simply because it seems to be a bizarre generalization on how female athletes should look. However, as neither, I guess I probably need more background here.

The term "ho" certainly can't be the (racial) issue here, can it?

To some, it seems that molehill = mountain.

My question is - in what context did he say this? All I've heard was the phrase "nappy headed hoes" and nothing that surrounded it. I don't think it's excusable or anything, it just seems like such a random thing to say.

(Don't point me to a sound file, I've got no speakers thanks.)

The term "nappy" may not be but I'm pretty sure the term "jiggaboo" carries a strong negative connotation.