Don Imus: Beyond Offensive and Controversial
Don Imus is someone I can honestly say should never have been let out of his cave. This man has his head shoved so far up his ass there is no hope that he will ever truly enjoy the beauty of this world for the thin film of excrement that clouds his vision.
He appears to be so afraid of strong women, black women and strong black women that he can't discuss a women's basketball team without making a derogatory or racist comment.
Now, for those of you who have seen Imus you know the biggest thing on the man is that hat he wears. It has to intimidate the guy hiding under that big old hat that any one of these women could kick his ass seven ways to Sunday without breaking a sweat. It's got to bother the guy that he couldn't hold his own against any of these women physically or in any test of intellect or wit.
So, what did Imus do that has me breaking my new year's resolution and calling him names?
According to the Charlotte Observer, Imus and his producer, Bernard McGurk both referred to the players on the Rutgers Women's basketball team as "hos". Bernard called them "hardcore hos" while Imus called them "nappy-headed hos".
Sure, the two apologized. Called their words "thoughtless and stupid". They said they were sorry. We should be good with that, right?
Only, I'm not. I have two daughters. I would like to think that we have come far enough in this country, that my daughters could accomplish great things without having to face the misogynistic, racist, ethnic slurs that men like Don Imus toss about to make themselves feel better about their sorry, miserable lives. I would like to think that women are safe from being publicly ridiculed or smeared by a hate mongerer like Don Imus.
Unfortunately, we're not.
So, let's take a little bit of action.
First, let's send some support to the Rutgers Women's Basketball team.
Email them here.
Their mailing address is:
Louis Brown Athletic Center
83 Rockafeller Road
Piscataway, NJ 08854
Send a donation here. You can specify women's basketball.
The National Association of Black Journalists has called for a boycott of his show and initially called for Imus to be fired. Let's help them out. Contact Kristin Palmer. Her contact information is:
Kristin Palmer
Communications Manager
(301) 445-7100 Ext. 107
kpalmer@nabj.org
To email MSNBC TV and urge them to drop Don Imus go here and click on "Letters to MSNBC TV" and it will open an email form. If anyone knows a better way to contact MSNBC, please let me know.
Update: I changed the title of the piece to be a little more reader friendly. Also, I mistakenly posted to have MSNBC "fire" Imus, but they aren't his employers. It would be more appropriate to have MSNBC drop Imus from their lineup.
He appears to be so afraid of strong women, black women and strong black women that he can't discuss a women's basketball team without making a derogatory or racist comment.
Now, for those of you who have seen Imus you know the biggest thing on the man is that hat he wears. It has to intimidate the guy hiding under that big old hat that any one of these women could kick his ass seven ways to Sunday without breaking a sweat. It's got to bother the guy that he couldn't hold his own against any of these women physically or in any test of intellect or wit.
So, what did Imus do that has me breaking my new year's resolution and calling him names?
According to the Charlotte Observer, Imus and his producer, Bernard McGurk both referred to the players on the Rutgers Women's basketball team as "hos". Bernard called them "hardcore hos" while Imus called them "nappy-headed hos".
Sure, the two apologized. Called their words "thoughtless and stupid". They said they were sorry. We should be good with that, right?
Only, I'm not. I have two daughters. I would like to think that we have come far enough in this country, that my daughters could accomplish great things without having to face the misogynistic, racist, ethnic slurs that men like Don Imus toss about to make themselves feel better about their sorry, miserable lives. I would like to think that women are safe from being publicly ridiculed or smeared by a hate mongerer like Don Imus.
Unfortunately, we're not.
So, let's take a little bit of action.
First, let's send some support to the Rutgers Women's Basketball team.
Email them here.
Their mailing address is:
Louis Brown Athletic Center
83 Rockafeller Road
Piscataway, NJ 08854
Send a donation here. You can specify women's basketball.
The National Association of Black Journalists has called for a boycott of his show and initially called for Imus to be fired. Let's help them out. Contact Kristin Palmer. Her contact information is:
Kristin Palmer
Communications Manager
(301) 445-7100 Ext. 107
kpalmer@nabj.org
To email MSNBC TV and urge them to drop Don Imus go here and click on "Letters to MSNBC TV" and it will open an email form. If anyone knows a better way to contact MSNBC, please let me know.
Update: I changed the title of the piece to be a little more reader friendly. Also, I mistakenly posted to have MSNBC "fire" Imus, but they aren't his employers. It would be more appropriate to have MSNBC drop Imus from their lineup.
Labels: Don Imus
posted by B. Muse at
4/06/2007 06:21:00 PM
12 Comments:
You can complain to the FCC about Don Imus. I filed a complaint online. I may be contacting the NAACP and other organizations to see if they will follow suit in filing a FCC complaint - maybe if they get enough fines they will pull the show. Here's the link to the FCC: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/complaints.html The company that owns wfan is http://www.infinitybroadcasting.com
Pass it along. Let's get this show off the air!!!
Thank you! I hadn't thought of the FCC. I added it to the post I put at DailyKos.
I understand that Imus is against the war and thinks Bush is a moron.
We're in NYC on vacation right now and I just heard Imus is going to be on Al Sharpton's radio show. This should be good!
Your gonna write an article about Imus being incorrect with his words, and then call him "a scrwany little prick in a big old hat"? What Imus has done for the U.S. troops and for sick kids more than makes up for what he says. You idiots are liberals so im not expecting you to understand rationality.
The Chancellor of Vanderbilt University, Gordon Gee, defended the founder of the Ku Klux Klan in 2002. Not only did the NAACP and National Association of Black Journalists not respond, the NAACP gave Gee an award in 2003.
----------------------------------
Vanderbilt Vice Chancellor Charged with Racism by President of Black Student Alliance:
http://www.vanderbilthustler.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2002/12/10/3df555acc47b6?template=pda
Vanderbilt Chancellor Rebukes Critic of Klan Founder (from The Tennessean
newspaper):
http://www.vanderbilthustler.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2002/12/10/3df557b9ac151?template=pda
Tavis Smiley Show
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=838384
To Anonymous #1 - You know, you're right. I should have called him something gender neutral like asshole. My apologies to all the pricks out there who don't want to be grouped with a misogynistic, racist jerk like Imus.
Hate isn't entertaining. Hopefully, the other hatemongers out there will get the message as well. Or maybe, we can see the end of Coulter, Rush and O'Reilly too. Now that would be wonderful.
To anonymous #2:
Oh ye of the two wrongs make a right crowd. For every example of reverse racism you can dig up, I can find hundreds and hundreds to drown your one example.....maybe even thousands.
Nice try, though.
I’m saddened by the recent events of this story. I grew up in a “black/poor white” neighborhood and my mother raised eight of us by herself – very humble beginnings. You don’t even want to go back to that neighborhood or what’s left of it. It’s so sad. We are all successful and it happened by the grace of God and the values our Mom instilled in each and every one of us - having pride in oneself and setting goals.
After viewing the segments with Mr. Jackson and Mr. Sharpton and seeing the other representatives from the black community spout off about the “horrors” of Don Imus and how it’s his fault for everything that happens in our black community, I offer up this timeless advice to these two “Reverends” and to our community:
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye, with never a thought for the great plank in your own? Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye, when all the time there is that plank in your own? You hypocrites! First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s.”
– Jesus Christ.
Thanks, I feel better.
Anonymous #3 - read Fannie Flono's column in the Charlotte Observer today. It is wonderful. I have a link in my post to her column. She handles this very gracefully.
The events of this past week which were started by Don Imus’ comments are lamentable and have no place in any medium. Imus’ description of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights women’s’ basketball team, as “nappy headed hos” has left a trail of anger and prompted outrage from the African American community. There is no doubt that the suspension from radio and television as well as the loss of Staples and Bigellow Tea as sponsors is punishment well deserved. There is absolutely no excuse for this type of behavior or joke of such poor taste. Unfortunately, the victims in this case are the women of the Rutgers basketball and not black women in general as so many of these opportunistic “civil rights leaders” make it seem.
It is amazing to see Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson appear out of the woodwork when something like this happens and go on every show possible in order to get some ‘face time’. They are taking advantage of the situation by inciting hate on the black community and pimping the story to raise their image. The Imus in the Morning show does not cater to the African American community because his image as a southern cowboy does not appeal to this demographic. This means that the people picketing outside MSNBC have probably never heard his show and are unfamiliar with his style of entertainment. This is not to say that his comments were entertainment of any kind but they did not carry any malicious intent. In order to know this, you must be aware of the type of person Don Imus is as well as what kind of show he is affiliated with.
For those who are not aware, Don Imus’ contributions to humanity go beyond his radio or television programs. His Imus ranch for kids with cancer is the first of its kind and houses kids working in a cattle ranch nestled beneath a majestic mesa in the rolling hills near Ribera, New Mexico. Its sole purpose is to provide the experience of the great American cowboy to children suffering from cancer or serious blood disorders, and children who've lost brothers and sisters to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
Imus’ contributions to The Tomorrows Children Fund and the C. J. Foundation for SIDS are immense and his commitment is unparalleled. His donations, both monetary and personal, to the Hackensack University Medical Center’s Imus wing for kids with cancer has been done with love and care for kids, regardless of color. Imus’ current battle to raise money for veterans of the Iraq war, black and white, and fix the issue plaguing Walter Reed hospital has drawn praise from many political figures as well as public figures. Unfortunately, this is not newsworthy information for the public and has never been talked about on Al Sharpton’s radio show, wherever it’s on the air.
The Imus in the Morning radio program is a semi-serious news show that has been on the air for 30 years and has earned the respect of millions. Although the show caters to mostly white Americans, it can be appreciated by all news radio lovers and adds a comedic twist to their morning every weekday. The call to fire Don Imus is only requested by people like Al Sharpton who want to keep adding to their already useless resume of jumping in front of a camera and waving a red flag which will appeal to black America. Unfortunately, his cameos, arguments and assumptions are sometimes wrong. As in the case of Twana Brawlry where he repeatedly accused a man of abusing her and then it was proven incorrect. No apology was issued and he is still spewing his hate on the air without any repercussions. Al Sharpton is not on trial in this case but I ask that this circumstance serves as a lesson to get the full facts of every case instead of following the mob wanting to lynch the misunderstood. There is a double standard going on here as people like Dave Chappelle have made a fortune using racism as a form of entertainment like dancing on TV in 'blackface'. I never saw a march or a protest near Mr. Chappelle. Nothing good can come from the firing of Don Imus as he is a jewel of the radio medium as well as an upstanding, outstanding citizen. Thank you.
Since Imus has been fired we are left to see what good can come of it. My feeling is he will land easily on satellite radio.
I know that Don Imus has done good in this world through the ranch he sponsors for kids with cancer. That doesn't erase his behavior.
I noticed that he very quickly used the word malice - which is important since it is a key component in a slander case. I agree with you, that he wasn't being malicious. He was being stupid, careless, ugly and so not funny.
Imus will land on his feet. I also hope he realizes and other shock jocks realize that he brought this on himself.
Thank you for your comments.
As a skinny little prick who may or may not wear a big hat I think you are a moron. How nice for you that you never make mistakes. You must be a joy to be around.
Anonymous #6 - how brave you are to call names hiding behind your anonymous label. I never, once said I don't make mistakes. Reading comprehension skills are a bit rusty there, bud....why don't you read the post again.
You're sadly mistaken if you think what Imus did could be considered a mistake. His actions were intentional and his words were intended to hurt.
Sometimes I'm fun to be around - sometimes I'm not.....just like everybody else I know.
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