BREAKING AGAIN: CBS Radio Fires Imus

Make no mistake, Imus was fired not because of his comments, which were despicable, but because CBC and NBC were afraid of losing money.

Lets see the the Sharptons and the sponsors go after the rappers and their music companies. Only then will we know that they are serious about putting an end to this garbage.

Hey James,

Actually, it was a well-enough-written article for the dead tree incarnation that it doesn't matter if the editors get to it in time to make tense changes. Best perspective I've read from the volumes that the media is putting out on the issue these days.

Now that it's all out of your system (I'm assuming nothing earth-shattering will come out of the Rutgers' players' meeting with the idiot), I recommend some recuperative therapy- how's about writing that Rome finale recap?

Cowards!!!!!!!!! David Gregory is the biggest turncoat in the business and EVERYONE at NBC News was fine with Imus him as long as they had a book to sell and wanted the publicity that Imus could provide. Does Jesse Jackson now become the moral compass for this country? The hypocrites evidentally now run the show!

End this topic, please. No one cares.

Now, "Lost," on the other hand....now that is something we're ALL interested in.

Just kidding, kind of. I mean, clearly discussing race relations/free speech/hate speech is an important topic. But honestly - Don Imus? I don't know that a single person under the age of 40 has ever listened to him or cared about his opinion, right or wrong. Why does an irrelevant radio host warrant such coverage, outrage, and downright hysteria?

Answer: he doesn't. Let's fight real racial problems out there - the continual education gaps, poorly funded inner city schools, drugs, crime - or discuss the few successes (like the growth of the black middle class) and what they teach us. The comments by one ignorant and utterly irrelevant talk radio host that probably 80-90% of the nation has never heard of are just not that important, and ultimately we might be giving this fading-from-relevance-wannabe-celebrity the one thing he craves: attention and revelance, or, failing that, notoriety.

Now, back to Lost...or Sopranos....or something to do with TV that people actually watch, James....

over 40 = irrelevant? i think i'm going to cry.

I am an African American wife, mother and business owner.I would like to say that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson do not speak for all African Americans.We are a diverse culture and population.It angers me to have them referred to as my"leader." I would dare to say though that we all agree that Don Imus's comments were racist and sexist.
Don Imus' comments offended everyone. CBS and NBC were obligated to fire Imus for his comments. If it was an African American broadcaster that refeered to a group of white college students as " stringy haired sluts", he would be fired the same day as he uttered the slur.
I am disturbed that Imus and the white media excuse his behavior by citing the lyrics of gangster rap. It is like comparing apples to oranges. Who says that all African Americans listen , and purchase rap music. Statistics prove that white consumers purchase more Rap music than Blacks.
Now that Imus has been dealt with. We as African Americans should CONTINUE to pressure the music industry,radio stations, etc to take this "gangster rap" off of the air whose lyrics demean and disrespect women.

Sorry tinagrant - I don't mean that people over 40 are irrelevant: I mean Imus is.

Thing about cultural tastes, race/gender/sexual orientation issues, social mores, fashion, music, radio, and television - all are driven more or less by that coveted 18-30 demographic. Imus' show was an echo chamber for a certain segment of society (aging baby boomers and their politicians of choice, journalists looking to be talking heads or shill a recent book) to hear themselves talk and feel important because oooooh, I'm on Don Imus.

My point is that until this controversy, I doubt even 1-5% of the 18-30 demographic could have told you who Don Imus was, or what he did. And those who could were almost certainly not "fans" of Imus, but could merely ID him.

So no offense to anyone of any age.

The lesson is that the media needs to let Imus go, because when the media wasn't looking, everyone else already did.

Imus got "Bamboozled". Three cheers for Spike Lee for already calling it like it is. Race is a cultural definitive.

This really hurts free speech. I think the debate is good, but if media are so constrained that they are unable to play devil's advocate and pinpoint reasons why Imus shouldn't be fired, what's the point?

This hurts free speech more than any government rulings and is quite self destructive to the industry.

Now I already find myself listening to news personalities and thinking, "He really doesn't feel that way. He's just saying that because he has to." This burns the reputation of traditional media and will help spur the growth of the nontraditional via the web, satellite. It's easy to understand because no one wants to listen to a censored program, and that's what the traditional media are doing to themselves.

It used to be assumed that people were free to joke about their own kind (with some license for black comedians to talk about how white people dance).
This quote from the recent article is blatantly racist,and everyone involved with the writing and publishing of such horrific,obscene,and offensive racism should be fired.

There appears to be a trend happening in the this nation of free speech...the only people with free speech are minorities. I wonder if Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson bothered to look-up Nappy Hair on amazon.com. I'm going to go out on a limb and say no, they didn't, and I'm also going to guess those authors didn't get pressured to not publish their respective books either. They only thing Imus is guilty of is refering to the women of Rutgers basketball team as "hos". The problem with this country is that there are too many double standards that have existed and will continue to do so forever. It's fine for one group to refer to a member of their same group as something that would be considered derogatory if the same thing was said by another group. Al Sharton and Jesse Jackson you can't have your cake and eat it too!!

Imus says a comment on the air and anyone, with any ounce of common sense, would recognize that his meaning had obsolutely no malicious or racist intent...sexist maybe. But I'm sure many could argue that Despearate Housewives is sexist. Come on people, wake up!! But low and behold, in an instant he immediatley becomes a racist. What's the world coming to?

Since when do corporations decide on behalf of mature listeners/consumers? I believe we can make up our own mind whether the Imus show (2 million listeners daily) should be on or off the air and we should at least have a say in this matter. The drastic and rapid decision taken by NBC and CBS smacks of Big Corporate Brother. It is certainly not founded in principles of democratic decision making.

If you don't like it, change the station. Just like if you don't smoke, don't go into a place that allows smoking. Easy enough. It's amazing to me that we have young black men using the 'n' word in daily conversations and rapping about raping their bitches, and shooting their peers on a daily basis, yet we feel that a comment made by a shock jock is the most racist thing in the world at the moment. The other thing that amazes me is that we try to promote freedom of speech and we do that by allowing the KKK to have a march, but yet a radio jock is so much more responsible for racism than these hate groups. Freedom of speech is supposed to apply to EVERYONE! When you start having standards for one group, and then different standards for another group, isn't that what segregation is all about? It is hypocrisy. It makes me sick.

Imus has been a racist. He has been quoted calling blacks apes and gorillas for years so this is nothing new. It is about time the media world finally took note and gave him what he deserved. These comments were what finally broke the camel's back. And yes this country does have double standards, but that is within any and EVERY race. Im a 21 year black college female, and I believe black youth has turned the n-word into our own use and directed it away from the negative connotation that was associated with its past, but at the same time it is not acceptable for other races to say it the same way there are certain words that are held within other races that would be deemed negative if I said it.

Alicia T.,

Let me get this straight...a black person can use the n-word but the moment someone other than a black person uses this word it becomes racist or unnacceptable? The entire word is unacceptable, PERIOD!! Can you be any more hypocriticle? The same idea goes for every race/culture group. Here's a tip...keep studying because you aparently aren't learning anything. Would you be affended if there were a NAAWP, National Association for the Advancement of White People? I'm guessing you would be, but you go ahead and keep on living your double standard life because until your way of thinking is dissolved there will always be a problem of racism. You need to do your part too...

Good god....Imus has 2 million listeners?

Hell, they cancelled Arrested Development for having twice that many viewers on average in its third and final season. Where were all the internet front page stories, Time magazine covers, etc. for that?

The only reason anyone cares about Imus (and I want to make it clear that I don't mean his statements, which I think were ignorant and stupid) is because the MEDIA cares about him - it's Newsweek and Time and other journalists that go on his show, so the echo chamber talks about this whole thing like it is news.

Good riddance to Imus. I want to see some outrage about Arrested Development. Save our Bluths!

I'm a young black man (18 yrs. old) from south central Los Angeles and I have TWO problem with this story. One why are young beautiful women crying about what some old white guy said. This is not the 50's and the white man doesn't have any power over your life or any other black person. The only thing we need to do to that clown is laugh at him. Number two, why is HIP-HOP always under attack. On AC 360, he had two African Americans come on to talk about how bad hip-hop is. These people have no idea what hip-hop is really about. In fact I doubt they can name five hip-hop artist. People need to realize that yes hip-hop does have it's faults, but Hip-Hop has done more for the black community than any other thing since the civil rights movement! Hip- Hop is something for all black people to be proud of.

- Wa City

It looks as though the networks MSNBC & CBS caved in to corporate fear of loosing huge amounts of advertising revenue along with Al Sharptons and Jesse Jacksons threatening boycott. I have been a listener of Don Imus for over 5 years and take his comments with a grain of salt. The rats that deserted the sinking ship ie. politicians,authors, and MSNBCs fillins lack the decency to take a stand.Appearing on Don Imus show for whatever reason promoting books and looking for a politcal handout then agreeing whole heartedly with the likes of Sharpton and Jackson, then criticizing Don Imus for his crude remarks. It looks like the corporate bosses were the first ones to abandon ship. Their promises to allow Don Imus to broadcast two days before his forced suspension was another act of cowardice when they pulled the plug.Now the question is WILL THEY MAKE UP THE MONETARY LOSS TO CHARITIES,THAT DON IMUS HELD DEAR? It is also apparent to this writer that double standards do exist between black and white cultures.What has transpired against Don Imus and his program becomes a sham when allowing racists such as Sharpton and Jackson to tell anyone the airwaves should be made pure without bigotted remarks when in fact they are proud of rap artists and hiphop artists to spew their filth on the air calling it artistic expressions.As long as the black race can portray women as "hos" it's meaningless and part of their culture.What it comes down to is the continuing saga of greed and corporate earnings.

Wasiu,

I'm a white male in my mid 30's and it's unfortunate more people don't have the same level-headed thinking as you regarding your first point. However, I don't think you can't argue that HIP-HOP/RAP is always under attack because of the amount negative rap songs there are with belittling and demonishing lyrics...not to say that all HIP-HOP is that way. Would you allow your children to listen to rap and have that idealogy instilled into your childrens' heads?

No, he should not have been fired.

I think the NBC and CBS weenies needed to look like they are actually managing their news departments, since their ratings have been diving. As usual, they defend that bimbo Couric when she plagerizes stories. Real journalism.

Then there is the victim duo Sharpton and "hymie" Jackson who have been slandering the Duke lacrosse players for over a year. I haven't heard any apology, but then again, those guys are white. They are the biggest racists.

I hope Fox picks IMUS up, at least on radio.

I'd like to thank everyone who is responsible for turning the Imus debacle into an issue of racism, especially Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and the NAACP...keep up the good leadership you guys! Hey Al, are you planning on running for president again?

Now see here. Several posts back Chaddogg made some horribly insensitive age-ist remarks. Then he apologized. And through his championing of Michael Bluth he provided the common ground on which he and I can let the healing begin. Respectful communication is a lovely thing. That Don Imus, though. What a dick. To say nothing of his hair-do.

You call what happened here by Sharpton and Jackson great leadership? When are you going to ask the real question?? How did Imus arrive a such a degrading pictorial of a african american women? I think leaders in the African American community need to step back and take a good hard look at the kind of music their communities are producing and how they want to be portrayed in society. What Imus said was incredibly stupid and offensive. But as long as African American community portrays their women as "hos", the rest of the society has the right to think of them that way as well.
I ask your great leaders, since they are so great!! : Will they raise over $100 million for children with cancer and autism without regard to race? Since they were so quick to label IMUS as racist, should he now not allow any black children receiving assistance from his charity contributions???

The Imus Ranch for Cancer kids, The new Hospital for Our service people(ALL RACES) the continued pressure of our elected officials to clean up Walter Reed hospital, Autistic funding, Service personal death benifits rased from nothing but a weak jesture to at least a humane burial fund rate, just to name a few, will now suffer from the loss of Don Imus's continued pressure to get help for those in need.Don't hold your breath for Sharpton & Himey jackson to take up the fight. Don Imus was used then thrown away for stupid remarks. NBC & Cbs along with other networks worried about such pointless crap as ,Nichole smiths wasted life and who is the father of the baby. Day after day that drivel contaminated the air waves until it was un-bearable. None of the networks showed any respect for Don Imus 's efforts with the new hospital etc. No Thanks came from them at all!!!. What the networks did was BAIL OUT,-GO BACK ON THEIR WORD-Cave in to greed for profits along with fear of black protesters marching in front of their offic buildings.In My estimation there should have been family's parading in front of the corporate offices in support of DON IMUS and his efforts to make better the sad state of affairs our Vets health issues that were being ignored. All His contributions didn't come with a slogan"WHITES ONLY". DOn Imus isn't a saint ,but a sincere individual who takes on situations that NEED TO BE ADDRESSED. and I May Ad. gets results!!!!!Let him who is without sin ,cast the first stone. DON Imus blundered trying to be funny and nothing more. Racists he is not. Where is the next champion??? Sure isnt Sharpton, jackson ,naacp leaders KKK or the like.THere will be a lot of crow to digest with the networks for their failure to keep a promise. I will be awaiting to see if the banquet has guests at the table, Save seats for Sharpton, Jackson and all the rest of the no account clan who droped IMUS IN the fire.