IMUS

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jackory said:

I don 't understand...some of you guys were outraged when Mel Gibson drunkenly made anti-Semitic remarks to a police officer who pulled him over. And yet you seem to think it's just fine for Imus to make remarks that were patently offensive to blacks ("nappy headed") AND women ("hos") and sweep them under the blanket of "Freedom of Speech"...Where was "Freedom of Speech" when Mel was being crucified for his words? At least he had the excuse of being intoxicated...Imus was stone cold sober.

There is one difference - Imus was making a "joke." Offensive, vulgar, and in poor taste, but not really stating some personal belief or philosophy. He wasn't angry, like Gibson or Richards. I think Richards is probably the least defensible, much as I liked ol' Kramer.

I remember one time at band practice, we were just having a conversation (after several adult beverages) - I don't recall what it was about, but somebody was relating an unlikely event, and the keyboard player said, "Yeah, and I'm a n***** airline pilot!" Not that that is unlikely today, but it's something some people (used to) say. Our drummer was black.

A hush fell over the room, and the drummer just smiled. I know the keyboard player wanted to die, because we all love John as a person (and a drummer) and had known him many years. I'd trust him with my life, and so would they. Any of us would have rather taken a beating than to offend him that way.

After a few pregnant moments, the red-faced keyboard player stammered and said something about it just being an expression. I think John was actually pretty amused.

It might have been good if she had said something about not even seeing color when around him, and being so comfortable and not filtering, so much so that some of her ugly, insensitive phrases of old habit just came out, but what can you really say? Sometimes it's best to just say, "oops" and move on.

He wasn't offended at all, even when she made matters worse by trying to draw a distinction about "n******" being either black or white, etc. When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.

Anyway, we all eventually had a laugh about it, and I don't really know what that has to do with Imus putting his large foot in his large mouth.

[Galactus]

It's really a matter of knowing your audience and your audience knowing you. A lot of people already thought Imus was a racist dick, where there would have been some grumbling if Stern had said it but not the same level of protest. I make "black jokes" too but I try to make sure I do it where everyone knows I'm joking...that I'm making fun of people who say shit like that. I'm making fun of the racist mentality and I don't think Imus can make the same claim. Pure and simple, though a joke it may have been, it was a racist joke.

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Pure and simple, though a joke it may have been, it was a racist joke.

And yet, Jedi become, you will not. ;D

[Mary]

what annoys me about the imus thing - and about related stories (like newspapers dropping ann coulter's editorial) - is that these people are hired PRECISELY because they are shocking and offensive and therefore get attention and publicity. so radio stations and newspapers and tv stations and all the rest very intentionally look for assholes because they know that assholes make bucks - but then when assholes cross some invisible threshhold of Too Much Public Outrage, suddenly the profit-seeking turds who hired these assholes in the first place turn around and make a big show of outrage that the assholes they hired to be assholes are acting like assholes. the whole thing is a fucking farce.

that said, i could absolutely care less what happens to imus and this isn't strictly a free speech issue anyway. a radio station can hire and fire whoever they want without implicating the first amendment at all. the first amendment only prohibits the government from restricting free speech. private entities can do whatever they want.

even when they're turds.

[sisyphus]

lol. i couldn't agree more, mary. and i love your liberal sprinkling of the word "turds." lol.

[Thorngrub]

That was awesome Mary. Today I woke up not thinking about this dick Imus. Remember I've never heard a word out of his pie hole. Never even heard of him. But like JAC said - ANY publicity is good publicity. And now here I am, all aware of his cracker ass. That ain't right. So now I'm hoping his dumb ass face gets shit canned, just cuz I started reflecting on, if it was Ann Coulter or Nancy Grace or Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh, I'd want their asses canned on principle alone - what principle ? That I can't stand their candy asses, that's what. So I decided, man, this Imus character must really be a super dick. So now I'm thinking he should be fired, not for any higher reasoning or moral grounds understand - but cuz I decided he's a dumbfuck ;D

[Thorngrub]

...wait. Did I just say something inappropriate -? *Pleaze don't can my ass, strat-0!* ;b

[JACkory]

Thorn sees the light. Bravo!

[shin]

IMUS: So, I watched the basketball game last night between -- a little bit of Rutgers and Tennessee, the women's final.

ROSENBERG: Yeah, Tennessee won last night -- seventh championship for [Tennessee coach] Pat Summitt, I-Man. They beat Rutgers by 13 points.

IMUS: That's some rough girls from Rutgers. Man, they got tattoos and --

McGUIRK: Some hard-core hos.

IMUS: That's some nappy-headed hos there. I'm gonna tell you that now, man, that's some -- woo. And the girls from Tennessee, they all look cute, you know, so, like -- kinda like -- I don't know.

McGUIRK: A Spike Lee thing.

IMUS: Yeah.

McGUIRK: The Jigaboos vs. the Wannabes -- that movie that he had.

IMUS: Yeah, it was a tough --

McCORD: Do The Right Thing.

McGUIRK: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

IMUS: I don't know if I'd have wanted to beat Rutgers or not, but they did, right?

ROSENBERG: It was a tough watch. The more I look at Rutgers, they look exactly like the Toronto Raptors.

IMUS: Well, I guess, yeah.

RUFFINO: Only tougher.

McGUIRK: The [Memphis] Grizzlies would be more appropriate.

[JACkory]

Imus has a history of making racially insensitive comments. It's a wonder he hasn't already been fired. The only reason this particular instance has generated so much contrfoversy is because of it's association with the Rutgers women's basketball team, who are currently in the spotlight as underdog champions.
McGuirk should be getting raked over the coals, too, because of his "hardcore hos" comment, which Imus was playing off of. And the "jigaboo" slur...that's inexcusable.

[ClubberLang]

jackory said:

Imus has a history of making racially insensitive comments. It's a wonder he hasn't already been fired. The only reason this particular instance has generated so much contrfoversy is because of it's association with the Rutgers women's basketball team, who are currently in the spotlight as underdog champions.
McGuirk should be getting raked over the coals, too, because of his "hardcore hos" comment, which Imus was playing off of. And the "jigaboo" slur...that's inexcusable.

The "Jiggaboo" slur was in reference to the Spike Lee movie "School Daze". He took it right from the movie where the Jigaboos were against the Wannabees.

[RocDoc]

Where I come from, 'jiggaboo' is as bad as nailing someone with the n-word...

Here's an interesting one I heard about this A.M.:

<sub>COMMENTARY
Imus isn’t the real bad guy
Instead of wasting time on irrelevant shock jock, black leaders need to be fighting a growing gangster culture.
JASON WHITLOCK
Thank you, Don Imus. You’ve given us (black people) an excuse to avoid our real problem.

You’ve given Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson another opportunity to pretend that the old fight, which is now the safe and lucrative fight, is still the most important fight in our push for true economic and social equality.

You’ve given Vivian Stringer and Rutgers the chance to hold a nationally televised recruiting celebration expertly disguised as a news conference to respond to your poor attempt at humor.

Thank you, Don Imus. You extended Black History Month to April, and we can once again wallow in victimhood, protest like it’s 1965 and delude ourselves into believing that fixing your hatred is more necessary than eradicating our self-hatred.

The bigots win again.

While we’re fixated on a bad joke cracked by an irrelevant, bad shock jock, I’m sure at least one of the marvelous young women on the Rutgers basketball team is somewhere snapping her fingers to the beat of 50 Cent’s or Snoop Dogg’s or Young Jeezy’s latest ode glorifying nappy-headed pimps and hos.

I ain’t saying Jesse, Al and Vivian are gold-diggas, but they don’t have the heart to mount a legitimate campaign against the real black-folk killas.

It is us. At this time, we are our own worst enemies. We have allowed our youths to buy into a culture (hip hop) that has been perverted, corrupted and overtaken by prison culture. The music, attitude and behavior expressed in this culture is anti-black, anti-education, demeaning, self-destructive, pro-drug dealing and violent.

Rather than confront this heinous enemy from within, we sit back and wait for someone like Imus to have a slip of the tongue and make the mistake of repeating the things we say about ourselves.

It’s embarrassing. Dave Chappelle was offered $50 million to make racially insensitive jokes about black and white people on TV. He was hailed as a genius. Black comedians routinely crack jokes about white and black people, and we all laugh out loud.

I’m no Don Imus apologist. He and his tiny companion Mike Lupica blasted me after I fell out with ESPN. Imus is a hack.

But, in my view, he didn’t do anything outside the norm for shock jocks and comedians. He also offered an apology. That should’ve been the end of this whole affair. Instead, it’s only the beginning. It’s an opportunity for Stringer, Jackson and Sharpton to step on victim platforms and elevate themselves and their agenda$.

I watched the Rutgers news conference and was ashamed.

Martin Luther King Jr. spoke for eight minutes in 1963 at the March on Washington. At the time, black people could be lynched and denied fundamental rights with little thought. With the comments of a talk-show host most of her players had never heard of before last week serving as her excuse, Vivian Stringer rambled on for 30 minutes about the amazing season her team had.

Somehow, we’re supposed to believe that the comments of a man with virtually no connection to the sports world ruined Rutgers’ wonderful season. Had a broadcaster with credibility and a platform in the sports world uttered the words Imus did, I could understand a level of outrage.

But an hourlong press conference over a man who has already apologized, already been suspended and is already insignificant is just plain intellectually dishonest. This is opportunism. This is a distraction.

In the grand scheme, Don Imus is no threat to us in general and no threat to black women in particular. If his words are so powerful and so destructive and must be rebuked so forcefully, then what should we do about the idiot rappers on BET, MTV and every black-owned radio station in the country who use words much more powerful and much more destructive?

I don’t listen or watch Imus’ show regularly. Has he at any point glorified selling crack cocaine to black women? Has he celebrated black men shooting each other randomly? Has he suggested in any way that it’s cool to be a baby-daddy rather than a husband and a parent? Does he tell his listeners that they’re suckers for pursuing education and that they’re selling out their race if they do?

When Imus does any of that, call me and I’ll get upset. Until then, he is what he is — a washed-up shock jock who is very easy to ignore when you’re not looking to be made a victim.

No. We all know where the real battleground is. We know that the gangsta rappers and their followers in the athletic world have far bigger platforms to negatively define us than some old white man with a bad radio show. There’s no money and lots of danger in that battle, so Jesse and Al are going to sit it out.

To reach Jason Whitlock, call [phone] or send e-mail to [e-mail]. For previous columns, go to KansasCity.com

www.kansascity.com/159/story/66339.html</sub>

The guy basically is making the same point Bill Cosby has made several times, plus NOT to sweat a proven dipshit like Imus....

[upinkzeppelin2]

Great article, RocDoc. I just emailed it to several people. Thanks.

[JACkory]

Yeah, I gotta say that WAS a great article. Good to hear it from such a perspective. PLUS it calls Imus for what he is, a washed up shock jock with a bad radio show.

It's not over for Imus, though. I just heard that MSNBC has dropped his program from their daily M-F morning slot. It had been airing there for almost 10 years. No doubt MSNBC was bowing to the pressure of some major advertisers threatening to pull out (and at least two already having done so: Staples and Proctor & Gamble).
Maybe it is a bit too much of a big deal, but the good news for me is that I no longer have to see him wearing that stupid cowboy hat speaking in that annoying droll of his on my TV any longer.

Now if we could just get rid of Howard Stern.

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clubberlang said:

jackory said:

Imus has a history of making racially insensitive comments. It's a wonder he hasn't already been fired. The only reason this particular instance has generated so much contrfoversy is because of it's association with the Rutgers women's basketball team, who are currently in the spotlight as underdog champions.
McGuirk should be getting raked over the coals, too, because of his "hardcore hos" comment, which Imus was playing off of. And the "jigaboo" slur...that's inexcusable.

The "Jiggaboo" slur was in reference to the Spike Lee movie "School Daze". He took it right from the movie where the Jigaboos were against the Wannabees.

I think that reference went over a lot of peoples' heads, Clubber.

Yeah, whether Imus is fired for being a dick is really of little matter to me. But as that article pointed out, as well as Mary's observations, the "outrage" is a bit of a misdirection.