"Hey that's uncalled for! I'm working on my nappy!"
Posted on 04/12/2007 10:44:04 PM PDT by jdm
NEW YORK -- Broadcaster Don Imus' wife will be his replacement Friday on his morning radio show.CBS fired Imus Thursday because of a racially charged remark he made last week about the Rutgers women's basketball team.
Imus had a long history of inflammatory remarks. But his comments about the Rutgers team -- which includes a class valedictorian, a future lawyer and a musical prodigy -- generated a firestorm of controversy.
A minister who arranged a meeting between Imus and the team said it was happening Thursday night at the governor's mansion in Princeton, N.J.
Imus initially was suspended for two weeks for calling the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos" on the air last week, but outrage continued to grow and advertisers bolted from his programs.
"There has been much discussion of the effect language like this has on our young people, particularly young women of color trying to make their way in this society," CBS President and Chief Executive Officer Leslie Moonves said in announcing the decision. "That consideration has weighed most heavily on our minds as we made our decision."
It is a stunning fall for one of the nation's most prominent broadcasters.
The firing came less than a day after MSNBC ended the embattled radio personality's simulcast on the cable channel.
Imus started the day Thursday using the cable network's New Jersey studios to host his annual charity fundraiser. The Radiothon charity drive has raised more than $1.3 million.
Producers for the Radiothon said volunteers were getting about 200 more pledges per hour than they were last year.
The 18th annual Radiothon has raised more than $40 million since 1990. As the fundraiser began, Imus said it could be his last one, so he said needs to raise "about $100 million."
CBS owns both the New York radio station that is his broadcast home -- WFAN -- and the syndicator Westwood-One, which distributes "Imus in the Morning" to radio stations across the country.
Losing Imus will be a financial hit to CBS Radio, which also suffered when Howard Stern departed for satellite radio. The program is worth about $15 million in annual revenue to the corporation.
Imus, who was initially suspended by CBS Radio for two weeks without pay beginning next week, broadcast Thursday's radio program from the MSNBC studios in New Jersey, even though MSNBC pulled the plug on his television program Wednesday night.
Imus said he understood the pressure MSNBC was under, but complained the network was doing some unethical things during the broadcast. He didn't elaborate.
News that she would take over her husband's show came as author Deirdre Imus released her latest book, "Green This!" which came out this week.
Her promotional tour was called off -- according to Simon & Schuster -- "because of the enormous pressure that Deirdre and her family are under." People are buying it, though: An original printing of 45,000 was increased to 55,000.
Now it's up to $1.3M -- that's good!
Oh no, not that stringy haired ho.
ROTFLMAO!
Hate speech!! Expect the Rev-a-runds Sharpton and Jackson to be on your doorstep any minute now!
Oh, wait. That only counts if you’re not caucasian, right?
Never mind.
"Hey that's uncalled for! I'm working on my nappy!"
She’ll be working on changing hubby’s nappy.
But some young women at Rutgers got their feelings hurt when a shock jock said something stupid, so apparently that's all that matters now to NBC, CBS, Madison Avenue and the left-wing special interest groups. Talk about priorities being turned upside-down.
Figures. She’s got a book to hump.
FYI ping.
Sorry, thought I typed your name ping.
I wonder how long Imus’s wife stays with him?
Now that the door has been shown, too many are saying CBS and NBC acted too fast or incorrectly.
I don't know if you fall into the camp that have said he needed to go long ago, but many have.
The problem is conservatives are so hung up on blaming the media for all their failures that they can't even accept it when they get what they have long wanted.
Oh, let's guess.
She promotes her book and gets good sales, pines away for her husband, he goes into purgatory for awhile, seeks penance, Deirdre informes us that, Yes! Due to your understanding and forgiveness, he's coming back!
Yay!
On two different occasions, I remember hearing Imus praise Alan Keyes. How many people in the MSM have ever done that???
Countless times, Imus ripped Bill Clinton and even did so to his face at that televised D.C. dinner years ago. Imus and his sidekick Bernie were two of the very few to dare mention Juanita Broaddrick's name and remind the audience of her rape allegation against Clinton.
Imus supported Rick Santorum, who certainly had to be one of the most conservative U.S. Senators. Didn't Imus support Bush over Gore? Didn't he absolutely loathe Gore? Isn't Imus a big McCain fan?
Anyone who tried or tries to label Imus either a liberal or a conservative is being way, way too simplistic. He shouldn't have been fired before, and he certainly shouldn't be out of a job now. Even though he was mostly a jokester, his interviews of politicians were way more interesting than just about anything else we see in the MSM.
Thanks for the heads up. I’m listening, via streaming.
Go back through the Imus threads, and if this hadn't been at the hands of Sharpton and Jackson, there would have been almost universal praise for what happened. Better yet, go back before this flap hit the fan. You will find very few people who think like you or me.
I'm not saying its right, but its what would happen. that cow left the barn about 1992.
It is unfortunate that slimeballs like Sharpton and Jackson get even more airtime out of this. For them to be MSM-appointed moral arbiters is ludicrous. In retropsect, I wish Imus had apologized for his remarks and then challenged Sharpton's and Jackson's authority to demand anything from him. He still would have gone down but could have done the world some good in the process.
I can’t believe that CBS Radio’s ‘bench strength’ is so thin that they must rely on Don Imus’ wife to fill-in. How ‘weak’ is that?
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