Posted on 04/12/2007 7:16:42 AM PDT by Reaganesque
Barely 12 hours after being fired from MSNBC...
6:12 AM: On Imus' radio program (no longer simulcast on MSNBC) this morning, Chris Carlin, who covers sports for the program, discussed yesterday's dismissal of charges against the Duke lacrosse players.
(rough transcript)
DON IMUS: When will Al Sharpton be apologizing to them?
(LAUGHTER)
CARLIN: I'm unaware of such a press conference.
IMUS: I'll be darned...
UPDATE 6:28 AM: After a station break, Imus came back to discuss MSNBC's decision. He said he was recently chatted with "another big time broadcasting executive" who was "complaining that [MSNBC] had cancelled the simulcast twelve hours before we were getting ready to conduct this radio-thon for these three charities."
Imus: "My position on all of this is not whining about the hideously hypocritical coverage from the newspapers -- from everybody -- or the lack of support, say, from people like Harold Ford, Jr. who I had my life threatened over supporting and all these kind of things. It all began, and it doesn't make any difference -- like [James] Carville said -- stop talking about the context, it doesn't make any difference. If I hadn't have said it I wouldn't be here. So let's stop whining about it...You gotta stop complaining. I said a stupid, idiotic thing that desperately hurt these kids. I'm going to apologize but we gotta move on."
UPDATE 7:37 am. IMUS: "The hypocrisy is absurd...Everybody knows what the deal is. And this is not over. This story does not end here."
Imus also gave a shout-out to Opie & Anthony, who support Imus on this issue.
UPDATE 7:57:
Imus says he spoke with MSNBC Senior VP Phil Griffin and said "some of the stuff that MSNBC has done this morning is frankly unethical and I've asked them to stop doing it."
But also said, "I'm not whining about the coverage. I'm not whining about any aspect of this."
"I've said 100 times: I said it and if I hadn't said it, we wouodn't be sitting here talking about it. And that's the bottom line."
Imus also said that losing television (via MSNBC) isn't as big as losing radio. "The big part of the program is radio. There's millions of people listening to the radio. At best a few hundred thousand are watching television."
On MSNBC's decision: "I understand the pressure they were under. I'm not stupid."
UPDATE 8:15am: Speaking with an African-American woman, whose son had spent time at the Imus Ranch, Imus said, "And I want to say to you as an African-American woman, I'm sorry for what I said...I want to apologize to all African-American women." The woman said, "Okay, I accept that."
UPDATE 8:19AM: Imus said that one of the "sad ironies of my stupidity" is that, at his ranch, "we sent six kids home because they couldn't stop calling girls bitches and hos."
UPDATE 8:21AM: "I want to thank Opie & Anthony...I love them and I love what they do. I know they offend people perhaps more than I do. They're good loyal guys...Even Howard [Stern] hasn't been horrible." (Although if you read this Stern show summary, seems like Stern still has his claws out against his longtime nemesis.) UPDATE 8:28AM: Imus says that he's had "a lot of big people in the media" calling him "whining about the hypocrsity in the coverage. We understand that. You just turn on the cable channels or read the newspaper, trying to portray me as some vicious racist or whatever and there's not one person talking about the other things I've done...There's a difference between premeditated murder and a gun going off...But you've got to take your medicine. I'm not whining about it."
"Don't tell me that context isn't important. Context is importnat in everything we do in our lives. But it's not an excuse."
UPDATE 8:38AM: Despite the controversy, Imus says contributions for The Tomorrows Children Fund and the Imus Ranch are "way, way up" compared to this time in the show last year, which is significant because "the money's more important this year than ever."
He added: "These bastards went after me. They got me. But they didn't catch me asleep."
UPDATE 8:44AM: MSNBC's Imus webpage is still up, with a statement and link to Imus' charities.
UPDATE 8:45am: "One day you've got a radio and tv show and one day you don't...Ordinarily we need to raise $3 million, this year we need to raise $100 million -- just in case (Laughter)."
UPDATE 8:57AM: Tells his friends, "Don't call me telling me that the coverage is unfair...If I hadn't said it, there'd be no coverage...Shut up about it...I've been dishing it out for a long time, and now it's my turn...I'm not going to whine about it."
Imus also lets readers know that he's doing today's show in the MSNBC studio.
UPDATE 9:01AM: Charlie McCord says that they've raised over $400,000.
UPDATE 9:10AM: On MSNBC:I understand their decision." "I appreciate them letting us use their studio this morning."
To "all of my friends in the media, out of the media: You can't whine about this...We wouldn't have been there if I hadn't said it."
He again called media coverage "outrageously hypocritical."
"Harold Ford, Jr. has been disgraceful in his lack of support. I endured death threats to endorse him...It's unfortunate that he has no courage."
"I'm not surprised by any of this. I'm not surprised at the hypocrisy of Al Sharpton, of Jesse Jackson or any of these people. But you can't whine about it."
"We can talk about all the good work that I've done forever, but I still said that. I'm not making any excuses. Everybody's got to stop whining and quit talking about it."
UPDATE 9:25AM: "I've dished it out for a long time and now it's my time to take it. That's fine. Bring it on."
UPDATE 9:28AM: After one guest said "kick ass," then followed that with "can I say that?" Imus said, "I think today you can say anything."
UPDATE 9:37: "We've never done this well before" (regarding the radiothon)
UPDATE 9:38: On meeting with the Rutgers basketball players: "I can't go through the rest of my life -- nor can they -- without us having this conversation and me telling them how I feel and, more importantly, them telling me how they feel."
The best thing that has come out of all this Imus mess, is that he finally realizes what Harold Ford Jr. really is. A user, someone that is about saving his own hide.
The singer should shut up and sing. No one asked them to do anything else. Their FANS took care of business.
Imus is a ‘shock jock’. His act is full of vinegar and has insulted all stripes. His fans ‘bought’ his act. Outside forces made the determination.
Let the market decide.
Think Hillary. (who knows what's said/done behind closed doors--this is an "opportunity" to be sure--too good of an opportunity to let get by. Imus has made no bones about his disdain for HRC...it would in all likelihood intensify in the months ahead leading up to the election in Nov. 08...AS and JJ are definitely in her camp...on her team...somebody is smelling an opportunity here and will do all they can to maximize gain from potentially silencing Imus.) ... but, then I could be totally off base...probably am...just IMHO.
When will Sharpton apologize to Steven Pagonnes who he ruined durint the twanna Brawley HOAX.
I’ve wondered the same. I never knew it. I’m from Jackson, Mississippi, and I’ve heard the term most of my life, but I”ve never associated it with race. I must be ignorant. We have a daughter whose hair is so curly that she can’t brush it. After a few days of not brushing, we call it “nappy.” I guess we will have to change our description. I can say that no one would look at her and call her a “ho” though. Dork, yes. Ho, no.
The same daughter rode the bus to school last year, and she had a lot of trouble with one student on the bus. She would skip school and/or miss the bus on purpose because of the student. The girl would berate our daughter because she has/had long VERY curly hair that could only be the result of having black genetics. (the girl on the bus was black.) She threatened to cut our daughter’s hair one day. There was another student in our daughter’s class who also made a big deal about our daughter’s kinky hair. She would also say things about our genetics. It was not said in a nice way either. Our daughter is a nervous dork, and she took it all in stride. But the manner in which these girls spoke to her did eat at her.
I guess my whole point is that nappy-hair is assumed by black people to refer to black people. Never mind that other races have people with nappy-hair, too.
pass the popcorn plz
Is there anything more pathetic than a Old White Man trying to act black??
Pray for W and Our Troops
I would like to see a boycott of all sponsors of Al Sharptons radio show.
I hear it was the pressure from people that work at MSNBC, the question I have if they taking votes when is Keith going to be let go.
I would have called Shartons fat a$$ out to his face.
“When are you going to apologize, Al?”
Imus is no dummy, he knows this is nothing less than a power trip for the race pimps.
To bad MSNBC doesn’t have the stones to call it like it is.
As much as I hate this type of PC censorship, it couldn’t have happened to a bigger jerk! Hoisted on his own Petard!
Pray for W and Our Troops
I’m in total agreement with you concerning the total inappropriateness of Imus’ remarks. I have never been in Imus’ audience, because I can’t take him seriously enough to spend the time. But it does concern me when people say they have a right to censor the political content of what’s on the airwaves. I don’t recall anyone saying that the Dixie Chicks didn’t have a right to free speech.
Thanks. I guess the pendulum really has swung when a white guy is telling a large section of the “Black Community” to listen to some of the things MLK had to say.
Two nights ago I was watching Hannity and Colmes. I watched a black man say that when it comes to hip hop, that it is something “they need to address within their own community”.
That was basically saying that white people cannot say anything about what black people say. But then, wasn’t he a black man complaining about something a white man said? I guess some of these folks really aren’t listening to what they themselves are saying.
that’s good!
i like that.
al sharpton needs to apologize for his role in the twana brawley nightmare.
al destroyed a man’s life and al’s on the streets.
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