"Don who?"
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."
I don’t watch IMUS or listen to him, but I did in the mid 90’s.
I found him kind of funny.
Until this brouhaha, I couldn’t care less about what happened to his show.
But now, just based on who is griping about his comments and making such a stink, I’m pullin’ for the guy.
Do you nappy?
Do you have a link to Stern’s comments?
I caught part of the Sharpton/Imus on the news. Sharpton was hiding behind his daughter.”
What kind of religious “minister” is the Rev. Sharpton or for that matter Jesse Jackson?
There wasn’t one word of forgiveness from Greasy Al’s mouth, and I thought forgiveness and the granting of same when an apology was given was part of being religious.
What is Sharpton’s position on the death penalty? He is willing to try and “save” and “forgive” Tookie Williams and keep him from FINALLY being executed, but he cannot forgive Imus, who is sitting right in front of him on Sharpton’s radio show?
Both Greasy Al and Extortionist Jesse must get pretty tired carrying around so darn many faces on their necks.
Suzy, various groups in the Western hemisphere have what amount to Patents of Nobility. They can say and do things that you or I would go to jail for.
Once you accept this simple fact - that only GBLT groups can use the word F*ggot, that rap artists can shriek obscenities and get paid for it, etc, etc, you will feel better.
BTW I can’t believe the AM is giving you grief about the word “Nappy”. It’s a diminutive form of “napkin”, FGS.
I agree. I was surprised. And also Scarborough addressed the double standard. I usually don't watch any of their shows, but Fox was boring me....so I channel surfed and thought the two were being balanced in their interviews. Maybe some good will come out of this.
So sorry....I didn’t know you were talking about the other “n” word. I was repeating from an article in the paper today about that being the OTHER N word that we can’t say. I’ve never used it my life or the first N word for that matter.
It is a crime if it does not rhyme.
What anyone ever able to decipher Jackson's gibbered reply?
Cordially,
Nappy? I’m confused. Our daughter has nappy hair. It kinks up. It’s beautiful. Just a bit curlier than Chelsea Clinton’s hair when hers is not straightened. My hair is just a little less curly than what I would term as “nappy.” I think the combo of hubby (beautiful hair) and I caused our daughter’s extra thick, extra curly hair. We have nine children. Only one with the extra curly hair. We have several with really thick hair, but the curls vary. One of our girls who has really thick hair, has very straight hair. It’s equally beautiful as the extra curly hair. Then we have one daughter with “mousy” hair. It’s very thin and just there. It tends to look “unkempt” as well. It doesn’t diminish her value as a person to comment that her hair is “mousy.”
Context is everything. And you cannot predict when someone or groups of people will become outraged over small things. Imus was his normal rude self when he commented on the Rutgers’ gals.
Don’t the British call diapers “nappies”?
Also, I did a Google search on “nappy hair.” There’s an interesting bit of reading there. Also a children’s book about it.
When will the Left apologize for illegal immigrants who kill? Black, yellow, brown gangs who kill? Black illigitimacy? Black crime against other blacks? Crime rates caused by mostly minorities in this and apparently now according to Blair, in England? When will they apologize for voter fraud done by Dems, corruption by the Clintons, Berger and all the lefty Dems in the last 45 years?? Oh when, when?? Rotten immoral hypocrites all.
ping
Stern is smart enough to know if they are successful in getting Imus off the air, they will come after Howard next.
What do you think public opinion, and possibly the law, would do to a white supremacist whose inflammatory use of the N word resulted in the actual lynching of a Black person? Sharpton did the equivalent in Crown Heights and Harlem.
Hannity is now saying that Jesse Jackson blamed Zionism on the "Jewish element" in society. Sounds like MoveOn.org.
LOL I’m sure your post was serious, but it sure made me laugh.
MM
For the umpteenth billionth time, it is not that he said “nappy”, it’s that he called college-women, “hoes”. That is a serious insult to any woman, period. But to a black woman in college (female ball players don’t get the perks the men do), it was just downright spit-in-your-face wrong.
I'm sorry your daughter was terrorized by thugs. I've seen that low-class behavior all my life, directed at me for being "smart", and at other females for being "smart" or having hair that was too straight. It's disgusting and needs to be crushed.
Yes, the “ho” part is what was most outrageous about Imus’ comments. What I find most amusing is that anyone was listening/watching.
As for the smart part, our daughter, the nappy-haired geek, is also smart. Her brains did her in with the thugs. The hair was just something they found that would bother her.
My earlier Google search showed that there are people over-sensitive about the “nappy” description of hair. A young, white teacher in New York City had to change jobs over a book called, “Nappy Hair.” Weird.
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