First, even calling this incident "Racism" is extreme hyperbole. Imus' original comment about the Rutgers women being "hos" was nothing more than an off color joke. It was rude, crass, and perhaps mildly offensive but the way the MSM has spun this thing one would think that he launched into a Michael Richards-style n-word tirade on the air. He didn't. He simply told an off color joke.
Second, exactly who did the joke hurt? Nobody. Not even the Rutgers team, which has gotten tons of free sympathetic publicity on national television out of this incident. More people know about the Rutgers team this year than Tennessee, the actual WINNERS of the Final Four tournament!
Third, it's unlikely anyone from the Rutgers team even heard Imus' comment until after Al Sharpton opened his fat mouth, and the lazy race hustling MSM rallied around him calling for Imus' head. If anything, Sharpton gave Imus' insult 1,000,000 times the broadcast it would have ever gotten on its own if the media didn't rally to his cause.
Fourth, this entire episode came right in the middle of Imus' charity fundraising drive and will undoubtedly have an adverse effect on its collection, and that just plain sucks because depsite all of Imus' own faults pretty much everybody agrees that his charity work was a good thing. When is the last time Jesse and Al have ever done anything charitable or raised money for children?
That perfectly describes the new standard that's been set. Any comment containing a reference to race and/or gender that is crude and classless qualifies. It's not an automatic disqualifier to broadcast though. It must be called out by an official arbiter of racism or sexism.