I-man - what do you think about his remarks?

[RB]

the issues, the women:

- looked like the Toronto Raptors

- Nappy Headed Hos’ - i had someone explained what this meant

Hos - are whores of the street

Nappy Headed - black women who wear their own hair

-Tattoos - still taboo

Quote from Imus show

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.

My take is that somehow it must have felt right to look at the women and speak the mind for the I-man, he apologised (the politically correct thing to do), does it change his opinion - well, it might cost him a job. I mean, what is all the fuss about, all the rap music dominated by blacks, calling the women their names, videos of blacks portrayal of themselves and their women seem to fit the comment.

I take it based on the outrage of the comment that we have only advanced artificially where women are concern - to simply become covert in the display of our exact believe, be nice (nice is defined according to current politics) to everyone and say good things.

well, the women were just "hot" might have been a better fitting comment I wonder

[stignasty]

Statement from Rutgers Women's Basketball Head Coach C. Vivian Stringer

"I am deeply saddened and angered by Mr. Imus' statements regarding the members of the Rutgers women's basketball team. These talented, articulate young women put forth a great deal of hard work and effort this past season to reach the nation's grandest stage - the NCAA title game.

Throughout the year, these gifted young ladies set an example for the nation that through hard work and perseverance, you can accomplish anything if you believe. Without a doubt, this past season was my most rewarding in 36 years of coaching. This young team fought through immeasurable odds to reach the highest pinnacle and play for the school's first national championship in a major sport.

To serve as a joke of Mr. Imus in such an insensitive manner creates a wedge and makes light of the efforts of these classy individuals, both as women and as women of color. It is unfortunate Mr. Imus sought to tarnish Rutgers' spirit and success. Should we not, as adults, send a message of encouragement to young people to aspire to the highest levels as my team did this season?

It is of the utmost importance to be an inspiration to young people and I truly believe my team represented Rutgers University, the state of New Jersey and NCAA student-athletes across the country in the highest manner. I am proud of these young women and strongly encourage Mr. Imus to instead read the headlines and the stories that told of our triumphs the past six months.

Thousands of alumni and fans have reached out to me the past few days to share their warm wishes and congratulations on a special year, fans of not only Rutgers University but of women's basketball. I appreciate their kindness and am proud to be associated and surrounded by ten exceptional student-athletes."

[geoffrey]

Somehow if a commentary called a white football lineman a fatass or something like that, I don't think we'd see the outrage.

People are overly sensitive. One girl was on TV saying she was "scared for life." If she can't take a little name calling not even personally directed at her, I don't think she's capable of being in college or living a real world life. These aren't children, these are adults. Names are called all the time. It's the reality of the world we live in.

If it wasn't a minority slang word used, it wouldn't have been an issue.

They even play the colour card in the statement. Ugh. Politically correct is out of control. His comments were inappropriate, but not worthy of all the attention.

[Shakeyhands]

Somehow if a commentary called a white football lineman a fatass or something like that, I don't think we'd see the outrage.

Hardly the same thing Geoffrey, what if the commentator was Black and called the lineman a 'fatass cracker'

or other racially charged comment, big difference.

[Guthrie]

This discussion on language, from Imus to Hip-hop, is important for society.

Starting any significant discussion in society often means someone is taking a boot or two in the nuts. I can't think of a better guy to take those kicks than Don Imus.

[Black Dog]

Somehow if a commentary called a white football lineman a fatass or something like that, I don't think we'd see the outrage.

Because that's not particularily outrageous.

If it wasn't a minority slang word used, it wouldn't have been an issue.

They even play the colour card in the statement. Ugh. Politically correct is out of control. His comments were inappropriate, but not worthy of all the attention.

Wait: you acknowledge that the term used is "minority slang" but then complain about "play(ing) the colour card?" Somehow, I don't think Imus would have been calling a bunch of white girls "nappy-headed hos". You can't have it both ways.

[GostHacked]

Not so worried about how a single talk show host saying happy headed ho's. If he had called them nappy headed niggers, the response would have been the same from the team. Also there is an article on CNN with the title "Black women who use 'ho' say Imus can't.."(video file) ... So, they can call each other 'HO', but when someone else uses it, then the line is crossed. That is hypocritical beyond belief and totaly negates their stance on the issue. So the issue dies right there.

Somehow, I don't think Imus would have been calling a bunch of white girls "nappy-headed hos". You can't have it both ways.

If he did, the response might have been just the same.

I am a white man. I use the term nigger with my friends. I also use the term cracker a lot. Also with me having some German blood in me, I have also used the term Nazi or Kraut on many occasions to make fun of me or others. So call me a cracker Nazi AND WHOOOOO.... I really don't care. Free speech is free speech. And in the context he was using it, seemed like he was overall complimenting them.

Aother problem with slang language and derogatory term especially is that me being white, calling another white guy 'nigger', is not a big deal. A black man calling another black man 'nigger' seems appropriate as well, no one really complains. But if a white man calls a black man 'nigger' then we are in a ton of trouble.

Double standarts and hipocracy. I love it when people say, 'you can't use that term!', I usually use that term right back at them anyways. To prove that I can. The real deal is, I should have some respect for others and not call them that at all. That is what we are really getting at. He slipped up, apologized and now he is making headlines all over the place. And now even his show is being dropped by the sounds of it.

Oh and you should have heard what Bill O'Rielley has to say on this whole situation. That man spews more dangerous things in one of his 'Talking Points Memo's, than I have heard Imus say in any commentary I have head of Imus'.

Free speech is free. I hand it out freely. Others should too.

[Guthrie]

Dear Don,

Welcome to Oblivion.

[geoffrey]

Somehow if a commentary called a white football lineman a fatass or something like that, I don't think we'd see the outrage.

Hardly the same thing Geoffrey, what if the commentator was Black and called the lineman a 'fatass cracker'

or other racially charged comment, big difference.

I don't think I'd really think twice. I'd likely laugh. Who cares. It's just words.

[ft.niagara]

Actually, Imus is liberal, good riddance. But he will not get fired because he is liberal, and has powerful friends like Russert.

[Guthrie]

Actually, Imus is liberal, good riddance. But he will not get fired because he is liberal, and has powerful friends like Russert.

Boy, talk about your dry as dust sarcasm. Powerful friends like Russert

But he will not get fired because he is liberal :D

Actually, Imus is liberal

[RB]

his MSNBC show was cancelled

a hard lesson to take and a professional suicide

my take that CBS will not falter in this sort of destruction

[Charles Anthony]

Gone are the days of taking racism lightly.

Don Imus is in show business and just like Michael Richards - Kramer, His rasist remarks, he should have had the discipline to know what NOT to say.

Show business is fickle and can flip over instantaneously. That is the nature of the beast. Nobody who ventures in show business deserves job security. Ratings, ratings, ratings should be on every broadcasters mind.

Personally, I do not care if Don Imus is a racist -- he might be or might have genuinely slipped. However, Don Imus is no longer paid to do that anymore.

One thing that I find interesting is the terms "nappy-headed hos" are frequently heard in modern Black American music.

[jdobbin]

One thing that I find interesting is the terms "nappy-headed hos" are frequently heard in modern Black American music.

Why do you find that interesting?

CBS fired him today.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18072804/

He used to call CBS "his Jew managers."

[Charles Anthony]

Don Imus -- who does not appear to be a Black American -- had to say "nappy-headed hos" for me to learn what it meant.

Why do you find that interesting?

I have heard "nappy-headed hos" several times in the past and like most monotonous atonally articulated jive-talk over beds of a repetitive beat, I never cared to understand what it meant. I just tap my foot and enjoy the rhythm.

He used to call CBS "his Jew managers."

Were his managers Jewish?

[guyser]

Gone are the days of taking racism lightly.

Unless and until people like rev Sharpton are no longer the point men on these issues it isn't.Imus was wrong, and should have known better but he has for years been spouting plenty of junk.But particularly insulting is one Sharpton telling us that Imus is racist and should not be on the air. Sharpton has still not apologized for implicating some people in the Tawana Brawley case whereby she accused 6 ( I think) men of raping her. She was shown to be a liar , yet Sharpton never apologized for implicating the DA on the case.

How is one to understand the racism inherent in Imus while ignoring it in Sharpton? Neither should be on the air.

Don Imus is in show business and just like , he should have had the discipline to know what NOT to say.

He was afforded a lot of rope over the years . I suspect he thought he would get away with it. And frankly he just might have as this story did not get legs until the weekend and that was I believe four days after uttering the words.

Ratings, ratings, ratings should be on every broadcasters mind.

And that , along with advert revenue, is what did him in.

Personally, I do not care if Don Imus is a racist -- he might be or might have genuinely slipped. However, Don Imus is no longer paid to do that anymore.

And that is not a bad thing after all.

Just to clarify, nappy headed is meant as an insult meaning "pubic hair worn on the head". I trust "ho" needs no clarification .

One thing that I find interesting is the terms "nappy-headed hos" are frequently heard in modern Black American music.

[jdobbin]

Don Imus -- who does not appear to be a Black American -- had to say "nappy-headed hos" for me to learn what it meant.

I have heard "nappy-headed hos" several times in the past and like most monotonous atonally articulated jive-talk over beds of a repetitive beat, I never cared to understand what it meant. I just tap my foot and enjoy the rhythm.

Were his managers Jewish?

I think that Imus' understanding of language was well understood by himself. I think he wanted to be provocative and succeeded.

His managers are indeed Jewish. He probably figured that since they didn't seem to mind his pokes at them and CBS, they would back him on black commentary. What Imus didn't figure for is how much money CBS makes on basketball versus keeping Imus on the air. No contest.

http://www.cbscorporation.com/our_company/...index.php?id=76

[Liam]

This whole thing is a farce. He's been railroaded by Al Sharpton -- who elected him spokesman for all black people, anyway? -- who needs an axe to grind to stay relevant. Imus might have been offensive, but he did nothing worse than any countless number of rappers.

Anyone who doubts Sharpton is being a selective opportunist want to wager that Sharpton will find other things to do and not picket outside Arista and CBS Records when the next "b*tch and ho"-filled 50 Cent album comes out?

[Guthrie]

This whole thing is a farce. He's been railroaded by Al Sharpton -- who elected him spokesman for all black people, anyway? -- who needs an axe to grind to stay relevant. Imus might have been offensive, but he did nothing worse than any countless number of rappers.

Anyone who doubts Sharpton is being a selective opportunist want to wager that Sharpton will find other things to do and not picket outside Arista and CBS Records when the next "b*tch and ho"-filled 50 Cent album comes out?

So sorry, am afraid you have your facts mixed up.

[newbie]

I don't think Sharpton has the power he thinks he has. To me this was clearly a money issue - sponsors pull out until Imus removed. Pretty cut and dried.

[Guthrie]

To the radio, Sponsors are gods.

No one in radio is anything but very careful in matters of firing on air personalities. NBC still cries every time they think about Howard Stern.

newbie is right

Don Imus was not fired lightly nor over any protest other than those of GM, AT&T etc

[scribblet]

He was way out of line, he made a big fat error in judgement and has probably lost his career.

Al Sharpton never has any solutions, all he does is play the race card and nearly starts a riot. It beats me why people want to talk to al Sharpton whos conduct has caused a lot of damage to people and communities.

Why is it okay for rap artists to call women hos.

[ft.niagara]

This whole thing is a farce. He's been railroaded by Al Sharpton -- who elected him spokesman for all black people, anyway? -- who needs an axe to grind to stay relevant.

Imus was a friend of the blacks. He advocated for Katrina NO Blacks, among other things for them. At 67 his career was almost over, or should be. The Blacks probably have done more harm to their cause than good.

[Liam]

I disagree that I have the facts wrong. he said something stupid, but it was said in the context of a comedy sketch during radio show that mixes comedy/politics/public advocacy. Absolutely no one can say that he said it with an intent to wound anyone. (Unlike, say, Ann Coulter who chooses her offenses in a calculated and premeditated manner.)

Sharpton needs something to chafe against to remain in the spotlight. (Ask yourself when was the last time you saw or heard from him or Jesse Jackson -- suddenly each was in the news. Hello.)

Put the two together: someone who says something slightly over the top in the context of a comedy routine and someone who needs a soap box to stand on and you have the makings of an overblown boycott and orgy of victimization.

Seriously -- if you think Al Sharpton is out there to defend the reputation of young black women, I suppose you'll be joining him on the picket lines next time Snoop Dogg releases his next video or someone puts out a "Girls Gone Wild" DVD. Are you lining up?

Look, I'm a pretty liberal person, but I'm not offended by what Imus said because I think he said it in a lazy kind of way and in the context of ad-libbing in a comedy routine. I don't think for a second that he said it out of malice. Should he be blackballed and fired? Get real. There are dozens of celebrities, Chris Rock, Dave Chapelle, etc., who *calculatingly* make fun of ho's and black people and, yes, make racist jokes about white people, left and right and yet NOT ONE of them is EVER taken to task. That doesn't make what Imus did right, but it shows that there is selective outrage going on.

And, yeah, I am sure the suits at CBS and NBC who routinely put boob jokes and jokes abour premarital sex on "Friends" and liquor and drug (and, again, pre-marital sex) content on "Will & Grace" on air at 8pm Monday through Friday are appalled (appalled!) at some stupid off-the-cuff statement that lasted all of four seconds on a radio program.

This is all a case where someone who needed an enemy found one. Someone who needed to hold his people out as a victim found a way to do so -- and he was going to organize boycotts against anyone who didn't line up with him. Unfortunately, Imus opened the door. I'm not saying that what Imus said wasn't wrong or wasn't stupid -- it was both -- but the firestorm over this is simply out of control and out of proportion.

Cripes, where was the protest march when Mel Gibson railed against Jews? He's still working. Who stood up when Ann Coulter called John Edwards a f@ggot? She ended up selling more bad books. How about all the times Eddie Murphy makes fun of honkeys? Give him another $20 million. But while in the midst of a comedy routine Imus says "nappy headed ho's" and suddenly the moral center of the world is about to implode unless he gets fired? This is ludicrous.

[ft.niagara]

He was way out of line, he made a big fat error in judgement and has probably lost his career.

Al Sharpton never has any solutions, all he does is play the race card and nearly starts a riot. It beats me why people want to talk to al Sharpton whos conduct has caused a lot of damage to people and communities.

Why is it okay for rap artists to call women hos.

I bet Imus is sorry he talked with Sharpton. Sharpton is the winner here with the threat of boycotts. He didn't even have to deliver on one.

For me, the MSNBC spot was the more important. He is not carried in my area by radio.