Don Imus Admits His Radio Career May Be Over
From actressarchives.com: "On Thursday, even after raising more than a million dollars during his annual charity fundraiser, Don Imus has hinted his long-lasting career may be coming to an end."
Later the article says, "During the charity telethon, Don Imus took to the microphone and, according to Reuters, said, 'I don't know if this will be my last radiothon, my suspicion is it will be.' Don Imus added that the situation around his racist remarks has become 'insane' and 'out of control.' Imus used the scandal to the advantage of his charity telethon, asking listeners to donate a record amount to the cause." (Right: Don Imus, Photo Credit: © WFAN-AM)
More Highlights from this Article:
* Imus apologized to the Rutgers women basketball team again during the drive.
* Imus listeners donated more than $1 million dollars during the first 5 hours of the radiothon.
* The money benefits: Tomorrows Children's Fund, CJ Foundation and SIDS and the Imus Ranch
Where Have the Imus Critics Been for the Last 20 Years?
That's a paraphrase of the title of a post at bloggernews.net. It reads in part:
"For at least the past two decades, Don Imus and his merry band of radio assistants have been filling the airwaves with racial slurs and innuendoes on a daily basis. The recent remarks about the Rutgers University’s women basketball team is nothing new. And the culprit who should be sharing the condemnation with Imus is his executive producer, Bernard McGuirk."
What Visitors to Radio.about.com Have Been Saying:
* "I will never tune into their network again for giving in to pressure."
* "I don't know how people can continue to defend this guy."
* "His comments were disgusting and deplorable..."
* "How hipocrital [sic] people can be. Sharpton and Jackson should look at their own history before picking on Imus."
(For full text of above, see Comments section of this article.)
* "I don't understand how we've gotten to the point on radio where no one can say anything that’s in any way offensive to anyone."
* "I don't like what Imus said but what ever Happened to freedom of speech?"
* "I am an African American male who, before this morning, was an ardent fan of the 'Imus in the Morning' television program...I am put off by the media instinctively going to Reverend Jackson and Reverend Sharpton for the pulse of black America...These men don't speak for all of 'us.' No one does."
(For full text of above, see Comments section of this article.)
Comments
Is the whole world becoming like the intolerant fanatical Islamic who will kill if offended.
While Don Imus is no way right, the Rappers who came up with these names on their CD’s should be held accountable along withthe record companies that produce this trash! All three should bear the responsibility for this!
What Mr. Imus said was outrageous and should be punished, however this has gone overboard. The networks themselves have made this mess worse. If you are going to fire someone take their name off the show. Don’t call it Imus in the Morning today and then slam him some more. Don’t let him go out and raise money and stop a telethon mid call. No one has ever defended me for my ethnicity because of a bad joke, or apologized for sending out Blonde jokes. Revs. Jackson & Sharpton should not be throwing bricks at glass houses.
There is a terrible double standard in this Country. Yes, Don Imus should be held accountable because of what he said. But, if he is being fired for what he says on the airways, then we need to EQUALLY hold those on the BET network, and those that air video RAP, or play certain RAP songs that have the same demeaning or even worse language and despicable videos depicting certain women in a degrading manner. That is where most of these terrible terms originate and permeate our society, not from Don Imus.
So, let’s not jump on the band wagon and say we just need more minorities on these stations. We need to hold ALL equally responsible for their words and actions, people like the Rev. Sharpton who called the Jewish community hymies, certain rappers who have deplorable songs and videos and alike need to be held accountable for the permissiveness and how these words are being used right out of grade school, right to the record studios and airways.
John
San Ramon, CA
I am an African-American female. Because I am both Black and have a uc Davis degree in African and African-American study, I would like to refer to the “Double Standard” issue first. Rap is a (little known, but) major player in our culture as Rap was used by Black slaves to pass the time and to frighten their over seer in the cotton fields as they had no idea how to understand, “Black speak” The only mistake that I see Don Imus making was doing as is so popular today, trying to act Black. The problem as I see it is that if Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton make good on their threat to go after the Hip Hop and Rap industry then the long over truth about just how many of us Black people have no respect for these two as the mass media pretends that they do. These facts will come out at last! Example, no apology required for a full year of suffering by the White lacrosse team members due to the media band wagon provide by the networks for Jackson and Sharpton to sprout their racial garbage and get richer and more powerful! The Hip Hop and Rap music groups have already vowed to defend Don Imus when and if Jackson and Sharpton come after them. This is the only way that what really got Don Imus fired will be forced out although CNN has talked about the Jackson form of black mailing of boycotts if those like (yes) MSNBC does not do his biddings.