"Imus in the Morning" is having its radio swan song today, and Don Imus isn't allowed on the air. CBS fired Imus yesterday but allowed his wife, Deirdre, to fill in for him today because the show is hosting a charity fundraiser. Deirdre went on the air to express her husband's remorse for calling the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos," and she described the meeting with the team yesterday:
''They gave us the opportunity to listen to what they had to say and why they're hurting and how awful this is.''''He feels awful,'' she said. ''He asked them, 'I want to know the pain I caused, and I want to know how to fix this and change this.'''
''I have to say that these women are unbelievably courageous and beautiful women,''
C. Vivian Stringer, the Rutgers team's coach, called the meeting "very productive" but did not say whether she or her players forgave Imus.
Previously at FanHouse:
Stuart Scott on 'Ho': 'I Didn't Say That It's a Good Thing'
Stuart Scott Says Calling a Woman a Ho Is 'Affectionate'
Snoop Dogg: Don't Compare Me to Don Imus
Annika Sorenstam: Don Imus? Rutgers? Never Heard of Them
Rutgers Women's Team Responds, Agrees to Meet Don Imus
Don Imus Rutgers Controversy Not Going Away
Who's Worse, Don Imus or Billy Packer?

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
4-13-2007 @ 11:11AM
Claudia said...
I am writing this with a heavy heart. I think it is deplorable that no matter what Imus says no one will listen. Seems to me, if he lay down and lit himself on fire, they wouldn't listen. Why are they crucifying him? What about when Al Sharpten referred to the jewish people as Hiebes (spelling?) First thing I heard from him this morning (4/12) was we have to fight. What about we have to heal? Did any of these girls actually hear his comment? Seems to me that it is Al Sharpten, Jesse Jackson, Oprah, the broadcasting stations etc. that are causing the most hurt by wanting to point fingers instead of contributing to what we can do to start the process of healing. I don't agree what Imus did, but; I think he is sincere in his apology.
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4-13-2007 @ 11:12AM
Lon Dunn said...
I think that the CBS/NBC should not have backed down to the Bonfire of the Vanities "esque" treatment by Sharpton/Jackson/Lee; who quickly garnered a few office hands and retirees; called protestors; and at one point actually, laughably threatened "future marches".
None of those Rutgers Players even heard Imus' remarks, none of them listen to the Don Imus Show and but for the media, would not have been harmed at all by Imus' comments. Portrayed as Player/Victims is as harmful as Imus' firing to free speech, warping reality to fit the week's hot topic.
Lon Dunn
Fairfax, VA
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4-13-2007 @ 12:13PM
KH said...
Why in the world do a couple men have the power to stop a man's career when their own people say far worse things in their songs and in regular conversations even on the street in public. I've heard them myself.
Jackson's comment on the news that what he said in private can't be compared to what Imus said is stupid, of course it can, doesn't matter if it was said on air or in private, it was his feelings. He's just as big a bigot. Period.
Although I may not agree with the comment Imus made, the good he does far outweighs things he says on air that are part of the showmanship. I think that CBS and NBC should be ashamed of themselves for not standing behind him. I won't be watching you any more and those advertisers that buckled to the pressure from those couple men that have way to much pull, watch your revenues drop from the folks you've run off.
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4-13-2007 @ 12:37PM
Dwight Mayta said...
I think Don Imus should sue the net works for firing him. I know I would love to set in on the jury. I don't aggree with the comment that he made but I have heard a lot worse on the radio & tv. What has happened to our constitutional right to have freedom of speech. Don is an American therefore has this right even on the radio. The black population needs to grow up & quit crying all of the time.
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4-13-2007 @ 12:59PM
jim said...
I'm tired of being so guarded, and having to be 'politcally correct' and not offend 'certain' segments of society. Imus was stupid, to make the
remark that he made, but he wasn't sitting at a table, having a serious discussion of women's sports, and making that comment. He was attempting to be funny, to his audience.
How quickly we jump when it involves a Black. Where are the objections and wringing of the hands when other races are involved. Have we heard an apology, for jumping to conclusions, on the Duke boys Yet?
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4-13-2007 @ 1:32PM
Linda Fullerton said...
Thanks MSNBC. It's been fun, but without Imus, I won't bother to watch you. You have been placed on channel lock until you bring him back or even better, another station gives him a show. I would love to see the attention that Imus could bring to the lopsidedness of this issue and perhaps get hip hop either cleaned up or removed from our airways.
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4-13-2007 @ 1:35PM
Charlie said...
I can't believe how the media is blowing the Imus comments so far out of porportion. No, he shouldn't have said what he said, but to crucify him in the media is unbelievable! And to have so called god loving pastors out for blood, makes me ill!
I loved watching MSNBC - only to tune into the I-Man! Other than that - I never viewed the station!
This will all blow over - and the media will be on to their next "victim". And to have the basketball team get on tv and go on and on about how hurt they were, etc., give me a break!
It was a joke for heavens sake - a poor one - but nonetheless a joke! Imus was doing his job - its what he does. If you didn't like it or what he said - click the Off button!
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4-13-2007 @ 1:50PM
Paul Hydrick said...
What Imus said was regretable, however I support his right to say it! Let's be honest Imus is an entertainer and has always had an edgy side in his shows. He has always been an equal opportunity abuser and picked on everyone, however I truly believe it was NEVER done with malice, just for show.
We hear at VoiceAmerica want to invite Don Imus to come to our LIVE Internet Talk Radio Network and do his show with us. Additionally, as a Veteran, Imus has done so much for our Military as well as his involvment with SIDS and Autisim and his Ranch, one should take Note of how he has had such a POSITIVE Effect on so many lives through his Chairitable efforts!!!! Iman, give me a call.
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4-13-2007 @ 2:02PM
FNX said...
Al Sharpton is a big-mouthed hypocrite. We should all rise-up and try to ruin his life.
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4-13-2007 @ 2:21PM
Alan said...
This note will probably echo other comments on this blog in support of Don Imus. He made a reprehensible remark on nationwide radio. But, many others have made much more damaging remarks. I hear some of those same derogatory words in rap music, made about women by African Americans. For the past week, broadcast and cable news networks have repeated, ad nauseum, the Imus clip. At least TWO civil rights activists, advertisers, the Rutgers coach, and his employer, turned this into a tempest in a teapot. Imus apologized, over, and over, to the point of total humiliation. Yes. A suspension was called for. No. His firing wasn't.
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4-13-2007 @ 2:36PM
joni bateman said...
I watched the Imus show every morning, I'm so very sad that my morning didn't start (Friday) with the Imus program.
I can't believe the MSNBC and CBS bought into some very over zealous black leaders that found a small window to jump into. I think all they are going to do is cause more racial problems, they used someone for there own glory. I will no longer watch cbs or msnbc.
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4-13-2007 @ 3:21PM
Jane said...
Marcia,
I found your comment ("He's made his fortune and now hopefully he will focus on giving back to his community ") a bit strange.
Have you been paying attention?
The man has spent YEARS giving back to HIS commnuity and countless others through his various charitable works.
Just look at Shelly's (#3) comments. Look at just some of the causes Imus has embraced, and Shelly's list doesn't come close to covering them all.
So go ahead....Look....REALLY look...and then tell me all about the charitable causes linked to Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson.
Your other comment ("make Don Imus accountable for his arrogant and hurtful remarks that he has been getting away with for years") indicates you must have been listening ALL those years. If not, how would you have known?
Therefore, your solution should have been easy. Stop listening!
As for ("learning what true humility is"), I would suggest being fired in the MIDDLE of a radiothon that was raising money for those charitable causes you seem to forget he was involved with, was more than enough humiliation.
For that tasteless act, CBS is on MY boycott list, along with the gutless cowards at MSNBC who actually had the gall to ask Imus to move his radiothon out of their headquarters the night before it was to begin!
That wasn't humiliating enough for you, Marcia?
The fact this year's radiothon (the 18th for the man you said needs to learn to give back) has raised more money than any year before (even with the gutless actions taken by MSNBC and other corporations who ran and hid when Jesse and Al showed up) says a lot about how much a lot of people cared for what Imus has done.
What he said was wrong, terribly wrong. He apologized profusely, but that wasn't enough for people like you. You wanted more. Well, kiddo, you got your wish.
Oh, yes, one more thing. I am a black woman who believes forgiveness applies to all races, not just mine.
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4-13-2007 @ 3:42PM
Rick said...
The hypocrisy of this is unbelievable. Jackson refers to NYC as "Hymietown" and we still allow him to be a voice for the black people? Sharpton ruined the life of Stephen Pagones during the Tawana Brawley hoax, never apologized, was sued for slander and still never apologized, jumped on the Duke rape case bandwagon, and I haven't seen an apology to the 3 men FALSELY ACCUSED yet, but we still somehow allow him to be a spokesperson for the black community.
The black community should shun these 2 buffoons, because they do far more harm with their pretending to be the voice of reason then Don Imus ever could have done, since he was at least doing a radio show that is supposed to be comedy.
I am not, and have never been an Imus fan, but this amounted to a witchhunt, and the sponsors who abandoned him over this are just as hypocritical as anyone else involved. They have stood alongside him for years, paying him money to advertise their products, reaping the benefits of said advertising, while all the while he put on a show that was known for being filled with humor that was based in racism, ethnic differences, and made fun of all people at every opportunity.
His show was no different than what goes on at a Friars Club roast. You get what you pay for. You can't go to one of those and then walk out because the humor was offensive to you, because you know going in what it is. Same for the Imus show. If you didn't know that he was an equal opportunity insulter, then you didn't know who he is.
One more thought. These statements that were so offensive were uttered last Wednesday, April 4, but not until this past weekend were the negative comments rolling in. Did it take 3 or 4 days for the "victims" to realize that they were offended, or did it take that long for someone to plane a bug in their ear that they ought to have been offended? My take is that these comments, although offensive, stupid, and hurtful, were probably not even heard by the Rutger's womens basketball team. But when Revs. Al and Jesse tell you that you should be offended, then if you are a self-respecting black person, you have to be offended. It's kinda like a guy in bar who is insulted, and is not looking for a fight, so lets it go, until someone else says to him "Hey, you gonna let him get away with that?" Revs. Al & Jesse are that guy in the bar who isn't happy until they can instigate a fight. Why do they still have any relevance at all?
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4-13-2007 @ 3:50PM
Kevin said...
First off, I am white and I have lived in "black" communities all my life, there are a vast amount of differences between the two races, but one thing that holds true is theirsense of humor, I personally have been the butt of someone elses jokes/comments, some I didn't like some I thought were funny. Don saying nappy headed ho has got to be one of the funniest things I've heard an old "white man" say, he is a comic, bottom line. Ask Steve Harvey or Chris rock to stop making "white jokes". The people who fired this man are wrong and will eventually reap what they sew. Jessie and Al, are just jealous they weren't as strong as DMLK or Malcom. If they were alive they wouldn't stand for the things black folk do to themselves like these two-faced morons do. There are WAY BIGGER PROBLEMS GOING ON THEN A STUPID GIRLS BASTETBALL GAME,WAKE THE EFF UP!!! Nappy headed JACK ASSES.(And I said that in MALACE) And my wife is black and so are my kids.
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4-13-2007 @ 3:54PM
The troll said...
The collective whining about the Duke Lacrosse team is becoming a headache, so they were wrongly accused? I did not see any of you pointing out the obvious when the same situation was happening to Kobe Bryant. You all act as if AL Sharpton owes this these three young men something. Since when is ok for a team of predominately white men to order room (or is it brothel) services from black strippers? Are there no white strippers in Durham? The undeniable fact is these players hired these girls instead of one of their own kind because they felt they could be taken advantage of her poverty and her situation. I guess somewhere in every white man lies a subconscious belief that every black girl is worth less than a white one. I noticed the rush to not only drop the case but to exonerate these wealthy white men accused by a black woman of a heinous crime, But with Kobe it’s “we will never really know what happen in that room”, yeah we were all at the frat party! So we do know for a fact that there is no way she is telling the truth. Even the AG notes in his speech that the lady in question still believes that a crime was committed. Please if you feel badly about Imus petition CBS and MSNBC or better still vote with you remote control. Talk of kettle calling the pot black, if you are brave enough bring up this nonsense with an educate black man and he will point out the obvious hypocrisy of your thinking, If AL Sharpton called a group of white collegiate female athletes “whoring white trash” on radio, he would have been fired the same day.
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4-13-2007 @ 4:07PM
The Beer Messiah said...
I just wanted to say that I have never heard Don Imus' show before but just think that he deserves a second chance like the rest of us. If I didn't get a second chance, I wouldn't be where I am today !
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4-13-2007 @ 4:11PM
Jane said...
Rick (21):
Bravo! (from a black woman who refuses to live in the past and thinks the day has to come when all of us have to be adult enough to take responsibilty for our own actions {as Imus did} and stop blaming every little problem on what happened in the 1700's.
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4-13-2007 @ 4:11PM
Bill Oberst said...
I-Man, don't let them drag you thru the dirt anymore. You've said you're sorry many times and that's enough. Hold on to your self respect. We'll miss you.
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4-13-2007 @ 4:15PM
Jane said...
I beg your pardon. I meant Rick (19).
Since I am black, can I blame this on something that happened in the 1700's? LOL (Just Kidding).
Seriously, Rick, your points were excellent.
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4-13-2007 @ 4:21PM
Carl said...
These comments are fascinating to me. It took me about 2 seconds after I heard about the Imus statements to come to the conclusion he should be fired. I would have been extremely disappointed if he had been allowed to continue on the air.
All of these people defending what he said...your racist. Its pretty obvious. What he said is beyond foul. If the amazing women of Rutgers are "hos"...I wonder what that makes the rest of us who dont have nearly as much on the ball.
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