Imus the Duffas!

[Lusipher]

Ok, lets face it...Imus screwed up. He shouldnt have said what he said about the Rutgers female baskeball players. The whole nappy headed ho's thing was over the top. Him getting dropped by MSNBC was a surprise, but given that Imus was losing tons of his sponsers you could see it coming. I dont think CBS should fire the guy, though.

What irks me about all of this is its kinda a double standard. Black people call each other the "N" word and call their women all kinds of stupid remarks. Rap music is really just crap and the rappers have been getting away with their remarks for years. Listen to any 50 cent or Eminem record and you hear worse than what Imus has said. I think personally people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton should go after some of their own if they dont like hearing such remarks. Its BS that they should go after Imus with such furor, but never do anything about the rappers.

Face it....if Imus were a black man we wouldnt have such a stink over all this, but since hes white it gives the two Revs and the NAACP a chance to nail someone to the wall. Again, Imus was stupid for what he said and he shouldnt have done it, but he shouldnt be buried for it either. If your going to do that then go after the others who demean women and their own races too.

[White Warlock]

I'm not keen with the double-standard, never was... but, I've watched/listened to Imus for a very long time, and that guy is due. To be in his sort of business, you have to walk the fine line between racey and racist. He overstepped that line far too often, with racist slurs for everything and everyone. As to NBC kicking him, it's about profits. He's not profitable now.

But, to put clarity to this incident, every friggin' commentator needs to be kicked off the airwaves, especially television. It has 'replaced' fact-finding news with its absurd popularity. The American public, in general, do not want truth, they want passion.

[Mulu]

What irks me about all of this is its kinda a double standard. Black people call each other the "N" word and call their women all kinds of stupid remarks. Rap music is really just crap and the rappers have been getting away with their remarks for years. Listen to any 50 cent or Eminem record and you hear worse than what Imus has said. I think personally people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton should go after some of their own if they dont like hearing such remarks. Its BS that they should go after Imus with such furor, but never do anything about the rappers.

Face it....if Imus were a black man we wouldnt have such a stink over all this, but since hes white it gives the two Revs and the NAACP a chance to nail someone to the wall. Again, Imus was stupid for what he said and he shouldnt have done it, but he shouldnt be buried for it either. If your going to do that then go after the others who demean women and their own races too.

They do. Not with as much fervor perhaps, but they absolutely speak out against rap lyrics.

What really sunk Imus was the innocent victim aspect. He specifically targeted a popular team of young women who really didn't deserve to be degraded. In rap lyrics it's just language in general, Imus actually slandered those girls specifically. It's not a double standard, it's greater punishment for worse behavior.

[mxlm]

They do. Not with as much fervor perhaps, but they absolutely speak out against rap lyrics.

Indeed. I've paid no attention to this, but my friends who have commented to me that some are using it as a reason to go after the misogynist hip-hop types. And it's not the first time they've made such remarks to me, either.

[Mulu]

"These young ladies are the best this nation has to offer, and we are so very fortunate to have them at Rutgers University," Stringer said. "They are young ladies of class, distinction.

/

"I'm not a ho," the sophomore said. "I'm a woman and someone's child. It hurts. It hurts a lot."

[ç i p h é r]

What really sunk Imus was the innocent victim aspect. He specifically targeted a popular team of young women who really didn't deserve to be degraded. In rap lyrics it's just language in general, Imus actually slandered those girls specifically. It's not a double standard, it's greater punishment for worse behavior.

That's interesting. Shouldn't comments that target a broader segment of our society or culture be considered more egregious than those that target a handful of individuals? No doubt those girls were insulted, but how's that measure up against say an entire race, gender, profession or creed being categorically degraded on a regular basis? This stuff is being produced and distributed on a massive scale, so the reach and impact of it is vastly greater than anything a guy like Imus could achieve.

I guess in the Imus case, media executives made a business decision to terminate his contract. In contrast, music industry executives do not appear troubled by their profiteering on the degradation of a whole slew of people. So the unintelligible rubbish in the guise of music continues to be produced and sold.

[MorbidKate]

I love it when folks slant the story and fall back on the ol' "Well, if they can say it, so can we" crap. Anyone here ever see the Dave Chappelle skit where he was pretending to be a white cracker in a pickup truck who calls a carload of white hip hop wannabes listening to tunes a bunch of "nig*ers" at a stop light... and they freak out thinking it was so cool to be called that? Chappelle struck a nerve with that bit of comedy, as he usually does.

Don Imus should have been fired long ago because this isn't just one incident and he played the wrong cards reacting to it. For those who don't know, here are some other gems Imus has spouted:

Imus and his cohorts referred to African American sports columnist Bill Rhoden as a "New York Times quota hire" and PBS anchor Gwen Ifill as a "cleaning lady".

Repeatedly referred to Arabs as "ragheads.

Admitted telling a producer off-camera that McGuirk was hired to perform "nig*er jokes" on CBS 60 Minutes.

Referred to publishers Simon & Schuster as "thieving Jews", and later in the show issued a mock apology, saying the phrase was "redundant".

Described media critic Howard Kurtz as "that boner-nosed . . . beanie-wearing little Jew boy”.

Routinely uses gay epithets, including "faggot", "lesbo", and various terms for gay sex.

And it goes on and on...

Imus isn't merely controversial, he's a bigot and has been spewing that stuff for decades. The Rutgers comment was just the latest racist comment from him and that one got him fired. About time.

Kate

[Lusipher]

I have no problem with them getting rid of his ass for the things he said, but I think its bullshit when blacks will call other blacks the N word and thats just cool because they think its just their culture. Its nonsense. I remember a story my dad told me once when he was working on the railroad and working out of East St. Louis. This black guy he worked with use to eat with my dad all the time on layovers and he once told my dad "its these young n*ggers who are going to get us old n*ggers killed". Sometimes, I think that guy was right, because all the younger kids are all embracing the rap culture and all that goes with it.

The one hypocritical thing out of all this...Imus has already reportedly been offered over 200million to goto Sirius or XM radio.

[Mulu]

That's interesting. Shouldn't comments that target a broader segment of our society or culture be considered more egregious than those that target a handful of individuals?

The law doesn't treat it that way, though I'm not going to pretend this was decided by laws. He crossed a line attacking young female black athletes who have worked very hard and acheived both athletic and academic success, as is evidenced by how much immediate outcry there was, even within CBS itself. A lot of CBS and MSNBC employees were calling for him to be taken off the air.

But yes, Imus will almost certainly profit in the long run. Saying contentious things is how he makes money.

And denigrating your own group really isn't the same as denigrating someone else's group. Call it a double standard if you will, but it's firmly entrenched in our society. There are good political science arguments that stealing and using denigrating terms is a form of empowerment. Just look at the history of the song Yankee Doodle Dandy.

[Nyarlathotep]

What I find shocking is that there was actually anybody still listening to the show so they could hear the slurs.