Imus

This business of Don Imus referring to the Rutgers women’s basketball team as “nappy headed hos”, is very troubling to me on many levels.

First off, I was listening to the show as background noise that morning and I heard the reference and didn’t think much about it. Later, I heard that he was talking about the basketball players and it really bugged me. Why would I not be concerned if I thought he was talking about someone else and; who would it be O.K. to say that about? It bothered me that he was talking about young women who had just accomplished something great. Not just making it to the NCAA finals but also being successful students at a good, tough school. The remarks by Imus and his cronies got under my skin for more than just the racial component. Making fun of how someone looks is equally bad. There are a lot of people in this world that get a free pass and even gain fame because they look good, that will never, in their lifetime, accomplish something as impressive as what these young women have already. By why, in my subconcious listening state would I think it was fair game to say this about anyone else? I’ve thought a lot about that and don’t have an answer. The truth is that it’s not OK to say things like that about anybody.

I listen to Imus pretty regularly and I have heard him attack other celebrities and politicians that trip over their tongues so, there is a certain level of hypocrisy here also.

Here is the Imus apology, from a Forbes article.

Near the start of Friday’s show, Imus said he wanted to “apologize for an insensitive and ill-conceived remark we made the other morning referring to the Rutgers women’s basketball team.”

“It was completely inappropriate, and we can understand why people were offended. Our characterization was thoughtless and stupid, and we are sorry.”

This is more of a tactic than an apology. If a celebrity screws up but apologizes (sort of) quickly, then they can say, “I addressed that immediately, it’s on the record, let’s move on.”

In Imus’ favor he did actually use the word “sorry” instead of “regret”. But, he also uses “we” instead of “I” and therefore is not taking accountability for his actions. It’s true that Bernard McGuirk and Sid Rosenberg said nasty things also, but they should make their own apologies and Imus should own up to his indescretion on a personal level.

Meanwhile, Al Sharpton says he accepts the apology but is still calling for Imus to be fired. Does Sharpton serve in some official capacity as apology acceptor on behalf of all black people? Is it possible to accept an apology and, at the same time, demand that person’s firing? Does the Rutgers women’s basketball team accept the apolgy? That seems to be what is important.

When Michael Richards went off on his tirade, I had a pretty good inkling that it was a carreer ender. My gut feeling is that Imus won’t be done. While Richards had passed the peak of his revenue generating powers, Imus is making a lot of money for a lot of people and that will afford him some protection. Imus is also philanthropic and I’m sure that point will be made in any discussion. The two examples differ in that Richards’ was filled with rage and Imus’ was misguidedly attempting to be funny. But at the heart the two are the same in that there was a true essence of cruelty.

I listen to the Imus show regularly. I get up around 5:00 pretty often and there isn’t much else going on then. I actually like it that these guys push the good taste boundry and, usually, don’t get caught falling over the edge. You know how, when you listen or watch the same show every day, you kind of feel like you get to know the people, they almost feel like friends? As jaded as I am, I realize that this is the case for me and the Imus crew. How would you feel if a friend said something like that? Surely, you would be disappointed, but would that end the relationship? I think in most cases, I would hope it was an anomaly and proceed with trepidation.