Imus Fired

[cloudy]

This is such an abuse of rhetoric. What fucking white man uses the term nappy-headed without the derogatory connotation; attach it to 'ho' and you've got a fucking racist (no different than Mel Gibson or that Seinfeld guy).

As for how the girls played, badly or fuck all, it was nought to do with anything. I don't care if they're spewing vitriol, the proof is in the racist turd's language. And who cares about Jackson's or Sharpton's attitudes except white people.

Can I hug you?

Jenny, you're embarrassing yourself. Just stop.

btw: your bigotry is showing.

 

[3113]

Cutting your own throat is an occupational hazard when you make your living by knife-edge humor.

Very true! There seems to be this belief in guys who rely on insult humor that they're also invulnerable. And for a while, they pretty much are. But sooner or later, the popularity-good-will runs out, and they're still riding on that narcissistic belief that they're invulnerable...and they say the wrong thing about the wrong person.

Suddenly, they're apologizing and losing their jobs and becoming pretty much a has-been. Cue next comedian who uses insults to get laughs and fame and who, for the moment, is protected by his popularity from having to apologize, explain or pay for any of those insults.

Don't get me wrong; I think it's important for a comedian/talk-show-host to have an edge, to be bold and brave and willing to call-'em as he see's 'em, to challenge. But I find this kind of humor lazy and transitory. And, ultimately, self-destructive.

 

[Grushenka]

Can I hug you?

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

I enjoyed listening/watching Don Imus. I first heard him when he hit NYC (on WNBC) back in the early '70's. Back then he did a lot of comedy bits. The Right Rev Rumple Foreskin's First Church of the Burning Bush and Discount House of Lickers was inspired by Imus' First Church of the Gooey Death and Discount House of Worship.

And, of coures, no one can be all bad who calls Rush Limbaugh a "fat, pill-popping loser" and Texas Republican Congressman Joe Barton, "...a lying fat little skunk," a "...coward and a crybaby" and a "...congressional dirtbag", because Barton used his position as a committee chair to prevent passage of the Combating Autism Act, which would authorize funds for autism research.

But Imus broke a cardinal rule of sports journalism: never, ever personally disparage any high school or college athlete. The pain you'll endure is not worth any promotion or award. Even worse, his remarks were both racist and sexist and targeted a local women's team (Rutgers).

So Imus will now have to make do with his three homes, attractive wife, young son and charity work. Meanwhile, the listening public has lost one of the few spontaneous, informative, and entertaining shows on the air.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[jomar]

Yes, he is. Except that he hit a big ol' nerve with this one- calling a group of young, hard-working, promising, scholarly women- oh, and did I say young? "nappy-headed ho's" just isn't going to make you many friends of any stripe.

Cutting your own throat is an occupational hazard when you make your living by knife-edge humor.

Live by the insult; die by the insult.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

First Amendment is still working just fine, as he wasn't punished by government. He was punished by his boss for making them look bad.

They looked bad before he came along.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Can I hug you?

Jenny, you're embarrassing yourself. Just stop.

btw: your bigotry is showing.

Sorry, Cloudy -
It's not bigotry to point out the black community going on a rampage to get someone. Don Imus had already appologized profusely a number of times. He had been chastized by the network. He was losing his sponsers, which meant he would have been cancelled soon anyway. But it appears that wasn't good enough for Revs Sharpton and Jackson.

If you saw the right Rev Sharpton with Imus on his radio show, "Bigot Cracker" was used more than once, and not by Imus.

 

[cloudy]

Sorry, Cloudy -
It's not bigotry to point out the black community going on a rampage to get someone. Don Imus had already appologized profusely a number of times. He had been chastized by the network. He was losing his sponsers, which meant he would have been cancelled soon anyway. But it appears that wasn't good enough for Revs Sharpton and Jackson.

If you saw the right Rev Sharpton with Imus on his radio show, "Bigot Cracker" was used more than once, and not by Imus.

I can't stand Sharpton, but it doesn't excuse what Imus did. There's absolutely no excuse for what you posted.

Your statements were nothing but ugly racism. Every time I start to think I might actually be able to tolerate you, you prove, once again, that I can't.

Racism is ugly, no matter who it comes from. Something you might ought to think about before you open your mouth, and prove, yet again, that you're just as ugly as Sharpton.

 

[R. Richard]

I think that any commentator who calls female college athletes 'hos' deserves to be fired on the spot. The term is ugly and its use is degrading and shows a total lack of class. Adding 'nappy headed' makes it a racial insult, to add to the general insult.

I have never heard Imus and it appears I never will. I will try not to cry.

 

[Dar~]

I don't even know who Imus is, but I will say that nappy headed is not something I have ever heard when refering to a curly headed white woman. SO Just in that it was an obvious racial reference. to add ho to that, was merely topping it off. No woman wants to be refered to as a ho.

when used in this context it is urban slang and here is my reference:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ho
when used in normal context it even has a rude edge to it:
She hoed the garden . . . ow!

 

[Liar]

I think that any commentator who calls female college athletes 'hos' deserves to be fired on the spot.

Should every rapper who call women in general 'hos' be dropped from their label on the spot? heh, that would be a sight.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Should every rapper who call women in general 'hos' be dropped from their label on the spot? heh, that would be a sight.

It's a different job description.

 

[Liar]

I don't even know who Imus is, but I will say that nappy headed is not something I have ever heard when refering to a curly headed white woman.

To be fair, "nappy headed" was not a world I'd ever heard before.

First time I heard it, when this was being commented in the news, I had no idea it even referred to black women. I thought "nappy" as in UK English diaper.´, and the closest thing I would think that it might referr to in some roundabout way, was Muslim women and their veils.

So if nothing else, mr Imus taught me a new word.

 

[Liar]

It's a different job description.

Yes, but a guy can dream, can't he?

 

[Pure]

i agree with the firing. (though I've not heard Imus)

for the cowboy hat, alone.

does it have first amendment implications. in a word, no. he's just like a newspaper columnist whose expression endears him to the owner of the paper. but unwelcome statements can result in firing, whereupon he can use his free speech to give lectures on the paper's corruption, stand on streetcorners with sandwich boards, or write a book; self publish, even.
Imus can set up a website of entertaining, if racist, rants.


"nappy headed" to me is a term some black mothers use to scold children whose hair is mess and/or not pulled tight (e.g. in braids). it connotes sloppiness, bad grooming, 'low class,' and 'field hand' appearance, etc.

ho's is "whores," and is clearly used generally, by Imus crowd and black rappers as synonymous with "women,"--- worthless, no good ones (any other kind, in these guys books?)

as far as comedy, i do like lenny bruce, gregory, pryor. but the key seems to be to go after your own people. just as "Borat" discusses pastimes like like "let's kill the Jew and drop him down the well." love 'im!

i do find the airwaves and TV bland, but i don't think racist remarks are the spice needed.

I don't like the choice of targets, some 20 year old female athletes who apparently lost a game. If he had called Condoleeza a nappy headed ho, he would be 'picking on someone his own size [or larger]'.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I don't like the choice of targets, some 20 year old female athletes who apparently lost a game. If he had called Condoleeza a nappy headed ho, he would be 'picking on someone his own size [or larger]'.

Quite so.

"Nappy" hair is bad hair; it's tough to handle and comb though, and breaks easily. It's something to be pitied for-- it is, most definitely, an insult. Especially when "ho" is attached to the end of it.

 

[elsol]

Sorry, Cloudy -
It's not bigotry to point out the black community going on a rampage to get someone. Don Imus had already appologized profusely a number of times. He had been chastized by the network. He was losing his sponsers, which meant he would have been cancelled soon anyway. But it appears that wasn't good enough for Revs Sharpton and Jackson.

If you saw the right Rev Sharpton with Imus on his radio show, "Bigot Cracker" was used more than once, and not by Imus.

Would you use that combination of words at work with that tone of voice?

"That woman in HR is a nappy-headed ho!"

In how many corporations in the US does the question of whether to fire you comes up if you say it?

In fact, do you work for a non-segregated US corporation? Why don't you go ahead and use the term (with nasty tone of voice) in front a black woman, so we can find out if possibly Imus's employer did anything to him that wouldn't happen to one of us for being fucking morons.

I don't know about anyone here... but if I said that at my job, I'd start packing my desk. I would be seriously surprised if any amount of apology made a difference.

So what makes Imus so special that he doesn't have to face the concequences for his actions that any of us would?

I would have side with cloudy on this one; just like Imus, your bigotry escaped you for a few seconds there. (It's okay... really, it could escape all of us at any time. I hate stupid people, but lucky for me, they're not in a protected class.) If you had kept the venom to the Reverend's I might have said maybe.

 

[shereads]

This was one of the issues that make me embarassed for my fellow non-bigots. No, I'm not defending Imus. I don't like Imus. I don't find Imus amusing. I don't give a rat's spleen what Imus says or does. But he's not the first and won't be the last talking head in the entertainment world to rely on sexist, racist, juvenile insult-humor. And frankly, a blurt of bad taste by a grade-B shock-jock is hardly the most serious theat to the dignity of women and people of color. Sure, I'd have been hurt and angry if I'd been targeted for public ridicule as those young women were. They have every right to boycott his sponsors or do whatever makes them feel better. It's a free country. But it's getting less free all the time. Knee-jerk calls for censorship every time we hear offensive speech are not helping the matter.

A spokesperson for the team was asked on the Today Show, "Where should free speech end?" I cringed, hoping she'd sense the trap and phrase her answer in a way that could not be interpreted as disregard for the First Amendment. But no. She answered that free speech "should have ended when..." the students were insulted, or words to that affect. And this from an educator?

This incident shouldn't have merited a mention on the network newscasts, considering how much urgent news is discarded or condensed to sound bites when assembling the 40 minutes or so that's left for news between commercials. And it certainly wasn't worth all the time devoted to the spectacle of self-flaggelation and moral one-upsmanship, as Imus tried to worm his way back into the hearts of people who didn't like him to begin with. His fans will follow him to the next job, as they followed Howard Stern, and would follow Rush Limbaugh if necessary. I should know; I've followed Bill Maher with more loyalty than before "Politically Correct" got the axe.

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

"I disagree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it."- Voltaire. Wise words to recall.

The pressure has the ring of censorship. However, it is also true that the network has the right to adopt its own policies. It's just very hypocritical, coming from a network run by Michael Savage. If you don't know that jerk...well, you're not missing anything. He's a hard-core racist, without apology. For him to drop Imus....pure hypocrisy to save face. He's twice the bigot that Imus ever would be. Not that I've ever been a regular listener of Imus's. But from Michael Savage, this smacks of hypocrisy and greed at work, not moral or ethical responsibility.

If you doubt me, read Savage Nation some time. Eerie parallels to Mein Kampf abound.

 

[elsol]

Imus is getting PAID for his speech, therefore it is not free speech.

It is paid for speech!

Let's not labor under the delusion that he was fired for making racist comments. (Fucking please!) He has an employer who hired him to make money... Imus got fired for losing his sponsors and the simulcast deal.

It ain't a free speech issue... it's a paid-for-speech issue.

 

[cloudy]

Imus is getting PAID for his speech, therefore it is not free speech.

It is paid for speech!

Let's not labor under the delusion that he was fired for making racist comments. He has an employer who he hired him to make money... Imus got fired for losing his sponsors and the simulcast deal.

It ain't a free speech issue... it's a paid-for-speech issue.

dear god, thank you!

It stuns me that so many don't get this right.

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

Imus is getting PAID for his speech, therefore it is not free speech.

It is paid for speech!

Let's not labor under the delusion that he was fired for making racist comments. (Fucking please!) He has an employer who he hired him to make money... Imus got fired for losing his sponsors and the simulcast deal.

It ain't a free speech issue... it's a paid-for-speech issue.

Ed Zachary. Because Mr. Savage cares even more for the Almighty Dollar than for his long-term, racist goals.

Again, it's true that they have the right to drop him. But let's not delude ourselves about the intentions of the puppet-masters. They have other Pinocchios waiting in the wings.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Ed Zachary. Because Mr. Savage cares even more for the Almighty Dollar than for his long-term, racist goals.

Again, it's true that they have the right to drop him. But let's not delude ourselves about the intentions of the puppet-masters. They have other Pinocchios waiting in the wings.

The next Pinoccio will know better than to call 20 year old basketball players names, though. For what that's worth.

He got fired for making himself unpopular.

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

The next Pinoccio will know better than to call 20 year old basketball players names, though. For what that's worth.

He got fired for making himself unpopular.

There is that. Vox populi et vox Dei. "The voice of the People is the voice of God." At times, it operates along similar lines, in any case.

I'm a complete cynic about the whole damned thing. Imus was in it for popularity and cash, so it backfired on him. Mr. Savage has his own agenda, and offered Imus as the price to keep his network from losing more money. The leaders in question are just seeking the limelight.

 

[Kintrub]

Grushenka wrote ”What fucking white man uses the term nappy-headed without the derogatory connotation; attach it to 'ho' and you've got a fucking racist”

So, the point is, HE’S WHITE. Were Chris Rock or Dave Chapell to say ‘nappy-headed’ or 'ho' it’s acceptable. IN FACT, they can say terms like “Honkey” without a media outcry.

Turn on BET. Count the use of the word ‘Ho’. I bet ‘nappy-headed’ gets in there too. (Certainly Stevie Wonder’s used it).

I just wanted to get THE RULES out on the table. Some people can say shit about race, others aren’t allowed.

Oh! That’s right…black comedians and rappers have a ‘different job description’ than white morning radio yappers.

And for the record, before someone accuses me of being a racist, I don’t dig Imus, Stern or any of these white nerdy shock-jock/insult humorists (Abbie Hoffman called Stern “A mouth without a brain”…I’m down wit dat)…they all suck…but I love Chris Rock…AND I live in New Brunswick, NJ…home of Rutgers College.