Don Imus is the last of a dying breed. Him and many others like him are nearing the end of their generation. A generation that doesn't have to much to say on social change and acceptance. A show that in the past has broadcast speech and language that is filled with racism and homophobia. He has been a lucky man that works for a company that has no intergrity and gravitas to do the right thing.
Imus has shown his true colors over and over again. He is wildly ignorant. While i disagree with what Imus and his minions have said in the past, the final say should be by the company that owns and broadcasts his show. Lets remember that you have a right to ignorant in this country, express unpopular ideas under the first amendment, lets not turn into Europe with thought police and speech hate crimes. Political correctness run amok.
Even with that said he should have been kicked to the curb a looooooooooooong time ago. Lets stroll down memory lane of what Imus has said in the past to a wide ranging groups and individuals.
Imus referred to sports columnist Bill Rhoden as a "New York Times quota hire"
Imus calledWashington Post reporter Howard Kurtz a "boner-nosed beanie-wearing Jewboy".
Called PBS anchor Gwen Ifill as a "cleaning lady".
Imus has repeatedly referred to Arabs as "ragheads."
Beratedfemale newsreader, Contessa Brewer, which caused her to leave the show when he said this:
That skank has to spend three hours with makeup in the morning ... Who’s she kidding? . . . Plus, she’s dumber than dirt ... Oh, my God, what a pig. But I was willing to cut her some slack and not say anything, you know, until - in fact, I didn’t say anything . . . That’s why they have those big double-doors there at MSNBC, you know, so they can get her fat ass in makeup.
Media mattes has more about Imus over here and old post over at Firedoglake about Imus.
The Williams sisters were referred to as "two booma-chucka, big-butted women".
In '97 Imus carelessly told a 60 Minutes staffer off-mike that Bernard McGuirk, his program producer, was tapped to do "nigger jokes." Mike Wallace later exposed this incriminating usage in his 60 Minutes profile.
While Imus has the media spot light on him, where were they when Neal Boortz and Bill Bennett said the same thing. These men clearly have said and referred to people of color in the same manner. We all remember when Neal Boortz said this to former congress woman Cynthia McKinney:
For instance, or for goodness sakes, jump in and I'm gonna say -- I'm gonna start out with something controversial. I saw Cynthia McKinney's new hair-do. Have you seen it, Belinda?....She looks like a ghetto slut.
Bennett also made remarks that basically said we would have no crime if black women didn't have babies, if only they could abort them.
I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down.
He later on to say that he was "taken" out of context and was showing the limitation of one argument by showing the absurdity of another as a "philospher".
If you heard him try to explain himself yesterday his whole theme was the typical "i have black friends" and "have interacted with them, invited them on my show". The best analysis that i heard was on the Howard Stern show, uncensored, some what ironic in a way. I was thrown back when he he was replying to Al Sharpton on his radio show yesterday to a caller when he said "you people". Thats very close to code that is used in southern strategy sessions by the GOP. Here is one gem that sticked out in my view.
Let me tell you, I'll bet you I've slept in a house with more black children who were not related to me than you have.
What these men have in common besides racial epitaphs is that they are around or from the same cultural generation. Unlike the others from the same generation that chose to stand up and fight for social change and equality, these men seemed to just sit by and not try to make a positive effort. A time when the norms were different than today. What one might find offensive to them might not be to them since the times are changing quickly and they reminisce the past. Some times people don't adapt well to change. They resent it since it seems foreign and different.