Al Sharpton trying to get his pound of flesh

[Midnight Mike]

Imus set for Sharpton's radio show
08-April

Don Imus will appear on the Rev. Al Sharpton's radio show Monday, five days after Imus made racially charged comments on his own show about the Rutgers women's basketball team, Sharpton and MSNBC announced Sunday.

Despite Imus' scheduled appearance, Sharpton said his position was unchanged: He wants Imus fired and intends to write the Federal Communications Commission about the matter.

"Somewhere we must draw the line in what is tolerable in mainstream media," Sharpton said Sunday. "We cannot keep going through offending us and then apologizing and then acting like it never happened. Somewhere we've got to stop this."

The Rev. Jesse Jackson said his RainbowPUSH Coalition plans to protest Monday in Chicago outside the offices of NBC, which owns MSNBC, over the remark Imus made last Wednesday during his show.

Imus said members of the mostly black Rutgers University women's basketball team were "nappy-headed hos."

The team, which includes eight black women, had lost the day before in the NCAA women's championship game. Imus was speaking with producer Bernard McGuirk about the game when the exchange began on the show, which is broadcast to millions of people on more than 70 stations and the MSNBC television network.

"That's some rough girls from Rutgers," Imus said. "Man, they got tattoos ... ."

"Some hardcore hos," McGuirk said.

"That's some nappy-headed hos there, I'm going to tell you that," Imus said.

Jackson said protests are being planned across the country.

"If he has a right to use that platform to insult and degrade then we have a moral obligation to picket NBC and to protest," Jackson said. "If he can violate us in that platform in the name of free speech we'll be picketing NBC in the name of free speech."

James E. Harris, president of the New Jersey chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, demanded Sunday that Imus "resign or be terminated immediately."

Allison Gollust, a spokeswoman for MSNBC, which simulcasts "Imus in the Morning," said the network considers Imus' comments "deplorable" and is reviewing the matter.

Karen Mateo, a spokeswoman for CBS Radio, Imus' employer and the owner of WFAN-AM, said the company was "disappointed" in Imus' actions and characterized his comments as "completely inappropriate."

Imus, who has not been publicly disciplined, apologized on the air Friday.

"It was completely inappropriate, and we can understand why people were offended. Our characterization was thoughtless and stupid, and we are sorry," Imus said, according to a transcript on MSNBC's Web site.

[Matt Molnar]

With the Don Imus appearance, Sharpton's radio show is forecast to break its previous ratings record of 6 people listening simultaneously.

Honestly, though, this is a rare instance where I think Sharpton's reaction to an incident is justified. Imus and others on his show have made similarly racist remarks periodically over the years. Others on the show, most notably Sid Rosenberg a few years ago, have been fired for their comments, yet Imus has been allowed to stay on board. If he's not fired, I really hope the stream of politicians and A-list media-types that routinely appear on Imus begins to dry up along with his ad sales.

[hiss srq]

Imus was wrong but being fired over this? No..... This is radio, freedom of speach and I think if we wanted to go that far I could think of some people from the radio station 97.1 that need to be canned as well for racially charged comments made every day as far as stereotypes etc go.

[Midnight Mike]

Don Imus taking his lumps

http://wcbstv.com/video/[email protected]

[moose135]

Imus was wrong but being fired over this? No..... This is radio, freedom of speach

Whatever his employers do, it has nothing to do with freedom of speech. Once again, Freedom of Speech only pertains to the government restricting what one is able to say. If a private employer wants to fire someone for comments they make, it's not a freedom of speech issue. I assure you, if I publicly made the kind of statements he made while representing my employer, I would find myself out on the street in short order. It's time Imus grows up - his routine stopped being funny long ago.

[Tom_Turner]

Imus is an idiot. He probably should be fired for this ****.

And, yes, it goes without saying that the vile racist comments coming across whatever the black hate radio in New York is these days goes unremarked. As do Jesse Jackson's and Al Sharpton's racist comments of the past. They are rank opportunists and their followers are dumber than dirt.

Does anyone remember Al Sharpton pretending to get upset Rudy Guiliani was firing the police officer (or fire dept guy - don't remember which) in "black face" simulating the dragging death of a black man on the back of a pick up truck in Broad Channel?

At the time, Sharpton was all about "Free Speach" and the guy should keep his job... ha ha... Lorne Michaels will invite him on Saturday Night Live... The late Village Voice muckraker Jack Newfield give him a pass... because you know, they like to discuss boxing or whatever... Its all a joke...

Tom

[PhilDernerJr]

Imus should be fired for being a ****ty radio personality. It's long overdue because he just sucks. He sounds like ****, as if he's changing his voice onthe air nonstop to sound like Isaac Hayes and is failing at it, and his shows are as exciting as reading a phone book.

As for his comments, I've heard worse, but it does warrant an apology which he refuses to give.

Imus might havelearned that even after Michael Richards' debacle went down, that purchases of Seinfeld DVDs skyrockets. Imus really needs this publicity, and I'm sure that even after his suspension is over, his ratings will be higher than they were two weeks ago. People WILL tune in "to hear his garbage".

[T-Bird76]

Oh just for calcification, Sharpton's show is only on one radio station somewhere down south, it’s mainly an internet show. I do not think Imus should be fired for this, he's said allot worse in his years this was mild if not laughable. Once again we've become a society that can't poke fun at another race...However its ok say "Kill whity" in rap songs. Sharpton's reasons for getting involved in this are purely for his own gain as usual.

Oh for the record, let’s be real here, these are college chicks. If you've gone to college you know they are "Ho's", all college girls are Ho's. LOLOL

[Midnight Mike]

Oh for the record, let’s be real here, these are college chicks. If you've gone to college you know they are "Ho's", all college girls are Ho's. LOLOL

No kidding, and when did calling somebody a Nappy Headed Ho turn become a racist comment? It is a rude comment, but, that is about all.

If I was Imus, I would have issued an apology & then told everybody to kiss my arse! Let them prove that Imus is a racist, the more you beg & grovel the more they attack.....

[NcSchu]

It was more a sexist comment, not a racist comment. I'm surprised that feminist organizations aren't getting angry about it. I feel like a very small minority of people actually listen to this guy anyway, he's probably so out of touch with society anyway.

[lijk604]

The press conference from the Rutgers team was P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C!

Some excerpts for those that missed it...

PISCATAWAY, New Jersey (CNN) -- Don Imus "has stolen a moment of pure grace from us," the captain of the Rutgers women's basketball team said Tuesday
(Hmm pure grace? You LOST the championship game! Some grace there)

Other players echoed Carson's reaction, saying Imus' insulting words and the resulting controversy overshadowed their achievements.
(as matter of fact, he helped everyone remember you GOT to the big game, hell, I didn't know).

"Our moment was taken away -- our moment to celebrate our success, our moment to realize how far we had come, both on and off the court, as young women," said sophomore forward Heather Zurich. "We were stripped of this moment by degrading comments made by Mr. Imus last Wednesday. What hurts the most about this situation is that Mr. Imus knows not one of us personally."
(Exactly! That's why this is being blown SO far out of context. It was a joke, it was NOT a personal attack. Accept his apology, get over it and move on).

[Matt Molnar]

Imus should be fired for being a ****ty radio personality.

Can't agree more. Unfortunately old people who remember listening to Imus' cokehead days in the 70s and 80s during the prime of their lives still listen to him despite the show having no information or entertainment value. He still makes money, so until he actually rapes and murders a black woman, or his audience begins to die of old age, he'll be on the air.

[Midnight Mike]

In the wake of Don Imus getting suspended heres a video of a guy who went on CSpan a while back and announces he wants to kill all white people. Where was Al Sharpton after this? Did this guy get picketed and fired? Shouldnt he be held to Sharptons same standards?

http://break.com/index/double_standard.html

[Matt Molnar]

Pretty lousy comparison...Imus works for two of the world's largest media companies, reaching 10 million people, interviewing high-powered politicians and media folk, and generating hundreds of millions in ad sales, and most importantly to Sharpton, it gets his name on the news. Even if Sharpton thought this Kamau Kamson guy was wrong (and yes even Sharpton would object to his ideas) it wouldn't get him anywhere near the airtime that attacking a celebrity or a large corporation does.

[Midnight Mike]

Imus coming out swinging:

http://hotair.com/archives/2007/04/10/v ... -on-today/


Just so everybody knows, I don't like Imus, but, Imus is receiving a raw deal, just because he is white.