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CBS Radio and MSNBC television show host Don Imus got himself into serious trouble over comments he broadcast on the air last Wednesday to millions of listeners.
Imus referred to black members of the Rutgers University women’s basketball team as “nappy-headed hos.”
The reaction has been swift.
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.”
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The Rev. Jesse Jackson planned a protest in Chicago.
The Rev. Al Sharpton said he wants Imus fired and that he intends to complain to the Federal Communications Commission. Sharpton did permit Imus to appear on his radio show to apologize to Sharpton’s listeners, but the minister continued to call for Imus’ head.
Unfortunately, idiotic, racist comments by those behind a microphone are not uncommon.
One recalls a few other notorious incidents of celebrities voicing racially inappropriate remarks. In September 1983, during a live telecast of Monday Night Football, sportscaster Howard Cosell said, “That little monkey gets loose, doesn’t he,” as he commented on a play by wide receiver Alvin Garrett of the Washington Redskins.
Or how about The Masters golf tournament in 1997, when golfer “Fuzzy” Zoeller Jr. referred to Tiger Woods as “a little boy” and suggested he might like to eat fried chicken and collard greens? Woods had just won the tournament for his first of four times, by a 12-stroke margin of victory. Zoeller had tied for 34th place.
Some might try to dismiss these gaffes and the ensuing outcries as just a bunch of political correctness. Shrugging off these matters will not help ease racial tensions that are sadly so alive in the U.S. today.
As Imus himself said Monday in an on-air apology: “Here’s what I’ve learned: That you can’t make fun of everybody, because some people don’t deserve it.”
Imus wasn’t making fun of the Rutgers basketball team, he was being mean, racist and misogynist in search of a laugh. It’s the type of behavior practiced by far too many radio and TV talk show hosts these days.
In this case, Imus clearly stepped over the line.
