After 25 years of hosting the news/politics/comedy radio show Imus in the Morning, Don Imus has been fired and his show has been canceled. On his April 4 broadcast, Imus referred to the Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hoes." The incident sparked outrage. Many politicians and celebrities started calling for Imus to be fired, and a lot of advertisers deserted the show. After initial announcements that Imus would suffer a two-week suspension and that MSNBC would stop simulcasting his radio show, CBS announced it was canceling the show and firing Imus altogether.

The incident was not Imus's first racist moment. He has repeatedly referred to Arabs as "ragheads" and he once said the phrase "thieving Jews" was redundant. He often used gay epithets, such as "faggot." He has also come under fire for making sexist remarks.

Imus has presented himself as both a serious talk show host and a shock jock, and he blurred the lines of where one begins and the other ends. This raises an interesting question: is it okay for a comedian to make such comments, but not a "serious" talk show host? And it raises a few more timeless questions: who, generally speaking, can make such "jokes"? Anyone? Nobody? Only members of the minority the joke is about?

Do you guys support CBS's decision to can Imus, or not? Is free speech being encroached upon? What's up with all the other shock jocks/comedians/entertainers out there who say things just as vile and get away with it? And on that note, what was it about "nappy-headed hoes" that pushed things over the top?

Discuss.

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Um, isn't "nappy-head" a White-targetted slur? Forgive my ignorance, I don't live in the US.

No, it's in reference to African American hair.

How is Blacks hair nappy like? Who on earth came up with this slur? Have they ever seen a nappy?

don imus called them girls nappy headed ho's. i think that was so wrong. those girls do not deserve to be called"nappy headed ho's"most of those girls were african american, i'm white and i consider that a racist comment. i dont know what america thinks but thats my opinion. if i was a black girl on that basketball team i woulda cussed that dude out, even that woulda been the wrong thing to do. and then he went to an interview with a precher or whatever and he made another racist comment and the guys that was hosting the radio show was black and he had his daughter in the room. and i think he deserved to be fired. i may not be black but i feel black and my friends and 3 of my cuzzins are black and feel their pain when people make racist comments about black people. and when black people make racist comments about white people.
so to all you racist white and black people, shut your mouths, ya'll dont like it when white people make racist comments about blacks, and whites ya'll dont like it when blacks make racist comments about whites.

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Originally posted by Wolfie:
well, all the guys on his show were saying stuff about them and he meant his remark to be like "damn! them girls are tough!" so he wasn't going out of his way to insult them.

very true, I mean I don't think Imus had any bad intentions by saying that or anything. It was pretty much just careless on his part, as well as the other announcers on the show. But it just goes to show you how certain groups of people are still viewed by society, and its a good thing that there was a demand for respect and that this issue has been brought up to the forefront. Of course, I'm sure most people have stopped talking about it by now...

well, all the guys on his show were saying stuff about them and he meant his remark to be like "damn! them girls are tough!" so he wasn't going out of his way to insult them.

Sorry, what I meant by that was that he had nothing intelligent to say about the women's basketball teams.

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And our country isn't going to suffer because one guy who has nothing intelligent to say can't talk on the CBS network anymore.

Nothing intelligent? I take it you've never actually listened to one of Imus' shows? He did a lot more than make caustic comments, as the media will conveniently forget to tell you.

Oh, Imus what will I do without you? Oh well, still got the OandA show!!!!

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Originally posted by Maya:
What I don't get about this is why he got away with other fucked up comments so many times before but this time it was too much, what was the difference?

Because he made a comment toward a bunch of kids. These girls are between 19-22. There's no reason for an old man to make rude, offensive comments toward a bunch of hard-working athletes. Make fun of rude obnoxious celebrities/politicians, not a handful of basketball players.

By the way, only 2 of the members of the basketball team's roster are white, for whomever said "they aren't all black." The majority of them are. Not that it makes a difference, I just figured I'd point it out.

Imus didn't get censored, no corporate executive came down and told him that he wasn't allowed to say that. There were no rules or laws that stated that you weren't allowed to say derogatory comments or something that might be offensive. He was perfectly able to say what it is he said. But, he got fired because he pissed a lot of people off and advertisers were worried they would lose alot of money and refused to support the program. He didn't get fired for what he said, he got fired because of the reaction to what he said. He basically just made a bad business move and now people don't want him to talk on the radio anymore. Who cares? There are a lot of people in this country who don't get to talk on the radio based on a lot of things. And our country isn't going to suffer because one guy who has nothing intelligent to say can't talk on the CBS network anymore.

Isn't it called censorship when someone gets in trouble for what they say?

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Originally posted by Wolfie:
damn straight. we should all go satellite. screw cable and regular radio.

actually, i bet if Imus was on cable television, it would not have been a big deal.

Even though I think its pretty hypocritical that Imus gets punished for saying something that so many others get away with every day (ie. rap artists), I'm still glad he got fired. I'm glad someone got punished for participating in the trend of demeaning women. I think its better this get attention instead of it just getting ignored. At least it gets people talking and thinking about what our society is like. Of course, Imus is just another scapegoat and this has probably already blown over (thats another issue), but the things he says hopefully makes people see how deep rooted racism and sexism is in our society

...And I've listened to the guy a couple of times, not that funny, scary maybe, but not knee slapping hilarious. When some hillbilly old man starts calling women basketball players nappy headed hos, you are generally not going to get a good reaction. Its not really funny, so what else is it going to come off as? He's not talking about their skill level or whether they can shoot baskets or not, he's instead calling them prostitutes because they look rough and have nappy hair. I'm sorry but that's just mean and I can't think of any good reason why you would say something like that. So, like the guy already admitted, if you are going to rip on someone, make sure its someone who actually deserves it.

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damn straight. we should all go satellite. screw cable and regular radio.

I like this plan. We'll get some decent music for once, as well.

damn straight. we should all go satellite. screw cable and regular radio.

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I guarantee he's going to get hired back though. So many sponsors are pissed as well as people. However, he is old so who knows if he would want to go back.

He should go on Satellite. They don't care that much there.

The only reason Imus got fired was because some little pathetic group was listening to him and decided it's outrageous to say nappy-headed ho. and the only reason this group got attention was because it was such a slow news week.

Most people who were all worked up about this don't even listen to Imus and had never even heard of him, he's the radio man for the baby boomers generation.

I guarantee he's going to get hired back though. So many sponsors are pissed as well as people. However, he is old so who knows if he would want to go back.

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What I don't get about this is why he got away with other fucked up comments so many times before but this time it was too much, what was the difference?

I'm just guessing but enough people probably called him on it.

And I have to say that just because we ignore and don't get offended by racism doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

What I don't get about this is why he got away with other fucked up comments so many times before but this time it was too much, what was the difference?

Imus is so totaly LIBERAL!!!He doesn't just talk about the basketball team members!He talks about everyone he can talk about!That's why he was a show host!!!

I heard an interesting comment the other day: "Something is only offensive if you get offended by it." Racism wouldn't exist if people ignored it. Well, verbal racism at least. Sticks and stones may break my bones...