Imus in the spotlight?

[Remianen]

[QUOTE=Raveneffect21;222882]So basicallly your saying freedom of speech is only ok at certain points?[/QUOTE] I think Peter did a great job of explaining why this isn't the case and wasn't my meaning. As for GDE, apparently he didn't read my post at all and just spouted off. Like I said, I LAUGHED at the reference perhaps because I thought it was funny? Naw, that couldn't be it! I laughed because I was offended, had to be that! :rolleyes: As I've said, I hear worse every day. But, the reason I felt he should be disciplined harshly is because he's not some rookie broadcaster who has no idea what he's doing. He's been at it for almost 40 years. He's seen (and experienced) how "the game" has changed. He's done these kinds of things before so he knew the possible consequences. And by the way, not sure where you reside GDE71 but you can do time for "words". Words have consequences, whether you want to believe it or not. I'll agree on one thing you said though. This controversy is probably going to make a lot of money for some folks. But in the short term, they're bleeding sponsors and it reflects badly on his employers. They're not going to fire him though (look at my last post for why). Even if the NAB wins and the XM/Sirius merger isn't approved, there will still be a bidding war between the two companies for his services, should he be terminated. Terrestrial radio nowadays is pretty much bereft of major stars. Imus is one of the last remaining.

[masterded]

This is one of the things where it seems people just go to far both ways. Trying to say he didn’t mean anything or in the least that it has no offence is giving a free pass. Saying someone should get fired over it is taking away from a simple right we should all have, freedom of speech. People should make a decision to either keep listening or stop listening based on what he said. Instead people who didn’t listen in the first place get involved and only cause ratings to improve. It is just so illogical. I am part Jewish and have had letters and speeches directed at me form members of the KKK, and Neo ****’s. Sure I think it sucks and all, but it is their right and I accept it. Okay the letters went a little far and sure when we found out where the ******* lived we paid him a visit. But, the speech part is no big issue. (Unless threats are involved.) Its like that old quote about how freedom of speech protects speech you hate not speech you like. I don’t remember how it goes. (Interesting fact I found out I was part Jewish when a letter addressed to my father said that his kids are mongrels and that he is weakening the white race. This is because my great grandpa never told anyone he was Jewish and even changed his last name to escape persecution.) Wow ****'s gets edited out here.

[Jorge_JBR]

[QUOTE=PeterHilton;222890]Dumb argument. Everyone has the right to say what ever they want. But they should also be prepared to handle the consequences. Jesse Jackson called new York "hymietown" a few years back. He deserved to get blasted. Billy Packer called Allen Iverson "a little monkey." He had to apologize to the media and was taken off CBS broadcasts for a while. The WWE upset a lot of people with their Hassan the Terrorist sketches. The character had to be pulled and the E apologized. You can't legally yell FIRE in a movie theatre. Tim Hardaway said he hated gay people and got fired. Do I really need to throw out any more examples of how the freedom of speech argument is pointless in cases like these. Freedom of speech does not mean someone has carte blanche to say whatever they please without any repercussions. EDIT: Let's be real here. Imus is a middle aged white guy who refers to Arabs and Muslims as ragheads, has called black news anchors "quota hires" and "cleaning ladies" and once made jokes about Maya Angelou being "a spearchucker." He referred to a group of black women as 'jigaboos' and 'nappy headed hoes.' Is anyone [I]really [/I]surprised that people got upset about this?[/QUOTE] First, I'd like to start off by saying I do not like Don Imus. Secondly, freedom of speech does mean someone has carte blanche to say whatever they please. However, you're right. It doesn't mean that there will be no repercussions. The way that Sharpton and Jackson are acting and what they are saying is that they want the FCC to make it illegal, fineable to say anything like what Imus said. No more ho. No more bitch. No more anything. I already have a huge problem with the FCC to begin with. It does limit free speech. Are people going to be offended? Yes. Does that happen daily? Yes. However, you can change the station. If you don't know how to do that, you're a retard (which, if I was in Canadian radio, I would be fined for saying). People need to learn how to raise their children. If you think your son listening to Imus or Opie and Anthony is going to be bad for him, teach him how to change the station. Don't let him listen. Don't let the radio and the TV raise your kid. If you do, you have no legs to stand on, and you're not a good parent. They are calling for Imus to be fired. Why not let the market decide? It wasn't a big deal until Monday. Sharpton didn't pick up on it Friday night, right after Imus said it. No, he had to have his little crew take the weekend to find it out and tell him. Imus is a shock jock, rather he is on MSNBC or not. He is known for saying stuff like this. And that's what he gets paid for. If people were really all that offended, they would stop listening and stop watching. They don't need someone who only jobs on a moral issue if it affects his people (at least Falwell forces his moral about everything) telling them it's wrong. They can make up their own mind. Lastly, Imus isn't middle aged. Imus is old. He is really freakin' old. Am I surprised people got upset? Yes. He does this all the time, and it's a joke. Oh, and by the way, he didn't say jiggabos and wannabes. One of his crew did. And that's refering to a movie. Not making a racial joke. Did I mention that movie was made by Spike Lee? He called them nappy headed hos. They do have nappy hair. And he doesn't know them. So obviously, him calling them hos doesn't mean anything. The other team, the Vols, is almost all black too. And he said they looked cute. So clearly, he wasn't be racist. If anything, he may have been setting up the jiggabos and wannabes thing. There is a lot of work that goes into putting together a radio show. Like if you're on air for four hours, you most likely put about five hours of work into it before hand. And that's music radio. So how long do you think talk radio hosts work? Get over it.

[PeterHilton]

I love that answer. Get over it. As if no one anywhere has the right to get offended by comments like this. And did you actually read any of the posts in this thread, or just the one that suited your POV? Here's what I said already. [QUOTE]It was said in jest. But it was DEFINITELY a racial comment. If you listen to the entire comment, he was trying to say that the girls from Rutgers were more thuggish looking, "rough girls..they got tattoos...nappy headed ho's," while the girls from Tennessee were lighter skinned and "cute." [B]The conversation then went on to compare the game to "the jigaboos versus the wannabes," alluding to the Spike Lee movie School daze which was entirely about the relationship between light and darker skinned black people. He went on to say the team looked like the Washington Wizards more than a NCAA women's team[/B]. [B]When you use the terms "nappy headed" and "jigaboos" there's no way in hell that's not a racial statement.[/B] I don't think Imus is racist. He was trying to be funny and crossed a line. What he said was stupid and offensive. [B]I don't think he should've been fired. His punishment was fine. [/B] I definitely think there's a certain amount of irony in Sharpton and Jackson trying to stand up for black women given their history. [/QUOTE] Why are you arguing me on points I already made? Thanks for "explaining" his comments as if I hadn't actually posted what was essentially a transcript. Also, it doesn't matter if Imus actually made the comments since his sidekicks on the show are often fed material to throw to him for his responses. Also... [QUOTE]who refers to Arabs and Muslims as ragheads, has called black news anchors "quota hires" and "cleaning ladies" and once made jokes about Maya Angelou being "a spearchucker." He referred to a group of black women as 'jigaboos' and 'nappy headed hoes.' [/QUOTE] This was meant to provide context.This is not the first time he's been raked over the coals for this. And he's not a "shock jock." He brings on political figures and tries to act as though he's a social commentator. He doesn't strictly do comedy. Its not people are ripping on Carlos Mencia for doing racial jokes. He crossed a line. Again, I don't want him to be fired and I don't want the FCC to become even more medieval because of this. But to act like no one should've gotten upset or that these comments are nothing is a little self-serving. Just because YOU don't think it a big deal does not mean that other people might not upset about it.

[GDE71]

One would think instead of crying over something that has virtually zero REAL impact on someones life, that Rutgers University would use this TEACHING OPPORTUNITY to TEACH their students some real life toughness. This was a non-story on par with Anna Nicole's death. The main reason the basketball players are upset is because so many people are telling that they should be.

[PeterHilton]

Also, some of you need to educate yourself on the difference between 'racist' and 'racial'. Racist means discriminitory or derogatory. If you are making a racist comment you are most definitely putting someone down for their heritage. Racial means of or having to do with someone's race or ethnic or even sometimes religious background. It is entirely possible to make a racial comment that isn't meant to be offensive in any way. Imus made a RACIAL joke that a great many people thought crossed the line. The word jigaboo is a racial slur. At one point in America it was worse than the n-word. In School Daze the light skinned students use it against the dark skinned students [B]as an insult[/B]; they were putting them down for having darker, more ethnic features. It is by definition not possible to refer to black people as jigaboos without it being a RACIAL statement. It would be like someone walking up to me and caling me a wetback and then saying, "Oh no, that had nothing to do with your race."

[Remianen]

Like I said, the only reason Imus should be fired is because of the political and financial ramifications of his comments. Both MSNBC and CBS Radio (which owns WFAN) is bleeding sponsors (and thus, ad money) as a result of the aftermath of this incident. THAT might be the only reason I'd agree with firing Don Imus. It's business. And when you're on a 3rd rate medium like terrestrial radio, without those ad dollars, you can't possibly even think of remaining competitive with TV, the Internet, and satellite radio (which doesn't have to follow the same rules you do. Listen in to Shady Radio or Snoop Dogg's radio show someday and tell me if they could say those kinds of things on a "regular" radio station). Let's see, so far they've lost Staples, American Express, General Motors, Sprint Nextel, Proctor & Gamble, GlaxoSmithKline, and Bigelow Tea Company as sponsors. Amex, GM, and GSK have removed ads from MSNBC [B][I]as a whole[/I][/B] (not just Imus's show, like the others). Tally up how much money that's going to cost them then you'll probably know why MSNBC removed Imus's show from their lineup altogether. It's business. You can say whatever the hell you want to say, but you'd better be prepared to face the consequences.

[PoisonedSuperman]

If one of my friends said that, I would take it as a joke, and I do feel that he was joking and I do feel that it was funny. But the problem here is me and my friend(s) aren't saying it on a radio where millions of people are listening. Its more of a right and wrong thing then a race thing but it was def. racist. Do I want him fired? I can careless about the guy, I"ve never heard about him before this and don't care what happens to him after. But as I've stated up there, it was a funny joke just said at the wrong time.

[Jorge_JBR]

It was a joke. He meant it to be racial joke. But it was just a joke. He was making a shocking statement. He always does. Just because he brings on political figures, doesn't mean he isn't a shock jock.

[Raveneffect21]

I can't believe MSNBC took him off the air the day before he was going to hold a telethon for sick children, I guess NBC supports cancer, especially in children.

[lovestruck420]

Now CBS broadcasting has fired him. So yippee, the american media has succeeded in destroying a 63 yr old man............... He said it, He apologized for it, A reverend who has lost the ability to forgive(Boy wonder where he'll end up in the end) crucified him, and now he's gone. I guess when they couldn't destroy Howerd Stern, they decided to go to the head inovator of modern shock jocking. Lets just hope he gets a deal on XM.

[Remianen]

*shrug* It's business. Worse things happen every single day and have for centuries. Keeping Imus was costing CBS Radio and NBC Universal millions, so they cut their losses. As a business, it's in their best interest to do so. How many shareholders are complaining about Imus's firing? (I know I sure as hell won't be.) I'm not worried at all for Don Imus. The man has a built-in fanbase in the most important/profitable/high profile media market in the world. He's the closest thing to 'Oprah' that radio has (that being, guaranteed listeners and ratings). He'll take a month or so off (for the dust to clear), hang out at his ranch while XM, Sirius, and several smaller terrestrial stations throw money at him. The creative and expressive freedom offered by satellite radio, not to mention the money (how much did Howard Stern get again?) is probably going to be too much for him to pass up though, I think. This is for the best, for all involved. If anyone's not familiar with satellite radio, it is really excellent and there is no censorship whatsoever. Also a far greater and wider selection of channels available. Imus will pop up on satellite by year's end, I'm almost sure of it.

[Irish Wolf]

I skipped everyone’s comments I've been hearing all day what people have to say. My grandfather and uncle are big Imus fans and their appalled by his firing. I won't exactly call my grandfather a racist because he pretty much hates everyone who isn't Irish (which oddly doesn't include grandchildren; my sister, my brother and myself) but I've listened to Imus' radio show before with them and he's gotten away with making racial slurs about Jews and sexist remarks all the time and some one made a good point today (even though I don't like Imus at all) firing him now is like having a dog who poops in one spot in the house and he poops and poops there and you never say anything and then one day he poops their and you get mad at him and have him put down. Personally I don't like his show and I'm glad he’s off the air for that reason. My solution would have been this don't fire him keep him around I don't care I don't listen too him. But He should be forced to pay to either refurbish or build a whole new arena for the team with his own money and for five years he has to go to every home game and cheer for the team as their mascot. Now that's a punishment.

[Raveneffect21]

[QUOTE=Apupunchau@optonline;223854]My solution would have been this don't fire him keep him around I don't care I don't listen too him. But He should be forced to pay to either refurbish or build a whole new arena for the team with his own money and for five years he has to go to every home game and cheer for the team as their mascot. Now that's a punishment.[/QUOTE] Imus raises of millions of dollars every year for cancer and you think he should spend his hard earned money on a basketball arena? Hate to say it but these women put a ball in a hoop, thats what they do, Imus raises money for cancer and he says something about women who put a ball in a hoop and he gets fired. I MEAN THEY PUT A BALL IN A HOOP.

[Irish Wolf]

[QUOTE=Raveneffect21;223886]Imus raises of millions of dollars every year for cancer and you think he should spend his hard earned money on a basketball arena? Hate to say it but these women put a ball in a hoop, thats what they do, Imus raises money for cancer and he says something about women who put a ball in a hoop and he gets fired. I MEAN THEY PUT A BALL IN A HOOP.[/QUOTE] I'm sure like many other celebrities he does his politically correct duty of picking a cause and using his star power to raise money for it and more power to him for helping those people. But I'm addressing his punishment for this specific offense. All the good deeds in the world don't stop you from being punished for the one thing you do that makes you end up in court when you break the law so I'm not letting his previous good deeds go toward his punishment for this misdeed. I'll say his prior fund raising can make up for every other racist, sexist and other insulting or demeaning remark he's made in the past. As for what these girls do it's not about the fact that they're basketball players. They could be the band or the women's chess team for all I care; they should not have to be subject to remarks of the kind Imus made which hell is not just insulting to them but to all African Americans so I'm meting out my chosen punishment for him based solely on this offense. The suspension was no skin of his back and even as some others have pointed out his firing just opens up more possibilities for him once this has blown over. As for firing him see me previous point I said they shouldn't have fired him I made the analogy of having a dog who does something wrong and never doing anything about it and then suddenly he does it again and you put him down. I think my punishment is more fitting to this particular offense and with a punishment for doing something wrong you can finally begin to address the issue of the things he says. Although if you've ever heard his radio show he’ll probably go on calling his bosses cheap Jew Bastards. Hell Howard and even Letterman have attacked their bosses before but they've attacked them on personal issues and never lowered themselves to the baseness of racial commentary (As a note I'm not actually a particular fan of Howard either). In short I'm going to stick by my statement and say his punishment should fit this particular crime although it is a little late for that because he's been fired. PS. Tone does not come over well in typing and this is a touchy subject. I am in no way shape or form trying to be mean about the comments I am making to your reply to my comments.

[shamelessposer]

[QUOTE=lovestruck420;223769]Now CBS broadcasting has fired him. So yippee, the american media has succeeded in destroying a 63 yr old man...............[/QUOTE] A 63 year-old racist millionaire. Yeah, I'm going to be crying myself to sleep tonight, wondering how he's going to make ends meet... If this had been the guy's first slip-up in his decades on the radio, it'd still make him a racist douchebag but I don't see why anyone would go out of their way to get him fired. The fact that this idiot made a pattern out of his behavior is reason enough to fire him without going into the shoddy excuse for sports commentary he's been peddling for nearly twice my lifetime.

[panix04]

To be be fair, living in good old sunny Torquay, which has 2 thirds of the worlds population of old people (scientific fact), let me tell you all a little secret, most old people are racist, not just racist either, i sat down and listned to my grandad rant for 30 minutes about how all Muslims are paedophiles and how women shouldn't be allowed in the army! He then followed it up with a half hour serving of how he doesn't think gays have a place in the armed force's either. I didn't agree with a word he was saying, i have a Iranian friend who is Muslim, i happen to like women! And i don't have a problem with homosexuality (unless one of them trys to nail me!) despite me not agreeing with the old man i couldn't help but laugh at him, yeah you could claim he is possibly the most racist person on the face of the earth, but he is from a different time to me. Unfortunatly in the world he grew up in, talking about ethnic minoritys or women or homosexuals in that tone was socially acceptable, and letting you in on another secret (two in one day!) old people tend to be set in there ways! Its not just my pops either, i used to play football with this guy who was 73, the guy was an absolute legend and one of the kindest blokes you could ever wish to meet, but i was shocked when he started complaining about Sol Campbell playing for the England side because he was black (sorry i dont know what the PC term is, Devon is a bout as far from the ghetto as you can get!) don't get me wrong, i don't consider the guy a racist, he is actually fairly close with this colombian fella who used to play with us on a sunday morning, he just didn't think it was right to have mixed race's playing for England. Anyway, thats my two penny's worth, do with it what you will!

[PeterHilton]

See...here's the thing: I don't honestly think that Imus is a racist. He was using tasteless terms to try to be funny. He might be a little outdated in his thinking, but I seriously doubt the guy actually dislikes black people. There are probably a couple reasons this all went down the way it did: 1) The target of his joke wasn't a celebrity or a political figure. A women's basketball team from a small school like Rutger's is about as unassuming a target as you can get. 2)He's said stuff like this before, so a lot of people who got upset didn't accept the whole "Well, I was just making a joke" defense. When national columnists are dissecting your transcripts from five years ago, thay just wasn't going to fly. 3) Agendas. Jackson and Sharpton see stuff like this as a chance to flaunt their influence. Probably the worst part about the whole things was seeing the politics in action. 4)The business end of it: Imus has had pretty weak ratings for like a decade. The thing is, his he had the most enviable demographic among his listeners a show could hope for: older, wealthy, established, affluent, males. Like the opposite of pro wrestling. When stuff like this happened with Stern, who cared if he lost sponsors? His ratings were so amazing that other sponsors were lined up to replace them. With Imus, once the sponsors left the ratings simply didn't justify keeping him around. Even if CBS and MSNMB felt like his apology was honestly enough, there's no way they could keep him on. I don't pity Don Imus. He's a millionaire ten times over and if he wants to continue his career then satelite radio will welcome him with open arms and I'm sure that his first 6 months or so will be him raging against how he got fired. If he wants to retire, he's filthy rich and still respected enough that I'm sure universities and other shows on TV or radio will have him as a guest speaker once the controversy fades.

[Remianen]

[QUOTE=panix04;223985]living in good old sunny Torquay, which has 2 thirds of the worlds population of old people (scientific fact),[/QUOTE] I don't believe this for an instant. Sorry Panix, you're gonna have to show me proof of that. China probably has more old people than Torquay has people [B]PERIOD[/B] (of [B]ANY[/B] age group). Do you mean [I]per capita[/I] or overall numbers? Torquay doesn't have 100,000 residents, does it? But I'd agree with you that many old people can be stodgy and set in their ways and thus prone to "bass-ackward" thinking. I have a great-uncle who believes "whitey" is eventually going to try to bring back slavery. White women will be the downfall of Black men and every Hispanic person is a Puerto Rican, in his eyes. "You from Mexico? You're a Puerto Rican!". I think it's hilarious! But these are views that come from experience, in most cases. (There was a time when white women would be the death of a black man, after all. At least in the US). You ever meet people who are bigots and basically remove you from your ethnic group because they like you? "Oh you're not Black, you're Erik. Black guys don't act like you!" S'why I said I see worse than what Imus said every day. :) But this whole deal was about saving face. CBS and NBC Universal get to save face with their advertisers, Jesse Jackson gets to leave the arms of his mistress (yeah, I went there) to feel important, the Rutgers women's basketball team gets to do a lot of things they would've been able to do had they beaten Tennessee (be on Oprah, have a press conference as the centers of attention, etc), and Imus gets to save face by getting a much bigger paycheck and thumbing his nose at his old bosses. Apupunchau's right though. His ratings have been slipping over the years, but his "constituency" is enviable. Last I heard, the only person on radio in New York who can hold a candle to Imus is Wendy Williams (and that's trading one evil for another IMO) since Opie and Anthony went the satellite route. As for feeling sorry for him, are you nuts? How many people get fired from a job with something like $18 million in the bank drawing interest? Yeah, my heart bleeds. :rolleyes:

[GDE71]

It's always been about $$$$$$$$$ Everything for all time will be about $$$$$$$$$ Everyone and Everything is for sale.

[shamelessposer]

[QUOTE=GDE71;224004]It's always been about $$$$$$$$$ Everything for all time will be about $$$$$$$$$ Everyone and Everything is for sale.[/QUOTE] Ooh, you're so edgy.

[Jorge_JBR]

Sometimes you have to lose money. I'm saddened by the fact that CBS, which back in Ed Morrow's day, used to be the end-all-be-all of standing up against things. But now CBS and NBC always back down. Disney never does. Fox rarely gets in trouble. I wonder why.

[panix04]

[QUOTE]I don't believe this for an instant. Sorry Panix, you're gonna have to show me proof of that. China probably has more old people than Torquay has people [B]PERIOD[/B] (of [B]ANY[/B] age group). Do you mean [I]per capita[/I] or overall numbers? Torquay doesn't have 100,000 residents, does it?[/QUOTE] Sorry bud, i think the scientific fact thing threw you, i was just being uncharacterestically flippant! You should know by now that 90% of what i say is pure crap! Anyway, im off now to enjoy my drunken stupor on the couch! Damn missus giving me aggro for being drunk again!

[jagilki]

[QUOTE=panix04;224091]Damn missus giving me aggro for being drunk again![/QUOTE] Just make sure you don't have any more siblings with her.... :) (joke from another thread folks.)

[Raveneffect21]

[QUOTE=shamelessposer;223972]A 63 year-old racist millionaire. Yeah, I'm going to be crying myself to sleep tonight, wondering how he's going to make ends meet... If this had been the guy's first slip-up in his decades on the radio, it'd still make him a racist douchebag but I don't see why anyone would go out of their way to get him fired. The fact that this idiot made a pattern out of his behavior is reason enough to fire him without going into the shoddy excuse for sports commentary he's been peddling for nearly twice my lifetime.[/QUOTE] Jesus ****ing christ, racist? he made a ****ing joke