Posted on April 16, 2007
Don Imus has created quite the web of destruction for himself. Let’s take a moment to review.
On April 3, Rutgers took on Tennessee during the NCAA women’s national championship and lost. The next morning, Imus began a commentary of the game with his producer, Bernard McGuirk. McGuirk could be heard describing the team as “some hard-core hoes.” A minute later, Imus jumped on the bandwagon and called the women “nappy-headed hoes.”
On April 6, MSNBC and CBS, who distribute “Imus in the Morning,” issued apologies. It was already too late.
April 7: The Rev. Al Sharpton called for Imus to resign. The following day Imus appeared on Sharpton’s radio show. Sharpton’s first question regarding the incident was, “What is any possible reason you could feel that this kind of statement could be just forgiven and overlooked?” to which Imus responded, “I don’t think it should be. I don’t think it can be. I think it can be forgiven, but I don’t think it can be overlooked.”
CBS and NBC News, under mounting pressure from the incident, declared a two-week suspension of the morning talk show the following day.
April 11: NBC News pulled the plug and canceled his television show. The next day the radio show, too, was killed by CBS. And so ends the tumultuous 30- year ride of a radio icon.
People say stupid things. It’s as simple as that. Not that we in any way condone the actions of Imus, but the issue that made him so controversial — his disregard for self-censorship — also made him the true test of freedom of speech.
The truth of the matter is that complete freedom of speech only exists if you own the medium over which you convey your message.
CBS, NBC and MSNBC did what they thought in the best interest of their corporations, as is their right.
According to a recent report by CNN, even Condoleezza Rice publicly denounced the remarks that led to the cancellation of the program. However, she declined to comment on his actual firing, saying instead that she was glad he experienced a consequence.
The one thing working in his favor, however, was the fact that he still met with the women of the Rutgers team hours after learning he was fired. Perhaps, just perhaps, there is some slight amount of decency left after a career of doing without.
Learn from your mistakes, or better yet, learn from those of others. Watch what you say, and may you never fall into the pit that Imus created for himself.
