MSNBC AND CBS RADIO SHOULD BE ASHAMED!!!

by user Alanschech

Let me start this by saying that I am a Don Imus fan.  I don't want the women reading this article to think that this means I am trying to make excuses for what he said.  What he said was inappropriate, inexcusable, and you can make the argument that firing him was the right thing to do.  However, the way that the firing was handled was disgraceful, and both of these media outlets should be ashamed of themselves.

First of all, MSNBC fires him last night, 12 hours before he goes on the air to raise money for TCF, his ranch for kids with cancer, and SIDS.  He affects a lot of people with the great work he does for these charities.  As I said before, he made a mistake here, but also does a lot of good.  To take the rug out from under him and take the TV outlet away from him for this could have been crucial.  If you were going to stop showing him that is fine, but they could have just as easily waited until the radiothon aired and the weekend had come.  Absolutely disgraceful!

Then if that isn't disgraceful enough, CBS fires him in the middle of the radiothon!  He is in the middle of making a record amount of money for these wonderful kids, and they go and announce that he can't even host the final hours of the radiothon.  That is despicable!  Today should have been about these kids, not about Les Moonves trying to save face.  Wrong!! 

The bottom line is this, if you feel he should be fired over this then fine.  Go ahead and fire him, during his 2 week suspension.  Not while he is trying to help millions of children, which like it or not he does very well.  He made a mistake here, but you could like up kids a mile long that are ALIVE BECAUSE OF DON IMUS!  Firing him is acceptable, disgracing the kids is absolutely not.

False ProphetAll-Star

943 days ago

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Don't confuse his charity work with his show. He had to go, and the sooner it happened, the better

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AlanschechVarsity

943 days ago

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Respectfully disagree, when you have an audience as large as his, you can't separate the 2. Just look at the millions that were raised on the radio today.

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ChristofMVP

943 days ago

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You should read the column by Jason Whitlock which appeared in the K.C. Star. Great article about this whole debacle.

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KelsdadAll-Star

943 days ago

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I actually agree. As a long time Imus fan and listener I know very well this isn't the first time he's been in the news for something stupid and ignorant he has said, nor is it the first time he's been fired. Maybe at age 66 his time had come, maybe he just doesn't care anymore, who knows, but the timing of his firing by CBS is almost as irresponsible as what Imus said. And CBS is a corporation, some suit in the conference room should have had the common sense to wait til next week, when the totals come in, to do something. Do you think ABC would fire Jerry Lewis in the middle of his telethon? Totally classless move by CBS and MSNBC.

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DRE-LOAAA-er

943 days ago

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What's classless is referring to a woman's basketball team as a bunch of nappy-headed hoes. He deserved to be fired by both companies even if it was in the middle of the radiothon. HE CROSSED THE LINE!!!! When you make a stupid and disgusting statement like this, there deserves to be accountability to the fullest extent.

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AlanschechVarsity

943 days ago

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Nobody is saying there shouldn't be accountability. The issue is the timing. Yes he crossed the line, no one disagrees. But he has made a lot of money for both of these entities over the years, and they could have allowed him the grace of finishing the radiothon.

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KelsdadAll-Star

940 days ago

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Not the worst thing he's ever said, by the way.

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MECUVarsity

943 days ago

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I agree, MSNBC and CBS should be ashamed, for taking a week (or so) before firing him. It's not excusable to talk or treat another human being that way. Why should these companies (and ultimately sponsors) pay a man of such character? The culture is changing: We will no longer tolerate bad behavior. See: NFL. It's the right message to send, especially to kids looking up to these men and women as heros. It's about time.

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AlanschechVarsity

942 days ago

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No one is saying that they shouldn't fire the guy. But doing it yesterday is wrong. You may not like the guy, but it is simply a fact that you could line up kids for miles that have self esteem because of Don Imus, and are alive because of Don Imus. Yesterday should have been about the kids, not the pressure of the wonderful Al Sharpton, whose mouth isn't any better by the way.

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Anonymous Fanatic #1

942 days ago

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I grew up listening to Imus. Honestly, he occasionally and consistently went a bit over the line, making the kind of sniggering and inappropriate remarks which have now proven to be his undoing. I don't condone his latest remark at all. But when I heard about it, I thought his real target, his ultimate target anyway, was in fact the "gangsta culture" that Whitlock talks about. In his own mind I think Imus was in fact poking fun at the way black people talk about each other. It didnt come out that way, but the germ of his remark was how ridiculous it is that some black people, rappers etc, actually do talk about women using terms like "nappy headed ho." For a social satirist there is something irresistibly delicious in appropriating the terms of disrespect ethnic groups wield against their own members. The basic logic being, by talking about your own people that way, then you give license for others to do the same. Really, I think it was more of a misguided shock jock parody, Imus attempting to talk as a black person, than a real rascist act.

Again, terrible remark, but that was what I thought, as a former long time listener.

I still don't think Imus is a terrible guy. Offensive yes, but very very far from a hate monger, and a man who for a shock jock had a surprisingly interesting, intellectual, highbrow show in many ways. I enjoyed listening to it in my formative years, and didnt come out prejudiced as a result. I dont listen to him anymore, and I wont rue his passing from the radiowaves too much. But this does seem like an overreaction to me. I suppose its good that so much pressure can be brought to bear. but I do think, with Jason Whitlock, that there might be worthier causes to direct this energy towards. Maybe black leaders should break the teacher union blockade and create more charter schools in the inner city, instead of scalping a guy who has raised tens of millions for children. I don't know.

Perhaps I was snookered my entire childhood into believing he was a decent guy by the inordinate amount of time he spent raising money for the Tomorrow Children's Fund year after year, and the seeming sincerity of hs devotion to the cause. He even got me to make a donation one year out of my piggy bank. Must have all been a clever ruse to hide the fact he is a horrible bigot. ;-)

He struck me then, and still does now, as an entertaining, interesting, foul-mouthed, flawed, uncouth, ornery, often inappropriate, but essentially good-hearted human being.

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