Fired from his MSNBC and CBS gigs now.
Rev. DeForest Soaries, the Rutgers coach’s pastor and the person in charge of negotiating the meeting between Imus and the Rugers team said of Imus’ firing:
“This removes the burden from the Rutgers women to determine the status of Imus’ employment.”
Am I alone in wondering why Imus’ employment should be up to them?
I want to be clear that it’s not that I don’t understand what all the hubbub is about. It’s that I don’t think there should be a hubbub. So Imus said something insulting and stupid. He is insulting and stupid. This should come as no surprise, and he has a right to behave that way if he chooses, just as people have a right not to listen to him.
I’m OK with a boycott of advertisers. I’m OK with advertisers pulling their sponsorship. I’m wholly unimpressed with NBC and CBS for caving in to censorship pressures, but I was already and this doesn’t change that.
Perhaps Imus should be persona non grata at cocktail parties, but there would be a lot fewer festivities if we excluded everyone who ever said something dumb. (Am I right in saying that Imus should have no problem being welcomed with open arms at the parties of most rap stars in America? Maybe he’ll make an appearance at the next Jay-Z album release party.)
I simply think this would have been much better handled if it had been ignored or more casually cast aside. If the women of Rutgers basketball find that a comment like “nappy-headed hos” causes them this level of consternation, I dare say they’re wholly unequipped to handle the day-to-day racism that still pervades too much of America and the world. The real tragedy to this affair is that they and, it seems everyone else, remain blind to this fact.