Here's a link to an AOL article about a recent racial remark Don Imus made on his current radio show:
Here's a transcript of what Imus said about Dallas Cowboy Adam Jones:
Wolf: "Defensive back Adam 'Pacman' Jones, recently signed by the Cowboys. Here's a guy suspended all of 2007 following a shooting in a Vegas night club."
Imus: "Well, stuff happens. You're in a night club, for God's sake. What do you think's gonna happen in a night club? People are drinking and doing drugs, there are women there, and people have guns. So, there, go ahead."
Wolf: "He's also been arrested six times since being drafted by Tennessee in 2005."
Imus: "What color is he?"
Wolf: "He's African-American."
Imus: "Well, there you go. Now we know."
Given Imus' lower profile since last year's "nappy headed hos" slur about the Rutgers women's basketball team, it will be interesting to guess how long the media reaction will last.
And let's see if Disney/ABC (where Imus airs on the corporation's NYC station WABC), who also continues to air Pat Robertson's 700 CLUB on ABCFamily, will have any significant reaction to Imus' continuing ability to think that all people of the same skin color behave alike.
Update (6/24/08): From Cristian Salazar of the Associated Press--
WABC and Citadel Broadcasting Corp. Vice President Phil Boyce said Monday that it was unlikely the broadcasters would take disciplinary action against Imus.
[Apparently, the comments below were considered a sort of mea culpa from the I-Man]
On Tuesday he said he was following the spirit of that promise by calling attention to the unfair treatment of blacks - in this case the arrests of suspended Dallas Cowboys cornerback Adam Jones.
"What people should be outraged about is that they arrest blacks for no reason," Imus said. "I mean, there's no reason to arrest this kid six times. Maybe he did something once, but everyone does something once."
He called the flurry of criticism surrounding the comments "ridiculous" and said that his program's cast is now more diverse than ever - and includes a black producer and two black co-hosts.
"How insane would I have to be? What would I be thinking?" Imus wondered aloud.
Co-host Karith Foster - who is black - came to Imus' defense during Tuesday's broadcast, saying, "People who interpret what you said as racist clearly didn't hear the whole thing, and they don't know who you are and what the program is about - and they obviously haven't been listening."
[It seems to me that the mea culpa seems more like sleight-of-hand to deflect attention from the ugliness of the comment about Jones.]
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