Calls mount for firing of shock jock Don Imus

The radio host, who made a racist remark about a women's basketball team, has been suspended for two weeks.

By Alexandra Marks | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

from the April 11, 2007 edition

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NEW YORK - The heat is on shock jock Don Imus.

After calling the NCAA finalists of the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy headed hos" on his radio show last week, many people believed Imus has crossed the line one too many times. After repeated apologies and appeals for forgiveness and a two-week suspension by CBS radio and MSNBC, the protests and demands that Imus be fired continue.

Others believe he deserves a far longer suspension.

"Two weeks is not really much of a suspension for something as offensive and obnoxious as that," says David Bositis, a senior political analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, D.C. "And a lot of politicians are also going to have to rethink paying court to him as well."

The coach of the Rutgers women's basketball team, who spoke out at a press conference on Tuesday morning, said the focus on Imus's racist and sexist comments obscured the real issue, which is the team's accomplishments. They'd opened the season with a humiliating 40-point loss, but came back "through perseverance" to make it to the finals.

"These are 10 young women who have accomplished so much – they are valedictorians, future doctors, and musical prodigies," says C. Vivian Stringer, the Rutgers coach. "They are the best of what the nation has to offer."During the press conference, which was highly emotional, players made itevident how deeply painful the remarks were. They're hoping to convey thatto Imus during a private meeting with him."It's more than the game of basketball, it's more than Rutgers women's basketball team," team leader Essence Carson told reporters. "As Coach Stringer says, we realize that it's about women across the world, across this nation. It just so happens that we finally take a stand. And we ask that you continue to support us and not look at it as [though] we're attacking a major broadcasting figure. We're attacking something – an issue – that we know isn't right." [Editor's Note: The original version misstated C. Vivian Stringer's name.)

Imus, who has been called "an equal opportunity insulter," was one of the first shock jocks in America who rose to fame with a foul mouth and outrageous commentaries. But since the early 1990s, his radio show, which is also broadcast on MSNBC, has also become a "must do" stop for politicians, journalists, and well-known authors. That's because he's always managed to mix intelligence with crass comedy.

And because he's been such a favorite of the political and media elite, he's gotten a pass when he's stepped over the line before. He's called then-New York Times reporter Gwen Ifill a "cleaning lady" and a black sports writer for the paper a "quota hire."

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