If Don Imus had used a gay slur instead of a racial one, would anyone be criticizing him?

Answer 1

No.
Imus appears on WTKK radio in Boston. His "racial" remark was broadcast on that radio station. I have heard other shock jocks on that same station call gays insulting name and NOTHING has been done about it in spite of my calling sponsors and the station.
Its not ok, apparently, to insult racial minorities, but gays are open target.

Answer 2

Very few. I am gay, and I hear people saying slurs against gays all the time, and not being fired. Look at Michael Savage. He talks as if all gays want to do is screw up the American family. Yeah, that's it Michael. We want you. We just want to screw you in the ***, and everyone else. that's all we're about.
Are you freaking kidding me???
As for Don Imus, I don't like him, and never have.
But I am tired of all the "he needs to be fired" crap.
Jesse Jackson still has a job, after having an illegitimate child by cheating on his wife.
Al Sharpton went after an innocent man, vehimently and still has a job.
These jokesters are using Imus' mistake, indeed his stupidity for thier own gain. They should say what they have to say and move on. Instead, they won't rest until the "white man" is fired, and destitute, roaming the streets.
He has a right to say what he want to say, and if people want to listent, that's thier business. Let the marketplace decide.
I, for one, have never thought that the whole idea of allowing the few to decide things was right. People get pissed off and offended at just about anything and anybody anymore. What he said was stupid and wrong, but had it been a black comedian, it would have been considered funny. Instead, it's said by an old, cranky, white man, and it's racist. It's either right, or wrong.
Don Imus is stupid. Not a racist. And furthermore, if people want to pay him, then they should. I think Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton should loose thier jobs too, if Don Imus does. Let's play fair here.
Now, they want more black talk radio hosts. They are angry and upset at NBC that thier aren't more blacks on. Well, jeez......they have to do the same thing everyone else does....A GOOD JOB!!!!! If there is a black man or woman that does a good job (and there are some), they'll get the job. Period. I just hope they get it over Jesse and Al, who turn EVERYTHING into racism for THIER benefit, more so than thier race.

Answer 3

I'm really a concerned about this lynch mob mentality that seems to take over now whenever someone in the public eye says something stupid.

Don Imus is a good person. He has a heart of gold and has done incredible things for children with cancer, our troops, and led the way with many other causes. He has done FAR more good for mankind than he has done bad. it's not even a contest.

And yet, he makes an awful off the cuff remark in an awful attempt to be funny, and a lynch mob forms and demands he be publicly hung. I find it very disturbing.

I have never been one of those people who basically say, "well if it's ok for blacks to say these things about other blacks, then it's ok for whites to say it too". I understand there is a significant difference. BUT, when we have now reached the point where the Sharptons, Johnsons, and Jacksons of the world are demanding a man's career be completely destroyed over these types of comments, then I think it's also time for them to start boycotting and protesting the black artists who use much more degrading words against their women every single day. Where's the outrage?

If the penalty for a white man is now the death sentence, then it's also time these same people stop with their selective outrage and start protesting ALL those who use this kind of language.....regardless of color.

Answer 4

Apparently you don't listen regularly to Imus in the Morning. They regularly use anti-gay, anti-Jewish, racist slurs. The only reason this one arose is that he took a few young women who were at their peak of performance and characterized them as ghetto dwellers.

If I didn't have some libertarian leanings, I'd be just as outraged as everyone else about his statements. However, Imus has a number of well spoken pundits on and often provides a better political program than Meet The Press. If he goes off the air, as he probably deserves (if the sponsors run away), then it will rob the country of one of its most diverse outlets for news commentary and interviews.

And that would be sad. But maybe we can't have it any more.

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Answer 5

Yes, but only for a day and then it would be forgotten about. When Isaiah Washington and Ann Coulter used a gay slur it was quickly forgotten.

Washington went to 'rehab' for a week at a luxury resort on the Pacific Ocean and Coulter never even apologized. Neither one was suspended from anything or had anyone calling for their firing.

Both Al Sharpton & Jesse Jackson had nothing to say about those slurs, but given Jackson's background on using slurs (specifically against Jewish people in New York City), I am not surprised.

Answer 6

Thank-you for asking this.

I think that our society focuses more on racial slurs, than gay ones.
But infact, a racial slur is a slur against gays.
but anyways, to have the role switched, I think that there would be a controversy, just not as of one, and would have a different type of group objecting to it.
It's wrong, but it's how this country will stay if people don't accept gay marriage.

Answer 7

Sure, somebody would have. Remember the flare ups involving Tim Hardaway and the guy on Grey's Anatomy?

On the other hand, if he'd been making openly transphobic comments about transgendered people, as Jimmy Kimmel did recently on his show, nobody would have noticed.

Answer 8

I find him more obnoxious (and uglier) than Howard Stern...and I understand he does make homophobic comments. so, why no outrage about that as well? not to take away from the sexist and racist comments he made the other day. there's no excuse for filth like that to come out of an adults mouth. I heard msnbc is now dropping him....so, when we he be fired as well?

Answer 9

What is a "slur"?

Is it saying how things look from your perspective? Maybe they took him out of the limelight because he's hitting the skids personally, and this is what shows it.

I'm reminded of an off-tune doorbell. He was trying for onomatopoeia and it ended up sounding like something he'd heard recently that was disparaging towards women. Did you know that the ancient Spartan sense of humour was said to be laconic?

Answer 10

Why aren't people just as outraged when black people use the same terminology. They even make money off of everyone doing it in their rap and their comedy!
I'm getting to the point I am afraid to open my mouth for fear of insulting some little known cultural group I never heard of.