is imus being targeted?

Question

While your statements were prejudicial in content, they merely reflected the nomenclatures permeating a subculture. I respect you as a man and don’t want to see you end on this note. I hope all those who you have helped over the years realize that freedom of speech is at stake here and support you vocally et al.!!!
Good luck and God bless
RJM

Answer 1

I agree, I think they are over doing it because of the calls to fire him. YES! I totally agree that he should not have said what he said whatsoever, and there should be consequences for his actions...No one should be called nappy headed, and no woman deserves to be called a hoe. But, why now? He has 40 years of doing this type of stuff and he did it back a few years, something to do with a black lady working in the whitehouse..and he made a comment back then about letting the cleaning lady in the whitehouse..So my question why now? He is a shock jock and that is what he does...And Al Sharpton has no right to talk..he has done just as bad things, such as when he marched through Jewish neighborhoods screaming anti-semetic remarks because a Jewish landlord..Had the land rent raised on him so he had to raise the rents of his black tenants. So Al Sharpton decided to rally March's screaming racial toned remarks at Jews..So look who is calling the kettle black (no pun intended) And how come the feminists are not marching and demanding that they shouldn't be called hoes. Why is it only a racial thing, when it is also a sexist comment. So I think that this is way out of proportion and yes he is a Shock Jock and people should expect that behavior from him and it's not the first time he has done it. BTW...How come the actor from Greys Anatomy didn't get fired for calling that other actor the gay "F" Word, and that Seinfeld character that went on a racial tirade, nothing happened to him either...So why is Imus being made the example when all the others just got a slap on the wrist. This guy had a 40 year career that just got flushed away. This whole thing is just ridiculous propaganda!

Answer 2

Was Imus being targeted? Well probably. He apologized as profusely as "Kramer" and got nowhere near the slack,especially considering that his language was much tamer. Why he is being targeted I would not know, as I was barely aware that he existed until this controversy. Perhaps there is more going on behind the scenes than anyone wants to talk about. As to the poster above, freedom of speech actually does mean the freedom to mutter invectives against any group of people for any reason, good or bad. If his employers wish to fire him for what he says on their radio station then they also have that right. I personally think what Imus said was wrong, offensive and quite frankly stupid, but it didn't warrant anywhere the media attention that it has received, especially when there are not one but two wars on. And as far as Al Sharpton and his eagerness to lead the rush to judgement and to throw the first stone goes, I wonder how long he, of all people, would last if he was held to the same standards and scrutiny as he has set for Imus.

Answer 3

Yes he is being targeted (and I don't like or listen to the guy). This is a ridiculously blown out of proportion issue. While what he called the Rutgers Basketball team may be of poor taste, it is no worse than what I hear people call each other all the time these days. If he gets taken off the air, then so should just about every rap and hip-hop group in America (they are much more explicit).

However, I don't feel sorry for him because he failed to stand up for himself and immediately caved to pressure and apologized for "acting" like he was a part of pop culture. He has been doing this type of radio for years (just like Stearn and others). There is a market out there that loves this stuff and suddenly the advertisers are incensed - please!! They have known what they were paying for all along. Now if all the people that listen to him and his kind don't buy any products from the advertisers that backed out on him for 2 weeks, he'll be back with a raise. What hypocrisy!!!

All that said, I don't know if he meant any malice and that would be the real test.

P.S. I'm with MRod in that it should be more a sexist issue than a racial one.

Answer 4

Yes he is being targeted and he has every right to be targeted. There is such a thing as freedom of speech in this country you and I as well as everyone else in this country knows that but there is also a limit. What you are failing to realize is that he not only downgraded black woman when he made the derogatory comments that he did he degraded every woman. The ladies on the Rutger's team did not do anything to deserve his derrogatory comments. They reached a great achievement in their careers and for that comment to be the only thing that he could come up with reflects poorly on the CBS network's ability to hire someone to reflect their company standards. Excuse me, but when someone reaches the level of icon status and pay rate that Mr. Imus has reached in his career, and has no better class than he has shown that person should not be on an influential station talking to millions of people every day.

Answer 5

He's loving the publicity. Shock speech is his trade. He makes money by saying what is not usually heard. I believe in freedom of speech. AND, I believe the people have a right to "yea" and "nay" what they hear. The media industry he worked from is a commercial enterprise. It is not a public service that respects pluralistic expression as much as it is in the business to make a profit. The media makes a profit from its sponsors. The sponsors use research about what the consumer wants to hear and what the consumer takes sides about to decide who and what is broadcasted. Imus is taking heat now because a majority of people might not buy the cars and erection dysfunction products that are advertised on the media he has been broadcasting from. Currently, there is a majority of consumers who find racism to be a mental and social disease that is not entertaining at the moment.

Answer 6

Imus is not being targeted. he said what he said only to be funny and a lot of people do not have a sense of humor. Imus has been saying things like that for 30 years. he makes fun of everyone including him self, his wife, brother, and his kids. no one is safe from the "I" man. his problem is once advertisers started jumping ship the rest felt pressure to do the same and once that happens MSNBC has to drop him because the need the money to put on the show. its a snowball that has gotten out of control and you have to get a sense of humor or just not lesion to Imus. i myself have been a fan since 1978, i have all his books and i have to take a break from him now and than. his negative attitude gets to me. but i always go back. i hope this gets Imus to get on XM radio where he can be who he is.

Answer 7

Freedom of Speech in America has no ethics and
no respect for others, and anyone that uses slurs
against another human race in such a manner as
Imus did should be targeted, and he is lucky to be
in America because if he was in Turkey and did it
he would be jailed,-As an american who lives in
another country it's just shameful to know that in
America humans still find ways to degrade other
humans and then say it was only a joke to get out
of doing the wrong that they did. I fought 20yrs
for my country while in the Military so for those
who are ready to critize me for my opinion you
know what I think.

Answer 8

Yes, these remarks were controversial and inappropriate. No one should be referred to as "nappy-headed" or "hoes" as these women have been. However, does this story deserve the national coverage it has been receiving over the last several days? Absolutely not. But, as is typical of our alarmist culture we would rather be outraged by the off-hand remarks of an idiot (i do like don Imus) that have no real or lasting impact on the world than pay attention to the stream of lies that our government continues to spoon feed us. Another member of Bush's good ole boys has been implicated in a global disaster and all I have been hearing are sound bytes of the Rutger's women's basketball team.

Answer 9

Imus made a terrible mistake...he is in the public eye and his views are heard by millions of people each day.

Unfortunately for him, he was made an example...as it was time for it to happen to somebody.

The next target are the rappers and record producers....they are just as much as the blame.

Answer 10

freedom of speech really is not at stake. To the best of my knowledge, Imus has not been arrested/jailed, which is ALL the first amendment protects us against. It does not protect us from being fired from out jobs for what we say.