If Viacom owns BET and MTV, why did they only fire Don Imus?

Question

Far more racist stuff has been spewing in rap videos for years

And misogynistic too

EDIT: pay no attention to that idiot, coragryph

http://www.viacom.com/company_overview.jhtml

Answer 1

BET is still independently owned - not owned by CBS.

CBS bought Viacom and later spun off Viacom back into an independent company.

Clear double standard between Imus and the rap artists. Imus offended those who sponsored ladies college basketball while collecting royalties from songs written by .

Answer 2

Because they are idiots. The man made a serious mistake, however Imus has done an awful lot of good. He has brought in millions of dollars for research for the cure of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome), built the ranch for children with cancer, has been fighting like hell to get the Senate and House to fund more money for study on children with autism and was a major factor in having the new hospital in Texas built for our combat veterans coming back from Iraq. Also he is one of the major factors in bringing out the problems in VA hospitals around the country. Every one of these things are for people of all races color and creeds.

Answer 3

Sharpton and company do not want to clean up music, just any political sources. The picking on Imus after the failure of Air America to draw an audience leads one to believe they are out to impose the "fairness doctrine" and eliminate all of talk radio, as it is mostly successful as Conservative shows and not Liberal ones.

Answer 4

We all know lyrics from rap videos say plenty of derrogatory things about women.

And yes it is a double standard.

If any rap artist had a national radio show and said some nasty things about white women, we would see and hear the same things.

Black leaders want the rappers to tone it down as much as anyone. They do not want to see people bringing down their race.

But the prob is you would actually have to listen to them to find this out. There was a big summit with quite a few important black leaders just a few weeks ago. And all they talked about was how black people can better themselves.

Chuck D from Public Enemy said nobody should be calling another man "n****". They stressed getting an education.

And they also talked about not getting pregnant, especially so early in life.

But that's not going to make the news because only negative stuff makes its way to the news stations.

(BET is owned by the same black man who owns part of the Charlotte Bobcats)

Answer 5

"" I don't think Viacom owns MSNBC.... or CBS for that matter.

Those where the stations that cancelled Imus's contract. ""

Viacom owns --
MTV, VH1, BET, SpikeTV, Comedy Central, The Movie Channel, Showtime, Nicklelodeon, Paramount Pictures, Blockbuster, CBS, Simon & Schuster Publishing, .. and many other lesser known companies.

Calling a company a media giant is probably an understatement in Viacom's case.

Edit - Additionally they own Infinity Broadcasting which is 2nd only to Clear Channel and has 185 radio stations.

Answer 6

So hypocritical this whole situation is. This is wrong. I have e mailed un-hateful messages to the Al Sharpton radio show telling him what a hypocrite him and others are

Answer 7

Do Imus was the only one Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson were focusing on. I still wonder why the Muslims in the U.S. do not castigate Ann Coulter for her racist remarks about them, calling them 'rag heads'.

Answer 8

Don Imus is a NON Story!

Answer 9

They needed a scapegoat and a diversion from the present world crisis.

Answer 10

Simple. Rap videos make money. Old shock jocks don't.