USA: Radio host Don Imus dumped by CBS Radio after making racist and sexist comments about a women's college basketball team

Radio host Don Imus was dumped by CBS Radio on Thursday (April 12) after being on the airwaves for 30 years. CBS's decision to cut the popular "Imus in the Morning" show, which mixed locker-room humour with interviews with top stars and politicians, followed days of uproar after he called the mostly black Rutgers University team "nappy-headed hos." The move came one day after he was booted by MSNBC, which had broadcast his radio show on television and after several major advertisers, including General Motors and Procter & Gamble pulled out. Protests were held outside of NBC and CBS studios in several cities, with organizers calling for Imus' broadcast to be pulled from the airwaves. Don Imus met face to face with the team late on Thursday (April 12). Debates over racial expressions are a frequent feature of the American culture still struggling to come to terms with a legacy of slavery and discrimination. "Nappy" is a slur describing the tightly curled hair of many African-Americans. "Ho" is slang for "whore," and is commonly used in rap music. The slur "nappy" has largely fallen out of American usage. The Rutgers University women's basketball team played in the NCAA championship game against the University of Tennessee. The Rutgers team lost to Tennessee. CBS said the cancellation of Imus' show was effective immediately. The show was carried on 61 stations across the United States. CBS Corp. unit CBS Radio had originally said it would suspend him for two weeks starting Monday (April 16). Rutgers University women's basketball team captain Essence Carson earlier in the week spoke of the team's "great hurt." The team's coach Vivian Stringer said she looked forward to "letting the healing process begin." CBS will lose about 15 million U.S. dollars in annual ad and syndication fees, sources told Reuters. For years, Imus has insulted blacks, Jews, Arabs, gays, Catholics and women. In December 2004, he referred to publishers of the book "The Christmas Thief" as "thieving Jews." He later said the phrase "thieving Jews" was redundant. He has called Arabs "towelheads" and insulted a black New York Times reporter: "Isn't the Times wonderful? It lets the cleaning woman cover the White House?" MSNBC television is a joint venture of Microsoft Corp. and General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal News.

ITN Source | April 19, 2007

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