Obama Says Imus Should Be Fired

Originally posted: April 11, 2007
Obama: Fire Imus

Posted by Mark Silva at 4:33 pm, updated 6:30 pm CDT

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, a Democratic candidate for president, says radio shock-jock Don Imus should be fired for his controversial remark about the women's basketball team at Rutgers University.

Obama, who appeared on Imus in the Morning two years ago, said in an interview with ABC News today that he never will appear there again. And Imus, Obama, said should not appear again either.

MSNBC, the cable news network that "simulcasts'' the Imus in the Morning radio show, announced tonight that it will discontinue the show. CBS Radio, which produces the show, has said only that Imus is suspended for two weeks -- though one of CBS' board members has called for Imus' dismissal.

"I understand MSNBC has suspended Mr. Imus," Obama told ABC News, "but I would also say that there's nobody on my staff who would still be working for me if they made a comment like that about anybody of any ethnic group. And I would hope that NBC ends up having that same attitude."

Obama, who appeared once on Imus' show, said: "I have no intention of returning."

Last week, Imus called the mostly African-American Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos." He has since apologized, and CBS radio and MSNBC have suspended his show for two weeks.

"He didn't just cross the line," Obama said today in his interview with ABC. "He fed into some of the worst stereotypes that my two young daughters are having to deal with today in America. The notions that as young African-American women ?- who I hope will be athletes ?- that that somehow makes them less beautiful or less important. It was a degrading comment. It's one that I'm not interested in supporting."

While other presidential candidates have decried Imus' remarks, Obama is the first to call for his firing.

The show's sponsors, including American Express Co., General Motors Corp., Procter & Gamble Co., and Staples Inc., have announced they are pulling advertisements from the show for the indefinite future.

"What we've been seeing around this country is this constant ratcheting up of a coarsening of the culture that all of have to think about," Obama said.

Chicago Tribune