Is Imus Gone?

Imus's last outrage?

By Joan Vennochi, Globe Columnist | April 12, 2007

MONEY TALKS, and in the case of Don Imus, it is saying: "You're history."

Prominent advertisers are distancing themselves from the legendary broadcaster. Staples, the office supply chain, asked MSNBC to remove its advertising from the television simulcast of Imus's radio program. Procter & Gamble withdrew all its advertising from MSNBC's daytime schedule. American Express Co. and General Motors Corp. also pulled advertisements from the show, which is broadcast on CBS Radio and MSNBC television. The simulcast was later canceled.

These sponsors understood what Imus's star-powered stable of pundits and politicos did not: When you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas. They showed more courage than anyone in the Imus crowd.

But look what it took for Imus to finally shock them.

He called the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy-headed ho's," a line that is arguably no worse than many others offered up over his long career.

The I-Man routinely insults women, Jews, Catholics, politicians of all ideologies, and anyone else he chooses to label as a "lying weasel." This time, he picked the wrong target, idly going after young, black female athletes. It was Goliath going after Cinderella. The racially tinged subplot generated outrage, mostly from African-Americans.

In an op-ed published in The New York Times, broadcast journalist Gwen Ifill wrote about learning that Imus once referred to her as "the cleaning lady." Given the history of racist cracks on his show, she asked: "Why do my journalistic colleagues appear on Mr. Imus's program?"

The answer is clear. Over the years, Imus invested mightily in the white media and political elite, and the investment paid off.

No one wants to give up the air time or book plugs, no matter what Imus says on the air. He forgives them their transgressions, be it plagiarism or drunken moments caught on tape, and they forgive him his.

Yesterday, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois became the first presidential candidate to call for Imus to be fired. In doing so, Obama one-upped Senator Hillary Clinton of New York who blasted Imus on her website and asked supporters to send messages of support to the Rutgers students.

All the presidential candidates decried the Imus remarks, but some, like Senator John McCain of Arizona and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, said they would still appear on the show.

The pro-Imus argument goes like this: He donates millions to charity and runs a camp for young cancer patients; some of the cancer patients are black. Therefore, he is a self-described "good person " and cannot be racist.

Well, a man can beat his wife and still give away money to women's causes. It makes him a generous wife-beater. The same logic applies to Imus.

The national media watch group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting recycled numerous examples of racist, sexist, and generally bigoted commentary from the Imus show over the years. Besides the "cleaning lady" crack about Ifill, Imus called New York Times sports reporter Bill Rhoden a "quota hire." He once called Washington Post reporter Howard Kurtz a "beanie-wearing Jewboy." He called the New York Knicks "chest-thumping pimps." More recently, according to Media Matters for America, Imus sidekick Bernard McGuirk, performing as his character Cardinal Egan, said on March 16 that the "whole nation is talking about" reports of a "young colored fellah pretty much deckin' the old bag from New York and takin' away some of her money." Added McGuirk: "I'm speaking, of course, about Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton." On March 6, McGuirk said Clinton "will have cornrows and gold teeth before this fight with Obama is over."

Imus apologized for his latest remark and was suspended for two weeks. But this time, his job could be on the line, said John DePetro, a radio talk show host who was fired by WRKO after calling gubernatorial candidate Grace Ross a "fat lesbian."

"As much as mine was mean-spirited, it was factually accurate," said DePetro, who now works at WPRO in Providence. The problem with the Imus comment, he said, is "there's no way to defend it. These girls are not whores. They are not prostitutes. "

Letting DePetro go was partly market-driven. In the end, the market will decide Imus's fate, too.

The bottom line: no sponsors, no Imus.

Boston Globe