Imus is gone

[chris olivarez]

I'm not sure how much the firing of Imus will really solve. As for Mrs. Imus filing for divorce she might want to think twice because I'm willing to bet his ranch that there will be a large cash settlement involved.It's laughable to think that Leslie Moonves suddenly developed a conscience-this was a cold blooded buisness decision. My feeling is that Imus will work again if he wants to. Like it or not the man has a shitload of contacts and they're not all going to bail on him like the weasels at CBS. I'm not a real big fan of talk radio and TV-a pox on all of their households.

If he works again it will be in a small market like New Mexico and he won't be syndicated.

I wouldn't be so sure of that.

[zen archer]

i just got an email with an mp3 of a skit from Imus show where they do the Black Beatles .

Damn he was pushing his luck ..they were singing "we all live in a yellow coupe de ville"

"strawberry flavored malt liquor" ....."yesterday ,..my parole came in yesterday "

did anyone hear this ?

[Soulstation1]

dumbass is gonna sue to get his job back

[GA Russell]

dumbass is gonna sue to get his job back

What I read was that his contract requires him to tell jokes in poor taste, and that he would be given a warning before he would be fired if he said anything in too poor taste. So CBS not only knew what they were getting, they were requiring it.

I also understand his contract to be five years at $10 million per year. He worked one year of the five and was fired. So he isn't suing to get his job back; he's suing to get the $40 million left on the contract.

[Lush Life]

dumbass is gonna sue to get his job back

What I read was that his contract requires him to tell jokes in poor taste, and that he would be given a warning before he would be fired if he said anything in too poor taste. So CBS not only knew what they were getting, they were requiring it.

I also understand his contract to be five years at $10 million per year. He worked one year of the five and was fired. So he isn't suing to get his job back; he's suing to get the $40 million left on the contract.

I hope he gets his money, too. He's no "dumbass", and he's hired one of the foremost First Amendment lawyers in the country to represent him. The hypocrisy at CBS and MSNBC during this mess was monumental.

I don't defend what he said, it was offensive, but CBS and MSNBC didn't bail on Imus until the big corporations cancelled their advertising. Had the advertisers mostly hung in there, Imus would be back on the air by now, finished with his two week suspension. And yet CBS and MSNBC issued statements about how offended they were by his act....and yet they knew exactly what they were getting, and even required edgy humor as part of his contract.

[alocispepraluger102]

dumbass is gonna sue to get his job back

What I read was that his contract requires him to tell jokes in poor taste, and that he would be given a warning before he would be fired if he said anything in too poor taste. So CBS not only knew what they were getting, they were requiring it.

I also understand his contract to be five years at $10 million per year. He worked one year of the five and was fired. So he isn't suing to get his job back; he's suing to get the $40 million left on the contract.

I hope he gets his money, too. He's no "dumbass", and he's hired one of the foremost First Amendment lawyers in the country to represent him. The hypocrisy at CBS and MSNBC during this mess was monumental.

I don't defend what he said, it was offensive, but CBS and MSNBC didn't bail on Imus until the big corporations cancelled their advertising. Had the advertisers mostly hung in there, Imus would be back on the air by now, finished with his two week suspension. And yet CBS and MSNBC issued statements about how offended they were by his act....and yet they knew exactly what they were getting, and even required edgy humor as part of his contract.

very well said.

[chris olivarez]

They should've tried for a settlement. It would've probably been cheaper.

[T.D.]

They should've tried for a settlement. It would've probably been cheaper.

I figure there'll eventually be a settlement, anyway.

[Tim McG]

An OpEd piece I did on the subject:

Culture Abuse: The Rap Myth

Directly on the heals of the whole Don Imus flap and subsequent firing must inevitably bring an indictment of Rap "music", specifically, the so-called Gangsta Rap.

This whole idea that Rap is somehow free artistic expression, as it is often referred to, has become nothing less than an excuse to verbally abuse people. More often than not, those people are women. Though the hardcore stuff will target Caucasians and police then celebrate pimps, gang members/activity and drug dealers.

The justification, according to Russell Simmons, is "rap lyrics are reflections of the violent, drug plagued, hopeless environments that many rappers come from."

In today's paper there appeared an Associated Press article wherein Simmons was quoted as saying, "Comparing Don Imus' language with hip-hop artists' poetic expression is misguided and inaccurate and feeds into a mind-set that can be a catalyst for unwarranted, rampant censorship." Further, the rapper Snoop Dogg said in an MTV.com interview, "[Rappers] are not talking about no collegiate basketball girls who have made it to the next level in education and sports. We're talking about ho's that's in the hood."

Playing the devil's advocate here, I have to wonder what the real issue is when an old white guy with a bad radio show uses defamatory and racist language? Why isn't that "poetic expression" or " a reflection of the violent, drug plagued, hopeless environments that many rappers come from" through the words from a white DJ? If this is such an issue, why do the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity still have jobs?

I submit that any racially derogatory language is despicable no matter what the color of a person's skin is. I further submit that it is far easier to fire a white guy than it is to point the finger of blame at the real promoter of such language: Rappers and Hip-Hop artists. Rap isn't at all about "culture" or the 'hood" but it is all about making boat loads of money for the Rappers and their recording companies. But woe betide the person who isn't black should he/she use that same language.

How else would those terms be known to the general population? How, then, do we explain Don Imus' acquisition of those derogatory words and the knowledge for the application of them if not for the persistence of their use in the aforementioned lyrics?

So we are rid of Imus. Now what?

I want to hear arguments in defense of Rap lyrics as an art form and proof that they aren't in fact what they really are: Shock value and a sinister money making attempt to infect the minds of our young people who do not live in these "violent, drug plagued, hopeless environments." Even worse, somehow justify the continued damage it does to the minds of the young people who do. Where are these same rappers when those kids need food or shelter or a safe place away from drugs? If these rappers are so benevolent, so concerned about the 'hood, then where are they when gang interventions are introduced or poverty reforms need financing? If, in fact, these lyrics are designed to expose the negative level to which the inner city culture has sunk...what are they doing about it?

I submit they are all about the money and to make more they need people to be "down" with them...otherwise, they won't have anything to be "poetic" about. That is no better than what a drug dealer does to keep his "clients" hooked or what a gang member does to recruit elementary school kids. I've seen enough human wreckage.

In short: I define Rap as Culture Abuse.

Show me where I'm wrong.

[RDK]

I wonder if the basketball coach/players will sue for "hurt feelings?"

[JSngry]

[MoGrubb]

dumbass is gonna sue to get his job back

What I read was that his contract requires him to tell jokes in poor taste, and that he would be given a warning before he would be fired if he said anything in too poor taste. So CBS not only knew what they were getting, they were requiring it.

I also understand his contract to be five years at $10 million per year. He worked one year of the five and was fired. So he isn't suing to get his job back; he's suing to get the $40 million left on the contract.

Seems like it'd be pretty difficult to tell poor taste jokes without offending somebody. Maybe there's some subtext to the contract that states "except black women," or whatever is currently the soup de jour? He made a mistake. He should've "dissed" [whoops, used slang/a colloquialism not inherent to my race, my bad ] or picked on the, e.g., termites in Outer Mongolia.

[Joe G]

Holy shit!!

[JSngry]

Holy shit!!

Indeed.

[Jazzmoose]

Awesome. Absolutely awesome.

[alocispepraluger102]

TALKING UP IMUS: RADIO SIGNALS OF A WFAN COMEBACK

By NY Post.

Imus may be hitting the FAN again.

The radio rumor mill has turned the volume way up on reports that the return of Don Imus to WFAN is just around the corner.

And WFAN itself is fueling the reports.

While celebrating the sports station’s 20th anniversary last Friday, Imus pals Mike Francesa and Chris Russo, of “Mike and the Mad Dog,” hinted that a deal to bring the crusty talk-radio cowboy back is in the works.

“When we return to our regular schedule this September, I hope the team will once again be complete,” Francesa said.

A few minutes before that, longtime Imus co-host Charles McCord also made a cryptic comment about having “looked into the rearview mirror . . . and some objects were closer than they appear.”

Imus was fired in April for making a racist crack about the Rutgers women’s basketball team.

The jock has received offers from other stations but cannot accept anything until he settles with CBS, the station’s owner, what could become a contentious legal battle over his current contract, according to sources.

“If they keep him under contract, they’ll keep shuffling interim hosts in and out all summer long and either bring Imus back this fall after the baseball season when the Rutgers story has grown cold, or just pay him to stay on the sidelines and out of the way,” wrote one poster on the New York Radio Message Board, the go-to Internet site for radio insiders.

“I am convinced that CBS Radio is considering bringing back Imus in the Morning,” wrote another regular poster.

“CBS presented a number of alternative programs to fill the Imus void, but perhaps only to wait for the climate to cool off. If Imus does indeed return, as, in my opinion, he should, I feel certain that the tone of the program will be considerably toned down.”

Tapes from Imus’ show were featured all morning on Friday, an unusual move for any radio station that had so recently fired its star.

WFAN program director Mark Chernoff justified the broadcast, saying Imus’ contribution to the station could not be ignored.

Meanwhile, Imus’ lawyer, Martin Garbus, has reportedly been trying to use his client’s threatened multimillion-dollar lawsuit against CBS Radio as leverage for reinstatement, while CBS has prepared a countersuit that it plans to file the minute Imus starts the legal showdown.

The Imus camp believes the talk-show host is owed somewhere in the neighborhood of $40 million on his current deal.

CBS believes there were stipulations in his contract that allowed them to fire him without repercussions.

don.kaplan@nypost.com

[GA Russell]

I wonder if the basketball coach/players will sue for "hurt feelings?"

The answer, Ray, is Yes! At the time, I thought you were joking. You were, right? Well now comes the lawsuit, and apparently the use of the word "ho" is defamatory.

Drudge says that Imus has settled with CBS's termination of his contract for $20 million, so now at least one player wants a piece of that. Of course, she is also suing the corporations who profited mightily from his program.

http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=3479449&page=1

Don Imus Sued by Rutgers Basketball Player

Star Center Kia Vaughn Names Imus, NBC, CBS in Civil Suit

By LARA SETRAKIAN

Aug. 14, 2007

Don Imus is facing his first lawsuit from a player on the Rutgers Women's Basketball team for derogatory comments that cost him his job as a radio host in April, ABC News has learned.

Kia Vaughn, star center for the Rutgers Women's Basketball team, has filed a lawsuit against Imus for libel, slander and defamation -- the first civil suit to be filed against the former radio host. Vaughn is asking for monetary damages of an unspecified amount.

"This is a lawsuit in order to restore the good name and reputation of my client, Kia Vaughn," said her attorney, Richard Ancowitz, in an exclusive interview with the ABC News Law & Justice Unit.

The suit names Imus individually, but it is also waged against MSNBC, NBC Universal, CBS Radio, CBS Corp., Viacom Inc., Westwood One Radio and Imus producer Bernard McGuirk.

Today's suit refers to terms used by Imus April 4 -- including referring to women on the team as "nappy headed" -- as "debasing, demeaning, humiliating, and denigrating" to Vaughn and her fellow players. "There's no way these bigoted remarks should have seen the light of day," Ancowitz told ABC News.

"Don Imus referred to my client as an unchaste woman. That was and is a lie."

Of the networks that aired "Imus in the Morning," the lawsuit alleges that they "wrongfully, intentionally, willfully ... created, tolerated and maintained an atmosphere in which the making of outrageous statements and comments was acceptable, encouraged, and/or rewarded for many years prior to this occurrence and/or overtly encouraged the statements made."

The lawsuit alleges that use of the slanderous terms was intentional and motivated by greed and financial gain: In using insults against otherwise innocent people, Imus would get higher ratings, making more money for him and his employers. Among other infractions, the suit alleges that Imus violated the players' civil rights.

Robert Baker, a civil trial lawyer in California, says the high visibility of Imus' comments would help Vaughn in court.

"Everyone knows how unwarranted those comments were. It makes it easier for them to win their case," Baker told ABC News.

"She has a slander per se case -- the word itself was something derogatory. She doesn't even have to prove that she was damaged."

Earlier today, The Associated Press reported that Imus had reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with former employer CBS over his firing. ABC News has learned that Imus could be back to broadcasting as early as January, and is being courted by major media outlets. That settlement, said Ancowitz, rewards Imus while leaving little justice for the women of the Rutgers basketball team.

"He's come out smelling like quite the rose. But what about these young women? How does Imus' victory affect their self-esteem? Where do they go to get their reputations back?"

Ancowitz said the timing of today's lawsuit had nothing to do with Imus' possible return to the airwaves. Vaughn herself was not available for comment. The 20-year-old, 6 foot 4 inch New York native is in the midst of exams before starting her junior year at Rutgers University this fall.

Vaughn's lawyer said that some of the money from any damages awarded in the lawsuit would be used to create a scholarship program to study the effects of bigoted and misogynistic speech on society.

Imus' attorneys would not comment on the case. NBC and MSNBC refused to comment on a lawsuit neither had yet seen. CBS News did not immediately provide comment.

[alocispepraluger102]

it's just to bad the number one rated morning crew in new york is going to be replaced by imus. go figure.

[MoGrubb]

This is gonna be one high-paying mountain out of a molehill. Some people have no class when it comes to money (or running their big mouth).

[Aggie87]

bump.....

IMUS AT IT AGAIN

Less than 15 months after losing his gig on WFAN and MSNBC for making racially charged comments regarding the Rutgers women’s basketball team, radio icon Don Imus has danced dangerously close to, and arguably over, the line again.

On Monday, Imus had the following exchange with Warner Wolf:

Wolf: “Defensive back Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones, recently signed by the Cowboys. Here’s a guy suspended all of 2007 following a shooting in a Vegas night club.”

Imus: “Well, stuff happens. You’re in a night club, for God’s sake. What do you think’s gonna happen in a night club? People are drinking, they’re doing drugs. There are women there, and people have guns. So, there, go ahead.”

Wolf: “He’s also been arrested six times since being drafted by Tennessee in 2005.”

Imus: “What color is he?”

Wolf: “He’s African-American.”

Imus: “Well, there you go. Now we know.”

Last time around, the comments represented a partial effort at humor. This time around, it was a matter-of-fact statement, with no chuckles, yuks, tee-hees, or ha’s. As we see it, if the comment wasn’t overtly and blatantly racist, then what the hell was it?

Maybe we’re wrong on this one. Even so, it was nothing short of stoopid to fly so close to the flame that already burned him once.

[Tim McG]

I'm not sure how this is a racist comment.

All he did was ask what color he was. That's no big thing, is it?

[Van Basten II]

Motherfuckin' piece of shit, why every time i try a link to youtube i end up with a video not available, do we have to blow someone to get some pictures on this fuckin' site

[Aggie87]

I'm not sure how this is a racist comment.

All he did was ask what color he was. That's no big thing, is it?

What difference does Pacman's skin color have to do with anything?

The fact that Imus asked the rhetorical question, and then responded with "well there you go, now we know" suggests that Jones' skin color is significant to him.

This one may blow over, or it may blow up, who knows. But with Imus' track record on race, why did he make this an issue?

[7/4]

This one may blow over, or it may blow up, who knows. But with Imus' track record on race, why did he make this an issue?

He's an asshole?

Just a wild guess...

Edited June 23, 2008 by 7/4

[Tim McG]

I'm not sure how this is a racist comment.

All he did was ask what color he was. That's no big thing, is it?

What difference does Pacman's skin color have to do with anything?

The fact that Imus asked the rhetorical question, and then responded with "well there you go, now we know" suggests that Jones' skin color is significant to him.

This one may blow over, or it may blow up, who knows. But with Imus' track record on race, why did he make this an issue?

No difference to me.

IMHO, I just think it is a bit pressumptuous to assume he's being racist. Perhaps his "well there you go, now we know" is more of a slap at law enforcement relative to skin color.