Don Imus, you ruined my reputation, and now I want my money. Bitch!

The BBQ Pit
1

NOTE: If you noticed two now-closed threads of my authorship and you want to know what the deal is, just ask, and I’ll fill in the blanks. Y’all probably know, though, that the board has had some issues today, so maybe I won’t have to offer and explanation. And many thanks, BTW, to fluiddruid or Giraffe, (don’t know which one) for his/her assistance earlier today. If this post doesn’t go through…well, I reckon that I’ll just look like some kind of fool.

Link from News 12 in Northern New Jersey:

http://www.news12.com/NJ/topstories/article?id=198733

What a pity–my first pitting, and having slept for 2.5 hours out of the last 36 hours, I don’t even have the energy to work up the requisite vitriol and intelligent commentary (it might not make a difference, anyway*), but here goes.

What. The. Holy. Mother. Fuck?!

Now, don’t y’all go gettin’ me wrong and shit. I’m a Black dude in America, so I totally get the whole “racism-and-other-isms-and-phobias suck” thing. Been called nigger? Done. Been called faggot? Done. With aplomb. Does it suck? Yep. Does it hurt, especially when you’ve done nothing (well, 'cept to be born into a world full of shit-for-soul malcontents) to deserve it? Absolutely! But does it besmirch my character? Nuh-uh. Not by a long shot, baby!

I understand how people spreading malicious lies about you (or your group)–especially when said lies are disseminated to folks who either don’t have enough experience with you (or your group) to counter the lies or whose own self-esteem is so abysmally low that that they just HAVE to feel superior to someone else–can be harmful in many ways, and how you can feel powerless to do anything about it except to just live your life and hope for the best. Several of “my” peoples (the Blacks, the Jews, and the gays) have been dealing with this shit since…well, goddman, it seems like forever. I also understand the need to challenge, wherever and whenver and as vociferously as is necessary, the bastards who tell such lies about us. HOWEVER, the notion that what one foul-hearted man (who had only so many listeners to begin with) says about you can irreparably and forevermore damage your reputation and your character to the degree that you feel that your only redress is to file civil suit against him leaves me speechless.

Okay, it doesn’t, hence What. The. Holy. Mother. Fuck?!

And, really, let’s think about this for a second. He called y’all nappy-headed ho’s. Make no mistake, that’s bad. I mean, totally uncalled for, seriously uncool, and (for those of us who actually have some semblence of *real * experience with the world and who use our brains for purposes other than wiping our asses) absolutely not true. Here’s my thing, though: Given a choice between having random people think of me as a nappy-headed ho and having them think of me–on both sight unseen and, uh, seen–as a rapist, a thief, a murderer, unintelligent, lazy, etc., and then having them deny me a job, an apartment, or just basic goddamn human dignity because they think those things about me, I’m going to go with nappy-headed ho.

Yeah, really.

I know, I know–I am not a Black woman (no matter how much I might pretend to be on the 2nd and 4th Saturday nights of any given month (well, Black lady, I should say))–and I know that y’all have some *serious * societal shit tossed your way. The point is, though, that, IMNSHO, “nappy-headed ho” doesn’t rise nearly to the level of *half * the shit that so many non-Black people have in store for Black folks, and if Ms. Vaughn doesn’t grasp that simple reality very, very soon, she’ll never, ever be ready for life as a Black person–male or female–in 21st century America. IOW, Sistah, if you really want somethin’ to cry about, don’t worry, they’ll give you something to **really ** cry about!

'Nuff said.

Interested parties may now commence to telling me how lame (or even wrong-headed) my pitting is. (Though, really, it’s not so much a pitting–although there’s some of that going on–as it is an expression of my befuddlement and, yeah, concern that this young lady might be getting things just a little too twisted too early in what I hope will be a long, productive, successful life for her.)
*'Cause it’ll probably sink faster than my thread last month about my visit (last month) to Atlanta in which I invited any interested Atlanta-area Dopers to hook up with me (well, to at least *meet * with me, anyway). :wink: And only two people responded, one of whom did so out of pity for the lack of responses I’d received. Yeah, bitches, I’m still licking those wounds! :smiley: And just a little of this: :frowning: .

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I don’t understand it. What Imus said was deplorable, inexcusable, assholish; but it seems to me that the general response** by far** was in favor of the Rutgers student athletes. Is it really the case that her reputation has been damaged by Imus? Did anyone seriously believe that the team was comprised of whores?

3

I was going to say this is one of the cases that will disappear immediately because she cannot prove financial harm. But then I think this might be covered by per se defamation, seeing as calling someone a “ho” is impugning the chastity of a woman, in which case I seem to remember you don’t need to prove financial loss to win the case.

But then again, I don’t know anything about the law of New Jersey, assuming that is where she filed suit.

4

never mind…

5

The key issue here is Don Imus is rich. CBS and MSNBC are much richer still, there’s the possibility of a payout here, which is her primary motivation.

6

He called the entire team a name, not this one individual. If she’s so worried about her delicate reputation, perhaps she shouldn’t be filing high-profile frivolous lawsuits. To me, that makes her look like a ho indeed. Attention ho.

7

So your point is, she’s doing unscrupulous things in hope of monetary compensation? :stuck_out_tongue:

8

I recall similarly.

WRT her claims re defamation of character: I think that she’s getting at what I wrote in my post–that there are folks out there who’ll believe this shit (and I don’t think that, on its surface, that’s a specious claim–people who WANT to believe, against all evidence to the contrary, that Black women are all whores, or ho’s, will believe so because those people are seriously fucked up). My point is just that I don’t believe that Imus saying/implying it has the kind of power that Ms. Vaughn (or her attorney) is giving it, and certainly not *solely * because of Imus’s remarks. As you noted, the response was generally in favor of the women’s basketball team than in favor of Imus (among the less troglodyte of humans, anyway).

I don’t know what’s involved in impugning the chastity of a woman (though I do long for the day when society leaves such Victorian concepts firmly in the past where they belong), but the suit was filed in Supreme Court in the Bronx (NY).

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Exactly my thought. I don’t think anyone but a bunch of fools whose opinions couldn’t be changed about the matter anyway agreed with Imus. We all realized that what he said was uncalled for, silly, hateful, and untrue. He was crucified (rightfully so) in the media for what he said. The girls on the team were shown as heroes for withstanding such hatred, as young, athletic, intelligent, college-aged women.

So how do you go about tarnishing that wonderful reputation that has been thrust upon you? Filing greedy and pointless lawsuits. Good job.

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Basically, calling a woman a ho is pretty much the text book definition (unless of course she is a ho). Other per se defamatory statements are one’s that say a professional sucks at his or her job, or states that a person has a social disease. I think, but can’t remember fully, that claiming someone eas gay used to be considered per se defamatory but is not any more.

I also should add, at this point, I know nothing about the laws of New York either.

11

Well, there’s no actual contradition between being a ho and sucking at one’s job.

In fact, I’d expect the latter to be a requirement of the former.

12

I agree with this, and *Lil’Pluck’s ** point that Imus doesn’t have enough power to sway people’s opinions on black women. I understand why she’d feel bad, but it’s time to let it go and move on. The man apologized, was bashed over a very long period by just about everyone and was fired. That’s enough in my opinion.

*I do believe that the whole thing was blown way out of proportion though.

13

I think people take more crap right here in the Pit than she took from Imus. Maybe we should all sue each other.

14

Should? You mean the process server STILL hasn’t gotten to your house? I tell ya, good help is hard to find these days…

15

Assuming Wikipedia (and my understanding) is correct, the case is a slam “dunk”.

CMC fnord!

16

Maybe he’s taking a nappy.

17

It seemed to me that the public response was overwhelmingly against Imus. The strongest support he got was along the lines of “Well, I guess puerile, obnoxious, contemptible comments by a professional asshole are covered by the doctrine of free speech.”

18

Don’t forget the supporters who reminded us of the fact that it was what he was paid to do. Long live capitalism!

19

Gee, if imputing mental illness is now defamation per se, then I guess I can no longer say to someone, “You’re crazy!” :frowning:

20

Since the article specifically says there was no monetary amount specified, if she asked for a dollar and an apology, would that still make it unscrupulous? If not, what monetary amount would make it unscrupulous?