[QUOTE=Sampiro]
How long before Sirius/XM nabs him, do you suspect?
[/QUOTE]
They might wait a little while until the heat dies down. But I’m convinced from what I’ve read about his show, I’m sure it’ll be worth the gamble for one of them. He has listeners, and his listeners have money.
I blame MSNBC for shoving this story down our throats. Enough already! Can you return us to our regular scheduled programming? We have a fucking war going on!
True - although it’s not just MSNBC. It’s a lot of other broadcasters who seem to just LOVE talking about other broadcasters.
Oh, and speaking of which, Sharpton has now decided that the success of all this bullying and badgering means that “this is only the beginning. We must have a broad discussion on what is permitted and not permitted in terms of the airwaves’…”
Wondunderfuckful.
I’m just hoping they’ll all of them- his detractors, his supporter(s), whatever, shut the fuck up about it now. Jesus on a Treadmill on a Stick.
I hate the way that things like this flush out all the Usual Suspects from the legitimately offended (the team, the only real innocents in this) to the Usual Suspects of permanently pissed self appointed minority spokespeople (and I’m gay- we have our own permanently pissed spokespeople- I know whereof I speak) to the well spoken but-it’s-been-spoken-about-to-death-already to the utterly unsympathetic white politicians hoping to ingratiate themselves with black and or liberal constituents once the polls are in (“one always claims mistakes were planned/when risk is slight one takes a stand…”) to the geeks (Ann Coulter and her “oh yeah, well I said faggot and no one paid this much attention! Hey- how bout if I say ‘those nappy headed hos are probably dykes’ and I say it while wearing a sweatshirt made of seal fur and waving a ‘Mel Gibson’s RIGHT!’ banner, will that let me trump Imus?”) to Geraldo and the others “Everyone’s talking 'bout it… ME TOO! IMUS IS A RACIST! I THINK RACISM’S WRONG! THERE, I SAID IT, NOW WHO’S GONNA CHALLENGE ME ON IT!” I’m just damned glad the White House hasn’t weighed in.
Imus: take your millions and retire. You’re old, you have a young wife and a young kid, you stayed too long at the party already.
Team: I’m very sorry that you didn’t have to get called ‘nappy headed hos’ just once but 89 million times as the remark turned into the Zapruder film.
Sharpton: Oy. Add me to the list who think that he’s a hypocrite and a media whore and a self-promoting opportunist to whom news cameras are what heroin was to Jim Morrison, and yes I know he’s more often than not on the correct side, and while Tawana keeps getting brought up 1- it’s because she SHOULD be (he’s never paid that verdict against the man he libelled and slandered or even said I’m sorry) and 2- it’s far from his only transgression.
But in interest of full disclosure, you know what really burns my ass about Al Sharpton? It’s this:
Some years ago, Al Sharpton and his wife stayed at a hotel I worked at.
They were two of the nicest and most gracious people you’d ever want to meet (and, might I add, Sharpton is incomparably less grandstanding and his extreme intelligence is far more obvious in person). Irks me so much, because in addition to seeing the guy set critical thinking back with every other speech, I don’t like it when I like the guy I don’t like! (Compare this to Andrew Sullivan and Libby Dole who project more intelligent images and were both total assholes, and while I wouldn’t go that far about Jimmy Carter you definitely get the impression he’s not listening to a single thing being said to him.) I hate it when I end up having to like somebody I don’t like or dislike somebody I like.
So, “Mr. Sharpton, dear Mr. Sharpton/You’re a media whore and disliked that cannot be denied/But you’re so freaking nice in person as is your lovely bride… Oh Mr. Sharpton can’t you sometimes see a camera opportunity and just let it slide…” (will mean nothing to those who don’t like showtunes).
Anyway, pttt pttt pttt, back into the Earth Imus scandal. And as the Kerry campaign should be studied by poli-sci students for decades as one of the most botched campaigns in history, Imus should trump Tom Cruise in being studied by PR students for how to totally fuck up a personal scandal. (If I were his PR man I’d tell him to apologize once on air, once to the team, and then- most importantly- words are cheap, this offense requires blood atonement- endow a $1 million minority scholarship fund to Rutgers [absolutely not in your own name however] and give every one of those girls $10,000 as an apology- do not make them sign a waiver and do not tell the press- trust me, it will make it’s way to the press and you’ll look truly remorseful.)
AND OF ALL FUCKING PLACES NOT TO SAY YOU PEOPLE, appearing on Al Sharpton’s show while talking to a black Congresswoman while you’re accused of racism would seem the most important fucking place not to say it this side of the NEXT PERSON WHO SAYS ‘YOU PEOPLE’ GETS HIS THROAT CUT Bar in downtown Kabul. Damn, is this guy stupid, senile, clueless, or just ready to retire and this gets him out of his contract?
I had dinner once with a older gentleman who was one of Al Sharpton’s high school teachers.
He said Al Sharpton had the same hairstyle back then that he does now.
That alone justifies condemnation of the man.
[QUOTE=monstro]
I had dinner once with a older gentleman who was one of Al Sharpton’s high school teachers.
He said Al Sharpton had the same hairstyle back then that he does now.
That alone justifies condemnation of the man.
[/QUOTE]
Um, my father* was one of Sharpton’s high school teachers. Did you have dinner with my dad?
*he had nothing but disdain for the adult Sharpton, but what he remembered of high school Sharpton was that he was one of the bright ones.
[QUOTE=Apos]
Oh, and speaking of which, Sharpton has now decided that the success of all this bullying and badgering means that “this is only the beginning. We must have a broad discussion on what is permitted and not permitted in terms of the airwaves’…”
Wondunderfuckful.
[/QUOTE]
First on my list of things that are not permitted in terms of the airwaves? Sharpton and Jackson being on them.
I’d like to see more focus on the Duke Lacrosse dismissal. What Imus said pales in comparison the DA and the exotic dancer did to those 3 boys.
[QUOTE=monstro]
He said Al Sharpton had the same hairstyle back then that he does now.
[/QUOTE]
When James Brown died, Sharpton said it was Brown who encouraged him to adopt that do.
The problem is his intelligence. He knows how the system works these days so he will forever continue to exploit every last micro-second of it. Him apologize for Duke (let alone Tawana)? Why? There wouldn’t be any advantage for him. This isn’t about truth, honesty or integrity. Its about media perception and airtime. The media will grant him all the airtime he wants and will never criticize or even question anything he does.
Why? Because he’s black, and liberal guilt is one of the current media’s prime directives.
How’s about a little constructive criticism for the Rutgers’ girls. Like, get over it already. With the popularity of the WNBA, women’s college basketball is fast becoming as popular as men’s. So grow a little backbone. Getting called ‘nappy headed hos’ by some craggy, old, shock-jock turned pseudo-pundit is hardly the biggest obstacle these athletes are going to face in the real world.
What’s more, it was hardly much of an insult to begin with. The word ‘ho’ is so laughable as to be meaningless. And ‘nappy’?! Is that even an insult? I had to look it up on Wiki and its basically a synonym for african natural-hair. So its about as offensive as ‘bleach-blonde’.
Howard Stern said what is so ridiculously obvious here. That Imus should have responded thusly: “Fuck you, it was a joke”.
And hearing Sharpton claim that, “This is only the begining. We’re going to look at what can and cannot be said…” That’s about as close to a declaration of wanting to create Orwell’s 1984 Newspeak as you can get. Good thing nobody but the news wussies gives a rat’s ass what that lying, racist scumbag says.
[QUOTE=Hail Ants]
With the popularity of the WNBA, women’s college basketball is fast becoming as popular as men’s.
[/quote]
You’ve gotta be kidding. This is totally irrelevant, but for the record, I think the maximum salary in the WNBA is $93,000 a year. The average NBA player makes more than 50 times that, so I’m thinking the two leagues are not close to equal in popularity.
Ah yes, the “if I don’t know what it means, it can’t be a real insult” bit. It’s not too persuasive, especially since you’re ignoring the obvious racial connotations. True, it’s not the worst insult in the world and some people are making too big of a deal about what was said. I think the team has been encouraged to play the victim, which sucks. But that doesn’t make Imus less of an ass.
[QUOTE=Kalhoun]
Check out the controversial comments link down article: http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/04/12/imus.rutgers/index.html
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Thanks for the link. All those examples were Imus insulting people in positions of relative power (mainly journalists or professional sports players) or in one case a general group of people (Palestinians). So I think my theory holds that his latest remark was unique in being about a very specific group of relatively powerless people. The current scandal is less about Imus being a racist or mysogynist and more about him being a bully.
Judging from what the team had to say at their hour long press conference, I don’t think the team was encouraged to play the victim. I think that Imus’s comments genuinely detracted from a proud moment (playing in the finals) that they wished to celebrate with fellow students and family. The words were hurtful and embarrassing to them as women, as Blacks, as accomplished athletes, and as students of an academically respected university. And it was their big moment.
What does a woman have to do to get respect?
They spent the Easter holidays dodging phone calls and trying to get away from the press.
Which of the companies that pulled ads is run by “black people”? Are the ones that are run by white people pulling ads for moral reasons or because of money? How does pulling ads increase profits? Do you think that only Black people are offended by what Imus said? Would you take a moral stance if someone here called your sister or daughter or mother or wife a whore? Would it be okay if we laughed when we said it?
You are joking. They started out with a 2-4 record and end up playing for the national championship and you are telling them to grow a little backbone???
<snip>
Don’t confuse it with the Santa Claus usage. Some people don’t think it is very laughable – especially when combined with nappy-headed. Since you had to look nappy-headed up, I take it that you are not really familiar with the term and how in the past it was used as an insult and frequently combined with ho as a put-down. Thank goodness standards of beauty change as does the language. I’m glad that you had to look up that word. It used to be common.
Did any of you watch the Rutgers press conference all the way through? I was pleased to learn there were no seniors on the team!
[QUOTE=monstro]
(snip)I think using “nappy-headed” alone would have caused a bit of raucus, but nothing fire-worthy. Combining it with “hos” pushed the commentary flush with the edge. But if he had stopped there, I think the roar would be softer and possibly less justifiable. But throwing in “jigaboo” pushed things too far. It took away any doubt about the racist bent of the “joke”.
[/QUOTE]
“Jigaboo”!? Are you shitting me!? He actually said that!?!? This is the first I’ve heard of that. Not that I doubt he said it, but the fact that it wasn’t widely discussed until now shows just how offensive that word is. Sweet Jesus, and I thought I might have been a little hasty in calling for his head on Tuesday! I actually thought there might have been some slender thread of the First Amendment on which he could hang that disgusting cowboy hat. I had no idea.
As for “why now,” I think the networks have been looking for a reason to jettison this guy for a long time. He’s not like Limbaugh or O’Riley, who are disgusting but have a large if unsophisticated following; Imus lacks the dedicated following of even Howard Stern. I think Imus was on the bubble before this but didn’t know it, and this was what’s commonly referred to as “the last straw.” In any event, good riddance.
Jigaboo? No shit? Oh. My. God.
Imus’ side-kick said ‘jigaboo vs. the wannabees’ in reference to some Spike Lee film I guess.
Came across this column by Jasmyne A. Cannick which puts in perspective what a fucking waste of time talking about this pointless non-issue is…
[QUOTE=monstro]
…Unfortunately, I think the sexism in the commentary would have been met with less sympathy if it hadn’t been paired up with the racism. American ears are more desensitized to sexist language, and we’re used to shock jocks degrading women (Howard Stern, I’m looking at you). Also there is no woman Al Sharpton to take up the charge when sexism rears up in the media. So while there’s a double-whammy of offensiveness here, I think the racism really makes his comments special. People are simply fed up with racism being excused and allowed.
[/QUOTE]
I agree with you, when Jill Carroll, the Christian Science Monitor reporter kidnapped in Iraq, was released, Imus and his crew chortled at how much weight she had gained and thought the idea that she had been gang raped by her captors was hysterical. Of course, mainstream guests kept appearing on his show and no one really cared. He’s just a disgusting human being.
[QUOTE=Hail Ants]
Imus’ side-kick said ‘jigaboo vs. the wannabees’ in reference to some Spike Lee film I guess.
[/QUOTE]
That explains it … if you bring up the use of “jigaboo” then you have to tie in the “black community” and the double-standard of them being allowed to say anything they want to.
Snoop know a “Ho” when he sees one and will call a spade a spade.
[QUOTE=Hail Ants]
Imus’ side-kick said ‘jigaboo vs. the wannabees’ in reference to some Spike Lee film I guess.
Came across this column by Jasmyne A. Cannick which puts in perspective what a fucking waste of time talking about this pointless non-issue is…
[/QUOTE]
You might try reading a column next time you cite it-she comes down pretty damn hard on Imus and his crew in that piece.
A black man from the New York chapter of a civil rights group (sorry I didn’t catch his name or the name of the organization) was on either CNN or MSNBC yesterday evening and he said that in his opinion it was a freedom of speech issue first (and I agree, since no FCC rules were violated – at least none that I’m aware of) and that the networks kowtowed to the financial impact rather than putting what is dear to us constitutionally first. Certainly, that’s their right – they have a responsibility to their stockholders.
But what really pisses me off is that everyone is acting like they didn’t know who Don Imus is! His behavior has always been extreme. None of these companies gave a shit when he made fun of women, races, religions, fat people, and all the rest, throughout his career. The righteous indignation cloak that covers the money issue and the exposure that comes with appearing on Imus’s show is sickening. If no one raised a stink, they’d all still be patting their cash cow on the head and thanking him for enriching their lives.
Yes, he’s a reprehensible person in many ways. And I don’t find his brand of humor funny. He should have seen it coming. I still don’t think he should have been fired, though. When someone says something on the air that you don’t like, you have the freedom to change the channel. The interesting thing is that his sponsors, employers, listeners and guests weren’t particularly offended by his racist, misogynist idea of “funny.” It was the people who *don’t * watch him who decided that everyone needs to change the channel.