I’m watching Jesse Jackson and David Gregory (?..hope I got his name right) on MSNBC discussing Imus’s dismissal from the simulcast. Gregory asked Jesse why he feels Imus should be fired when he used the term “Hymietown” 24 years ago and was allowed to retain his platform as a public figure.
Jesse’s response was that his remark was made in private (not too private, as we all heard about it) and it was a single incident, and said Gregory was stretching to make his point.
Now, I’m the first to say that what Imus did was not an isolated incident, and the fact that he had interesting guests didn’t outweigh the fact that he was an obnoxious, self-absorbed asshole, so I turned him off. But Jesse Jackson has, for decades, been extremely influential, had no “comedic license” to fall back on, and fed that antisemitic fire with his comment.
So…was Gregory making a stretch? Should Jesse be held to the same standard (and do you believe that Jesse is antisemetic deep down inside)? Should Imus have been allowed to atone and continue the good work he’s done, despite the fact that he’s behaved in a reprehensible manner regularly? Can Imus regroup off the air and come back in a few years with a new show, new sensibility, new personality?
I don’t know what Jesse’s record is with regard to this type of thing, but he did say that he hasn’t used that term again. I think Jesse Jackson is as influential as Imus; probably moreso. Hey…Imus got what was coming to him. I haven’t quite decided whether he’s a good man that did some bad things and deserves to be punished or if he’s a bad man that does some good things, though I tend toward the latter.
I’m more than a little miffed that MSNBC said that they’re maintaining their good reputation when they’ve watched him do what he does week in and week out for all these years. It wouldn’t have happened if they didn’t value revenue over substance. They’re as guilty as he is.
Does anyone know if MSNBC or their parent company have an interest in the music industry? I’m wondering if their “resolve” will carry over to rap artists who use these terms to make the production company millions.
I think Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Don Imus & Bernard McGuirck should just go into the Thunderdome to settle it. Four men enter, and if we’re lucky, no men leave.
I generally like Imus, but I’ll be willing to sacrifice him to get rid of Jackson, Shapton & McGuirck.
That Nazi McGuirck should have taken the brunt of the public outrage, if you ask me. He’s a cocksucker of the highest order. And I mean that in the worst possible way.
Except for an entire sketch when he hosted Saturday Night Live where he mentioned the term over and over again in a song…in which he tried to dismiss the whole thing as Jews being too sensitive.
I must admit I don’t get the whole “_____ v. Imus” thing.
Imus should be fired from whatever radio and TV shows he hosts, and have to do his gig freelance from now on. Ditto anyone else with an equally long and offensive record.
AFAIK, Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, black rappers, etc. are already doing exactly that.
The point isn’t just that Imus is a bigot with respect to race, sex, and sexual orientation; there are lots of them in the world. The point is that Imus is a bigot of those sorts who has been granted favored access to the public airwaves.
It’s a free country, and people have the right to be as bigoted as they want, and to express their bigotry openly. But people like that should have to spread their bigotry without help from a scarce public resource. Let him do webcasts or something.
I had a hard time with the title of the thread, so it may not be be the best choice. Sorry for being less than descriptive. It was in response to Jesse Jackson dissing Imus for something he’s engaged in himself. I do think Imus is the more offensive of the two, but I had no idea about the Saturday Night Live thing. I’m surprised he handled it the way he did.
It was Eddie Murphey Impersonating Jesse, and it was one of the funniest skits I have seen. It’s on Eddie Murphey Best of SNL.
As far as the whole Imus thing. I persoanlly think it’s a terrible way to end a career. I still contend Imus thinks of himself as an old school rugged rancher type. I’d like to see him on for a few more years toning it dow eventually to a retirement.
That beind said, if he get’s sacked for this I won’t be surprised…
I hope this is the right place for these questions, there are many, many threads on this subject.
I have a huge gap in my background knowledge of this situation and it doesn’t help that most of the live discussion is too fast for me to follow so please bear with me. I’m trying to figure out what was offensive about the remarks that Imus made, gap number one here I had no idea who Imus is, he’s just a radio dj, right?
He made a remark about “knappy headed hos”, I get that calling someone a ho is not nice, but it’s done all the time in jest, isn’t it? And ‘knappy headed’ refers to their black person’s’ hair, is it the combination of these two terms that creates the overwhelming offense?
For instance, if he had said ‘ugly hos’, without the racial connotation of ‘knappy headed’ would there still be outrage? I’m guessing not, right? Is it because he’s white and made a comment about a group of blacks?
I get that there’s a history of racial conflict that seems to be behind the whole thing, but the reaction to the comments seems over the top to me, what am I missing?
Imagine you have a 19 tear old daughter, who just was in a major sports event, and some clown on a national radio show carried by not one, but two networks, sponsored by large corporations like GM, called your daughter an ugly whore, do you think you and the rest of the country would be upset?
It’s pretty simple - “nappy headed ho’s” is a racial and sexist slur. Now, he could call Britney Spears or Paris Hilton a “ho” and get a pass, because they are public figures who put themselves out there in the public eye. I suspect that Imus might have even gotten away with “nappy headed ho” if he referred to Whitney Houston during her troubles. Again, public figure.
Imus made these comments toward some 18-21 year old kids whose only crime was to make it against great odds to the NCAA basketball finals. That is at the heart of it. He victimised those girls.
Yeah. No problem with that. And I would be happy to see him humiliated, beg for forgiveness, get suspended for a time, and grovel before my daughter’s team.
Wanting to destroy his career though would be sheer vindictiveness.
Also, if my daughter felt she was scarred for life & her victory was stolen from her, I would tell her to get a grip because if being called a bad name by a wizened
old cadaver is the worst thing that ever happens to her, she should thank God for such a blessed life.
And I would be more upset by my daughter’s team’s cause taken up by
professional race & gender outrage pimps.