Black Journalists Group: Keep Imus Off The Air

Editor & Publisher:

Weighing in again on the Don Imus controversy, the National Association of Black Journalists Tuesday said the radio personality who outraged many with his comments about "nappy-headed ho's" should not be allowed back on the air.

NABJ called reports that Imus is in negotiations with Citadel Broadcasting and Fox News "unimaginable."

"It seems inconceivable that less than a year after Imus was dismissed from CBS Radio and MSNBC for his vicious insults upon the Rutgers women's basketball team, that Citadel Broadcasting and Fox News would consider putting him back on the air," Ernie Suggs, NABJ's vice president of print said in a statement. Suggs is an enterprise reporter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Read the whole story: Editor & Publisher

Comments

[RedWhiteandBrooklyn]

I wonder how much THEY have raised over the years for S.I.D.S., kids with cancer, disabled veterans... the list goes on and on. Don Imus has done more good in his lifetime than chronic complainers like Al Sharpton would do if they lived twenty lifetimes... and he's said a few dumb things in his time. So what? The women whom he actually hurt with his words met with him and forgave him, so exactly WHO are these self-righteous jerks to "demand" that Don Imus not be hired? As if any one of them has never said anything as obnoxious, right? Let the one among them who has never used a term like "nappy-headed" come forward.

[mrcontinental]

Leave the fossil alone. He's done more charity work than most of us so move on to something else aready.

[LIR]

No...the man is a bore, a miserable old fuck who should be staying at his ranch and sparing us his sophomoric drivel. I hear he is suppose to start at WABC in NY...at one time the number one Top 40 station in the nation and an NY radio institution back in the day reduced to awful right wing crap radio...shameful.

[meandmagoo]

This is ridiculous.Picking and choosing what to be offended by is a very poor way of combating racism.

[Destin]

I don't mind them being upset with Imus and all that, but I wish these people would show their outrage in a consistent basis. For example, what O'Reilly said was just as bad, but nobody has taken him to task. I guess since O'Reilly used plain english, rather than urban language, that it somehow made it ok for him to call them a bunch of incompetent, backwards dummies.

Or how about this, last year just before the elctions, Sean Vannity talking about blacks and the GOP on his talk show, trying to drum up support.

Vannity goes so far as to say that Condi was the "first black Secretary of State". Then he fumbles around for a moment with his words and then corrects himself by saying "the first black WOMAN Secretary of State".

Really?? 2 things wrong with his statements. It means he was calling Colin Powell, who came before Rice, a "whitey".

Also, he essentially said that Albright, who came before Rice, was not a woman.

But does anyone take these people to task over what they say??

It's not satire. It's pure propaganda.

[channelXRFR]

No matter how you rationalized its called censorship. NABJ should hand out "Taliban Switches" so righteous hypocrites can walk around the streets and provide PC enforcement.

[Destin]

It's like that old saying that you can only take freedom of speech so far. You can't call up a govt office and say there is a bomb in the building. Nor can you run around a movie theatre shouting "fire, fire, fire!".

So why should people be allowed to be spewing propaganda, outright lies and slander over the public's airwaves??

[channelXRFR]

A group of African American journalists advocating censorship, Thought I saw everything!
Don Imus told a joke. NHH Satire: Joke is an old man talking "hip-hop". There is much more controversial programming on BET, MTV, VH1, Comedy Central. Have not seen NABJ demand these channels cease broadcasting or call for comedians, artists, or entertainers to be banned. But only Imus who told a joke which on the scale from BET to Comedy Central doesn't even record a blip, He should be fired according to NABJ.
Come to think of it the NABJ has been silent on MSG's sexual harassment verdict, they have not called for NBA sanctions or Cablevision action. Certainly the sexual harassment of an African American Executive Manager by a media/sports company is more serious then a joke?
Imus meant no harm, his intent was not malicious, nor was it racist. He apologized to the Team, they accepted. Let's move on.

[kroses98]

AMEN! Let them concentrate on the REAL "Hate Mongers" of the "Airwaves!" I don't hear them carrying on about Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, or the other HACKS on the "Faux" network. Don Imus is a man who is against this god-forsaken war, Bush, and Cheney, and that is where his REAL problems lie! There are people making problems for him, possibly the Clintons, because he was outspoken in his dislike for her. Well, that is just too bad, because many of us here dislike her as well. In fact, my dislike is over the line into hatred! I cannot wait to listen to Don Imus again, and I hope that some TV station shows his program, as well. I will be the first one watching!

[AnotherMcIntosh]

Imus, an ex-Marine, called Cheney a war criminal.

O'Reilly, an ex-human, did not.

[thepilotswife]

The Clintons???

[Chubbster]

Ah, certainly: Brand A rascism is deplorable and Brand B racism doesn't seem to matter

[VOTER]

A "reformed" Imus on the air will be interesting to

see and hear. These journalists should be accepting

but watchful of his comments.

At the same time, I haven't heard the journalist going after

the lies and slander coming from the Fox Faux

Network.

[joemac1114]

Really they should be watchful? Who the hell gave them the power to be the speech police? It is not only disingenuous but it is patently offensive that an organization that could not exist with out the right to free speech would come out against the free speech of some one they disagree with.

Free speech is tough, people are going to say things you don't like. If you don't like what the man is saying then turn the station. Go watch the the two hour advertisement that is almost any morning show anymore.

[KosmicKat]

large and/or cowboy hats as symbols of arrogance: Don Imus.

[RedWhiteandBrooklyn]

Phony cowboy drawl, phony cowboy boots, phony cowboy belt buckle from a Connecticut prep-school and Yale grad as symbol of arrogance: George W. Bush.

Don Imus actually was brought up on a ranch where people do wear hats like his.

[strandwolf]

Yes, indeedy. But, say, what sort of name is "Imus"? Is he joo? Like that folk singer from Brooklyn who also wear a c-hat, "Ramblin' Jack Elliot"?

[POSTHRUDAHART]

I see my first comment has been pulled, no profanity, nothing objectionable, only pointing out the hypocrisy of these 'journalists'. Typical Huffpo censorship.

[Boris]

then why are you here?

[MENTAL]

.
Let's hear for FREE SPEECH! Way to go black journalists!

Here's a better idea: let Imus be the counter-point to the racist hate monger and God Bigot "Tawana Brawley" Sharpton.

What, you can't stand the competition?
.

[PAFirefighter]

Cute, Huffpo!

I take the time to type in an opinion, and you destroy it. Not even pending, just GONE.

Brilliant!!!

[kroses98]

The same thing happened to me yesterday.

[strandwolf]

I'm comin' thru jus' fine, land 'o' Goshen.

[pleeezzze]

Why should'nt Imus be on the air ???

Have YOU PEOPLE who are against him, taken up your CAUSE to shut down all those BLACK RAPPERS spouting their FILTH yet ????

[Destin]

Yah, something needs to be done about some of this "gangsta" stuff. Course, showing stuff on tv like the Soprano's doesn't exactly help things when society seems to accept and respect criminality as if it was the same as going to work at a 9-5 job at the local factory, or bank, or eatery, or whatever.

It's not just all the foul mouth stuff as you say, calling everyone and everything the N word, using degrading white attacks like "cracker" and "honkey". Along with all the M-F's and F's this and F's that and S's on that. But you also got the violent aspect. Teaching kids that it's ok to resort to violence to resolve disagreements. To beat someone down, or shoot up the place, just as a way to give some "payback". They also glorify drugs and drug dealing.

But of course, since all this stuff is right out of Bush's playbook, don't expect Kevin J. Martin to do a damn thing about it. Especially since it would mean hitting the wallets of 2 of the biggest Republican donors in the music business.... Clear Channel and Cumulus.... who push this crap on all of us.

[repubesnivel]

Who the hell cares. If you don't like Imus, don't tune him in.

I can't stand him because he's so arrogant, but that's okay, I don't have to listen to him...let him spew 24/7...who's afraid of the old fart?

[Rich2806]

Good question...but the list would probably start with Hillary.

[amanda85]

Being surprised that blacks can eat in a civilized way isn't any less racist than calling a black female basketball team "nappy-headed hos." So, I concede that Al Sharpton is big hypocrite. But that doesn't mean O'Reilly and Imus aren't racist. They should both be kept off the air.

[Destin]

I can agree with keeping them both off the air, that's pretty fair. :)

[Kundera]

"kept off the air"??????????

miss the Soviet Union much?

[amanda85]

So, you want the KKK on TV or syndicated radio?
Where do you draw the line?

[bvb720]

Your just too ignorant. And probably never eveer listened to Imus.

Wake up. Clean up your own neighborhood. And turn your radio or TV to another station.

Too many idiots in this world

[amanda85]

Very funny, the racist twit thinks I'm black, and THEREFORE my neighborhood must be filthy and in bad need of a thorough cleanup.
Let me guess, if I asked him, he'd tell me he's definitely NOT a racist. Just like Senator Craig isn't gay...

[Clearvoice]

"Too many idiots in this world"

Well said...
And waaaaaaaay too many in the Republican Party. In fact, more idiots than Republicans.

[strandwolf]

Great diet blacks tend to go for. Pepsi and potato chips. Fried stuff, was gonna say chicken but will steer real clear of that. Diabetes. Assmar. Heart clogation. Morbid obese torpidity except when mugging (for the camera, I mean).

[sparkandy]

What's wrong with pop and chips? Fried food? I'm not black. I love fried okra, fried pickles, fried potatoes, fried macaroni and cheese. Fried food is the ambrosia of the culinary world. (you can find the definitions of those two polysyllabic words in Wikipedia, in case you're wondering)

[PAFirefighter]

Imus has been punished, and punished far more severely than Glenn Beck, Rush Limburger, Annie "the tranny" Coulter, and Michelle Malkin should have been punished by now.

If somebody wants to hire the man, it's their right to do so. He's learned his lesson.

PA Firefighter
"Cogito, ergo Liberal!"