Morning Joe on Imus Return: "We're In Trouble"

Yesterday, Drudge boldly declared a resurrection: That of Don Imus, who has apparently struck an "eight-figure, multiyear contract" with WABC for the triumphant return of "Imus in the Morning" to the airwaves on what, according to Drudge, is "the nation's most listened to talk station." Obviously you will recall that the disgraced shock jock (and that's an occupation with a pretty low bar for 'disgrace') was ousted after calling members of the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos" in a double dose of racism and sexism. You know the rest: Contrition tour with Al Sharpton; denouncement by high-profile former guests; cut loose by MSNBC on the TV side and CBS on the WFAN radio side; those last two aren't necessarily in chronological order. Then Imus had nothing left to do but slink into sad obscurity, right? Wrong — he filed a $120 million lawsuit against CBS and settled for a reputed $20 million plus no restrictions on when he could go back on the air. Plus he couldn't say anything mean about Les Moonves. Hey, Moonves has his priorities straight.

And now, a "high-impact resurrection" — a phrase that predates Drudge, incidentally, in a New York magazine profile by Robert Kolker titled "The Resurrection of Don Imus" and after the settlement was announced Imus' buddy Kinky Friedman* said: "He's very much like Jesus. He's coming back and boy is he PO'd." Well, apparently the meek shall inherit, albeit with a 40-second delay, just in case.

It's always interesting to hear what they have to say about it on "Morning Joe" — the show which replaced "Imus in the Morning" on MSNBC, hosted by Joe Scarborough with Mika Brzezinski and the oft-joining Willie Geist; in August when the news of the settlement came down Scarborough went off on a tear, telling his producers to shut up when they suggested via his earpiece that he congratulate Imus on the air: "Like I've been on the Don Imus suck up train from the very beginning...Don Imus always hated my guts." Today's commentary was calmer — less railing against th "sharks" of the TV industry — but still fun:

We're not sure exactly what Brzezinski was anticipating when she said "We're in trouble" but her hair is very smooth and shiny so perhaps she's safe. The gang also raised the big question of the day — who would actually go back on Imus? (One wonders if it will be a question of dominoes, with one or two brave ones leading the way before everyone starts talking about bygones and forgiveness and airtime), and noted that Hillary Clinton probably wouldn't, per Drudge:

Imus is said to be particularly incensed by Senator Hillary Clinton's "shameless exploitation" of the Rutgers situation.

The senator, who Imus has called "Satan" and the "devil", traveled to Rutgers in April to praise the women's basketball team for its response to the controversy. In a campaign email, Hillary called Imus's comments "small-minded bigotry and coarse sexism."

"Hillary, prepare to meet your maker!" a source close to the host joked early Monday.

Nice to see everyone's learned from the events of last April.

Story continues below

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The best line of the morning came later on, however, with the arrival of MSNBC pop culture contributor Courtney Hazlett: "In related news, Media Matters is hiring."

The Resurrection of Imus: Returns on Nation's Top Talk Station [Drudge Report]
Morning Whoa! Joe Scarborough Hauls Off On Imus [ETP]

Related:
The Resurrection of Don Imus [NYM]

Related, randomly:
I Am The Resurrection [Stone Roses]

*Of the band that Ann Coulter might call "The Unperfected Texans."

Comments

[DaveBrentwoodMissouri]

Watching Sharpton, NOW, NABJ and others enter into the fray and attempt to silence IMUS once again is pathetic although I expected it. I say.....

FIRST: Any group who uses their influence and their voice to silence another has completely invalidated themselves.

SECOND: If someone is leading an effort to censor someone or sitting idly by and observing such behavior, they are opening the door to have someone eventually censor them. You can't have it both ways.

THIRD: IMUS IN THE MORNING is an example of cutting edge & original humor. Along the lines of the original cast of SNL, Richard Prior & George Carlin. What if those voices had been silenced?

FOURTH: You cannot simply take a "snapshot" of something someone has said/done (good or bad) and use that moment in time to define that person in total, unless of course we are talking about criminal matters. We are all made up of many "snapshots" and nobody would care to have such a standard applied to them. Before anyone forms an opinion of IMUS or attempts to keep him off of the airwaves I would suggest they take a few hours to learn about who he really is as demonstrated by what he has done with his platform. Google The IMUS RANCH, or the INTREPID FALLEN HEROS FUND for starters. Find out for yourself, don't let someone do your thinking for you.

FIFTH: At the beginning of the IMUS/Rutgers debacle NABJ members, Roker, Ifel, Sharpton & Jackson to name a few, propped up their position of calling for IMUS' head by insisting that it would lead to a "national conversation" on racism. Where have they and their "national conversation" been for the past 6 months? Don't you find it interesting that IMUS & his supporters finally get a shot at having a voice in the "national conversation" & detractors want it silenced. What a bunch of opportunistic, self important frauds!

FINALLY, here's an Original Thought: Don't like IMUS, turn the dial. Don't want to support IMUS, don't buy his advertisers products. Let the free market decide on IMUS.

Lord Hear Our Prayer

[drblack]

It would be great if Americans had less entertainers and more intelligent informers.
Imass, Rush, stern, etc...........a bunch of entertainers.

[juleso]

I actually liked Scarborough Country but Morning Joe is awful. He doesn't have the morning 'it' factor and it's just stupid. The woman adds nothing. I like Willie but I won't tune in just for him. Imus returns in December.

[CammyV]

I'm a fan of Morning Joe too, it's a relief to have an informative, intelligent and witty program without the nasty slime and scurilous commentary that Imus and mostly the hateful McGurk was responsible for in that time slot. I remember Imus from many years ago, when he was funny and even offensive without being so hurtful and mean.
As far as his 'ranch' for the sick kids, that's a great thing but I read where the children are only there for a couple of weeks a year and his (ranch)house is a freaking palace as seen in Architectural Digest. Wonder if it's all tax deductible. Maybe I'm just too cynical.

[brohammie]

There is no show close to the brillance of Imus in the Morning. These bozos think they can use his set, old guests and format and they can't - I have yet to watch more than 5 minutes without being bored. Mika is no babe either - sourpuss. All I know is I'm waiting for 12/3 and the return of the KING!

[Carolinagreens]

I have blond shiny hair and I find that comment offensive! Why are we blonds being singled out?! It was ridiculous Imus was fired to begin with and everyone is sick to death of this PC poluting our lives. Put on your big girl panties everyone and stop being so sensitive people!

And what kind of women belongs to NOW?! Not any women who can think for themself or they wouldn't be trying to block my son's champion for returning. Don Imus is the autistic communities voice in the mainstream media - do you NOW women get that?

[Carolinagreens]

Morning Joe is pathetic. Thank god Imus is returning in 46 days. I don't care if you like him or not, don't listen.

[booker52]

Morning Joe sucks. If this is the best they can put on early in the morning, maybe they should start scouting around for another host. I cannot believe Joe is pulling the same numbers as Imus.

[purplepeopleeater]

Don't you care about AUTISM?

Don"t you care about Sickle Cell Anemia?

Don't you care about Better care for returning veterans?

Don't you care about safe products for all households?

Then you want to care about Imus, as his concerns are making a huge change in the lives of so many of us.

.

[Peter Brown]

Imus is history--days before his self-inflicted downfall I recall thinking that it would be great if MSNBC replaced the tired, irrelevant, pathetic IMUS with someone who could keep my progressive, liberal attention---CNN had lost my interest with its effort to ape Fox noise.

Believe it or not, I think Morning Joe has been a refreshing replacement--even though it has taken a while for me to wipe out painful memories of Scarborrough's relentless,block headed pursuit of Clinton and pandering to the inflexible right. Surprisingly, Joe has cleaned up well--life in NYC may actually be helping to activate some of his neurons that were snoozing under the Pensacola sun.

[PoliticalPolyanna]

I agree. I initially hesitated to watch "Morning Joe" because of . . . well . . Joe. Fell asleep watching the replay of Countdown late one night and the next morning I woke up to MJ. Been watching it every since.

[booker52]

I have tried to watch Morning Joe, but Joe acts like a jerk, and yes I do remember in the early days of the Iraq war his hero worship of Bu$h. Gag me!!! I would like to see Willy or David S as host of this show over Joe.

[lisakaz]

I'll be glad to hear from the guy who called Cheney a "war criminal." I hope WABC doesn't censor him to tow some Bu$hco party line.

[esgabel]

Imus treated Contessa Brewer, Jill Carroll, Hilary Clinton and the girls team from Rutgers reprehensibly...just to name a few. He didn't want Brewer foisted upon him by MSNBC so he embarrassed her in the name of humor, Bernie struck again by implying that Jill Carroll was happy with her kidnapping in Iraq, Hilary became the villain after Imus brought up Bill's infidelities in front of her at a public dinner and of course we all know about The Rutgers Team. I watched Imus and actually missed him for a while even though he made me more than cringe--but I am over my addiction. I like Joe, Mika and Willie--they ease me into the day and I don't cringe anymore. Imus will pick up listeners but I'm not going anyplace--I'm quite happy with Morning Joe.

[OckhamsElectricRazor]

There needs to be a term coined and a media catagory created for this type of media entity: perhaps 'Muck Monger' for someone who makes a living from selling offensive speech. If properly labeled and segregated into separate air times, folks like Imus, Coulter, O'Reilly, Limbauch, etc., could sell their diry language, but not infect other broadcasts with their filthy thinking.

[VivaZapata]

In a separate piece people wondered if Ann Coulter should be ignored. Now Imus? I've got an idea; let's turn off all of these dog and pony shows.

[NABNYC]

I don't like Imus - never did. I'm not sure he should have been drummed out of work for making racist sexist offensive comments about women, in this case black women, when such types of comments are commonly accepted.

But my real problem is that the focus on what a few people "say" leads to everyone ignoring what people do. Someone calls black women a bad name, and lots of people get all righteous about how they never do that. Okay.

But what is the status of black women in our society? Or all women, regardless of race? They continue to be excluded from many professions, and/or consigned to the lowest-earning jobs within professions. How many women Senators do we have? 5? 10? Why not 50? What the hell are we waiting for to get real equality for women? Why do women continue to only earn 70% of what men earn?

Why is it so popular for men to call women the b word, the c word? Why is it that when a man wants to really insult another man, he calls him a derogatory term generally reserved for women: bitch, pussy. Or a big insult from one man to another is to suggest that a man does a sexual act that women do: c-sucker. Come give me a b-job is another insult.

Why is it that men hate women so much? I suspect it's just that the anxiety and fear created by a world of declining opportunity and lack of security is being intentionally directed towards women. As if it's our fault. Very much like poor white southerners were encouraged to blame their problems on blacks.

Let's start focusing on the reality behind the language: the continued denial of equal rights to all women in our society. Fix that and we won't need to worry so much about a tacky old man who likes to talk dirty on the radio.

[NoahVail]

Why are you ragging on Don Imus? Why not pick on Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck or Shawn Hannity, who are REAL misogynist pigs?

[uheardme]

All of the above, asshole.