Better Imus on the Air Than Off

Diehard Don Imus dissers will lose round two with the shock jock. Round two is a renewed battle to keep him off the air. He will be back on the air possibly as early as December. And he should be. It has nothing to do with him, his talent, his marketing draw, or the legions of fans that have shouted for his return since the nappy headed ho dumping episode. His return has everything to do with the blacks that screamed for his hide back in April. The top Imus scalp hunters have mellowed, softened, or proclaimed disinterest in and toward keeping him off the air. The list includes Al Sharpton, the Rutgers women's head basketball coach, some of the Rutgers players (one dropped her lawsuit against him), and a few prominent black columnists.

Their silence or indifference to an Imus return should not be mistaken for any ringing declaration of support for him. It's simply recognition that continuing the vendetta against Imus serves no real purpose. There are two reasons why. It fuels the eternal accusation of a racial double standard . That accusation came up time and again during the Imus firefight.

When Sharpton, the NAACP, and black journalist groups sprinted to the barricades to oust Imus, white and black Imus defenders pounded them for their vehement Imus assault while playing like deaf mutes when it came to the misogynist spouting black rappers, comedians, and filmmakers. The Imus denouncers scrambled fast and mounted a noisy campaign against the rap defilers to quash the double standard charge. But that hasn't stopped the fling of the double standard accusation at blacks that scream racism when whites mouth off, but say nothing, or make a tepid criticism when blacks do the same.

Sharpton got hit again with the double standard accusation when he called on New York Knicks president Isiah Thomas to apologize for demeaning women. Sharpton bashers hammered him for calling on Thomas only to apologize and not demand that he be fired, as he did with Imus. Sharpton has since said that while he called for Imus' firing, he did not call for him to be banned in perpetuity to broadcast Siberia. This fine distinction won't satisfy those that pounce on any inconsistency blacks show when it comes to dealing with black and white verbal bashers.

In any case, the debate over Imus's Rutger's gibe and the defense of it and him skirted the all too fine, and often blurred line, between what's free speech and offensive, libelous speech. The insult was, of course, crass, crude, and repulsive. But Imus almost certainly didn't intend the poor taste joke or vile crack -- take your pick -- as a hate epithet against the Rutgers Lady Cagers. As Sharpton and countless others noted, his dig was no worse than the bile that the pantheon of rap opportunist/defilers regularly spew against black women.

There's another reason for standing aside when Imus returns to the airwaves. It goes far beyond the self-serving moans from his posse that the poor guy has suffered enough. A live and sobered Imus behind the mic would serve as the O.J. Simpson of broadcast media. He'd be the permanent broadcast poster boy for what can happen to shock jocks that stray over the line of racial trash talking indecency. That can always ignite the swift wrath of much of the public. A tame, well-behaved Imus won't instantly turn shock jocks into reincarnated Edward R. Murrows. It will make them pause and think a tad more carefully about their words and possible consequences. That's already happened to a few shock jocks that have dribbled out an Imus-like slur. They have been quickly called on the carpet and suspended or canned.

Imus also made some corporate sponsors wince at his antics. And when the clamor for his hide rose to a crescendo, they instantly cut bait, and Imus was the bait. And since the name of the game on the airwaves is still ratings and dollars, corporation's -- post-Imus -- have tipped more gingerly around controversy. While the truism remains in full force that controversy always gets the cash registers jingling, too much controversy can turn those jingles into headaches for a station management that has to spend countless hours fending off black, Latino, Asian, gay and women's groups that are up in arms over a shock jock's taunt. The perverse silver lining in Imus's fall from public grace then is that he slightly redefined the rules of ethnic and gender engagement on the airwaves for some station owners and management.

The hard reality is that Imus did pay a steep price for his mouth, and he deserved to pay that price. Now that he will and should return to the broadcast studio, he has a chance for redemption. His return is no cause for cheers and popping the champagne corks. But it's certainly no cause for jeers and tossing those bottles at him either when he returns.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His new book The Latino Challenge to Black America: Towards a Conversation between African-Americans and Hispanics (Middle Passage Press and Hispanic Economics New York) in English and Spanish will be out in October.

Comments

[ms.understood]

I could care less about him going back on the air, as long as his racist and sexist comments come to an end. It is possible for a comedian to be funny without offending someone based on something that they obviously can't help. Besides, it's not like he can't be insulted back. He's not the best looking shock jock out there!!

[juleso]

Morning Joe has less than half of Imus' viewers not including the radio/internet numbers.

[juleso]

Someone who actually watches and enjoys Morning Joe? Judging from their ratings which are half of what Imus's were, not including radio or internet, you are by yourself.

[juleso]

Just let the man come back and leave him alone already. I'm so tired of being told I shouldn't like the guy's show. I never found him to be racist or sexist. He's a decent person. Let it go and move on already.

[3fingerbrown]

I don't know which is more embarrassing: that anyone still listens to a disgraced old charlatan like Sharpton, or that Imus felt compelled to publicly kiss Sharpton's ring in a humiliating attempt to save his job. When Imus did that, he not only demeaned himself, he further validated Sharpton as the media's go-to guy for black outrage.
Talk about devolution: King to Jackson to Sharpton. King had a dream. Jackson had a coalition. Sharpton has a bullhorn.
Race relations in this country is too important an issue to be dictated by this shabby and vulgar opportunist. Shame on Imus (and you, too, Hillary) for enabling him. Shame on the media for jumping whenever he snaps his pudgy fingers. And shame on black folks with legitimate grievances for allowing Sharpton to use them. He cheapens everything he touches.

[CammyV]

I sure wont be listening to him. I am a big Morning Joe fan, intelligent, and witty broadcast without the Imus/McGurk sleeze factor. What an improvement.

[manymoons]

Hey, CammyV, you must work for MSNBC. This show is pitiful.

[midtown]

You kidding me? Morning Joe hasn't read a book in a year that I can tell. He has nowhere near the breadth of memory about political events that Imus has. Imus doesn't stick to a political ideology. He was a Cheney lover back in 2001; now he calls him a war criminal and for good reason.

Joe DOES NOT help a single goddam charity on air. Imus goes out of his way to help autistic kids and wounded vets. You tell me ONE thing that Morning Joe does for anybody but himself, and I'll shut up. But you can't.

I can hardly wait for Imus to return. Imus developed and made successful the whole programming format that Morning Joe slid into. He's a National Living Treasure as far as I'm concerned.

[Hellooo]

WHO IS TALKING ABOUT MYCHAL BELL? WHY IS THIS NOT HEADLINE NEWS?

[Kansas Evans]

I don't know. I'm waiting for someone to explain to me how he ended up back in jail for breaking his probation after he had already been jail 10mos!

[realitytrumpsbull]

There's definitely some trash-talking going on,
and the vast radio wasteland just keeps getting
worse...I'm to the point where I barely listen
to any broadcasts anymore, especially in the
car, I'd rather have some of my favorite music
instead, than some DJ(can you even still call
them that, if all they do for 2 hours is talk?)
blathering on incessantly about this or that.

I have heard a few really GOOD personalities
on the air, but none so captivating that I
cannot live without hearing their next
broadcast. I think the day and age of the
broadcast itself are slowly winding down,
especially now that we have the www.wasteland,
which EVERYone can leave their mark on,
without the added burden of advertising and
marketing and so forth. Say whatever the damn
hell you want, and if people like it and agree
with it, maybe you'll get a positive response,
and if they don't, then you'll get a negative,
and maybe at least a good counter-argument. Or,
nothing...

Back to the trash-talk, here's some links on
the subject:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_baiting
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/race-baiting
http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/2005/09/race-baiting.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6387-2005Feb7.html

I'd also like to say that I believe that
collectively, we've lost our good manners,
which is part of the larger problem, here.
Everyone's got a niche group, a special
hyphenated-thing, systematic disunity, and
now you're watching all kind of wierdness
take place, and a lot of hostility being
manifested...never underestimate the capacity
of large groups of stupid, angry people...

[VOTER]

I would watch a "reformed" Imus if he also has given up

his "ass kissin" of the warmongering Republicans.

His interviews with Daddy Bush and Darth Vader Cheney can induce vomiting.

[midtown]

Then you didn't hear him trash Cheney in the last year before he was let go. Screaming that Cheney was a war crimanal and that he was EMBARRASSED THAT HE EVER SUPPORTED HIM.

[midtown]

crimanal should be criminal. I can spell. Typing another matter.

[purplepeopleeater]

You said Imus deserved to pay the price for his mouth.
I saw that show and it was not meant as anything hurtfull.
It is a comedy/news type of show.
You said he has a chance for redemption and his return is no reason to have cheers and popping champagne corks.

Well I beg to differ with you..

There is no redemption to be had here. and millions will be thrilled, and popping corks with Imus back on track.

.

[joemac1114]

I am so weary of people telling me what I can and cannot hear. My position is and will always be let people say what they will and I will decide whether to listen.

I didn't like or agree with everything Imus said, but let him say what he will on the air. Let him poke fun at whomever. When we as a nation are ready to consider even small slights as major issues: our problems is then ourselves. I do believe there are a bunch of us who need to quit complaining and get down to doing something about our world.

Give Imus his due, he didn't tow the politically correct line, but he did do things to change the world for the better. Maybe there is a lesson for all of us there.

[midtown]

Yeah, I agree with you. Why can't the haters just change the channel.

[brohammie]

It's reverse racism here because there is no way his two words would make such a stink. They want him lynched for good this time.

[Boris]

Well, Earl, I have to admit I am not an Imus fan, but even at his worst, he does not offend me as much as Glen Beck or Michael Wiener Savage or even that fat dough ball guy.

Have we become a nation of knee jerk reactors? Every little thing said that offends Zionists, or Africans or Chinese or Ukrainians seems to demand a terrible punishment for the offender.

IF you want to know what I think about name calling, etc., read the autobiography of Lenny Bruce..especially the section where he is called a derogatory name at his new school. Since he has never heard it before, he takes no offense.

Bruce said that every time we take offense at some name calling, we empower that person and we diminish ourselves.

I think you are a little thin skinned, at times, Earl.

[brohammie]

Yes, Mr. Hutchinson, Imus paid too steep a price and so have his fans. Enough, let the guy back on radio already.

[JimR]

"The hard reality is that Imus did pay a steep price for his mouth, and he deserved to pay that price."

Yet hardcore rappers continue to disparage black women as "bitches" and "hos," and there's no calls for them to lose their recording contracts.

The Imus affair certainly was a learning experience. I learned that hypocrisy and double standards are alive and well in this country.

[Kansas Evans]

There HAS been calls for rappers to stop disparaging black women. Sharpton was leading the charging long before Imus.

Somebody explain this to me: if you know how terrible traditional media is when it comes to politics, what makes you think they're giving you all the info you need to know about race?

Also, why aren't there calls for white musicians not to disparage women? And why was Imus able to so easily blame rap as though black young males invent misogyny?
http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=181&Itemid=33

Where's everyone's indignation for Kid Rock's "Balls in her Mouth?"