Another Imus Rant, I Almost Promise That It Is the Last

I have watched Imus almost every morning for many years. On balance, he presented a very interesting program with very interesting guests. You never knew what he was going to say about anyone or anything at any moment. It was the excitement of live television (and radio), in the hands of this off-the-wall curmudgeon. As long as I can remember, he had a tendency to behave badly in many ways, saying things that--to me were racially--charged, but I NEVER thought that he was a racist.

As a Television executive, I have been responsible for a good deal of meaningless content, and whatever was produced was my responsibility. I was ultimately responsibly for what my company produced under my supervision.

Imus was employed by CBS.

Imus was employed by NBC.

Leslie Moonves, CBS President and CEO, said: "From the outset, I believe all of us have been deeply upset and revulsed by the statements that were made on our air about the young women who represented Rutgers University in the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship with such class, energy and talent."

Steve Carpus, President of NBC News, said "When I first learned of the comments, we issued an apology and we denounced the comments. They were awful. They were hateful. They were deplorable... The Imus program is what it is... there have been any numbers of other comments that have been enormously hurtful to far too many people... Because if you lose your reputation, you lose everything.

Had they EVER listened to the show before? If they did they would have known that the Imus humor was based on the type of "humor" he displayed in this instance.

My Conclusion: Don Imus was "lynched" or executed without due process of law. The mob has spoken, and the two vaunted networks have "caved" and given the mob what they wanted--Imus's head. I would be interested in their response to the following letter:

Dear Les and Steve,

Did either of you EVER write to Imus and his producers to tell him to cut that stuff out? This should not be construed in any way to absolve Imus of being very stupid on air. It is however my attempt to place blame on BOTH of your organizations for not supervising Imus all of these years. Not just last week.

If what he did was so reprehensible, why aren't people in your organizations not falling on their swords as a result of what happened "under your watch?" I would like to write more about this but I need to prepare to watch a documentary on each of your networks in prime time about this four-year-old horrid war.

Whoops, I must be mistaken, neither of you have to the best of my knowledge ever done one.

If you both are so proud of your news divisions, why not allow them to program an hour in prime time each week on a subject of their choice. I do know that it has nothing whatsoever to do with possible lost revenue, or annoying the administration. You guys have far too much integrity for that.

In conclusion--in the "I wish I had said that department"--we have sports columnist Shaun Powell who said on April 12: "Al Sharpton and the other racial ambulance chasers will find other guilt-ridden white folks to shake for fame and cash."

NBC and CBS, in my not very humble opinion, SHAME ON YOU!

With warmest personal regards.


Norman Horowitz
Bleeding heart liberal