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IMUS Fired......
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here is the letter
| quote: | To: All Employees
From: Leslie Moonves
Date: April 12, 2007
I want to inform you that we have decided to cease broadcasting the Imus in the Morning radio program, effective immediately, on a permanent basis.
We reach this decision after a period of thought, discussion, listening to you, and the pursuit of due process in this painful matter. 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. While we have already made our disappointment and outrage clear, I would like to take the opportunity to offer my personal apologies to the Rutgers team, its impressive Coach, and the entire Athletic Department and Administration of Rutgers University. CBS has nothing but the highest regard for that establishment and its students, and we are sorry that offense was given in such a brutal and insensitive manner.
I would also like to extend an apology to everyone beyond Rutgers. Those who have spoken with us the last few days represent people of goodwill from all segments of our society – all races, economic groups, men and women alike. In our meetings with concerned groups, there has been much discussion of the effect language like this has on our young people, particularly young women of color trying to make their way in this society. That consideration has weighed most heavily on our minds as we made our decision, as have the many emails, phone calls and personal discussions we have had with our colleagues across the CBS Corporation and our many other constituencies.
At the same time, we wanted to take the time necessary to listen to the many diverse voices that were raised on this issue. In so doing, we have been trying, as best as is possible in such a complex and emotional environment, to determine what is, indeed, the right thing to do. I believe that in taking this action, we are doing the right thing.
Many of you have come forward during this past week to share your thoughts and feelings. I thank you for that. At the end of the day, the integrity of our Company and the respect that you feel for CBS becomes the most important consideration.
One thing is for certain: This is about a lot more than Imus. As has been widely pointed out, Imus has been visited by Presidents, Senators, important authors and journalists from across the political spectrum. He has flourished in a culture that permits a certain level of objectionable expression that hurts and demeans a wide range of people. In taking him off the air, I believe we take an important and necessary step not just in solving a unique problem, but in changing that culture, which extends far beyond the walls of our Company.
I want to thank all those who came to see us to express their views. We are now presented with a significant opportunity to expand on our record on issues of diversity, race and gender. We intend to seize that opportunity as we move forward together |
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| DJ Eco |
| This should be the beginning... I want all of those bastards off the air: Anne Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, ALL of them.... As far as Imus goes, he has been saying garbage about everyone for years: Jewish, Italians, etc.... Some people are bringing up the whole "Why is there outrage now that it only affects Blacks and women?" card to the table... While I loosely agree with that somewhat, I'm happy THIS was the straw that broke his back and resulted in his letting go.... Good for CBS and NBC, it's about time they see past profits and money matters and look into their own hearts, although this should have happened earlier. |
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| DJ Eco |
| And I'm sure people are going to bring in the whole issue of freedom of speech... Of course he has freedom of speech to say anything he wants, but the government could care less about this issue... You don't put an idiot/ignorant former-alcoholic on the air and let him say the he does, that's not freedom of speech, that's just putting an idiot/ignorant former-alcoholic on the air... More than anything, I wish the media would stop focusing on this story... There's people dying all over the place all over the world; There were 4 American casualties in Iraq the other day, which didn't get broadcast because the media was too preoccupied with its next-best-thing post-Anna Nicole Smith. |
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| steven-neil |
| my two cents,,i think Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are Raccist ****s....i love the fact that fox news delved deep into racial comments made by these two idiots in the past....talk about the pot calling the kettle black.......no pun intended..... |
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| Thero40 |
| quote: | Originally posted by steven-neil
my two cents,,i think Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are Raccist ****s....i love the fact that fox news delved deep into racial comments made by these two idiots in the past....talk about the pot calling the kettle black.......no pun intended..... |
I def agree, Imus should of never even gone on the Sharptons radio show. |
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| ReenTeenTeen |
Who is Imus?
Who is Anna Nicole Smith???
PS. American News is even worse then Soviet Union News was back in the day. In USA there is that huge B.S. factor on TV & Radio everybody enjoys. I long rely on news broadcasters like BBC and other that at least try to cover what matters in the world.
PSS. People need to stop paying attention to Movie Stars because they are all a ing joke. At least rappers dont hide it. |
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| verndogs |
my views on the Imus fiasco as summed up nicely by Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star
| quote: |
Posted on Wed, Apr. 11, 2007
Imus isn’t the real bad guy
Instead of wasting time on irrelevant shock jock, black leaders need to be fighting a growing gangster culture.
By JASON WHITLOCK
Columnist
Thank you, Don Imus. You’ve given us (black people) an excuse to avoid our real problem.
You’ve given Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson another opportunity to pretend that the old fight, which is now the safe and lucrative fight, is still the most important fight in our push for true economic and social equality.
You’ve given Vivian Stringer and Rutgers the chance to hold a nationally televised recruiting celebration expertly disguised as a news conference to respond to your poor attempt at humor.
Thank you, Don Imus. You extended Black History Month to April, and we can once again wallow in victimhood, protest like it’s 1965 and delude ourselves into believing that fixing your hatred is more necessary than eradicating our self-hatred.
The bigots win again.
While we’re fixated on a bad joke cracked by an irrelevant, bad shock jock, I’m sure at least one of the marvelous young women on the Rutgers basketball team is somewhere snapping her fingers to the beat of 50 Cent’s or Snoop Dogg’s or Young Jeezy’s latest ode glorifying nappy-headed pimps and hos.
I ain’t saying Jesse, Al and Vivian are gold-diggas, but they don’t have the heart to mount a legitimate campaign against the real black-folk killas.
It is us. At this time, we are our own worst enemies. We have allowed our youths to buy into a culture (hip hop) that has been perverted, corrupted and overtaken by prison culture. The music, attitude and behavior expressed in this culture is anti-black, anti-education, demeaning, self-destructive, pro-drug dealing and violent.
Rather than confront this heinous enemy from within, we sit back and wait for someone like Imus to have a slip of the tongue and make the mistake of repeating the things we say about ourselves.
It’s embarrassing. Dave Chappelle was offered $50 million to make racially insensitive jokes about black and white people on TV. He was hailed as a genius. Black comedians routinely crack jokes about white and black people, and we all laugh out loud.
I’m no Don Imus apologist. He and his tiny companion Mike Lupica blasted me after I fell out with ESPN. Imus is a hack.
But, in my view, he didn’t do anything outside the norm for shock jocks and comedians. He also offered an apology. That should’ve been the end of this whole affair. Instead, it’s only the beginning. It’s an opportunity for Stringer, Jackson and Sharpton to step on victim platforms and elevate themselves and their agenda$.
I watched the Rutgers news conference and was ashamed.
Martin Luther King Jr. spoke for eight minutes in 1963 at the March on Washington. At the time, black people could be lynched and denied fundamental rights with little thought. With the comments of a talk-show host most of her players had never heard of before last week serving as her excuse, Vivian Stringer rambled on for 30 minutes about the amazing season her team had.
Somehow, we’re supposed to believe that the comments of a man with virtually no connection to the sports world ruined Rutgers’ wonderful season. Had a broadcaster with credibility and a platform in the sports world uttered the words Imus did, I could understand a level of outrage.
But an hourlong press conference over a man who has already apologized, already been suspended and is already insignificant is just plain intellectually dishonest. This is opportunism. This is a distraction.
In the grand scheme, Don Imus is no threat to us in general and no threat to black women in particular. If his words are so powerful and so destructive and must be rebuked so forcefully, then what should we do about the idiot rappers on BET, MTV and every black-owned radio station in the country who use words much more powerful and much more destructive?
I don’t listen or watch Imus’ show regularly. Has he at any point glorified selling crack cocaine to black women? Has he celebrated black men shooting each other randomly? Has he suggested in any way that it’s cool to be a baby-daddy rather than a husband and a parent? Does he tell his listeners that they’re suckers for pursuing education and that they’re selling out their race if they do?
When Imus does any of that, call me and I’ll get upset. Until then, he is what he is — a washed-up shock jock who is very easy to ignore when you’re not looking to be made a victim.
No. We all know where the real battleground is. We know that the gangsta rappers and their followers in the athletic world have far bigger platforms to negatively define us than some old white man with a bad radio show. There’s no money and lots of danger in that battle, so Jesse and Al are going to sit it out.
To reach Jason Whitlock, call (816) 234-4869 or send e-mail to [email protected]. For previous columns, go to KansasCity.com
© 2007 Kansas City Star and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.kansascity.com
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| AY STAR |
i honestly feel what he did was wrong no question about it
but al sharpton really needs to be shot or stabbed again
i really cant stand him he i such a piece of racist
why dont he go after hot 97 they call girls hoes and bitches all day long in the morning shows
and where was al sharpton last month when there was that big fire up in the bronx and all those kids died from africa
he dident show his face cause a white man dident start the fire
if one did he would have been all over it
and imus raises soo much money for kids
id like to see sharpton raise the same amount since imus will be off the air
iam sorry but i cant stand him he blows things out of the water too much :whip: |
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| DJ Eco |
| quote: | Originally posted by AY STAR
i honestly feel what he did was wrong no question about it
but al sharpton really needs to be shot or stabbed again
i really cant stand him he i such a piece of racist
why dont he go after hot 97 they call girls hoes and bitches all day long in the morning shows
and where was al sharpton last month when there was that big fire up in the bronx and all those kids died from africa
he dident show his face cause a white man dident start the fire
if one did he would have been all over it
and imus raises soo much money for kids
id like to see sharpton raise the same amount since imus will be off the air
iam sorry but i cant stand him he blows things out of the water too much :whip: |
I agree with some of the stuff you said, although the whole Imus child's fund is really being overestimated by a lot of people.... Apparently, it's only for 10 kids PER-YEAR to spend a few months on his ranch... It's a good tax write-off for him for sure... If I were to give my money to any kid's cancer fund, I'd give it to St. Jude Children's Hospital, not to fund 10 kids to enjoy a few months on a ranch. |
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| DJ Eco |
| And verndogs, that article was SPOT-ON... I got shot down in my Media Industries class the second I brought up any of those views... I'd say the same stuff, and then add "and he's been attacking Jewish people and Italians and you-name-it for years too", and they'd take that last part of the sentence and beat me into pulp with that... "Oh, well Italians and Jews weren't mistreated and enslaved, were they? It's a more delicate issue for us", they said... People like that I can't have a discussion with, they're just as ignorant as the people who are racists against them.... I'm glad an African-American man wrote that article, maybe people will actually listen to him and agree with him, rather than if, say, I wrote it. |
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| trancinchink |
| ya, good article vern. pretty much sums up a large part of the african american community and their lack of concern towards their own actions |
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| Trancealot |
blacks vs white major problem(gotta get everyone involved)
black vs blacks, who gives a rats ass
Thats how I look at al Sharpton.
In the end. This firing will divide America and not make it anymore easier for racism to dissapear. I hope they don't let black people use their slang terms in music and on the radio. I wonder how they will take it:disbelief
White people (ONLY THE RICH) owned slaves. Now they get the reprirations so called apology to end this black and white BS. Now apologies are not good enough. This is the world we live in today 2007 |
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