Updated: Imus under the gun after "nappy-headed hos" remark [VIDEO]

By Bruce Ackerman . Posted April 9, 2007.

On last Wednesday's show, veteran shock jock Don Imus and his producer Bernard McGuirk called the (mostly black) Rutgers basketball team "nappy-headed hos," (VIDEO 1).

On Friday, after calls for an apology and Imus' resignation reached a pitch, he squirted out a teensy little apology (VIDEO 2). Richard Prince writes:

However, Philip Nobile, a New York writer who has called attention to offensive Imus comments for years, told Journal-isms, "I heard the so-called apology this morning. The words were right but Imus was obviously insincere.

"The statement was read without affect, to the smallest audience at 6am, and never repeated. McGuirk said nothing."

But the Imus show couldn't leave well enough alone; no, they had to have a segment, also on Friday's show, featuring a piss-poor Bill Clinton imitator chalking Obama's $25 million fund-raising up to "pimping" or "selling crack." (VIDEO 3)

According to Prince: "[L]ate Friday, NABJ said the apology was insufficient and called 'for the immediate removal of Imus and his WFAN producer, Bernard McGuirk — who referred to the players as jigaboos and wannabees — by Monday morning.'" And they hadn't even heard about the "pimping" remark yet.

As Media Matters has noted, the Imus show has a looooong history of racism.

TVNewser reports that MSNBC, which runs the program, says "we don't give a crap, we just re-run it...": In a statement, MSNBC distanced itself from it: "While simulcast by MSNBC, Imus in the Morning is not a production of the cable network and is produced by WFAN Radio. As Imus makes clear every day, his views are not those of MSNBC. We regret that his remarks were aired on MSNBC and apologize for these offensive comments."

Both Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have protests planned for today. Sharpton will have Imus on his program today at 1pm -- we'll have more as it's available...

Sharpton said yesterday:

"Somewhere we must draw the line in what is tolerable in mainstream media," he said. "We cannot keep going through offending us and then apologizing and then acting like it never happened. Somewhere we've got to stop this."

In video 4, Imus talks more about the issue on this morning's program: "I am not a racist..." For another take on the scandal, see Jill Nelson's essay HERE: "Word up, Don: being racist, sexist, and disrespectful towards women and others isn’t cool, hip, or a revolutionary act of politically incorrect subversion, it’s plain wrong..."

UPDATE: According to Matt Stoller a coalition to pressure MSNBC is forming: "The National Association of Black Journalists is spear-heading a campaign against MSNBC and Imus for his racist comment and his legacy of racism, backed by Essence's Editor in Chief, Angela Burt-Murray. Now, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are pushing aggressively, with Imus going on Sharpton's show today to reiterate his apology. It's not enough..." More.

UPDATE 2: Imus on Al Sharpton's program is HERE.

              

See more stories tagged with: media, racism, al sharpton, don imus

Evan Derkacz is an AlterNet editor. He writes and edits PEEK, the blog of blogs.

Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from AlterNet! Sign up now »