Believe it or not, I was a big fan.
Don Imus, who tested the limits of shock radio with his irreverent attacks on celebrities, politicians, racial and ethnic groups, women, gay people and practically anyone whose head stuck up out of the foxhole, died on Friday in College Station, Texas. …
After years on the edge of acceptable standards, however, Mr. Imus went too far on April 4, 2007, when, in his trademark drawl, he referred to the Rutgers University women’s basketball team, which had reached the N.C.A.A. finals and was composed mainly of African-Americans, as ‘rough girls’ and ‘nappy-headed hos.’
(The New York Times, December 27, 2019)
I began watching when Imus began simulcasting his show on cable TV in 1996. His unique mix of irreverent parodies and informative interviews kept me tuning in until his last simulcast in May 2015. To get a sense of his appeal, imagine the best of what Howard Stern and Charlie Rose present(ed) on their respective talk shows.
Unfortunately, his remarks about those Rutgers basketball players will haunt his legacy. This, as surely as President Trump’s attempt to extort dirt on Joe Biden from the president of Ukraine will haunt his. But it speaks volumes about Imus’s character that, on his last radio show in March 2018, he was still expressing regret, reportedly through tears, for those remarks.
That’s why the best tribute I can offer is to reprise my commentary on those remarks. Accordingly, here in its entirety is “Imus Feeling White Heat for Calling Black Women ‘Nappy-Headed Hos’?!” April 10, 2007, followed by an epilogue:
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IMUS: That’s some rough girls from Rutgers…Man, they got tattoos … .
McGUIRK: Some hardcore hos
IMUS: That’s some nappy-headed hos there, I’m going to tell you that.
That racist exchange aired on Wednesday, the morning after Tennessee defeated Rutgers for the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship. It has the show’s preternaturally-irascible host, Don Imus, now wallowing in contrition and begging Al Sharpton, the self-appointed pope of black folks, for absolution.
On its face, that exchange looks really bad. And, based on what I saw of his show this morning, Imus is painfully aware of this appalling fact. He seemed genuinely prostrate with guilt and shame as he apologized for, and denounced, his remarks. He pleaded continually that, despite how it looks:
I’m not a racist. …I’m not a bad person. I’m a good person who said a bad thing.
Sure enough, he gave a pretty credible defense of his bona fides as a “good person.” Among other things, he noted that he
- funds and personally runs a camp for kids with cancer;
- aids many black causes, including raising millions for sickle cell anemia (when no black American leader seemed remotely interested in its impact on black children);
- called out the Bush Administration for its racist neglect of Katrina victims when other prominent media personalities remained conspicuously silent; and
- took care to demonstrate contrition for his racist misdeeds.
For what it’s worth, there’s no gainsaying the fact that Imus acquitted himself more convincingly in his moment of racist reckoning than any white man had since former Governor George Wallace of Alabama in the late 1970s.
The Imus in the Morning show is as popular amongst political and business leaders as the Daily Show is amongst high-school and college students. Regular viewers know that Imus hurling “good-natured” insults is the hallmark of his show.
More to the point, he targets everyone from self-important politicians to his own wife – who he calls a “green ho” when ridiculing her environmental activism. The man even called the “Jewish management of CBS [a bunch of] money-grubbing bastards.”
In other words, he is an equal-opportunity offender. Nonetheless, base political (and commercial) motivations compel people like Sharpton to reflexively call for his head on a platter.
I, however, do not think his radio and TV bosses should fire him. I do not think they should even suspend him. This, for the same reason I did not think sponsors should drop Jesse Jackson or Julian Bond for hurling anti-Semitic insults. I reasoned then as I do now that:
Having these high-profile people expiate their sins in “the public square” will advance the cause of combating hate-speech, not least because this will force their die-hard, enabling supporters to reflect in a similar vein. This will provide far greater public service than having self-aggrandizing moral policemen like Sharpton arrest them, lock them up, and throw away the key.
Apropos of which, some of us are still waiting for Sharpton to show a little contrition for some of his rabble-rousing, race-baiting misdeeds. More on point, does anyone recall Sharpton picketing ABC to fire black actor Isaiah Washington (of Grey’s Anatomy) for calling one of his fellow cast members, who happens to be gay, “a faggot”? Not to mention the just cause Sharpton has given white folks to regard him as more black hustler than black pope.
In any event, Imus seems determined to do whatever is necessary to make amends. He has already agreed to a public confessional on Sharpton’s talk show for Christ’s sake!
Paying this penance seems a far greater punishment for him than early retirement — during which he would still be collecting payments on his multimillion-dollar contract. And, just imagine what racial pins and needles he’ll be sitting on for the rest of his career.
‘Here’s what I’ve learned: that you can’t make fun of everybody, because some people don’t deserve it,’ he said on his nationally syndicated radio show Monday morning. ‘And because the climate on this program has been what it’s been for 30 years doesn’t mean it’s going to be what it’s been for the next five years or whatever.’
(Access Online, April, 9, 2007)
Fair enough Imus …
Finally, for the sake of clarity and honesty, beware that nobody is upset with Imus for calling these women “hos.” After all, the cognitive dissonance propagated by the hip-hop community has turned this insult into a term of endearment for far too many black women. That’s why the real cause of this outrage is Imus calling black women “nappy headed.”
But, if truth be told, this outrage is more about black hypocrisy and self-loathing than racism. After all, if black women were happy with their nappy heads, Imus’s insult would not have stung so much. (For a little insight into intra-racial prejudices about black women’s hair, I refer you to Spike Lee’s School Daze.)
Then, of course, there’s the way far too many black women (and Sharpton himself) spend inordinate amounts of money (and often endure excruciating pain) to get perms and extensions – all to make their “black people hair” look like white people hair! Indeed, I wonder how Oprah feels about her “authentic self” when white people compliment her on “her” long and flowing hair.
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Epilogue
Apropos of taking care to demonstrate contrition, Imus spent hours meeting with the Rutgers women’s basketball team. He spent most of that time listening as they explained the pain his words caused. Moreover, his broken and contrite heart was such that the coach led the team in accepting his apology and begging his critics to allow him to “move on.”
In point of fact, Imus was still remorseful when he gave his last interview to CBS Sunday Morning on March 25, 2018. Here is how he reflected on that meeting – in the context of his nearly 50-year career:
It was one of the greatest things I did in my life. They were there, their parents were there, and I sat and listened for four or five hours and there was nothing I could say other than ‘I’m sorry’ and promise them that I would never give them a reason in their lifetime to be sorry that they forgave me. And I haven’t.
Imus died from complications related to a long history of emphysema and prostate cancer. He was 79.
Farewell, I-Man.
Related commentaries:
Charlie Rose…
Imus feeling white heat…
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