Don Imus signs deal to return to radio
Thu Nov 1, 2007 7:57pm EDT
By Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Disgraced shock jock Don Imus, who was fired by CBS Radio six months ago in an uproar over an on-air racial slur he made, has signed a deal to return to radio on Dec. 3 with a new nationally syndicated morning show.
Imus will broadcast his show out of the AM-radio station WABC in New York, airing daily from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., and be syndicated around the United States through ABC Radio Networks, which is owned by Citadel Broadcasting Corp, the company said on Thursday.
"We are ecstatic to bring Don Imus back to morning radio," WABC President and General Manager Steve Borneman said in a statement posted on the station\'s Web site.
"Don\'s unique brand of humor, knowledge of the issues and ability to attract big-name guests is unparalleled. He is rested, fired up and ready to do great radio," Borneman added.
The announcement said Imus would be returning to the airwaves with "his team," including his longtime newsman and sidekick Charles McCord. But there was no mention of whether Imus would be subject to any new limitations on his often-provocative and insulting commentary.
Imus, 67, whose CBS program blended locker-room humor with interviews of A-list politicians and other leading lights, had been widely reported to be close to a deal with Citadel-owned WABC for several weeks.
His old "Imus in the Morning" show was canceled in April after he referred to the mostly black Rutgers University women\'s basketball team as "nappy-headed hos" -- a phrase that combined an antiquated term for coarse, curly hair with a slang word for ****.
SHARPTON URGES SAFEGUARDS
The original show was produced and broadcast by the CBS-owned WFAN radio station in New York and syndicated on some 60 stations nationally. The program also was simulcast on cable television\'s MSNBC.
CBS and MSNBC first suspended Imus for two weeks, but as calls for his dismissal grew, notably from New York civil rights leader Al Sharpton, MSNBC canceled his show, and CBS followed suit the next day.
At the time of his dismissal, it seemed Imus might be facing the end of his nearly 40-year-long radio career. The ex-Marine said he was sorry for his remarks and later met with members of the Rutgers team to apologize in person, but the controversy sparked a public debate about crude language and racial humor on the airwaves.
Sharpton issued a statement on Thursday urging Imus\' new employer to inform advertisers and others "how they intend to safeguard against Mr. Imus returning to his former vile and biased behavior."
A spokeswoman for the Rutgers women\'s basketball team declined comment on the upcoming return of Imus.
In August, the curmudgeonly radio personality and CBS settled their termination dispute in a deal reported to be worth $10 million to $20 million, clearing the way for him to seek a new broadcast outlet.
At the time he was fired, Imus was working under a five-year contract valued at $40 million.
Quote-Named as one of 14 finalists for the 2007 USA U21 World Championship Team on May 20, 2007.
-Named a 2007 Kodak/WBCA All-American and Kodak/WBCA All-Region 8.
-Tabbed 2007 Associated Press All-America honorable mention.
-Earned 2007 NCAA Tournament All-Final Four and All-Greensboro Regional Team honors.
-A 2007 All-Big East Conference first team selection.
-Earned 2007 All-Big East Tournament Team accolades.
she seems to be doing just fine.
give me a **** break. want to ruin your reputation? sue don imus. that\'ll do it.
At one time, despite being a fanatical Imus fan, I felt bad for these girls.
Now I feel bad for all of them except this greedy ****.
Quote from: Spacey;155318Just a money hungry nappy head hoe trying to get the white mans money.
You would too if you had to live in a 2 bedroom apartment with your mother and eight siblings, all of whom have different daddies, half who have not been seen since ma dukes got pregnant with their child. I mean, why not sue Imus and get that 4 Bedroom home in the suburbs?
Quote from: Spacey;155318Just a money hungry nappy head hoe trying to get the white mans money.
You would too if you had to live in a 2 bedroom apartment with your mother and eight siblings, all of whom have different daddies, half who have not been seen since ma dukes got pregnant with their child. I mean, why not sue Imus and get that 4 Bedroom home in the suburbs?
Just a money hungry nappy head hoe trying to get the white mans money.
I wish those nappy-headed hos would grow the **** up!!!
NEW YORK -- A member of the Rutgers women\'s basketball team sued Don Imus and CBS on Tuesday, claiming the radio personality\'s sexist and racist comments about the team damaged her reputation.
Kia Vaughn filed the lawsuit alleging defamation of character in state Supreme Court in the Bronx the same day Imus settled with CBS Radio in a deal that pre-empts his threatened $120 million breach-of-contract lawsuit against CBS.
Vaughn\'s lawsuit, believed to be the first by a player in the case, says Imus and his former co-host Bernard McGuirk, along with CBS Corp. and CBS Radio, are legally responsible for damage done to her character and reputation. There is no dollar amount listed in the suit.
Vaughn\'s attorney, Richard Ancowitz, said: "The full effect of the damage remains to be seen."
"This is about Kia Vaughn\'s good name," Ancowitz said. "She would do anything to return to her life as a student and respected basketball player -- a more simple life before Imus opened his mouth on April 4."
Imus referred to the basketball players as "nappy-headed hos" on his nationally syndicated radio program in April, becoming the target of heated protests led by the Rev. Al Sharpton. He was fired shortly after.
A spokeswoman for CBS Radio declined to comment.
Quote from: kindm\'s;142011The Gov of NJ apparently was on his way to the meeting between Imus and Rutgers BBall tema when he was in a near fatal car crash.
1010wins said he is breathing thru a tube and it will be months before he is able to return to work. I guess his femur tore through his leg and he lost tons of blood etc.
people close to him have said that he normally doesn\'t ride with a seat belt.
The Gov of NJ apparently was on his way to the meeting between Imus and Rutgers BBall tema when he was in a near fatal car crash.
1010wins said he is breathing thru a tube and it will be months before he is able to return to work. I guess his femur tore through his leg and he lost tons of blood etc.
Donations to his radio-thon charity are up higher than usual...
if anyone know, what was the quote for which this all started..? something about calling the rutgers girls team nappy headed hoes?
Imus fans: who has become your substitute for Imus?
Did you hear that Jesse Jackson was going to pay for the stripper\'s college education.
The stripper that lied about the 3 Duke lacrosse players?
Horrible, ok how about they fire Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson for their comments about the Duke Lacrosse thing! They didn\'t even appologize! Bullshit!
horse ****.
(imus has been fired by CBS)
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 **** 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 **** 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.
horse ****.
(imus has been fired by CBS)
Quote from: FrankZappa;141881Not me though,I don\'t listen to any one sided talk radio. Just Rush Limbaugh in the afternoon followed by collin on wtic, npr at night and bbc world feed in the early morning. All of which is 100% middle of the road non-offensive.
that may be a joke, i\'m not sure, but if not, i just want to say that imus really isn\'t one-sided at all, and this just goes to show that people know absolutely nothing about the man.
Staples Inc., Bigelow Tea Company, Procter & Gamble Co., General Motors and Sprint Nextel have stopped advertising on Imus\' morning show to protest his racially charged remarks about the women\'s basketball team. According to NPR\'s All Things Considered, GlaxoSmithKline and American Express have also pulled their ads from the show for the time being.
But anyway, wasn\'t MSNBC just simulcasting the radio show on television? He still has his radio show, no?
Not me though,I don\'t listen to any one sided talk radio. Just Rush Limbaugh in the afternoon followed by collin on wtic, npr at night and bbc world feed in the early morning. All of which is 100% middle of the road non-offensive.