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NEW YORK -- MSNBC said Wednesday it will drop its simulcast
of the "Imus in the Morning" radio program, responding to growing
outrage about the radio host's racial slur against the Rutgers
women's basketball team. "This decision comes as a result of an ongoing review process,
which initially included the announcement of a suspension. It also
takes into account many conversations with our own employees," NBC
news said in a statement. Talk-show host Don Imus triggered the uproar on his April 4
show, when he referred to the mostly black Rutgers women's
basketball team as "nappy-headed hos." His comments have been
widely denounced by civil rights and women's groups. | Calls for Imus' firing from the radio portion of the program
have intensified during the past week, and remained strong even
after MSNBC's announcement. |
The decision does not affect Imus' nationally syndicated radio
show, and the ultimate decision on the fate of that program will
rest with executives at CBS Corp. In a statement, CBS reiterated
that Imus will be suspended without pay for two weeks beginning on
Monday, and that CBS Radio "will continue to speak with all
concerned parties and monitor the situation closely." MSNBC's action came after a growing list of sponsors -- including
American Express Co., Sprint Nextel Corp., Staples Inc., Procter &
Gamble Co., and General Motors Corp. -- said they were pulling ads
from Imus' show for the indefinite future. NBC News President Steve Capus said he made the decision after
reading thousands of e-mails and having countless discussions with
NBC workers and the public, but he denied the potential loss of
advertising dollars had anything to do with it. "I take no joy in this. It's not a particularly happy moment,
but it needed to happen," he said. "I can't ignore the fact that
there is a very long list of inappropriate comments, of
inappropriate banter, and it has to stop." NBC's decision came at a time when Imus' program on MSNBC was
doing better competitively than it ever has been. For the first
three months of the year, its audience was nearly identical to
CNN's, leading CNN to replace its morning news team last week. Calls for Imus' firing from the radio portion of the program
have intensified during the past week, and remained strong even
after MSNBC's announcement. The show originates from WFAN-AM in New
York City and is syndicated nationally by Westwood One, both of
which are managed by CBS Corp. MSNBC, which had been simulcasting
the show, is a unit of General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal. Bruce Gordon, former head of the NAACP and a director of CBS
Corp., said before MSNBC's decision Wednesday he hoped the
broadcasting company would "make the smart decision" by firing
Imus. "He's crossed the line, he's violated our community," Gordon
said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "He needs
to face the consequence of that violation." Gordon, a longtime telecommunications executive, stepped down in
March after 19 months as head of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People, one of the foremost U.S. civil
rights organizations. He said he had spoken with CBS chief executive Leslie Moonves
and hoped the company, after reviewing the situation, would fire
Imus rather than let him return to the air at the end of his
suspension. "We should have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to what I
see as irresponsible, racist behavior," Gordon said. "The Imus
comments go beyond humor. Maybe he thought it was funny, but that's
not what occurred." A CBS spokesman, Dana McClintock, declined comment on the
remarks by Gordon, who is one of at least two minorities on the
13-member board. The 10 members of the Rutgers team spoke publicly for the first
time Tuesday about the on-air comments, made the day after the team
lost the NCAA championship game to Tennessee. Some of them wiped
away tears as their coach, C. Vivian Stringer, criticized Imus for
"racist and sexist remarks that are deplorable, despicable,
abominable and unconscionable." The women, eight of whom are black, agreed to meet with Imus
privately and hear his explanation. They held back from saying
whether they'd accept Imus' apologies or passing judgment on
whether a two-week suspension imposed by CBS Radio and MSNBC was
sufficient. Stringer said late Wednesday that she did not call for Imus'
firing, but was pleased with the decision by NBC executives. She said the meeting with Imus was never designed to call for
his removal but to give the women on the team the opportunity to
meet with him and for him to see the people he had so publicly
hurt. "The young ladies and I needed to put a face behind the
remarks... He needs to know who these young ladies were that he
hurt," Stringer said. Stringer and the team were scheduled to appear Thursday on "The Oprah
Winfrey Show." Stringer and the 10 team members will appear live via satellite,
a spokeswoman for Harpo Productions Inc. said Wednesday night. Imus has apologized repeatedly for his comments. He said Tuesday
he hadn't been thinking when making a joke that went "way too
far." He also said that those who called for his firing without
knowing him, his philanthropic work or what his show was about
would be making an "ill-informed" choice. The Rev. Al Sharpton said in New York that he would put pressure
on CBS but that the issue was larger than Imus. "I think we also have to have now a broad discussion on how the
music industry allows this to be used," Sharpton said. "I don't
think that we should stop at NBC, and I don't think we should stop
at Imus." The Rev. Jesse Jackson said he planned to meet with CBS and NBC
executives on Thursday with a delegation of other civil rights
activists and lawmakers to discuss the Imus situation and diversity
in broadcasting. "Imus is on 1,040 hours a week and yet they have virtually no
black show hosts. That is true for other networks as well,"
Jackson said. "We must raise the ethical standard for all of
them." At the Rutgers campus in New Brunswick, N.J., about 300 students
and faculty rallied earlier in the day to cheer for their team,
which lost in the national championship game, and add their voices
to the crescendo of calls for Imus' ouster. One of the speakers was
Chidimma Acholonu, president of the campus chapter of the NAACP. "This is not a battle against one man. This is a battle against
a way of thought," she said. "Don Imus does not understand the
power of his words, so it is our responsibility to remind him."
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