Imus axed from MSNBC over racial slur
By Ellen Wulfhorst and Mark Egan 2 hours, 59 minutes ago
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Syndicated radio and television host Don Imus was dumped from television by MSNBC on Wednesday as major advertisers abandoned him and activists vowed not to rest until he was off the airwaves altogether.
Imus called the mostly black women's basketball team at Rutgers University "nappy-headed hos" last Wednesday after they lost the national championship game. But after days of uproar, the cable TV station owned by NBC, which broadcasts on TV the "Imus in the Morning" radio show, pulled the plug.
"Effective immediately, MSNBC will no longer simulcast the 'Imus in the Morning' radio program," MSNBC said in a statement, following an earlier announcement he was to be suspended from TV and radio for two weeks starting on Monday.
CBS Radio, which makes millions of dollars annually from the show, said after the MSNBC move it had not yet made a final decision on Imus' fate.
In an indication that Imus may have a hard time drumming up A-list politicians, some of whom have announced runs for the White House on his show, presidential hopeful U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) said he would never again grace the show.
"I have no intention of returning," the Democrat said in an interview with ABC.
NBC News president Steve Capus said on MSNBC after the announcement, "It was the only decision we could reach."
"I take him at his word that he is not a racist," Capus said. "But those were racist comments and there should not be a place for that on MSNBC."
The network apologized to the Rutgers team and to viewers.
Imus could not immediately be reached for comment.
The word "nappy" is viewed as a vile slur describing the tightly curled natural hair texture of many African-Americans, while "ho" is slang for "whore," usage of which has exploded in hip-hop music and popular culture in recent years.
PRESSURE MOVES TO CBS
Black leader
Al Sharpton told a rally outside NBC after the announcement he would hold a protest on Thursday outside CBS Radio's Manhattan studios to demand they also fire Imus.
"None of us has the right to use the public airways in the way that Mr. Imus has done," Sharpton said. "CBS must now follow suit."
Earlier on Wednesday, major advertisers -- General Motors Corp., GlaxoSmithKline and Ditech.com, a unit of GMAC Financial Services -- yanked their advertising. They joined Procter & Gamble Co. and Staples Inc., which previously said they were pulling out.
Also on Wednesday, black women demonstrated on the steps of New York's City Hall demanding Imus be fired outright.
"Imus' bigoted remarks are indicative of the entrenched racism found throughout the corporate news and entertainment media in the United States," Viola Plummer, chief of staff for New York Councilman Charles Barron told a lunchtime rally.
"The black women of this city, this state and this country will not rest until Don Imus is fired," she said. "We are saying that we don't accept his apology."
To some, the uproar shows how far race relations have come, said John Bunzel, senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution and an expert in civil rights and race relations.
"The outrage is a sign that people ... understand that language can hurt and, as each generation passes along to another, this kind of prejudice diminishes," he said.
Bunzel cited as evidence of improved race relations the uproar which followed comedian Michael Richards use of racial slurs and the support for Sen. Obama in his bid for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.
Michael Dawson, a political science professor at The University of Chicago, disputed that view of race relations. His findings show most blacks think racial equality will not be achieved in the United States during their lifetimes, while most whites think it has been achieved or will be soon.
(Additional reporting by Edith Honan)