Democracy Now! 4/9/07
...AMY GOODMAN: Talk show host Don Imus is under fire for making racist comments on his radio broadcast. On Wednesday's edition of Imus in the Morning, Imus and his producer, Bernard McGuirk, spoke about the Rutgers women's basketball team. Rutgers had just lost the national championship game the night before.
DON IMUS: So I watched the basketball game last night between a little bit of Rutgers and Tennessee, the women's final.
SID ROSENBERG: Yeah, Tennessee won last night, seventh championship for Pat Summitt, I-Man. They beat Rutgers by thirteen points.
DON IMUS: Some rough girls from Rutgers. Man, they've got tattoos and --
BERNARD McGUIRK: Some hardcore hos.
DON IMUS: That’s some nappy-headed hos there, I’m going to tell you that. Man, that’s some -- ooh! And the girls from Tennessee, they all look cute, you know, so -- like kind of like a -- I don’t know.
BERNARD McGUIRK: A Spike Lee thing.
DON IMUS: Yeah.
BERNARD McGUIRK: The Jigaboos versus the Wannabes --
DON IMUS: Yeah.
BERNARD McGUIRK: That movie that he had?
DON IMUS: Yeah, it was a tough --
CHARLES McCORD: Do the Right Thing.
BERNARD McGUIRK: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
DON IMUS: I don't know if I’d have wanted to beat Rutgers or not. But they did, right?
SID ROSENBERG: It was a tough watch. The more I look at Rutgers, they look exactly like the Toronto Raptors.
DON IMUS: Well, I guess, yeah.
LOU RUFFINO: Only tougher.
...MARETTA SHORT: Well, thank you, Amy. Yes, well, right now we're asking for people to go to our website and take action by sending messages to the general manager, Chuck Bortnick, of radio station WFAN, which produces Imus's show, and to Karen Mateo, communications vice president of CBS Radio, which owns WFAN, and to MSNBC television, which airs and promotes the show. Imus's message is racist to the core, is sexist to the core, and it’s totally unacceptable.
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...REV. AL SHARPTON: I agree. And we certainly support the rally at Rutgers, and we'll be doing rallies at CBS and NBC on Friday and Saturday of this week. And we'll keep you informed, Amy...
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Fwd: NOW - take action - Dump Don Imus!
Dump Don Imus
Does "Imus" rhyme with "Disgust"? Well, not quite. But it oughta.
I tuned in to the NCAA women's college basketball championships mostly to see a great game between Rutgers and Tennessee, but also to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Title IX, the law that required equal opportunities for women and girls in educational institutions, including sports as well as academics.
But on sports radio station WFAN in New York, and broadcast all over the country by CBS Radio and MSNBC Television, host Don Imus wasn't talking about the game. He was talking about the players, and so was WFAN's Executive Producer Bernard McGuirk, who called the Rutgers players "hard-core hos."
Imus, who had already commented that the players were "rough girls," added "nappy-headed hos" to his description of the second place team in the country. Read the transcript or watch the video.
Take action by sending messages to General Manager Chuck Bortnick of radio station WFAN, which produces Imus' show, to Karen Mateo, Communications VP of CBS Radio which owns WFAN, and to MSNBC television which airs and promotes the show.
Your message to WFAN, CBS Radio and MSNBC? Tell them "You don't have to let Don Imus keep peddling racism and sexism on your airwaves. It's time to Dump Don!"
You can use our letter, modify our letter, or write one of your own.
If you also want to call your local station, you can find the stations that carry Imus in the Morning.
Thanks for taking action with NOW!
For equality,
[Kim Gandy]
3 comments:
I've been writing to CBS radio (owners of WFAN), WFAN, & MSNBC since Thursday and have not even received a form reply from any of them.
I've also dedicated my Rutgers football blog to this cause until CBS and NBC pull Imus's plug (not his respirator, just his microphone). I'm not a woman or a person of color, but as a proud Rutgers alumus (prouder every minute), I feel like these dirty old men of Imus in the Morning attacked my daughters or sisters.
Because CBS and NBC are obviously interested in NOTHING but money and ratings please file a personal complaint directly with the FCC. It's Easy: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/complaints.html
I think as long as the NAACP can give an Image award to Isaiah Washington shortly after his own use of hate speech, then it should be sufficient that Don Imus apologized. The double standard has got to go. I've written to MSNBC and CBS along with clippings of Washington's award to let them know my support for Don.
Enough is enough, Don has apologized and said he should not have said what he said, this should end it.Some black say worse things about our president and get away with it all the time.
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