It was not the first time that Don Imus uttered something racist, homophobic, sexist or anti-Semitic. But the shock jock's comments last week about the Rutgers University women's basketball team continues to eclipse any controversy created by all of his previous slurs, sparking soul-searching from past guests and supporters.
One day after CBS Radio and MSNBC announced that they would yank Imus off the air for two weeks, the Rutgers players held a nationally televised news conference to condemn the 66-year-old talk show host for referring to them as "nappy-headed hos."
At the same time, NBC weatherman Al Roker said the radio host should be fired, and media critics urged Imus' regular guests to reconsider appearing on his show again. Even President Bush, through a spokeswoman, weighed in on the matter.
"The president believed that the apology was the absolute right thing to do," spokeswoman Dana Perino said. "And beyond that, I think that his employer is going to have to make a decision about any action that they take based on it."
The basketball team and coach's comments were less measured.
"These young ladies before you are valedictorians, future doctors, musical prodigies," Rutgers basketball Coach C. Vivian Stringer said. She labeled his comments "racist and sexist remarks that are deplorable, despicable and unconscionable."
The team plans to meet with Imus.
"I am not a racist," Imus said on his show Tuesday. "What I did was make a stupid, idiotic mistake in a comedy context."
His two-week suspension begins Monday. A CBS Radio spokeswoman said Imus would probably donate his salary from that period to charity.
One of Imus' few defenders was Michael Harrison, editor and publisher of the talk radio magazine Talkers. The real issue, Harrison said, is a larger battle over the kind of coarse language popularized by hip-hop and rap culture.
" 'Bitch' and 'ho' are so prevalent in music, radio, television and the movies these days that it's reached the point where white people think it's OK to say these things," Harrison said. "It's like a game of musical chairs where they stopped playing the music and the spotlight happened to be on him."
Imus' critics were not swayed by his apology.
"The 'I'm a good person who said a bad thing' apology doesn't cut it," Roker wrote on the "Today" show blog.
