Some talk radio hosts angered by Imus' firing
Even as the Rutgers women's basketball team officially accepted the apology of Don Imus on Friday, talk radio hosts predictably were not as forgiving in the wake of this week's stunning ouster of the radio veteran for sexist and racist comments.
In Southern California, talk radio hosts -- most of them conservative -- fulminated about Imus' firing well into Thursday night and Friday, decrying the CBS decision as a threat to 1st Amendment rights and the dawn of a new era of political correctness on radio.
Beyond that, the talkers also rallied around another idea: that the body politic can no longer tolerate a dangerous demagogue who repeatedly utters inflammatory comments. But that person, they said, is not Imus but one of his sharpest critics in the recent controversy: the Rev. Al Sharpton.
The 52-year-old activist hosts "The Al Sharpton Show," which is syndicated in about 20 markets, and spearheaded the charge to fire Imus. His show was in the national spotlight last week when Imus visited the radio program to apologize for calling the Rutgers students "nappy-headed hos."
"If there is a ho in all of this, his name is Al Sharpton. He is a ho for publicity," said John Ziegler on KFI-AM (640) Thursday. "What positive really came out of this? The team was mostly scarred by the damage done by Al Sharpton."
On Friday, Deirdre Imus took her husband's place behind the microphone of his former radio program at WFAN-AM in New York to continue a fundraising event for children's charities. During the program, she praised the Rutgers players for meeting with her husband Thursday.
"They gave us the opportunity to listen to what they had to say and why they're hurting and how awful this is," said Deirdre Imus, whose promotional tour for her new environmental book was abruptly called off because of the controversy surrounding her husband. "I have to say that these women are unbelievably courageous and beautiful women."
Her conciliatory remarks Friday morning stood in contrast to those of her husband's former colleagues. Mark Levin on KABC-AM (790) sounded the day's familiar theme and pounded away at Sharpton.
"Barack Obama is everything that Al Sharpton is not. He's a decent human being
Levin was especially hard on liberal white journalists such as Frank Rich and Maureen Dowd who have appeared on Imus' show but thus far have been silent about the controversy.
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- Lawyer: Imus could have been edited May 05, 2007
