The Imus Story
So, by now you have to be sick of this story. Talk about beating a dead horse. Cable news channels have been acting like there's nothing else going on. It's been nonstop coverage and has generated strong emotions on both sides. There's a lot to think about.
First....the transcript....
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 [Tennessee coach] Pat Summitt, I-Man. They beat Rutgers by 13 points.
IMUS: That’s some rough girls from Rutgers. Man, they got tattoos and –
BERNARD McGUIRK: Some hard-core hos.
IMUS: That’s some nappy-headed hos there. I’m gonna tell you that now, man, that’s some — woo. And the girls from Tennessee, they all look cute, you know, so, like — kinda like — I don’t know.
McGUIRK: A Spike Lee thing.
IMUS: Yeah.
McGUIRK: The Jigaboos vs. the Wannabes — that movie that he had.
IMUS: Yeah, it was a tough –
CHARLES McCORD: Do The Right Thing.
McGUIRK: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
IMUS: I don’t know if I’d have wanted to beat Rutgers or not, but they did, right?
ROSENBERG: It was a tough watch. The more I look at Rutgers, they look exactly like the Toronto Raptors.
First let me get the rule out of the way. This causes a lot of people problems. Many say that its unfair that white people can't say what black people say. But that's reality and that's been reality for some time now. Not just for blacks.
As I've pointed out in past columns, Ronald Reagan used to make Irish jokes. Do you think a president could get away with doing that if he wasn't Irish? Hispanic comics make fun of Hispanic culture. Dat Phan who won NBC's Last Comic Standing tells Asian jokes. The Fab Five on Bravo's "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" refer to themselves as queers. Straight people can't do that. You might tell me that your brother or sister is a worthless, pain in the neck. But if I say your brother or sister is worthless, we're fighting. There's always been things some people can say and others can't. That's the rules and everyone knows them. I didn't make the rules but they're there.
I like funny stuff. And everyone's sense of humor is different. I don't want there to be the comedy police that limits what people can say. But number one is it has to be funny. Funny can often trump offensive. If it's not funny, and it's across racial lines, then it's bound to be offensive. This was Imus and his producer's problem. They thought they would troll for laughs in the racial playground (a dangerous route to go to begin with) and they laid an egg.
Don Rickles is a comedian who makes one liners and barbs and racial jokes and has been doing it successfully for probably fifty years. His jokes are funny and don't come across as mean spirited.
So there is no hard and fast rule of what you can say and what you can't but if you're going to delve into cross racial humor, you're taking your chances.
Should you be fired for making a stupid remark? This is solely up to the employer. In most cases, you would be fired. Think about it. If you worked in a factory, at a McDonalds, in a hospital...just pick a setting..and you told a racial joke or a racist comment to a customer that was overheard by the boss, I've no doubt that you'd be fired.
An employer doesn't want the liability.
Where it gets murky is a case like Don Imus who has a reputation for being a curmudgeon and saying snarky things. If you're hired to be a shock jock, then...uh..it's your job description to shock. But an employer is the one who will determine whether keeping you on or firing you is beneficial to the company.
I cringe when I see Al Sharpton out in front on any issue because I think he's a phony. When I think of Sharpton, I think of Tawana Brawley. I think of someone who self promotes like crazy. I think he's far more concerned about Al Sharpton than black folks. When he ran for president in 2004, both Edwards and Kerry got twice the black support he did in the South. I think Sharpton's support is razor thin and I resent him appointing himself as a "black leader."
As for Jesse Jackson, I don't put him in the same category with Sharpton because Jackson at least has a track record of working with Dr. King, running operations out of Chicago to benefit the poor, put his life on the line to march through Cicero, brought hope to black folks in the 80's, came in second in the Democratic race for President in '88, and has probably singlehandedly brought more American hostages home than any other American. At the same time, since he made his own high profile stupid remark, I don't think he has the moral authority to weigh in on this.
I think it was a mistake for Imus to go on the Al Sharpton show. I think it's a mistake to go on the "apology tour" that so many go on when something like this happens. I'm all about clearing the air from the get go and then moving on. It's a week later and he still hasn't met with the Rutgers women's basketball team. That's not how you do it. In my column this week, I give my thoughts on how to handle a situation like this.
Now I've heard some argue that rappers say worse things than Imus did. First, we have to make a distinction between a CD and airwaves. Imus is in trouble for what he said over the air. And many of the same people calling for Imus' head have spoken out against harsh lyrics in popular music. But I think what you see here is akin to Janet Jackson's tit. If Janet put out a DVD where she strips naked, no one would care. There'd be no outrage. Her titty pops out on TV over the airwaves, it's a problem.
Perhaps Imus should go on satellite radio like Howard Stern free from advertisers and the FCC. He can say whatever he wants. But as long as the stations are supported by ad money, listeners will be able to have a say as to how any radio or TV show conducts itself.
If I wrote an anti=illegal immigration column that referred to Hispanics in a derogatory way, people would call for my head. And if the paper got too much heat and advertisers got nervous, I'd be shitcanned. That's just the way the business works.
We should know that we don't have free speech in the workplace. I mean, yes, you can say what you want but you have to face the consequences. I once used the term, "stupid assholes" in a column and it generated a lot of heat. Letters to the editor. Phone calls to the paper. Fortunately, I had an editor who backed me up.
I know some worry about a possible chilling effect on free speech but I'm not that concerned because of the internet. Look, the public saying they don't want to hear you isn't the same as the government limiting your speech. But we have the internet where anyone can blog and say whatever they want for the world to see. Anything.
Where's Imus' blog?
First....the transcript....
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 [Tennessee coach] Pat Summitt, I-Man. They beat Rutgers by 13 points.
IMUS: That’s some rough girls from Rutgers. Man, they got tattoos and –
BERNARD McGUIRK: Some hard-core hos.
IMUS: That’s some nappy-headed hos there. I’m gonna tell you that now, man, that’s some — woo. And the girls from Tennessee, they all look cute, you know, so, like — kinda like — I don’t know.
McGUIRK: A Spike Lee thing.
IMUS: Yeah.
McGUIRK: The Jigaboos vs. the Wannabes — that movie that he had.
IMUS: Yeah, it was a tough –
CHARLES McCORD: Do The Right Thing.
McGUIRK: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
IMUS: I don’t know if I’d have wanted to beat Rutgers or not, but they did, right?
ROSENBERG: It was a tough watch. The more I look at Rutgers, they look exactly like the Toronto Raptors.
First let me get the rule out of the way. This causes a lot of people problems. Many say that its unfair that white people can't say what black people say. But that's reality and that's been reality for some time now. Not just for blacks.
As I've pointed out in past columns, Ronald Reagan used to make Irish jokes. Do you think a president could get away with doing that if he wasn't Irish? Hispanic comics make fun of Hispanic culture. Dat Phan who won NBC's Last Comic Standing tells Asian jokes. The Fab Five on Bravo's "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" refer to themselves as queers. Straight people can't do that. You might tell me that your brother or sister is a worthless, pain in the neck. But if I say your brother or sister is worthless, we're fighting. There's always been things some people can say and others can't. That's the rules and everyone knows them. I didn't make the rules but they're there.
I like funny stuff. And everyone's sense of humor is different. I don't want there to be the comedy police that limits what people can say. But number one is it has to be funny. Funny can often trump offensive. If it's not funny, and it's across racial lines, then it's bound to be offensive. This was Imus and his producer's problem. They thought they would troll for laughs in the racial playground (a dangerous route to go to begin with) and they laid an egg.
Don Rickles is a comedian who makes one liners and barbs and racial jokes and has been doing it successfully for probably fifty years. His jokes are funny and don't come across as mean spirited.
So there is no hard and fast rule of what you can say and what you can't but if you're going to delve into cross racial humor, you're taking your chances.
Should you be fired for making a stupid remark? This is solely up to the employer. In most cases, you would be fired. Think about it. If you worked in a factory, at a McDonalds, in a hospital...just pick a setting..and you told a racial joke or a racist comment to a customer that was overheard by the boss, I've no doubt that you'd be fired.
An employer doesn't want the liability.
Where it gets murky is a case like Don Imus who has a reputation for being a curmudgeon and saying snarky things. If you're hired to be a shock jock, then...uh..it's your job description to shock. But an employer is the one who will determine whether keeping you on or firing you is beneficial to the company.
I cringe when I see Al Sharpton out in front on any issue because I think he's a phony. When I think of Sharpton, I think of Tawana Brawley. I think of someone who self promotes like crazy. I think he's far more concerned about Al Sharpton than black folks. When he ran for president in 2004, both Edwards and Kerry got twice the black support he did in the South. I think Sharpton's support is razor thin and I resent him appointing himself as a "black leader."
As for Jesse Jackson, I don't put him in the same category with Sharpton because Jackson at least has a track record of working with Dr. King, running operations out of Chicago to benefit the poor, put his life on the line to march through Cicero, brought hope to black folks in the 80's, came in second in the Democratic race for President in '88, and has probably singlehandedly brought more American hostages home than any other American. At the same time, since he made his own high profile stupid remark, I don't think he has the moral authority to weigh in on this.
I think it was a mistake for Imus to go on the Al Sharpton show. I think it's a mistake to go on the "apology tour" that so many go on when something like this happens. I'm all about clearing the air from the get go and then moving on. It's a week later and he still hasn't met with the Rutgers women's basketball team. That's not how you do it. In my column this week, I give my thoughts on how to handle a situation like this.
Now I've heard some argue that rappers say worse things than Imus did. First, we have to make a distinction between a CD and airwaves. Imus is in trouble for what he said over the air. And many of the same people calling for Imus' head have spoken out against harsh lyrics in popular music. But I think what you see here is akin to Janet Jackson's tit. If Janet put out a DVD where she strips naked, no one would care. There'd be no outrage. Her titty pops out on TV over the airwaves, it's a problem.
Perhaps Imus should go on satellite radio like Howard Stern free from advertisers and the FCC. He can say whatever he wants. But as long as the stations are supported by ad money, listeners will be able to have a say as to how any radio or TV show conducts itself.
If I wrote an anti=illegal immigration column that referred to Hispanics in a derogatory way, people would call for my head. And if the paper got too much heat and advertisers got nervous, I'd be shitcanned. That's just the way the business works.
We should know that we don't have free speech in the workplace. I mean, yes, you can say what you want but you have to face the consequences. I once used the term, "stupid assholes" in a column and it generated a lot of heat. Letters to the editor. Phone calls to the paper. Fortunately, I had an editor who backed me up.
I know some worry about a possible chilling effect on free speech but I'm not that concerned because of the internet. Look, the public saying they don't want to hear you isn't the same as the government limiting your speech. But we have the internet where anyone can blog and say whatever they want for the world to see. Anything.
Where's Imus' blog?
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