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All such language, regardless of who uses it, is deplorable. The difference is that Imus spoke about a real group of real women who should not ever have been the focus of any of his verbal sewage. <br><br>keely<br><br>> From: privatejf32@hotmail.com<br>> To: vision2020@moscow.com<br>> Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2007 14:54:32 -0700<br>> Subject: [Vision2020] Imus Looses His Job<br>> <br>> <br>> This is what happens when all that is done is a comment is made. I am NOT <br>> saying the comment was a good one or should be allowed; but this guy should <br>> NOT have lost his job over it, especially given rappers, actors, and other <br>> blacks/negros/"African Americans" use even worse terms and language and THEY <br>> ARE PAID for it.<br>> <br>> This is just wrong! Suspend the guy for a couple of weeks without pay, but <br>> taking his job away is just not right.<br>> <br>> <br>> <br>> NEW YORK - CBS fired Don Imus from his radio program Thursday, the finale to <br>> a stunning fall for one of the nation's most prominent broadcasters.<br>> ADVERTISEMENT<br>> <br>> Imus initially was given a two-week suspension for calling the Rutgers <br>> women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos" on the air last week, but outrage <br>> continued to grow and advertisers bolted from his CBS radio show and its <br>> MSNBC simulcast.<br>> <br>> "There has been much discussion of the effect language like this has on our <br>> young people, particularly young women of color trying to make their way in <br>> this society," CBS President and Chief Executive Officer Leslie Moonves said <br>> in announcing the decision. "That consideration has weighed most heavily on <br>> our minds as we made our decision."<br>> <br>> Rutgers women's basketball team spokeswoman Stacey Brann said the team did <br>> not have an immediate comment on Imus' firing.<br>> <br>> Time Magazine once named the cantankerous broadcaster as one of the 25 Most <br>> Influential People in America, and he was a member of the National <br>> Broadcaster Hall of Fame.<br>> <br>> But Imus found himself at the center of a storm as protests intensified. On <br>> Wednesday, MSNBC dropped the simulcast of Imus' show.<br>> <br>> Losing Imus will be a financial hit to CBS Radio, which also suffered when <br>> Howard Stern departed for satellite radio. The program is worth about $15 <br>> million in annual revenue to CBS, which owns Imus' home radio station <br>> WFAN-AM and manages Westwood One, the company that syndicates the show <br>> across the country.<br>> <br>> The Rev.<br>> Al Sharpton and<br>> Jesse Jackson met with Moonves on Thursday to demand Imus' removal, <br>> promising a rally outside CBS headquarters Saturday and an effort to <br>> persuade more advertisers to abandon Imus.<br>> <br>> Sumner Redstone, chairman of the CBS Corp. board and its chief stockholder, <br>> told Newsweek that he had expected Moonves to "do the right thing," although <br>> it wasn't clear what he thought that was.<br>> <br>> The news came down in the middle of Imus' Radiothon, which has raised more <br>> than $40 million since 1990. The Radiothon had raised more than $1.3 million <br>> Thursday before Imus learned that he lost his job.<br>> <br>> "This may be our last Radiothon, so we need to raise about $100 million," <br>> Imus cracked at the start of the event.<br>> <br>> Volunteers were getting about 200 more pledges per hour than they did last <br>> year, with most callers expressing support for Imus, said Tony Gonzalez, <br>> supervisor of the Radiothon phone bank. The event benefited Tomorrows <br>> Children's Fund, the CJ Foundation for SIDS and the Imus Ranch.<br>> <br>> Imus, whose suspension was supposed to start next week, was in the awkward <br>> situation of broadcasting Thursday's radio program from the MSNBC studios in <br>> New Jersey, even though NBC News said the night before that MSNBC would no <br>> longer simulcast his program on television.<br>> <br>> He didn't attack MSNBC for its decision "I understand the pressure they <br>> were under," he said but complained the network was doing some unethical <br>> things during the broadcast. He didn't elaborate.<br>> <br>> He acknowledged again that his comments about the Rutgers women's basketball <br>> players a day after they had competed in the<br>> NCAA championship game had been "really stupid." He said he had apologized <br>> enough and wasn't going to whine about his fate.<br>> <br>> Sharpton and Jackson emerged from a meeting with Moonves saying the <br>> corporate chief had promised to consider their requests.<br>> <br>> "It's not about taking Imus down," Sharpton said. "It's about lifting <br>> decency up."<br>> <br>> Sheila Johnson, owner of the WNBA's Washington Mystics and, with her <br>> ex-husband Robert, co-founder of BET, called Imus' comments reprehensible in <br>> an interview with The Associated Press. She said she had called Moonves to <br>> urge that CBS cut all ties with the veteran radio star, and was worried that <br>> what he said could hurt women's sports.<br>> <br>> "I think what Imus has done has put a cloud over what we've tried to do in <br>> promoting women's athletics," she said.<br>> <br>> Several sponsors, including American Express Co., Sprint Nextel Corp., <br>> Staples Inc., Procter & Gamble Co., and General Motors Corp., have said they <br>> were pulling ads from Imus' show indefinitely. Imus made a point Thursday to <br>> thank one sponsor, Bigelow Tea, for sticking by him.<br>> <br>> The list of his potential guests began to shrink, too.<br>> <br>> Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham said the magazine's staffers would no longer <br>> appear on Imus' show. Meacham, Jonathan Alter, Evan Thomas, Howard Fineman <br>> and Michael Isikoff from Newsweek have been frequent guests.<br>> <br>> Imus has complained bitterly about a lack of support from one black <br>> politician, Harold Ford Jr., even though he strongly backed Ford's campaign <br>> for Senate in Tennessee last year. Ford, now head of the Democratic <br>> Leadership Council, said Thursday he'll leave it to others to decide Imus' <br>> future.<br>> <br>> "I don't want to be viewed as piling on right now because Don Imus is a good <br>> friend and a decent man," Ford said. "However, he did a reprehensible <br>> thing."<br>> <br>> Imus' troubles have also affected his wife, author Deirdre Imus, whose <br>> household cleaning guide, "Green This!" came out this week. Her promotional <br>> tour has been called off "because of the enormous pressure that Deirdre and <br>> her family are under," said Simon & Schuster publicist Victoria Meyer.<br>> <br>> People are buying it, though: An original printing of 45,000 was increased <br>> to 55,000.<br>> <br>> Imus still has a lot of support among radio managers across the country, <br>> many of whom grew up listening to him, said Tom Taylor, editor of the trade <br>> publication Inside Radio.<br>> <br>> Yet he's clearly became a political liability for a major corporation CBS. <br>> (General Electric Co. owns NBC Universal, of which MSNBC is a part.) NBC <br>> News said anger about Imus among some of its employees had as much to do <br>> with ending the MSNBC simulcast as the advertiser defection.<br>> <br>> Bryan Monroe, president of the National Association of Black Journalists and <br>> vice president and editor director of Ebony and Jet magazines, met with <br>> Moonves on Wednesday. It seemed clear Moonves and his aides were struggling <br>> with a difficult decision, he said. He urged them to take advantage of an <br>> opportunity to take a stand against the coarsening of culture.<br>> <br>> "Something happened in the last week around America," Monroe said. "It's not <br>> just what the radio host did. America said enough is enough. America said we <br>> don't want this kind of conversation, we don't want this kind of vitriol, <br>> especially with teenagers."<br>> <br>> Rutgers' team, meanwhile, appeared Thursday on "The<br>> Oprah Winfrey Show" with their coach, C. Vivian Stringer.<br>> <br>> At the end of their appearance, Winfrey said: "I want to borrow a line from <br>> Maya Angelou, who is a personal mentor of mine and I know you all also feel <br>> the same way about her. And she has said this many times, and I say this to <br>> you, on behalf of myself and every woman that I know, you make me proud to <br>> spell my name W-O-M-A-N. You've really handled this beautifully."<br>> <br>> Imus said earlier Thursday he still wants to meet with the team.<br>> <br>> "At some point, I'm not sure when, I'm going to talk to the team," he said. <br>> "That's all I'm interested in doing."<br>> <br>> Rev. DeForest Soaries, who is Stringer's pastor and has been helping <br>> negotiate the terms of the meeting with Imus, said he had not yet talked <br>> with Imus or coach Stringer but said: "Right now, as far as I know, the <br>> meeting is still on."<br>> <br>> Soaries said the fact that Imus was off the air on both MSNBC and CBS took <br>> some pressure off of the upcoming meeting with the Rutgers women.<br>> <br>> "This removes the burden from Rutgers women to determine the status of Imus' <br>> employment," Soaries said in a telephone interview.<br>> <br>> ___<br>> <br>> Associated Press correspondents Karen Matthews, Warren Levinson, Seth Sutel, <br>> Tara Burghart and Hillel Italie contributed to this report.<br>> <br>> <br>> J :]<br>> <br>> _________________________________________________________________<br>> Interest Rates Fall Again! $430,000 Mortgage for $1,399/mo - Calculate new <br>> payment <br>> http://www.lowermybills.com/lre/index.jsp?sourceid=lmb-9632-18679&moid=7581<br>> <br><br /><hr />Its tax season, make sure to follow these few simple tips <a href='http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Taxes/PreparationTips/PreparationTips.aspx?icid=WLMartagline' target='_new'>Check it out!</a></body>
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