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-   -   Rutgers team angry but will meet Imus (http://www.gametavern.net/forums/showthread.php?t=16978)

Bond 04-10-2007 07:10 PM
Rutgers team angry but will meet Imus
 
Quote:
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The Rutgers women's basketball team blasted radio host Don Imus Tuesday for "racist and sexist remarks that are deplorable, despicable and abominable" and agreed to meet with the embattled radio host.
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Starting Monday, Imus will be suspended for two weeks for calling the players "nappy-headed hos."

Rutgers players, who had not spoken publicly until Tuesday, called his comments insensitive and hurtful — but reserved judgment on whether he should be fired until after they meet him.

"Unless they've given `ho' a whole new definition, that's not what I am," said Kia Vaughn, the team's sophomore center.

Calls for Imus' dismissal have been growing since he made the remarks about the team — which includes eight black women — a day after the team lost the national championship game to Tennessee on April 3.

Rutgers' players and head coach C. Vivian Stringer said Imus' comments took the luster off an incredible season.

"The Rutgers university women's basketball team has made history," said Essence Carson, a junior forward. "We haven't done anything to deserve this controversy, and yet it has taken a toll on us mentally and physically."

Rutgers' athletic director, Robert E. Mulcahy III, thought a meeting with Imus would offer the team's players a chance to listen to him and hear what he has to say. Several players said they wanted to ask the host why he would make such thoughtless statements.

"We all agreed the meeting with Mr. Imus will help," Carson said. "We do hope to get something accomplished during this meeting."

Imus, who has made a career of cranky insults in the morning, was fighting for his job following the joke that by his own admission went "way too far."

Imus, while acknowledging the severity of his mistake, said he just hadn't been thinking when he made the comments. He also said that those who called for his firing without knowing him, his philanthropic work or what his show was about would be making an "ill-informed" choice.

Stringer said her players "are the best this nation has to offer ... young ladies of class, distinction. They are articulate, they are gifted. They are God's representatives in every sense of the word."

She said it's not about the players "as black or nappy-headed. It's about us as a people. When there is not equality for all, or when there has been denied equality for one, there has been denied equality for all."

She further said: "While they worked hard in the classroom and accomplished so much and used their gifts and talents, you know, to bring the smiles and the pride within this state in so many people, we had to experience racist and sexist remarks that are deplorable, despicable, and abominable and unconscionable. It hurts me."

In Washington, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino was asked if
President Bush thought Imus' punishment was strong enough.

"The president believed that the apology was the absolute right thing to do," Perino said Tuesday. "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."

"What I did was make a stupid, idiotic mistake in a comedy context," Imus said on his show Tuesday morning, the final week before his suspension starts.

Asked by NBC "Today" host Matt Lauer if he could clean up his act as he promised on Monday, he said, "Well, perhaps I can't." But he added, "I have a history of keeping my word."

Imus said on "Today" that he believed his show should have a regular black cast member and more frequent black guests.

Of the two-week suspension by MSNBC and CBS Radio, he said: "I think it's appropriate, and I am going to try to serve it with some dignity."

The Rev.
Al Sharpton also appeared on "Today" and called the suspension "not nearly enough. I think it is too little, too late." He said presidential candidates and other politicians should refrain from going on Imus' show in the future.

Comic Bill Maher, CBS News political analyst Jeff Greenfield and former Carter administration official Hamilton Jordan all appeared on Imus' show Tuesday.

Imus' radio show originates from WFAN-AM in New York City and is syndicated nationally by Westwood One, both of which are managed by CBS Corp. (MSNBC, which simulcasts the show on cable, is a part of NBC Universal, which is owned by General Electric Co.)

While Imus has used his show to spread insults around — once calling
Colin Powell a "weasel" and other times referring to New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson as a "fat sissy" and former Colorado Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, an American Indian, as "the guy from `F Troop'" — his comments about the Rutgers women crossed the line, Stringer said.

"It is more than the Rutgers women's basketball team. It is all women's athletes. It is all women," said Stringer, the third-winningest women's basketball coach of all time who has taken four teams to the
Final Four.

Many of the women on the team said while they may have wanted to ignore Imus' comments, they felt they had little choice but to address the controversy that had led them to be bombarded with e-mails and calls from friends, family and the media.

The team's players said they hoped the scandal would serve as an opportunity to speak up for women and give a voice to issues such as racism and sexism, but acknowledged that it also served as a reminder of just how much work needed to be done.

"It kind of scars us. We grew up in a world where racism exists, and there's nothing we can do to change that," said Matee Ajavon, another member of the team. "I think that this has scarred me for life."

Source: Yahoo News
I love the double standard in America. Rap artists can say whatever they want and Imus gets suspended for two weeks.

I also love how Al Sharpton is running around on every television show possible. Since when did he become anyone's moral compass? What ever happened to his Tawana Brawley scandal?

Kitana85 04-10-2007 07:40 PM
Re: Rutgers team angry but will meet Imus
 
Many people are calling for Imus's resignation, however, these people must have been listening to know what he said. In the end, this is basically the stuff out of which he's made his career.
If this is the land of the free, with free speech, shouldn't Imus be able to speak his mind, provided he isn't really hurting anyone?

Typhoid 04-10-2007 08:13 PM
Re: Rutgers team angry but will meet Imus
 
Quote:
Rutgers players, who had not spoken publicly until Tuesday, called his comments insensitive and hurtful
And that is why women's basketball is not really a sport.


I think these ladies need to grow some balls and suck it up like the rest of professional athletes. You have to take the good with the bad. Not everyone will love you all of the time. Sometimes you're bound to find an odd ugly shoe in an extravagant shoe sale. If they think he's wrong, fine by me. But there's no need to get him suspended and/or fired over it. He doesn't like you as a team. Big deal. I'm sure the teams you've beaten this season have said far worse things about you.

Suck it up, princess(es).

Swan 04-10-2007 08:58 PM
Re: Rutgers team angry but will meet Imus
 
Winningest?:confused:

Kitana85 04-10-2007 08:59 PM
Re: Rutgers team angry but will meet Imus
 
Yeah, but the girls had "balls" as you put it. They were over it. They didn't say anything cause they were like "whatever, he can be an idiot." It was after the media and "Friends and family" got a hold of it that they started to get irritated.
Those girls play a great game.

Happydude 04-11-2007 08:59 AM
Re: Rutgers team angry but will meet Imus
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kitana85 (Post 208566)
Many people are calling for Imus's resignation, however, these people must have been listening to know what he said. In the end, this is basically the stuff out of which he's made his career.
If this is the land of the free, with free speech, shouldn't Imus be able to speak his mind, provided he isn't really hurting anyone?
Ki...Kitana? wow, you haven't posted here in a while!

Kitana85 04-11-2007 05:53 PM
Re: Rutgers team angry but will meet Imus
 
:Shrugs:
I come back occasionally and even more occasionally have some to say.

Professor S 04-12-2007 12:25 PM
Re: Rutgers team angry but will meet Imus
 
Political Correctness has finally come full circle. Nothing about this "nappy headed ho's" scandal has anything to do with stopping hate speech or promoting civil rights.

Its about power, plain and simple. Those like Al Sharpton don't give a rat's ass about "the struggle", as he puts it, at least not beyond how it can benefit his bank account. He wants noteriety, fame and money. Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson are Race Brokers. Their business depends on the perpetuation of stereotypes and the belief that racism is still as prevalent as it was 40 years ago.

Why do I say this? As Bond stated before, the same words that Imus used (satirically, I mights add, but still wrong) and available on any mainstream rap albums. Yet those like Sharpton refuse to take a strong stand against those statements. Sure, they'll call for "dialogues" and say that such lyrics are unfortunate and such, but do they call for those record labels to drop these artists or anything like that? Of course not. Its not that they view those statements any less offensive, but going after those in their own community creates more risk for their status with little opportunity for reward. Meanwhile those like Bill Cosby are criticied for being "insensitive" when he's one of the few actually trying to improve circumstances in the poor black community through promoting respect, education and the family.

Plus, an older broadcaster like Imus who is at the end of their career is an EASY TARGET. Shock Jocks like Opie and Anthony say worse things than nappy headed ho's on a daily basis in the name of humor, and Sharpton won't touch them. Why? He'd get slaughtered by those two and their fans. Imus is easy at this point in his career, but he's still a legendary name that Sharpton can take advantage of to promote his own agenda$.

This also opens up an entire pandora's box when it comes to free speech. Now I believe that any of Imus' sponsors have the full right to pull out and anyone who doesn't want to listen to him should stop. Neither of those actions inhibit his free speech, in fact, they promote the ability for his audience to express their free speech against his. Whats good for the Dixie Chicks is good for Don Imus. Thats how the free market works. But anyone stating that Imus could not say what he did, and rappers can, simply because of their ethnicity walks a very dangerous tightrope. Once we start determining free speech by the color of skin, its not long before other "rules" are determined nd free speech really is threatened.

Fox 6 04-12-2007 11:51 PM
Re: Rutgers team angry but will meet Imus
 
Well Imus is fired. BAM!

Bond 04-13-2007 08:12 AM
Re: Rutgers team angry but will meet Imus
 
I thought this was a well written article on the situation by a black journalist:

Quote:
Imus isn’t the real bad guy

Instead of wasting time on irrelevant shock jock, black leaders need to be fighting a growing gangster culture.
By JASON WHITLOCK - Columnist

Thank you, Don Imus. You’ve given us (black people) an excuse to avoid our real problem.

You’ve given Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson another opportunity to pretend that the old fight, which is now the safe and lucrative fight, is still the most important fight in our push for true economic and social equality.

You’ve given Vivian Stringer and Rutgers the chance to hold a nationally televised recruiting celebration expertly disguised as a news conference to respond to your poor attempt at humor.

Thank you, Don Imus. You extended Black History Month to April, and we can once again wallow in victimhood, protest like it’s 1965 and delude ourselves into believing that fixing your hatred is more necessary than eradicating our self-hatred.

The bigots win again.

While we’re fixated on a bad joke cracked by an irrelevant, bad shock jock, I’m sure at least one of the marvelous young women on the Rutgers basketball team is somewhere snapping her fingers to the beat of 50 Cent’s or Snoop Dogg’s or Young Jeezy’s latest ode glorifying nappy-headed pimps and hos.

I ain’t saying Jesse, Al and Vivian are gold-diggas, but they don’t have the heart to mount a legitimate campaign against the real black-folk killas.

It is us. At this time, we are our own worst enemies. We have allowed our youths to buy into a culture (hip hop) that has been perverted, corrupted and overtaken by prison culture. The music, attitude and behavior expressed in this culture is anti-black, anti-education, demeaning, self-destructive, pro-drug dealing and violent.

Rather than confront this heinous enemy from within, we sit back and wait for someone like Imus to have a slip of the tongue and make the mistake of repeating the things we say about ourselves.

It’s embarrassing. Dave Chappelle was offered $50 million to make racially insensitive jokes about black and white people on TV. He was hailed as a genius. Black comedians routinely crack jokes about white and black people, and we all laugh out loud.

I’m no Don Imus apologist. He and his tiny companion Mike Lupica blasted me after I fell out with ESPN. Imus is a hack.

But, in my view, he didn’t do anything outside the norm for shock jocks and comedians. He also offered an apology. That should’ve been the end of this whole affair. Instead, it’s only the beginning. It’s an opportunity for Stringer, Jackson and Sharpton to step on victim platforms and elevate themselves and their agenda$.

I watched the Rutgers news conference and was ashamed.

Martin Luther King Jr. spoke for eight minutes in 1963 at the March on Washington. At the time, black people could be lynched and denied fundamental rights with little thought. With the comments of a talk-show host most of her players had never heard of before last week serving as her excuse, Vivian Stringer rambled on for 30 minutes about the amazing season her team had.

Somehow, we’re supposed to believe that the comments of a man with virtually no connection to the sports world ruined Rutgers’ wonderful season. Had a broadcaster with credibility and a platform in the sports world uttered the words Imus did, I could understand a level of outrage.

But an hourlong press conference over a man who has already apologized, already been suspended and is already insignificant is just plain intellectually dishonest. This is opportunism. This is a distraction.

In the grand scheme, Don Imus is no threat to us in general and no threat to black women in particular. If his words are so powerful and so destructive and must be rebuked so forcefully, then what should we do about the idiot rappers on BET, MTV and every black-owned radio station in the country who use words much more powerful and much more destructive?

I don’t listen or watch Imus’ show regularly. Has he at any point glorified selling crack cocaine to black women? Has he celebrated black men shooting each other randomly? Has he suggested in any way that it’s cool to be a baby-daddy rather than a husband and a parent? Does he tell his listeners that they’re suckers for pursuing education and that they’re selling out their race if they do?

When Imus does any of that, call me and I’ll get upset. Until then, he is what he is — a washed-up shock jock who is very easy to ignore when you’re not looking to be made a victim.

No. We all know where the real battleground is. We know that the gangsta rappers and their followers in the athletic world have far bigger platforms to negatively define us than some old white man with a bad radio show. There’s no money and lots of danger in that battle, so Jesse and Al are going to sit it out.

Source: Kansas City Star

Professor S 04-13-2007 09:01 AM
Re: Rutgers team angry but will meet Imus
 
And yes, I did steal my "agenda$" comment from this article... dammit, ya got me.

manasecret 04-13-2007 12:38 PM
Re: Rutgers team angry but will meet Imus
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Professor S (Post 208633)
And yes, I did steal my "agenda$" comment from this article... dammit, ya got me.
Plagiarism??? Tsk tsk, professor. What would your students say?


Wanda Sykes isn't exactly my favorite comedian (though I liked her in Clerks 2), but I dig her take on Imus:

The Tonight Show: Wanda Sykes Talks about Don Imus.

Professor S 04-13-2007 12:50 PM
Re: Rutgers team angry but will meet Imus
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by manasecret (Post 208637)
Plagiarism??? Tsk tsk, professor. What would your students say?.[/url]
It was just too good not to steal. I am ashamed and dishonored. Someone grab me a katana...

Jonbo298 04-14-2007 01:36 PM
Re: Rutgers team angry but will meet Imus
 
It sickens me how much the media has wasted time over this. Also the fact that Al Sharpton doesn't know when to shut up sometimes.

Oh well, double standards ftl


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