Shock jock Don Imus condemned for racist and sexist slur

American television and radio talk show host, Don Imus was dismissed from his popular morning show following derogatory racist and sexist comments in reference to the African American members of the Rutgers women’s basketball team. 67-year-old ‘shock jock’ Imus was condemned after referring to the women as “nappy-headed hos” during his show which is broadcast by both CBS radio and MSNBC. His executive producer, Bernard McGuirk responded to Imus comments about the girls being “rough” by labelling them “hardcore ho’s” and added that they looked like the “jigaboos versus the wannabes”, a reference to a scene in the film School Daze directed Spike Lee.

Imus initially dismissed his racist observations as “some idiot comment meant to be amusing”. However, when he was subsequently sacked from his job by CBS two days later he issued a public apology stating:

“I want to take a moment to apologize for an insensitive and ill-conceived remark we made the other morning regarding the Rutgers women's basketball team… It was completely inappropriate and we can understand why people were offended. Our characterization was thoughtless and stupid, and we are sorry.”

Known for his offensive and controversial views, this was not the first time that Imus had used anti-African language. African American talk show host, Robin Quivers, who previously worked with Imus at television broadcaster, WNBC maintains that he called her the n word to her face. Her co-host, Howard Stern also claims that he screamed the word repeatedly at an African American secretary working at WNBC.

In May 2007, Imus decided to sue CBS for wrongful termination and the remaining $40 million of his five year contract. He claimed that the company had stipulated in the contract that they would support his right to produce “irreverent” and “controversial” programming. In August, CBS reached an undisclosed settlement with Imus.