Bye for now, I-Man

So Don Imus, good ole' Chicken Neck, has been fired from CBS Radio for calling the Rutgers womens basketball team, "nappy headed hos." This story has been huge and it was picked up and carried everywhere. Of course, it helped that media whores Jesse Jackson and Reverend Al were screaming the loudest.

I was listening to Imus when I was a kid. I used to wake up in the mornings and listen to him in grade school. I didn't always understand everything, but I sort of grew up with him. Then Imus got syndicated and got grown-up. He also stopped doing coke, which was good for his body and not so great for his comedy. He started fancying himself as a power broker and had lots of politicians and reporters on his show. He always seemed more clever than Stern. And he got fired for saying something dumb.

I'll grant you it was dumb. And certainly warrants an apology as those girls were innocent and didn't deserve to be treated like that. But if that's why he got fired, then let it be that. And not because he put down black women, which happens on BET almost everyday. Reverend Al doesn't scream bloody murder outside their doors everyday.

I also guess I'm tired of hearing of people talk about how he's spewing hate on public airwaves. Imus doesn't spew hate. He makes fun of people. Are the jokes tasteless, or racist sometimes, probably. But that's humor, not hate. Ironically, Bill O'Reilly spews more hate and he's celebrated and still on the air. And how are the airwaves public. He wasn't on NPR. Those airwaves are private, and if you haven't realized that there are maybe three companies with 90% of the listeners in this country, then you need to wake up. For a list of the CBS radio stations in your area, click here. I have 5 of them.

I'm sure some of my friends will disagree. They will say that this is one more hate mongerer that will not be allowed to spread their vitrol. I think all of this takes away from the important issues, like the teen pregnancy rate in low-income neighborhoods, or the high dropout rate in the inner cities (that's code for "where whitey doesn't live.") Good luck Imus. I'll miss you and Bernie and Charles and Rob Bartlett, even though I haven't listened to you in quite awhile.

Can someone stop the ride? I'd like to get off, please.