Don Imus' 30-Year Radio Show Ends

(CBS/AP)  The chief of CBS Corp. said the furor over Don Imus' racist remarks had escalated beyond mere disgust with the talk show host. But it was Imus who ultimately paid the price.

CBS abruptly fired Imus on Thursday from the radio show that he has hosted for nearly 30 years, a day after MSNBC said it would no longer televise it. Imus' description of the Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos" set off a national debate about taste and tolerance.

"He has flourished in a culture that permits a certain level of objectionable expression that hurts and demeans a wide range of people," said CBS Corp. chief executive Leslie Moonves in a memo to his staff. "In taking him off the air, I believe we take an important and necessary step not just in solving a unique problem, but in changing that culture, which extends far beyond the walls of our company."

Imus made the remark on April 11, the day after the Rutgers team lost in the national championship game. He met with team members for about three hours at the governor's mansion in Princeton, N.J. Thursday night, but left without commenting to reporters.

In a strange twist, the man who had suggested the mansion as a location for the meeting - Gov. Jon Corzine - was not there. He is in the hospital after a serious car accident on his way back to the mansion.

C. Vivian Stringer, the team's coach, spoke briefly on the mansion's steps.

"We had a very productive meeting," she said. "We were able to really dialogue. ... Hopefully, we can put all of this behind us."

She did not say if the team forgave him for the remarks.

"They gave us the opportunity to listen to what they had to say and why they're hurting and how awful this is," Deirdre Imus said on his radio program Friday morning.

For Imus' critics, his recent remarks were the latest in a line of objectionable statements by the ringmaster of a show that mixed high-minded talk about politics and culture with crude, locker-room humor.

Imus apologized, and tried to explain himself before the Rev. Al Sharpton's radio audience, appearing alternately contrite and combative. But many of his advertisers bailed in disgust, particularly after the Rutgers women spoke of their hurt.

"You have to be accountable for what you do," Sharpton said on CBS News' The Early Show Friday. "And the fact that he had done this over and over and apologized before, made that very suspect."

MSNBC and CBS suspended Imus for two weeks, and the heat only grew.

"I think the real issue for CBS and NBC was policy," Sharpton told co-anchor Harry Smith.

He was then fired so swiftly that he had to awkwardly do his last show from an MSNBC studio — even though MSNBC wasn't televising it — then was cut loose in the middle of an annual two-day radiothon to raise money for children's charities. Imus' wife, Deirdre, and his longtime sidekick Charles McCord subbed for him Friday.

"This remains very much 'Imus in the morning and 'DI' — it's just not Donald Imus, it's the much better-looking of the Imus duo. It is Deirdre Coleman Imus," said McCord Friday morning.

Some Imus fans considered his punishment harsh.

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[daisies7]

I agree! Sharpton and Jackson are two trouble makers that try to keep things stirred up among the races. And YES, when are they going to apologize to the Duke Lacrosse players they so quickly publicly slammed and who will be affected their rest of their lives b/c of lies from the girl. Perhaps they should offer the Duke boys some financial assistance for what they have endured the last year plus. Where's that girl at today and how much she has benefitted from their support? And since when did the "Reverend" Sharpton become the judge?.... Thank God he's not my "judge"!!!!

[gaproud]

Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are the biggest hypocrites around. According to them the only people that do wrong, say stupid things and need to get fired, publicly persecuted and if it were legal hung by their necks in Time Square are white people. What Imus said was a stupid, irresponsible attempt at bad humor. I'm from NJ and know several women that played basketball in past years at Rutgers and I'm not nearly as offended (nor are they) as Sharpton and Jackson. Our country would be much better off without these two ignorant hate starters around. And finally I ask WHEN ARE THEY GOING TO APOLOGIZE TO THE DUKE (WHITE) PLAYERS WHO THEY PUBLICLY SLAMMED WHEN STANDING UP FOR THAT LYING (BLACK) GIRL....I bet Jesse's not too ready to send her to college anymore is he? Hypocrites!