This Just In

Imus’s downfall is a setback for free speech

Axed

By MARY ANN SORRENTINO | April 18, 2007

Maybe you hadn’t noticed, but you lost something last week. It’s something you might want to try to recover and hold on to. It’s called freedom of speech.

Don Imus has been fired, allegedly for racist and sexist comments. Who’s next? Should Rush Limbaugh start looking over his shoulder? What about Rosie? If Chris Rock says, “ho,” is he going to get the gate, too?

The assault on the First Amendment by Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, in the alleged name of respect and equality, neatly leaves unanswered the following question: What will be done to stop black rappers from using the same language — or worse — on radio and television?

I may have listened to a total of about 45 minutes in snippets of Imus over the years, not being a fan. As a former talk-show host myself, though, I admired his vast appeal even while not finding him particularly amusing or enlightening.

He referred to the New York Knicks as “pimps” and called the governor of New Mexico a “fat sissy.” No one screamed racism or sexism then. That’s
who Imus was: if you didn’t like it, you could turn the dial.

CBS and MSNBC dumped the I-man within a day of each other. A 30-year career was toast. This is unfortunate — not because Imus was particularly likeable — but since we all lose when the bar is lowered for axing people when they say an unpopular thing in public.

More disgusting is the alleged moral outrage being pretended by these networks.

The broadcast industry wouldn’t know moral outrage if it bit it in the butt. Imus wasn’t fired because anyone at CBS or MSNBC was offended, either personally or even offended for the women of Rutgers.

He was fired because enough noise was made that gun-shy sponsors started to bail out of his show. Trust me, if CBS and MSNBC could have figured out a way to make more advertising money on Imus doing shows about pimps and “nappy-headed ho’s,” they would have given him a raise and extended his contract.

There is no morality in broadcasting beyond the few obscenity rules promulgated by the Federal Communications Commission. By the way, the word “whore” is not among the forbidden words, and since “ho” is simply the black vernacular for that word, it’s clear no broadcasting rules were broken here.

More importantly, people should resent Al Sharpton for influencing what Americans can listen to on their radios. His giving a pass to all the gold-laden, venom-spewing, obscenity-driven, women-bashing rappers he doesn’t have the balls to confront is even more telling. What’s the matter, Al, afraid to get one of these guys fired?

Don Imus isn’t important, but his freedom of speech — and yours — is a different story.

Topics: This Just In , Entertainment, Hip-Hop and Rap, Music, More

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