CBS Silences Imus

Those people who have been calling for Don Imus' head on a platter this past week can rest easy—the veteran radio host has lost his sounding board.

CBS Radio announced Thursday that it has canceled Imus in the Morning, "effective immediately," stemming from racist and sexist remarks the 66-year-old personality made on the air last week with regard to Rutgers University's women's basketball team.

What may prove to be the final nail in the coffin containing Imus' 30-year radio career comes a day after MSNBC announced that it was dropping its daily simulcast of the nationally syndicated program, which airs from New York's WFAN-AM and is distributed by Westwood One.

MSNBC is said to have scrapped Imus in the Morning after several high-profile sponsors, including General Motors and American Express, stated that they do not advertise on "controversial programming."

Perhaps looking to avoid being labeled an outfit that cares more about money than mass outrage, CBS has followed suit. Imus' show reached about 2.5 million listeners a week, while the MSNBC simulcast was drawing another 361,000 during the first three months of this year. The program was also good for nearly $15 million in annual revenue for CBS, which owns WFAN and manages Westwood One.

"From the outset, I believe all of us have been deeply upset and revulsed by the statements that were made on our air about the young women who represented Rutgers University in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship with such class, energy and talent," CBS chairman Leslie Moonves said in a statement.

"Those who have spoken with us the last few days represent people of goodwill from all segments of our society—all races, economic groups, men and women alike. In our meetings with concerned groups, there has been much discussion of the effect language like this has on our young people, particularly young women of color trying to make their way in this society.

"That consideration has weighed most heavily on our minds as we made our decision, as have the many emails, phone calls and personal discussions we have had with our colleagues across the CBS Corporation and our many other constituencies."

Imus has been in the doghouse since last Wednesday, Apr. 4, when, during a discussion with show producer Bernard McGuirk about the NCAA women's championship—in which Rutgers lost to the University of Tennessee—he referred to the Rutgers players, eight of whom are black, as "nappy-headed hos."

The oft-controversial host, a recovered alcoholic who has fielded accusations of homophobia, misogyny and racism in the past, received the news via a telephone call to his home. He was also reportedly scheduled to meet today with the Rutgers players and coach C. Vivian Stringer, who took Imus to task Tuesday for his "deplorable, despicable, abominable and unconscionable" comments.

In addition to the "hos" remark, which Imus agreed this week was "insensitive and ill conceived" and part of an obviously failed quest to be funny, he had quipped, "That's some rough girls from Rutgers. Man, they got tattoos."

Meanwhile, there's another camp that, while not necessarily coming out in favor of Imus, has pointed out that a term such as "ho" has unfortunately become part of the national lexicon thanks to rap music and other manifestations of hip-hop culture.

Or is rapping about "bitches 'n' hos" only okay when it's set to a catchy beat?

"It's a completely different scenario," Snoop Dogg, no stranger to the occasional scrape (although his tend to involve marijuana), told MTV News Wednesday. "[Rappers] are not talking about no collegiate basketball girls who have made it to the next level in education and sports. We're talking about ho's that's in the hood that ain't doing s--t, that's trying to get a n---a for his money."

Now that we've got that cleared up...

"First of all, we ain't no old-ass white men that sit up on MSNBC going hard on black girls," Snoop continued. We are rappers that have these songs coming from our minds and our souls that are relevant to what we feel. I will not let them mutha----as say we in the same league as him."

"Kick him off the air forever," Snoop concluded. And plenty of people seemed to agree.

Even though Imus had been on the mea culpa circuit since Monday, starting with an appearance on the Reverend Al Sharpton's New York-based radio show, the individuals and groups calling for Imus' ouster only seemed to increase in number as the week went by.

(And it's never a good sign when Pat Buchanan speaks out in your defense, which the notoriously right-wing pol did on MSNBC's Scarborough County on Tuesday.)

Moonves also met Thursday with Sharpton and the Reverend Jesse Jackson to gauge the temperature of the water CBS was treading in as it grappled with whether to stop at the two-week unpaid suspension it had slapped Imus with on Monday or go the whole nine yards.

Taking his cue from Sharpton, Jackson, the NAACP, Los Angeles' Project Islamic Hope, and many members of his own staff—including former NAACP president and current CBS Corp. director Bruce Gordon, who called Imus' screw-up "irresponsible, racist behavior"—Moonves decided to pull the plug for good.

"I want to thank all those who came to see us to express their views. We are now presented with a significant opportunity to expand on our record on issues of diversity, race and gender. We intend to seize that opportunity as we move forward together," Moonves said.

Jackson called CBS' decision "a victory for public decency. No one should use the public airwaves to transmit racial or sexual degradation."

Ironically enough, Imus' firing came on a day on which his show served as a fundraiser for three charities, including two for children with cancer and one for families who have lost babies to sudden infant death syndrome, and featured guests who had benefited from his philanthropy. Imus and his wife Deirdre are also founders of the Imus Cattle Ranch for Kids with Cancer.

In a bit of prescient commentary, Imus said, "This may or not be our final radiothon. There’s no way to know, anything. But let’s say for sake of being safe that it is.

"Ordinarily we'd like to raise, say, around $3 million. But today our goal is around $100 million."

At least $1.3 million had been raised before Imus learned he was through. Before that, though, he seemed to take responsibility for the precarious spot he was in.

"I said a stupid, idiotic thing that hurt these kids," the National Broadcasters Hall of Famer said. "If I hadn't have said it, we wouldn't be here. So let's stop whining about it."

It was announced that Deirdre Imus and the program's regular newsman, Charles McCord, will host Friday's show. Imus' wife called off a promotional tour this week for her new book Green This! in order to spend time with her family, but publisher Simon & Schuster said that the original printing of 45,000 copies has been increased to 55,000.

And while it's unclear whether Imus will still meet with the ladies from Rutgers as scheduled at the New Jersey governor's mansion, 10 of the athletes and their coach were able to vent their frustrations during an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show Thursday afternoon.

"In light of all of what has happened," Stringer said live via satellite, "the team is holding up extremely well. We have each other, and certainly the support of the American people."

Not to mention the support of Oprah, which is worth, like, 10 million regular people.

"We wanted to have an opportunity to have a face-to-face meeting with him," Stringer continued. But his firing "shows that we do have a moral fiber and we as a people are speaking up...It's gratifying for us to know that people really do care."

In a memo to his staff obtained by the AP, Moonves said that the firing was about "more than Imus."

"He has flourished in a culture that permits a certain level of objectionable expression that hurts and demeans a wide range of people. 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."