Apologetic Imus Suspended; Critics Not Satisfied

Don Imus gets paid a bundle for opening his big mouth on a daily basis. Now, he's desperately trying to extricate his foot from said orifice to save his job.

So far it's working.

Following a flurry of on-air apologies from the shock jock Monday, CBS Radio and MSNBC announced they were suspending Imus for two weeks effective Apr. 16 for his comments last week referring to Rutgers University's predominantly African-American women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos."

The companies stopped short at terminating the popular host, whose Imus in the Morning radio show is syndicated nationally by CBS Radio and simulcast on MSNBC.

"Our future relationship with Imus is contingent on his ability to live up to his word," MSNBC said in a statement, citing Imus' mea culpa as the reason he was not terminated.

CBS Radio declined comment beyond explaining that Imus' show will be allowed to continue for the rest of this week due to previously scheduled fundraisers for Thursday and Friday.

For his part, Imus told listeners that the controversy taught him to measure his remarks more carefully.

"Here's what I've learned: that you can't make fun of somebody, because some people don't deserve it," he said.

"Because the climate on this program has been what it's been for 30 years doesn't mean it's going to be what it's been for the next five years or whatever because that has to change, and I understand that."

Imus explained away his statements by saying he was only "trying to be funny" last Wednesday during a conversation with producer Bernard McGuirk about the women's college basketball finals, which Rutgers lost to the University of Tennessee the day before.

"That's some rough girls from Rutgers," Imus quipped to McGuirk. "Man, they got tattoos."

To which the producer added, "Some hard-core hos."

"That's some nappy-headed hos there, I'm going to tell you that," Imus replied.

On Monday, Imus said he regretted his words.

"I'm not a bad person, I'm a good person, but I said a bad thing. But these young women deserve to know it was not said with malice," he said.

The outspoken radio personality pointed to his charitable work founding the Imus Ranch for Sick Children on his cattle ranch in New Mexico, noting that he works with children of many races and ethnicities."I'm not a white man who doesn't know any African-Americans," he continued.

Also on Monday, Imus appeared as a guest on the Reverend Al Sharpton's radio show hoping to do further damage control. Sharpton has been one of Imus' most vocal critics, calling on Imus' corporate bosses at CBS Radio to give him the boot for his "diabolical" and "racist" remarks.

"Our agenda is to be funny and sometimes we go too far. And this time we went way too far," Imus told Sharpton.

"This is not about whether you're a good man," Sharpton responded. "What you said was racist."

After further questioning, a clearly aggravated Imus said he can't win with "you people," a remark that  annoyed Sharpton, who suggested that the radio provocateur expected to "walk away from this unscathed."

That prompted a tart response from Imus: "How am I unscathed by this? Don't you think I'm humiliated?"

Taking a page from the Michael Richards playbook, Imus said he hoped to meet personally with the Rutgers basketball players, their parents and their coaches and make amends.

Before the suspension was announced, the National Association of Black Journalists and the NAACP stepped up calls for a boycott of Imus' show, while the Reverend Jesse Jackson and 50 sign-wielding protesters gathered outside NBC's Chicago headquarters on Monday, demanding Imus' ouster.

It remains to be seen whether CBS Radio and MSNBC's move will quell all the critics.

In Los Angeles, community activists led by Project Islamic Hope are still scheduled a rally at noon Tuesday in front of the offices of CBS Radio, urging the company to "pull the plug" for good on Imus' program.

"We have rejected his apology and are demanding he be fired," the group's head, Najee Ali, told E! Online. "We've heard racist comments from Mel Gibson, who's apologized, homophobic comments from Isaiah Washington, who's apologized, but in this circumstance...there has to be a line drawn in the sand.

"If shock jocks continue to say outlandish comments, we'll start sliding down that slippery slope, which is why we're taking such a firm position demanding he be fired."