Imus in the Morning After

If nothing else, Don Imus went out with a bang.

After drawing ire from civil liberties and women's rights groups, the Reverends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, Oprah Winfrey and Snoop Dogg all in the course of one week, Imus was booted Thursday from his perch in the upper echelons of morning radio, with CBS pulling the plug on the controversial host's syndicated Imus in the Morning in light of the slur he directed at Rutgers' women's basketball team last week.

The "effective immediately" part of CBS Corp. Chairman Leslie Moonves' directive only applied to Mr. Imus, however, as Imus' wife, Deirdre, took to the airwaves Friday to, for starters, wrap up the previously scheduled weeklong fundraiser that her husband had been presiding over and, presumably, to tidy up some of the mess left behind when Imus' career unexpectedly imploded on-air.

"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," Moonves wrote in an email to staffers.

Imus' exit from CBS came a day after MSNBC announced it would be dropping its televised simulcast of his show.

Deirdre Imus, who was more or less forced to cancel a book tour to promote her new how-to tome Green This! so as to focus on more pressing matters at home, reiterated during the show Friday how terrible her hubby felt—and still feels—for all the pain he has caused over the past week and a half.

She also discussed her and Imus' meeting Thursday night at the New Jersey governor's mansion with Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer and her players, the first face-to-face gathering between the offender and the objects of his absurd "nappy-headed ho's" remark. (Governor Jon Corzine was not present after being critically injured in a car crash earlier in the day.)

"This is all very tragic," Deirdre Imus said. "There is a lot of healing to do here…He feels awful, after meeting with these girls and having that opportunity to talk with them. He asked them, 'I want to know the pain I caused, and I want to know how to fix this and change this."

Luckily for Imus, the ladies from Rutgers are looking to put this incident behind them, as well.

"We, the Rutgers University Scarlet Knight basketball team accept—accept—Mr. Imus' apology, and we are in the process of forgiving," Stringer said in a statement Friday.

"We still find his statements to be unacceptable," she continued. "And this is an experience that we will never forget. These comments are indicative of greater ills in our culture. It is not just Mr. Imus. And we hope that this will be and serve as a catalyst for change. Let us continue to work hard together to make this world a better place."

During Friday's show, Deirdre Imus described the team as a group of "unbelievably courageous and beautiful women," adding, "One thing I want to say is the hate mail that's being sent to them must stop. If you want to send hate mail, send it to my husband."

As Stringer said, there are "greater ills in our culture" that need worrying about.

"We're not going to address that," she told reporters Friday, referring to the hate mail issue. "I think what we wanted to talk about is the healing process and that's what we want to do. We have accepted Mr. Imus' apology. What he did and what he said—which we all know—was just symptomatic of the greater ills of society. I think America has spoken."

A team spokeswoman told the Associated Press that the Scarlet Knights may have received two or three negative emails, but have also gotten "over 600 wonderful emails."

As to how she and her girls feel about Imus' firing, Stringer remained diplomatic.

"At no time did the Rutgers University women's basketball team ask for his job," she said. "And it would sadden me for anyone to lose their job—and I do mean anyone to lose their job…We weren't calling for his job and he came in spite of the fact that he lost his job. So let's give him credit for that."

A radio station in Southern California is planning to give Imus more than credit.

San Bernardino-based KCAA-AM is planning to run "Best of Imus" programming next week, starting with the Apr. 4 show in which Imus emitted the slur heard round the world. That installment in its entirety—interspersed with samples of mail and emails received from listeners regarding the controversy—will air Monday at 6 a.m. PT.

"Unless we get a court order to cease and desist, we're going to run it," KCAA chairman Fred Lundgren, who admits that Imus in the Morning has been the lynchpin of their a.m. lineup since they started airing the show in 2003, told the Los Angeles Times. "I'm not going to let networks dictate to me who I run on my station."

Imus hosted his show, which aired from New York's WFAN-AM and had been nationally syndicated since 1993, for more than 30 years, many of which were dogged by allegations of racism, homophobia, misogyny and other crimes against common sense.

"It's not over," Steve Rendall, of media watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, told the NY Times. "CBS and NBC need to explain why they aired Imus for years knowing his record and how that comported with their standards and practices. We are betting it didn't."