The Imus Kerfluffle - I don’t get it
I admit it, I don’t understand all the hand-wringing about Imus and his moronic comments. He’s a shock-jock. His job is to shock. What he said about a a bunch of 18-year-old kids was shocking. Seems to me he was fulfilling his function, doing his job, and earning his millions of dollars.
Maybe what we should be asking ourselves is, in what bizarro universe is it that over-grown juveniles are not just allowed, but expected, to be outrageous, obscene, insulting, and idiotic in the misrepresented name of “comedy?” How comes a couple of obnoxious infantiles who go out of their way to profane a church get a big deal with a satellite radio company and, oh yeah let’s not forget, CBS radio who fired them some years ago to save face for that scandal? In what crazed cosmos can an aging pre-pubescent with a breast fixation get a half-billion dollars to talk about sex all day? What the devil happened to us that CBS makes $20-million dollars per year on Imus, then doesn’t stand behind him when he does exactly what they are paying him to do - be an lewd, outrageous loudmouth?
Sorry, kids, I don’t buy the whole self-serving nonsense CBS has put up, taking the high road for canning him, “fixing” the problem. We as a society still think it’s funny to insult women, insult each other, and more importantly allow aging frat boys to insult our intelligence. Imus did what he, and every other shock-jock, is supposed to do. The problem is, we as a society accept and pay for that embarrassing nonsense in the first place.
April 17th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
Charlie is right. As bad as Imus was with his comments. He still has the right of free speech. That is until the first admendment to the Constitution is repealed. Best regards, Mike Ray
Actually, this isn’t a First Amendment issue, since the government isn’t censoring him; CBS, a private corporation and his employer, is. That’s perfectly legal, and is not a violation of the Constitution. (Example: I can legally censor this blog - if someone posted a racist comment, I would be legally free to delete it. And I probably would, too…there’s enough hate in the world without this blog contributing to it.) The exact wording of this much-misunderstood amendment is:
Note it doesn’t say anything about a private person or corporation censoring anything within any area he/she/it controls.
My argument is not that Imus should be allowed to spew his outrageous nonsense, but rather that spewing outrageous nonsense was exactly what CBS was paying him to do, so firing him was hypocritical pandering. –cfs3
April 22nd, 2007 at 11:17 am
as mike ray says “He still has the right of free speech. That is until the first admendment to the Constitution is repealed. Best regards, Mike Ray”
perhaps mike ray hasn’t noticed that the bush admin. has already repealed the 1st amendment.as regards imus’ firing if he was fired then i believe 98% of rap music should also be banned. they say far worse things than imus said.
April 24th, 2007 at 2:36 am
There is so much hypocrisy around this issue. I’ve never heard the show but recognize that shock jocks are always at risk of going over the line. Apparently there is a time delay built into the program so as to be able to deal with abusive callers. Why wasn’t MSNBC concerned about the host’s over the line comment when it was made? Once they realized they would be losing a lot of sponsor money they retroactively took the high road, sanctimonious and hypocritical.
I wonder if the networks will not allow Ann Coulter to appear as a guest since the chance of her making an offensive remark is very high.
It seems like we’re all messed up around these issues with no clear understanding and very little charity toward the sinners who are imperfect people.
April 25th, 2007 at 7:56 am
Why else would you listen to am radio in the morning? It was the reason Stern was hired when 66 was WNBC. For shock value and for listeners tuning in because of the shock value. Stern could never get away with some of the comments he was making back in the 1980’s when he came to New York. Thre were comments about body parts, scatological references, he discussed his then-wife’s miscarriage on the air and after the ratings came out in 1985 or 1986, took a wireless hand-hand microphone over to the FM side (they had just received a 1.5) and gloated about his 5+ ratings in the afternoon on AM. Imus and Stern worked for a time at 66 when it was WNBC and each accused the other of stealing. Imus played less music and did more talk and tried to shock as much as he could. Stern concentrated on his usual targets, lesbians and midgets and people who were mildly retarded. When he was moved to mornings at the FM station before leaving land-based radio, his ratings were up to nearly a 10, while the ratings of the station after his shift would end, would hover around a 1.5 or 2. Mel Karmazin hired Stern when he was fired by WNBC in the 1990’s and then Stern followed him to Sirius.
I suspect Imus will either retire or will end up on satellite radio. The parties that be will wait until their merger is approved (or not) and then Imus may find himself a new home. The government might hold up the approval process if Imus is hired before the merger is approved (or not). Imus has been on 66 since 1975 and in radio for 40 years and during that time, he has never been confused or misinterpreted as a nice guy. He has always been nasty and bigoted on the air and their is examples on any typical day. In fact, as he grw into the job, he became more and more offensive; anything that brings in listeners. Remember, GE didn’t see a future in radio and sold off all the
NBC radio stations and NBC networks. Their forte is strictly TV. Infinity/CBS made at least $30 million on Imus even though his show is not even in the top 10 and now 660 WFAN has the afternoon team pulling double-duty in the morning (a thankless job). Imus did not deserve to lose his job - they could have made him a poster child for flippant, offensive comments. One of the advertising campaigns showed him on a subway poster with tape over his mouth, so this should come as no surprise to anyone.
April 25th, 2007 at 8:02 am
When the heat increased, MSNBC and CBS found themselves a scapegoat.
Stern was fired from WNBC by Grant Tinker, Mary Tyler Moore’s husband and strictly a TV guy. That was in the 1980’s. Tinker simply (as president or CEO of NBC) said he didn’t appreciate what the guy was
doing on the air. When Stern was fired, it was the beginning of the decline for 66 WNBC. Remember in the late 1980’s, FM radio was getting all the attention; why else would anyone tune into am radio in the afternoon 4-8 pm (when Stern first came to NY)?