In a few hours I will be tuning into “The Oprah Winfrey Show” to watch the Rutgers’ women’s basketball team and their coach respond to remarks made about the players by radio host Don Imus.
For those of you out of the loop Imus sparked a firestorm of controversy when he made a racially motivated disparaging remark about the mostly black Rutgers team on his nationally syndicated radio show last week. In the days since cable network MSNBC pulled the plug on his talk show’s television simulcast and various big name sponsors, including American Express, Staples, Procter & Gamble, and General Motors said they were pulling ads from Imus’ show indefinitely. (Imus has also been suspended for two weeks effective next Monday.)
The team’s appearance on Oprah should be interesting (to say the least). On Tuesday the players spoke publicly for the first time about Imus’ on-air comments. It was then that the team’s coach criticized the radio host and said his racist and sexist remarks were “deplorable, despicable, abominable and unconscionable.” I’m anxious to see how Oprah—one of the most influential women in the world and one of the highest grossing African Americans in the country—handles the interview.
After all, several other prominent members of the African American community have already voiced their opinions about Imus’ remarks. The Rev. Al Sharpton is currently crusading for Imus’ firing. While the Rev. Jesse Jackson told reporters he planned to meet with television executives with a delegation of civil rights activists and lawmakers to discuss the Imus situation and diversity in broadcasting. In addition, yesterday, presidential hopeful Barack Obama also called for Imus’ resignation.
“He didn’t just cross the line, he fed into some of the worst stereotypes that my two young daughters are having to deal with today in America,” Obama told news reporters.
Even the “Today” show’s Al Roker is making his feelings clear. The TV personality spent the last few days posting blogs publicly urging Imus’ firing.
“He has to take his punishment and start over,” Roker wrote. “Guess what? He’ll get re-hired and will go on like nothing happened. CBS Radio and NBC News need to remove Don Imus from the airwaves. That is what needs to happen. Otherwise, it just looks like profits and ratings rule over decency and justice.”
As for Imus, he acknowledged his remarks were “really stupid.”
“There’s a difference between premeditated murder and the gun going off,” but the end result is the same, he said: “Somebody’s still dead.”
Interestingly, just today, Imus said he had apologized enough and plans to meet with members of the Rutgers team.
As for his fate with CBS, which owns both the radio station that produces the “Imus in the Morning” show and the syndicator Westwood One, which distributes it to stations across the country, that remains to be seen.
I’m sure Oprah has a few ideas for those execs.