On April 4, 2007, during a discussion about the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship, Imus characterized the Rutgers University women's basketball team players as "rough girls" commenting on their tattoos. His executive producer Bernard McGuirk responded by referring to them as "hardcore hos". The discussion continued with Imus describing the girls as "nappy-headed hos" and McGuirk remarking that the two teams looked like the "jigaboos versus the wannabes" mentioned in Spike Lee's film,
School Daze; apparently referring to the two teams' differing appearances. At 6:00 p.m. that evening, Media Matters for America released recorded transcripts to the news media highlighting the brief exchange:
After some outrage from the initial repeated reports, Imus dismissed the incident as "some idiot comment meant to be amusing".
Imus immediately issued a statement of apology:
On April 9, Imus appeared on Al Sharpton's syndicated radio talk show,
Keepin It Real with Al Sharpton to address the controversy. Sharpton called the comments "abominable", "racist", and "sexist", and repeated his earlier demand that Imus be fired. Imus said, "Our agenda is to be funny and sometimes we go too far. And this time we went way too far. Here's what I've learned: that you can't make fun of everybody, because some people don't deserve it."
Shortly thereafter Imus was suspended. Media commentators were divided on the suspension: on MSNBC's
Scarborough Country on April, 10, for example, Pat Buchanan said that Imus is "a good guy... [who] made a bad mistake and apologized for it" and that the show should stay on the air. Comedian Bill Maher said that if a comedian apologizes for stepping over a line, that should suffice. Steve Adubato, an MSNBC media analyst, disagreed, saying that this incident was "not isolated". Joe Klein made the same charge, referring to Imus's comment about
New York Times reporter Gwen Ifill 14 years before as evidence of a pattern of offensive comments. On
The View, Rosie O'Donnell spoke out in support of keeping Imus on the air on free speech grounds, while Emil Steiner of The Washington Post argued that Al Sharpton used the issue to further divide America along racial lines.
The basketball team held a news conference at which coach C. Vivian Stringer stated that the team would meet with Imus to discuss his comments. Several of the players expressed their outrage over his remarks. Team captain Essence Carson said Imus' remarks had "stolen a moment of pure grace from us".
African American
Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page, at one time a frequent guest, once had confronted Imus about his characterization of certain black athletes and got Imus to take a pledge to stop. After the Rutgers team incident, Page said he would not appear on the show again and said of the original two-week suspension:
CBS board member and former [[NAACP]] president [[Bruce S. Gordon]] said that Imus should not be allowed to come back even after the suspension, claiming that his remarks "crossed the line, a very bright line that divides our country."
On April 11, 2007, Steve Capus of NBC News, bowing to pressure from Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, announced that MSNBC would no longer simulcast
Imus in the Morning, effective immediately. While the decision came on the same day that a few advertisers left Imus, the network also said employee concerns played a role. Sen. (and presidential candidate) Barack Obama, and several high-profile NBC African-American personalities, including Al Roker previously a friendly guest on the show, opposed Imus's return. The absence and silence from Imus's frequent NBC guests Brian Williams, Andrea Mitchell, David Gregory, Chris Matthews and close friend Tim Russert was too obvious to ignore and foreshadowed NBC's future action.
In announcing the decision, Steve Capus, President of NBC News, said:
The next day, CBS Radio canceled
Imus in the Morning, effective immediately. CBS President and Chief Executive Officer Leslie Moonves stated:
The day before, CBS chairman Sumner Redstone said he trusted Moonves would "do the right thing," but didn't elaborate. Moonves had met with Sharpton and Jesse Jackson shortly before the announcement was made.
In an internal memo, Moonves said that employee concerns were a factor in the decision to cancel Imus's show, but also said that the decision was "about a lot more than Imus." Moonves said that CBS had to take Imus off the air in order to change "a culture that permits a certain level of objectionable expression that hurts and demeans a wide range of people."
Seven sponsors had either pulled their ads outright or suspended advertising on Imus's show to protest his remarks ... General Motors (Imus's biggest advertiser), Staples Inc., GlaxoSmithKline, Sprint Nextel, PetMeds, American Express and Procter & Gamble. One other advertiser, Bigelow Tea, expressed uncertainty at renewing their ads with Imus's show.
Just hours after the announcement of his firing, Imus met with Stringer and her team at Drumthwacket, the New Jersey governor's mansion. The three-hour meeting was arranged by Buster Soaries, the former New Jersey Secretary of State and Stringer's pastor. New Jersey governor Jon Corzine planned to attend the meeting but was injured in a car accident on the way to the meeting. Imus left without commenting, but Stringer said the meeting went well. She later commented that they had accepted Imus's apology, and "It would sadden me for anyone to lose their job,... And he came [to the meeting] in spite of the fact that he lost his job. So let's give him credit for that." She also emphasized that the basketball team had not called for Imus to be fired.
CBS was criticized by some as being too harsh for canceling Imus's show. Senator John Kerry said a "long suspension" would be "appropriate to pay a price on the airwaves but I’m not sure that it was appropriate to say you’re off forever."
Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton's role in the controversy has drawn complaints. Conservative African American columnist Armstrong Williams criticized Jackson and Sharpton for "ratcheting up the rhetoric" and holding Imus to a “higher standard” than they would have themselves judged by. Columnist Jason Whitlock questioned the motives of Sharpton and Jackson, "who pushed the hardest and shouted the loudest for Imus’s demise," suggesting that their aim was not to help the Rutgers basketball team but to "cause division for profit." Williams and Whitlock both called Imus's statement offensive, however. Sharpton has been criticized for his hypocrisy in not attacking rappers who use similar terms.
Subsequent litigation
By May 2, 2007, Imus had hired prominent attorney Martin Garbus to pursue a wrongful termination lawsuit against CBS for the remaining $40 million on his five-year contract. The contract contained a clause indicating CBS hired and supported Imus to exhibit "irreverent" and "controversial" programming.
On August 14, 2007, CBS announced a settlement with Imus on his $40 million contract. On the same day, Rutgers basketball player Kia Vaughn, one of the women involved in the controversy, filed suit against Don Imus, NBC Universal, CBS Corporation, MSNBC, CBS Radio, Viacom, Westwood One radio, and Bernard McGuirk, citing slander, libel, and defamation of character. Vaughn was the only player to pursue legal damages brought on by the controversy. Vaughn dropped the lawsuit against Imus on September 11, 2007, citing her desire to concentrate on her studies and basketball training.
Return to radio
On July 8, 2007, the
Drudge Report indicated that Imus would return to the air before the 2008 presidential election. The
New York Post reported on July 16, 2007, that Imus was in search of a black comedian to join the show upon its return to help cushion racially insensitive comments he might say on the air. The same paper reported on July 27, 2007, that CBS was close to a buyout of Imus's contract. The report also said Imus's representatives had contacted Buckley Broadcasting, Citadel Broadcasting, and Clear Channel Communications. On August 14, Imus reached a settlement with CBS Radio over his contract, leaving him free to pursue other media opportunities.
On November 1, Citadel announced they had agreed to what was reportedly a multi-year syndication contract with Imus. The new
Imus in the Morning program would be distributed nationally by Citadel Media, and would be based at Citadel-owned WABC in New York City, beginning in December. On November 14, the
New York Times reported that Imus had agreed to terms with cable network RFD-TV to air a video simulcast of the new radio program. Charles McCord and Bernard McGuirk have joined Imus in the new version of the show. On December 3, Imus returned to the airwaves on ABC Radio and RFD-TV. When asked about Imus's return to radio, Al Sharpton said in an interview, "We’ll monitor him; I’m not saying I’m going to throw a banquet for him and say welcome home. He has the right to make a living, but because he has such a consistent pattern with this we are going to monitor him to make sure he doesn’t do it again." On April 4, 2008, Jesse Jackson appeared on "Imus in the Morning" to discuss the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King--a booking that would have seemed impossible nearly a year before, when Reverend Jackson joined 50 demonstrators in Chicago demanding that "Imus Must Go." Many media commentators declared Don Imus's rehabilitation complete.
In 2008, Little Richard appeared as a guest artist on "The Imus Ranch Record," to help raise funds to benefit sick and dying children, as well as to debunk the notion that Imus was racist. In September of that year, Imus signed a multi-year deal with Fox Business Network to simulcast his radio show Imus in the Morning. The program airs Monday through Friday from 6—9 AM ET and was first broadcast on October 5, 2009.
Reaction from presidential candidates
On January 11, 2007, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), an occasional guest on
Imus in the Morning, announced his candidacy in the 2008 Presidential Election while speaking with Imus on his daily program. Less than three months later, Dodd would publicly chastise Imus during the Rutgers controversy. Dodd later returned and appeared on-air for Imus's first broadcast following his return on WABC, though nothing was mentioned of his prior criticism of Imus. In addition to Dodd, the first week of Imus's return to broadcasting also saw the return of presidential candidates Rudy Giuliani, Sen. John McCain, Governor Mike Huckabee, and Governor Bill Richardson to his show. 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry also appeared. A politician notably lacking in support was Harold Ford, Jr., whom Imus had supported during Ford's losing 2006 Senate campaign. Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have both voiced their distaste for Imus's remarks, and both publicly supported his firing.