Is Imus Only 1st Casualty In Speech War?
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Gary [email protected]
When I heard Imus had used the phrase "nappy-headed hos" to describe the Rutgers women's basketball team, I knew he was in for a rough ride.
And for the record, I think Imus' comment was offensive. He meant it to be a joke - funny. Well, it wasn't funny. It was mean. I certainly wouldn't see humor in my daughter being referred to as a "ho" in any context.
"Ho" of course, is short for "whore" in hiphop culture.[[In-content Ad]]After Imus' comments, I just sat back and watched the free market churn.
And after enough public outcry and enough advertisers pulled away from Imus' product, Imus found himself unemployed.
First, MSNBC dumped Imus' morning TV show, which was a simulcast of his nationally syndicated radio show hosted by CBS. By Thursday, bowing to mounting pressure, CBS fired Imus from the New York radio show he broadcast for more than 35 years.
Imus was fired effective immediately. CBS didn't even give the guy - who was pulling in $20 million a year for them - a farewell show.
Now, let's be honest for a minute here. CBS and MSNBC can be all haughty and high-brow about this but the bottom line is, advertisers were pulling out. My view? If the advertisers would have stayed, Imus would have stayed.
It's intersting to note that until CBS dropped the axe, not one of the more than 60 radio stations across the country that carried Imus in syndication dumped him.
I'm pretty sure Imus will land on his feet, though. I bet somebody else will put him back on the air if he doesn't decide to retire.
This kind of behavior is nothing new for Imus. He is, after all, a shock jock. A radio personality known for saying outrageous stuff.
Problem is, when you have a morning TV show on MSNBC, I think you're in a little different genre. You're not a shock jock anymore. You're a mainstream TV personality and you probably should tone it down a tad.
I think Imus gets that now. He seems contrite enough. But it's too little too late.
But in my view, there's a larger issue at play here in all this.
An editorial in this newspaper this past Wednesday, I think, framed that issue quite well.
Here's what it said:
"... Black activists like the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, who are leading the clamor for Imus' head, might ask themselves how the hip-hop depiction of women, especially black women, as 'ho' penetrated far enough into the popular culture that a 66-year-old white male would use it as a casual reference. That just may be a bigger issue than Imus' continued employment."
I fully concur with that.
Honestly, where did Imus come up the word "ho" in the first place. I think we all know the answer.
Typing the phrase "my ho" into Google garners around 12,900 hits, including one for a "Santa, where my ho at?" T-shirt.
The word "ho" is bandied about routinely in hiphop culture. Rappers use it all the time - along with a lot of other nasty little words. Frankly, rap music contains some of the most vile, venomous, misogynistic, homophobic lyrics imaginable.
Rap music and the word "ho" flies across the same airwaves as the Imus "ho."
So on the one hand, the word "ho" is perfectly acceptable, marketable and profitable. On the other hand, the mere utterance of it can get you fired.
For evidence of this glaring double standard, you needed to look no further than the press conference with Rutgers women's basketball team.
I watched as team members talked about how they felt demeaned by Imus' comment.
I could understand how they would feel demeaned. Who wouldn't?
At the same time, I couldn't help wondering how many of those very same players have a few rap cds back in their dorm room.
My guess is it's a pretty high percentage.
So on the one hand, when Imus says "ho" they feel demeaned. Yet on the other hand, they pay to hear a hiphop artist say "ho."
Here's pioneering rapper Snoop Dogg's explanation:
"It's a completely different scenario. (Rappers) are not talking about no collegiate basketball girls who have made it to the next level in education and sports. We're talking about hoes that's in the 'hood that ain't doing sh**, that's trying to get a nigga for his money. These are two separate things. First of all, we ain't no old-a** white men that sit up on MSNBC going hard on black girls. We are rappers that have these songs coming from our minds and our souls that are relevant to what we feel. I will not let them m*****f****** say we are in the same league as him. Kick him off the air forever."
Thanks for clearing that up for us, Snoop.
Of course the problem for Snoop and other rappers is that the m*****f****** who are saying he's in the same league as Imus are Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.
Going forward, this debate should be quite interesting.
I believe in freedom of speech. I think people should be free to express themselves in any way they choose. Problem is, double standards like these breed contempt and resentment.
I think we'd all be better off if words like that would just go away, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.
And if those words do go away, they need to go away on their own. We certainly don't want them regulated out of existence by the speech police.
Who's going to set those standards? What one person sees as offensive might not be offensive at all to somebody else.
A perfect example of this played out on Bill O'Reilly's show on Fox this week.
He used the phrase "illegal alien."
A columnist for the Denver Post accused O'Reilly of "spewing racist bile" for using that phrase.
She preferred "undocumented immigrant."
I must say I never considered "illegal alien" to be a racist phrase. That one slipped completely beneath my radar.
So let the Imus/hiphop debate rage.
I don't think the double standards will ever be erased, but in the end, free speech and free markets must win the day.
When I heard Imus had used the phrase "nappy-headed hos" to describe the Rutgers women's basketball team, I knew he was in for a rough ride.
And for the record, I think Imus' comment was offensive. He meant it to be a joke - funny. Well, it wasn't funny. It was mean. I certainly wouldn't see humor in my daughter being referred to as a "ho" in any context.
"Ho" of course, is short for "whore" in hiphop culture.[[In-content Ad]]After Imus' comments, I just sat back and watched the free market churn.
And after enough public outcry and enough advertisers pulled away from Imus' product, Imus found himself unemployed.
First, MSNBC dumped Imus' morning TV show, which was a simulcast of his nationally syndicated radio show hosted by CBS. By Thursday, bowing to mounting pressure, CBS fired Imus from the New York radio show he broadcast for more than 35 years.
Imus was fired effective immediately. CBS didn't even give the guy - who was pulling in $20 million a year for them - a farewell show.
Now, let's be honest for a minute here. CBS and MSNBC can be all haughty and high-brow about this but the bottom line is, advertisers were pulling out. My view? If the advertisers would have stayed, Imus would have stayed.
It's intersting to note that until CBS dropped the axe, not one of the more than 60 radio stations across the country that carried Imus in syndication dumped him.
I'm pretty sure Imus will land on his feet, though. I bet somebody else will put him back on the air if he doesn't decide to retire.
This kind of behavior is nothing new for Imus. He is, after all, a shock jock. A radio personality known for saying outrageous stuff.
Problem is, when you have a morning TV show on MSNBC, I think you're in a little different genre. You're not a shock jock anymore. You're a mainstream TV personality and you probably should tone it down a tad.
I think Imus gets that now. He seems contrite enough. But it's too little too late.
But in my view, there's a larger issue at play here in all this.
An editorial in this newspaper this past Wednesday, I think, framed that issue quite well.
Here's what it said:
"... Black activists like the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, who are leading the clamor for Imus' head, might ask themselves how the hip-hop depiction of women, especially black women, as 'ho' penetrated far enough into the popular culture that a 66-year-old white male would use it as a casual reference. That just may be a bigger issue than Imus' continued employment."
I fully concur with that.
Honestly, where did Imus come up the word "ho" in the first place. I think we all know the answer.
Typing the phrase "my ho" into Google garners around 12,900 hits, including one for a "Santa, where my ho at?" T-shirt.
The word "ho" is bandied about routinely in hiphop culture. Rappers use it all the time - along with a lot of other nasty little words. Frankly, rap music contains some of the most vile, venomous, misogynistic, homophobic lyrics imaginable.
Rap music and the word "ho" flies across the same airwaves as the Imus "ho."
So on the one hand, the word "ho" is perfectly acceptable, marketable and profitable. On the other hand, the mere utterance of it can get you fired.
For evidence of this glaring double standard, you needed to look no further than the press conference with Rutgers women's basketball team.
I watched as team members talked about how they felt demeaned by Imus' comment.
I could understand how they would feel demeaned. Who wouldn't?
At the same time, I couldn't help wondering how many of those very same players have a few rap cds back in their dorm room.
My guess is it's a pretty high percentage.
So on the one hand, when Imus says "ho" they feel demeaned. Yet on the other hand, they pay to hear a hiphop artist say "ho."
Here's pioneering rapper Snoop Dogg's explanation:
"It's a completely different scenario. (Rappers) are not talking about no collegiate basketball girls who have made it to the next level in education and sports. We're talking about hoes that's in the 'hood that ain't doing sh**, that's trying to get a nigga for his money. These are two separate things. First of all, we ain't no old-a** white men that sit up on MSNBC going hard on black girls. We are rappers that have these songs coming from our minds and our souls that are relevant to what we feel. I will not let them m*****f****** say we are in the same league as him. Kick him off the air forever."
Thanks for clearing that up for us, Snoop.
Of course the problem for Snoop and other rappers is that the m*****f****** who are saying he's in the same league as Imus are Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.
Going forward, this debate should be quite interesting.
I believe in freedom of speech. I think people should be free to express themselves in any way they choose. Problem is, double standards like these breed contempt and resentment.
I think we'd all be better off if words like that would just go away, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.
And if those words do go away, they need to go away on their own. We certainly don't want them regulated out of existence by the speech police.
Who's going to set those standards? What one person sees as offensive might not be offensive at all to somebody else.
A perfect example of this played out on Bill O'Reilly's show on Fox this week.
He used the phrase "illegal alien."
A columnist for the Denver Post accused O'Reilly of "spewing racist bile" for using that phrase.
She preferred "undocumented immigrant."
I must say I never considered "illegal alien" to be a racist phrase. That one slipped completely beneath my radar.
So let the Imus/hiphop debate rage.
I don't think the double standards will ever be erased, but in the end, free speech and free markets must win the day.
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