Article published April 13, 2007
Imus an easy mark for riders of moral high horses
AT THE sure risk of being politically incorrect, I dare to wonder if some of the recent chest-thumping over the Don Imus affair is a bit disingenuous. There, I've gone and said it. But when the shameless opportunist behind the old Tawana Brawley affair gets on his moral high horse to rant against another man's failings, forgive me if the indignation seems a tad contrived. A paradigm of virtue Al Sharpton is not.
And frankly, Mr. Sharpton's radio show probably had more listeners than ever when he took on the idiot radio personality who called the Rutgers female basketball players "nappy-headed hos." That was Don Imus' sorry attempt at comedy during his own radio show
The tasteless remarks rightly sparked a maelstrom of protests, which finally led CBS to fire him yesterday. A day earlier MSNBC had dropped its simulcast presentation of his show.
Clearly, the broadcaster demeaned a group of athletes who had excelled beyond anyone's expectations with their improbable run to the NCAA tournament championship game.
An understandably outraged Rutgers University president said the team played its heart out and Mr. Imus' comments had stolen a "golden moment" from the players. But Mr. Imus didn't steal their thunder. Not really. All the careless crack of the radio host did was unleash a righteous backlash against an aging grouch who thought he was being funny. He entertains listeners with the same edgy, over-the-top material that has gotten him and others like Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern in trouble.
The point of their radio talk show popularity is to stir things up, and if the blowhards get carried away with themselves, so much the better for ratings. The advertisers may get nervous but unless the outcry over the controversial quips snowballs past initial disgust, they'll stick with what makes money.Besides, as offensive as Mr. Imus' remarks were about the African-American women on the Rutgers team, it's not like the same degrading words have never been uttered by other entertainers, from Chris Rock to Eddie Murphy to Richard Pryor.
Offensive jokes from comedians on everything from race to religion are nothing new. Some popular rap stars make denigrating women an integral part of their act. Why hasn't Mr. Sharpton confronted them on their reprehensible behavior or called for their professional demise? Do they have too strong a fan base among his followers for him to forcefully condemn their exploitation of women?
Mr. Sharpton and friends have no problem swiftly anointing Don Imus racist of the year for his broadly racist mutterings, even though he may more aptly fit the profile of a caustic, haggard-looking rabble-rouser with headphones and microphone and a misguided sense of humor. Could the demand for his head be the result of a public pile-on after Michael Richards [Kramer] spazzed out with the n-word and family man Mel Gibson went on a drunken anti-Semitic tirade?
Even as Mr. Imus clumsily apologizes for his racially charged stupidity and accepts the two-week job suspension imposed by his employers, the cranky cynic reminds his critics that he is an equal opportunity offender. It's what he does. He insults people for laughs. Not everyone is amused.
Is he a racist? Who knows? Is he a pompous syndicated talk-show host who went way too far for a rise? No doubt. Ultimately it fell to CBS, which nationally syndicated the "Imus in the Morning Show," to decide whether its business relationship with Mr. Imus could continue. With major advertisers bolting for the door, CBS decided it could not.
Now that pressure from angry listeners, plus the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the NAACP, the National Organization for Women, and the National Association of Black Journalists, has separated Mr. Imus from his microphone, the chagrined radio host has no one to blame but himself.
He denigrated a group of young women at the pinnacle of athletic success without thinking about the impact or consequences. But you'll pardon me if I take exception to those opportunistic condemners of "Imus in the Morning" who seized an easy mark and ran with it.
If Mr. Imus' idiocy raises their public platform from nearly oblivious to practically relevant so much the better. Just don't expect rascals like Al Sharpton to raise the national temperature by virtue of their vitriol against the morally depraved.
Crusaders lugging their own personal baggage can't help looking a little labored in their campaigns to cast stones at other dubious characters.
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