The members of our mainstream media have been cowards lately, and it’s time we called them on it.
Radio host Don Imus was fired from both of his gigs recently, one with NBC and one with CBS.
“What matters to us most is … the values we have set for this company,” NBC News said in a statement, explaining their decision to fire Imus.
But what mattered most to NBC and CBS were their pockets.
Originally Imus’ punishment was to be a two-week suspension. But due to media hype, spearheaded by Reverend Al Sharpton and Reverend Jessie Jackson, sponsors began pulling from Imus’ show.
And being profit-centered entities, the news stations dropped him.
I can’t blame them for that. They exist to make money, and their decisions are obviously guided by what will get them the most green.
But to try to pass off Imus’ firing as a moral decision is not only deceitful, it adds to the mounting pretentiousness surrounding the issue.
Jackson has referred to New York as “Hymietown” and Sharpton called a Jewish landlord a “white interloper.”
So when Don Imus made several sincere public apologies for referring to the Rutgers University women’s basketball team as “nappy-headed hos,” I expected them both to offer Imus the graciousness and forgiveness they had received in the past.
No such luck.
Imus’ words were tasteless. But taken into context, it is easy to see that he was not attempting to promote racist ideas but to make a joke about the “tough” and tattooed appearance of the players on the basketball team.
In fact, upon examining the context of the joke, I realized Imus’ comments were more sexist than anything else.
Imus and Co. portrayed the Rutgers team as being manly because of their unfeminine appearances. Imus commented, however, that the other team was composed of “nice” girls because, in Imus’ eyes, they fit a more feminine stereotype. Translation: If women aren’t girly enough, they can’t be pretty.
While listening to this topic being discussed in several of my classes, I heard many students mention that Imus’ history of politically incorrect remarks is grounds for justifying his firing.
And I couldn’t disagree more. As a radio host, Imus is paid to be provocative for several hours a day, every day of the week. He is bound to cross lines. To fire him when he does so is completely counter-productive to the goals of talk radio. Socially relevant discussion should be fostered, not suppressed.
If NBC were really interested in values, they would have kept Imus on the air and allowed him to discuss why he used that phrase.
Or why Sharpton has yet to demand that rapper Snoop Dogg appear on his radio show and apologize for saying, in response to Imus’ remarks, “We’re (rappers) talking about hos that’s in the ‘hood that ain’t doing shit, that’s trying to get a nigga for his money.”
Snoop Dogg, using his moral compass as his guide, told MTV that Imus should be kicked “off the air forever.”
Sensationalizing Imus’ comments only serves to make a discussion about race less honest. After watching the way Imus was devoured by the media, most people will simply nod their heads over Imus’ firing, and then retire to their living rooms in the evening to catch re-runs of “Chappelle’s Show.”
That brings up another largely neglected aspect: We actually really like racial humor ““ when it succeeds. Carried by their enormous popularity, Chris Rock regularly stars in mainstream movies and Carlos Mencia’s face still greets me when I turn on Comedy Central.
But MSNBC is different than Comedy Central, you might say. And they are. If anyone has a responsibility to tackle issues about race and sexism in America, it is the mainstream media.
Firing Imus allows MSNBC and CBS to ignore their responsibility to their audiences by sweeping valuable and newsworthy conversations under the rug, and the public, blinded by a manufactured sense of outrage, has played right into their hands.
Next time let’s try to keep our heads, and maybe we can force the networks to step up to the plate.
You can e-mail this cracker at kstrickland@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.