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for the record
Imus Producer Was Actually First to Call Sotomayor 'J-Lo' For No Reason
Earlier this week, we claimed some moron blogger was the first racist to publicly call Sonia Sotomayor "J-Lo" for no reason other than her ethnicity. We were incorrect. More » -
sick
Don Imus Has Cancer
Radio-talking Marlboro Man doppelganger Don Imus, a famous racist, has cancer. He announced it on his show this morning: More » -
don imus
Don Imus Still Effortlessly Racist
Salty old radio crank Don Imus may have moved from CBS to ABC (by way of shame and unemployment), but he's as charming and irrepressibly bigoted as ever! Just 14 months after getting fired for referring to Rutgers' women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos," Imus interrupted an announcer on his ABC show to ask about the race of a Dallas Cowboys cornerback who was arrested six times. "What color is he?" Imus asked. Told the cornerback was black, Imus said, "there you go. Now we know." To the casual observer, this might look like an open-and-shut case of racism, but Imus has basically never been held accountable for his many slurs against blacks, Jews, Arabs or gays, so he's probably assuming ABC will eagerly swallow his comically implausible excuse for these latest comments: "I meant that he was being picked on because he's black." Oh, Imus. We knew no 40-second delay could stop your wacky racism. Audio clip after the jump. More » -
animal farm
PETA's Nominees For Sexiest Male Vegetarian Could Use Some Meat
Those adorably violent animal lovers over at PETA have temporarily ceased from attacking fur-toting starlets with tomatoes to round up their nominees for this year’s Sexiest Vegetarian award. And judging by the list of potential winners, it seems that granola-loving male celebrities are seriously lacking in the “sexy” department as compared to their female counterparts. Herbivores like Naomi Watts and Natalie Portman are listed among the ladies, whereas guyliner fans, racist talk show hosts and '80s heartthrob-turned-has-beens make up the majority of the male contenders. We take a closer look at the uneven distribution after the jump. More » -
too far
Imus Sued By Sponsor
Don Imus can't catch a break, besides the many inexplicable ones he's been handed on platters made of various precious metals over the course of his infuriating career! The cruel and stupid old prick is now, gratifyingly, getting sued for $4 million. Sadly it's for something actually kind of amusing: "Flatsigned Press Inc., a book publisher based in Nashville, Tenn., says Imus insulted the company last year in ads it paid for to promote a book by Ford on the Warren Commission's investigation into the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy." Imus called the ads "cheesy," considered an actionable insult only when spoken by a character in Happy Days, and mocked the ad copy as he read it. This all happened last January, by the way. CBS and WFAN offered to settle last February, but Flatsigned rejected the offer. Let this be a lesson to Imus—you can crack racist all you like, but lay off the sponsors. [AP] -
prodigal sonuvabitch
Hardly Anyone Outraged by Imus Return
The Rutgers women's basketball team doesn't care if sad old coot Don Imus returns to the radio. Al Sharpton doesn't really care either (though he will be "monitoring"). So far, the people who seem to care about Don Imus' multi-million dollar WABC deal are the guy he'll be bumping to late morning and Joe Scarborough, professional carer-about-things (and the guy at Imus' old timeslot on MSNBC). More » -
what's left of the dial
American Hero Don Imus To Make Glorious Return
Wealthy Connecticut cowboy and casual racist Don Imus is finally returning to the airwaves! WABC is going to pay the mean old man millions of dollars (or "a eight-figure, multiyear contract," according to DRUDGE) to bring his trademark blend of ethnic jokes and embarrassing appearances from fawning political journalists back to New York's morning drivetime.
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hi ho
"Citadel Broadcasting is close to finalizing a contract with Don Imus that would bring the controversial radio host back to the airwaves, a person familiar with the discussions said Tuesday. It was not immediately clear from where Imus would be heard, but Citadel owns WABC in New York, making its morning slot a logical destination. It also owns WPLJ-FM." [Newsday] -
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celebrating diversity
Bill O'Reilly Visits "Ghetto," Finds Blacks Well-Behaved
Over the weekend, loud-mouth asshat and Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly pulled what sort of looked like a Don Imus—but was really much worse. It seems that O'Reilly's most recent encounters with the black community have left him seriously impressed with how much progress they've made since he last checked in with them in the 70s. Concert-goers at that Anita Baker concert were well-dressed! And dinner in Harlem with the Reverend Al Sharpton? O'Reilly said on his radio show that it was "like going into an Italian restaurant in an all-white suburb in the sense that people were sitting there, they were ordering and having fun and there wasn't any kind of craziness at all!" More » -
defamer
Imus Further Enriched
· Don Imus earns a multi-million dollar windfall for calling the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos." Nicely played, CBS! [Variety] More » -
who said it?
"WHY are slutty, sleazy, boozy cocaine- fueled tarts still in possession of careers to blow while Don Imus is home? Why's jailbird Paris Hilton, maybe jailbird Nicole Richie, could-be jailbird Lindsay Lohan, should-be jailbird Britney Spears on front pages showing their crotches and their cracks while philanthropic Don Imus, who has raised so much money for so many causes, and was doing precisely the shtick he was contracted to do, is being penalized? Is this sane? Like the Don Imus style or don't like the Don Imus style, that mouth was signed to do just what he was doing and, yeah, he insulted a basketball team - but underwearless role models for our young people who are vomiting and passing out and making sex tapes and getting extra chances and more and more TV time are an affront to everyone." If you guessed "a crazy lady sitting on the stoop in a housedress ranting at passers-by," you are correct. We would also have accepted "Cindy Adams." [NYP] -
media bubble
Tiny Dynamine
- Lockhart Steele: Elizabeth Spiers invented the Internet. [MarketWatch] More »
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media bubble
The $40 Million Question: Define "Nappy"
- Don Imus' contract with CBS said: "Services to be rendered are of a unique, extraordinary, irreverent, intellectual, topical, controversial, and personal character." Legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin thinks that makes Imus's $40 million lawsuit against CBS a bit more plausible. [CNN] More »
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media
Media Bubble: Everything's Gone Green
- Very odd array of online publishers, print media, and actual businesses look to cash in on whole environment thing. [LAT] More »
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david broder
Old Man Too Busy Listening To Steve Inskeep To Learn About Imus Flap
David Broder—known as "the dean of the Washington press corps" because he taught a young H.L. Mencken how to read—offers his thoughts on the Imus affair and the Duke lacrosse incident today. Broder's columns usually read like a parody of, well, Broder columns, but this morning's missive is almost a parody of a parody of a Broder column. More » -
media
Media Bubble: Air Imus
- Nike uses the Don Imus controversy for an ad campaign it hopes "will spark continued conversation about race in America." And sell sneakers. [AdAge] More »
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keach hagey
Grading Keach Hagey: To The Drawing Board!
Last week we shocked ourselves—and others—by actually enjoying Keach Hagey's Village Voice Press Clips column. Would this bonhomie survive another week? You can probably guess, but you might as well click through anyway for the full report. More » -
media
Media Bubble: The Calm After The Pulitzers
- Conrad Black to feds: "You got nothin'." [CP] More »
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media
Media Bubble: Outside The Portfolio
- Welcome back to CBS Radio, CEO Dan Mason. There are a couple of items in your inbox. Start with that Imus folder. [NYP] More »
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glaring omissions
Glaring Omissions: Maybe We Should Care About 'Trace' Magazine, But Then Again, Maybe Not
Glaring Omissions reproduces tips received from readers in the last week that weren't covered on Gawker, either by accident (it happens!) or by design (it happens more often).- "WHERE THE FUCK IS THE TACO TRUCK—The "Tacos de Idolo" truck, arguably the best tacos in the city, usually parked on the northeast corner of 14th and 8th late night every night, has gone missing for over a week. Have you been alerted to this crisis and do you have any information? I'm so hungry—$2 veggie tacos are all I can stomach on my "commute" home to West Bushwick after work." More »
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media matinee
Media Matinee: Fragments From 'Imus! The Musical'
From time to time the news cycle offers up an event of such import and complexity that it can only be comprehended through the medium of musical theater. Ben Greenman, the Rodgers & Hammerstein of the age (or, at least the Hammerstein), will lead you down the Great White Way to understanding. Shhh, the curtain's starting to rise!
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don imus
Our Solemn Vow
In our unbridled pursuit of fame and of the validation of the establishment, we do a lot of things of which we are not particularly proud. Things like appearing on Fox's 2 a.m. shit-show "Red Eye," attending panels where Graydon Carter is a featured speaker, being in the same neighborhood as Julia Allison, walking by the Beatrice Inn, that sort of thing. As we watched the Don Imus drama unfold this week, though, we decided that there must be limits, even for us. No matter how desperate or attention-starved we may be, there is no excuse for condoning racism and sexism. All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do very little, or something like that. Now we must take a stand: We will never make a guest appearance on Mr. Imus' television show or his radio program. Pardon our brief sincerity, but we feel that strongly about this issue, and thought now would be exactly the right time to make this pledge. More » -
media
Media Bubble: Procter & Gamble Killed Imus
- Forget Al Sharpton, it's the blogs that brought Imus down. That and, you know, the massive exit of advertisers. (David Carr's theory: was new nonstop news cycle.) [WSJ] More »
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don imus
Imus Is Done, Says Les Moonves
From the big man, CBS honcho Les Moonves himself:To: All Employees
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defamer
Les Moonves Finishes Off Gutshot Imus
For those of you unable to concentrate on your jobs, family, or the heartbreaking news that Angelina Jolie seems unable to love her lone biological child because you've been sick with worry about this Don Imus situation, relief: He's been shitcanned by CBS, and shitcanned good. Our east-coasted siblings at Gawker have smiling CBS Corp. despot Les Moonves' announcement of the firing, who is no doubt a little annoyed that sworn NBC enemy Jeff Zucker beat him to the kill yesterday; he hates being the guy to fire the second bullet at a public execution. More » -
joel stein
Joel Stein Unclear About Why He Had A Hard Time Getting Laid As A Teen
The new issue of Time (the one that offsets the Imus Imus Imus coverage with a big "Black people: Why don't they play baseball anymore?" package) is probably worth your while—there's a really good James Poniewozik thinkpiece on, uh, Imus—but you will particularly enjoy the Joel Stein profile of Adam Brody, especially if you're one of those people in their twenties and thirties who think Joel Stein is "a god." (Richard Stengel, you so have your finger on the pulse!) More » -
media
Media Bubble: The Big Eye
- Bernie Goldberg: will bitch about CBS for food. [NYP] More »
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jeff zucker
Jeff Zucker Delicately Explains Don Imus's Shitcanning To NBC Universal Employees
We haven't exactly been eager to dive into the Don Imus controversy that has erupted since some ugly words regarding the Rutgers women's basketball team slipped from the dessicated radio host's slackened jaw. We can no longer avoid it, however, now that a reader has forwarded us an internal missive from reigning NBC Universal oligarch Jeff Zucker, explaining, with heavy Golden Boy heart, the thought process that led to the dismantling of Imus's MSNBC talk show and expulsion from the General Electric kingdom. It's not the kind of letter a chief executive ever wants to have to compose, but let's face it—these things happen, and not every every company-wide correspondence can begin with a horn-tooting intro like, "Please join us for an afternoon ice cream social in the lobby to celebrate Heroes landing at #1 in the 18-49 demo AGAIN, folks!" The e-mail, and NBC Universal's official statement, is after the jump: More » -
don imus
MSNBC Not Sure About The Future Of Imus
Our pals inside MSNBC are saying that with the loss of advertisers, radio cadaver Don Imus actually won't have a show to return to after his two-week suspension for talking about nappy-headed hos. This sounds crazy to us—just like Paris Hilton after the sex tape, now he's more famous than ever! But radio, we suppose, is sort of a business too, and they do like having ads. And if you can't get Bigelow Tea to pony up cash, well. Anyway. Someone made the point to us last night that the real question is: Maybe he'll never see guests the likes of Maureen Dowd or whatever, but will racial flame-war mistalker Joe Biden go on Imus again? That seems like the true test of something or other. Can someone ask him? Great thanks! -
media
Media Bubble: Nappy Headed Nos
- Can Don Imus maintain his moneymaking capabilities? 'Cause otherwise he's just some loudmouth hick in a hat. [NYT] More »
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don imus
Alpha Kitty Solves Whole Icky 'Racism' Thing
Prominent media figures are climbing over each other to offer their opinions on the Imus affair, but, until now, we had yet to hear from one of the most important voices of the age. It was worth the wait. More » -
don imus
Don Imus Will Have To Be Racist Off The Air For Two Weeks
Aging radio personality Don Imus received a two week suspension yesterday and compounded the damage done by his "nappy hos" remark in an awesome appearance on Al Sharpton's radio program; Sharpton hammered him for the first 90 minutes and then Imus seemed to refer to blacks as "you people" and attempted to use the word "jive." "NewsHour" correspondent Gwen Ifill, who has waited nine years to exact her revenge against the man who once called her "the cleaning lady," gets her chance this morning in the Times and does so in exquisite fashion. We're of the opinion that there'll be a continued hemming and hawing over the whole thing for a few more days and then it will be forgotten, as it always is, because, you know, he may be a bigot, but an appearance on his show does help to sell your book, and, really, isn't that what matters? Still it's all been worth it, if only for this AP photo, which we're going to have framed. More » -
new york times
'Times'—Former Imus Advertiser!—Urges Staffers To Avoid Land Of "Reckless Opinion-Mongering"
The New York Times has been all up in this Don Imus racist-talk craziness, with David Carr's fully huffy article about the show and then Maria Newman's midday update today. The New York Times formerly advertised on Imus's show—the paper was one of five major sponsors. (Others are Newsday, Simon & Schuster, Random House, and the New York Stock Exchange.) According to a Times spokeswoman, the paper "does not currently advertise on Imus in the Morning. We have not for months and have no plans to do so." Smooth timing! This morning Times standards editor Craig Whitney felt compelled to send out a communiqu to the paper's reporters reminding them that they should consider, very carefully, whether or not to make a radio, TV, or "Internet" appearance that might bring shame upon the House of Sulzberger. More » -
east hampton
Media Bubble: East Hampton 'Press' v. 'Star'
- Southampton Press, owned by entirely nutty Joseph Louchheim, begets East Hampton Press; East Hampton Star not thrilled. We say: If there are two places to read crime reports about dumb girls named Amy Kline who miss the last train back to the city and call the police, who then actually call and get them a bus back to town instead of telling them to sleep on the street, we're thrilled. [NYT] More »
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media
Don Imus Sued For Being A Paranoid Jackass
Pity the indentured servant who tries to entertain radio host Don Imus' five-year-old son. Brooklynite Nichole Mallette, 24, was terminated from her job as the Imus family nanny after being found with a tiny pocket knife and cap gun during a vacation on Imus' New Mexico ranch. Despite insisting the cap gun was for Imus' son to "play cowboy" with during their stay, Mallette was questioned, fired, and escorted off the property in the middle of the night. Mallette is now suing for wrongful termination after "Imus later announced on his program that he had been forced to 'disarm' his nanny, whom he labeled as dangerous and a 'terrorist.'" We, however, are thanking God we have Don Imus to protect us and take down the terrorists, one nanny at a time. More »
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