The Obligatory Imus Post
From black (yes, I know that shouldn't matter, blah blah blah) erstwhile ESPN columnist Jason Whitlock
It's embarrassing. Dave Chappelle was offered $50 million to make racially insensitive jokes about black and white people on TV. He was hailed as a genius. Black comedians routinely crack jokes about white and black people, and we all laugh out loud.
I'm no Don Imus apologist [...] Imus is a hack.
But, in my view, he didn't do anything outside the norm for shock jocks and comedians. He also offered an apology. That should've been the end of this whole affair.
I, half-seriously, posit the difference is that Dom Imus isn't funny.
Discuss.
(via candid)
If Don Imus would have flashed a boob/tit, then I would have fired him. I can't wait till the FCC chimes in and calculates how much this should cost him.
Posted by: Doug on April 13, 2007 12:25 PM | permalinkI'm still trying to figure out how what Imus said was racist. In poor taste, for sure. Rude and insulting to the Rutgers squad, yes. Racist? I'm just not sure about that.
Now what I've read about his "posse", they seem racist...
Posted by: Kearns on April 13, 2007 12:48 PM | permalinkIts an age thing.
You can't look at someone his age and hear things like what he said without thinking about how they grew up. In other words, its ok for Dave to say things since he's young and hip - but Imus comes across like a dirty old man.
A 20 year old guy talking dirty to a 18 year old girl is much different than a 70 year old man talking dirty to a 18 year old girl.
Posted by: Bubba on April 13, 2007 4:38 PM | permalinkYeah, that is interesting.
I definitely would look strangely at an older white guy saying "That's My Nigga For Real", but with Eminem I hardly flinch.
Posted by: Joe Grossberg on April 13, 2007 7:28 PM | permalinkWhen did Eminem say, "That's my nigga for real"?
Posted by: ChuckJerry on April 14, 2007 1:02 PM | permalinkLet's get one thing straight. There's only one reason why Imus was ultimately fired -- advertisers were pulling out. Imus hurt his cause by not shutting the hell up after his apology, but CBS would have held on to him if his advertisers had stayed.
Posted by: Steve M on April 14, 2007 1:59 PM | permalinkJerry:
He has a song with that name: http://www.lyricsdownload.com/eminem-that-s-my-nigga-for-real-lyrics.html
Posted by: Joe Grossberg on April 14, 2007 5:14 PM | permalinkFuck Imus. They should have shit-canned his leathery ass decades ago. Besides, now he'll just go spend his pile of money.
Posted by: Tyler on April 15, 2007 6:24 PM | permalinkI think it was probably two things: First is the last straw bit, second is that it wasn't general racism/sexism against theoretical black people and women, but rather targetted at specific persons. I think we (the culture) find that less acceptable. Sort of the inverse of "present company accepted" or "No offense but..."
Once the firestorm began the advertisers no longer believed it was in their interest to support/be associated with his priveledged communications channel. At that point it was over for him.
In regards to the last straw thing, I think the culture doesn't so much react to everything it finds offensive, but tends to make examples out of an occasional person to place a sign post of what it doesn't like. I'm not suggesting a master plan or conspiricy just people are usually lazy but sometimes they react (and are sheep).
Posted by: Nephlm on April 16, 2007 11:44 AM | permalinkI agree with Nephlm, people are lazy and stupid (I find that they're both better explanations for people's behavior than greed, etc.)
But I think the Imus thing snowballed so much because: a)He kept apologizing because his first one seemed inadequate, but subsequent ones more so. And b)His show is a hybrid Howard Stern meets Meet the Press. If Chris Rock or Dave Chappelle were interviewing very influential politicians and journalists (and NOT on HBO, as the Chris Rock Show was) then I think more people would question their comments when they come close to the line, wherever that is.
Yes, "he didn't do anything outside the norm for shock jocks and comedians" but Imus, not only wasn't funny, but he made the comment in the context of referring to the news of the day -- the NCAA women's basketball championship. Perhaps if he had done it in a character, as he did when he called Gwen Ifill the NY Times' cleaning lady, he could have gotten away with it because it was done strictly in a comedy context.
This time, the comment straddled the line between comedy and news too closely for many.
Posted by: Danny G on April 16, 2007 3:31 PM | permalinkIt looks to me like "That's My Nigga For Real" is a song by Young Zee, which is miscredited to Eminem online.. it's an album track from the 8 Mile soundtrack, but it's not one of Em's tracks.
Young Zee is affiliated with Em so Em might have a cameo on it? But I doubt Em would have said "nigga" on it cuz he's generally meticulous about avoiding it.
I actually don't think Dave Chappelle or Chris Rock's material is similar at all. They might use similar individual words but the ideas expressed, the meaning and intent behind the words, it is wholly different. The Snoop Dogg comparisons, though also imperfect, make a lot more sense than the Dave or Chris.
Posted by: Jay Smooth on April 28, 2007 10:05 AM | permalinkJay:
Good call on the Eminem bit.
I will say that, speaking as a Jew, I feel a lot different if someone Jewish (from Howard Stern to Larry David) makes fun of Jews than I do when gentiles do so.
Of course, Imus called them "nappy headed hos", not "nappy headed niggers" -- and did so right after saying the Tennessee girls looked good.
But yeah, I think the (oversimplified) notion that black people can say some things that white people "can't" is valid to a degree.
Posted by: Joe Grossberg on April 28, 2007 2:18 PM | permalinkNo more comments! Either someone has violated Godwin's Law, I'm tired of the discussion or, most likely, the ten-week window has closed. You can, however, contact me through email.