Media
Fossil Fool
How Imus makes the case for ageism in TV
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OUT TO PASTURE Ask not for whom the cowbell tolls...
Don Imus is finished, and we all know what that means: The Imus comeback is just around the corner. If Mel Gibson can rally after blaming Jews for all the world's wars, a few nappy-headed hos can't stop radio's original bad boy from rising again. It's only a matter of time before the craggy-faced, mush-mouthed serial offender finds a new home—perhaps on satellite radio, where standards are looser and advertiser boycotts aren't such a threat. When he does return, it will be to cheers from those who consider him a victim of political correctness.
When he uttered those three words that landed him in so much trouble, for once Imus wasn't trying to sound controversial. He was trying, transparently and rather pathetically, to sound coolThat's too bad, because CBS Radio and MSNBC were right to rid themselves of Imus—but not for the obvious reasons. Imus has always been a bigot. The difference is now, at 66, he's too old to realize when he sounds like one.
Imus's record leaves little doubt that he, like a lot of people who grew up before the civil rights movement, harbors some pretty unenlightened views on black people (and Jews, gays, women, dwarves, etc.). But when he uttered those three words that landed him in so much trouble, for once Imus wasn't trying to sound controversial. He was trying, transparently and rather pathetically, to sound cool.
Imus didn't use just any language to disparage the Rutgers Lady Knights. He did it in the unseemly pose of an aged white suburbanite co-opting black slang. "Ho" is a word most white Americans became familiar with only after it started turning up in hip-hop lyrics in the early '90s, while "nappy-headed" is a term used overwhelmingly by black people in reference to themselves. When it came time to defend himself, Imus dipped deep into his shoe polish jar of black idiom, imploring Al Sharpton to stop talking "jive" and referring to himself as a "cracker." Another 20 minutes on Sharpton's rack and we might have gotten a "fo' shizzle."
Defending Imus in the Los Angeles Times, Michael Harrison, editor of the radio-industry trade publication Talkers, more or less acknowledged that the I-man was guilty of trying to talk "street": "'Bitch' and 'ho' are so prevalent in music, radio, television and the movies these days that it's reached the point where white people think it's okay to say these things," he said. "It's like a game of musical chairs where they stopped playing the music and the spotlight happened to be on him."
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ANTIQUES ROADSHOW The golden oldies of broadcasting
But it was no accident that it was Imus, rather than one of his competitors, who fell into this trap. The other shock jocks out there don't look like the Old Man of the Mountain. They don't have rat's nest eyebrows and children who are old enough to host their own radio programs. Howard Stern, a veritable elder statesman of the genre at 53, rose to national fame in his early 30s; the same was true for Gregg "Opie" Hughes and Anthony Cumia. At 44 and 45, they're not kids anymore, but they're tuned in enough to know that what a black person might be able to get away with saying about other black people will sound less than high-larious coming from an elderly white rancher in a cowboy hat.
If Imus doesn't stand out more, it's because the broadcasting business is crawling with geriatrics who remain on the air embarrassing their viewers and themselves long after their sell-by dates have passedWith his feathered glam-rock hair and acid-wash jackets, Imus may be fooling himself into thinking he's still young enough to carry off a mid-life crisis, but we should know better. If he doesn't stand out more, it's because the broadcasting business is crawling with geriatrics who remain on the air embarrassing their viewers and themselves long after their sell-by dates have passed. At 88, Andy Rooney is still a regular on 60 Minutes, grousing about those pesky female sports reporters and other absurdities of modern life (computers—who needs 'em?!). But at least Rooney's is an honest perspective. Larry King and Barbara Walters, on the other hand, avoid fogeyism by withholding judgment and reflecting back (albeit in a wrinkly mirror) all that is most worthless and vapid in American culture. Alleged diaper-wearer King recently admitted that only the onset of senile dementia could convince him to retire; he failed to explain how anyone will be able to tell the difference. As for Walters, her gauzy obsession with celebrity love lives is downright icky for a woman born in 1929.
Then there's Dan Rather, whose career-ending humiliation serves as a cautionary tale, proving that he who refuses to exit gracefully is bound to go out disgracefully. Perhaps if Rather hadn't been so desperate to demonstrate his vigor, he could have taken more time to train his bifocals on those bogus National Guard documents.
In the print media, it's an article of faith that the composition of a publication's staff should mirror the demographics of its intended audience. Everyone understands that if you want to reach readers in their 20s and 30s, you have to hire writers and editors in that age group—even if that means journalists over 50 have to sweat job security. Yet obsessed as TV news executives are with hitting the demo—viewers 22 to 54—they just can't bring themselves to give up the superannuated talents in whose brands they've invested so many years and dollars and who continue to attract large numbers of loyal, if equally desiccated, viewers.
Don Imus isn't too old to talk about politics or serious books, or to read the weather. But he's probably too old to be talking, with any credibility, about most of what passes for pop culture these days, or even, apparently, sports. And he's definitely too old to be trying to mimic the speech patterns of kids who grew up watching MTV. It would be nice if, after three decades on the air, Imus stopped impersonating an arrested adolescent and started acting his age. It would be nicer if he skipped the inevitable comeback attempt and put himself out to pasture. Maybe he could even find some acreage on that sprawling ranch for all the other over-the-hill talking heads, and save them the humiliation of growing obsolete in public.
Related: Don Imus, Media
Posted by: VelvetStaccato on April 13, 2007 12:15 PM
One day in the future, some youngster will be calling for Jeff Bercovici to be led to the Soylent Green factory, and hopefully he'll go quietly, that's the beauty of life itself. Until then, youth must be served, preferably with a nice sauce and some side dishes.
Posted by: Cosmo Lupertazzi on April 13, 2007 2:18 PM
One day in the future, some youngster will be calling for Jeff Bercovici to be led to the Soylent Green factory, and hopefully he'll go quietly, that's the beauty of life itself. Until then, youth must be served, preferably with a nice sauce and some side dishes.
Posted by: Cosmo Lupertazzi on April 13, 2007 3:01 PM
i for one am an imus fan. i do not agree with his comment, but i do believe its being blown way out there. i mean come on! whatever happened to sticks and stones? i heard on one show how he ruined their future careers because he caused so much hurt to them and their self esteem. i say bullshit. if that ruins their self esteem and dignity, what one crochety old fart mutters, then they need help also. not only don imus. do people forget how much this man has done for others? men, women, blacks, whites, especially children of all races, and now he gets caught offending somebody and loses his job, dignity, and is humiliated. i say enough is enough! let the man alone, he said he was sorry to these ladies over and over, now let it lay. i think next time i hear a black man rapping a song and when he calls names or makes racist remarks towards women i will find me a gutsy lawyer and sue the hell out of him. i have that right huh? GET OVER IT PEOPLE!
Posted by: sassy43 on April 13, 2007 4:55 PM
and also, what about the rev. sharpton? rev. jesse jackson? i thought christianity was about foregivness? the ladies forgave imus, why cant these guys? and why were they so offended? cause they are nappy headed too? i cannot stand these guys, one causes race riots, never said he was sorry to the accused, falsely accused i might add, and what about jesse jackson and his remarks about the jews? its a double standard where these men are concerned. some of us (non blacks)get sick and tired of these two men riding on their high horses, thinking they are so much better than anybody, well they arent, they are human also, and not without faults. get new lives men, because we are sick of you protesting everytime a white person farts in the direction of a black person.
Posted by: sassy43 on April 13, 2007 5:01 PM
SOMEBODY HIRE THE I-MAN! WE MISS HIM!
Posted by: sassy43 on April 13, 2007 5:03 PM
Interesting. I just heard Dick Gregory (have you heard of him Jeff? he used to hang with Miles Davis and Lenny Bruce who maybe you have heard of,some old fossils who were hip when it meant something) anyway, he remarked that Imus was one of the coolest guys he'd ever met. So on an off day Imus makes a stupid remark, I thought it was a line from a Spike Lee movie, anyway it was lame and pathetic to refer to those girls like that. however it seems that the sooooo cool members of the current witchhunt are thin skinned, self-rightous and so brilliantly enlightened. Give me a break. How long are you going to try to hang on to what ever job you will be very lucky to have if you survive to 66? Oh that will be different because you will still be so cool. Has anyone that is so deeply offended by Imus read William Burroughs? Oh right just another old white fossil
Posted by: lilybloom on April 13, 2007 11:03 PM
Lilybloom: First, "nappy-headed hos" wasn't from a Spike Lee movie. Bernard McGuirk's line about the "jigaboos versus the wannabees" was.
Also, Lenny Bruce was 40 when he died. Maybe not the best example of a hip old fossil.
Posted by: Moon Over My Hammy on April 14, 2007 11:24 AM
You are right moon over myhammy,was it Snoop dogg? My point aboutBruce was in reference to Jeff lumping Imus with a stereotyped group who grew up before the civil rights movement and harbor "some pretty unenlightened views on black people..."In that sense he is a hipster fossil also.
Posted by: lilybloom on April 14, 2007 5:14 PM
This article was a bunch of ageist crap. But of course hate speech toward older americans, fat americans, short americans and (somewhat) gay americans is okay. Bercovici is digging his own grave. I hope someone saves this article and sticks it in his wrinkled face one day as he's fired for being too old.
Posted by: Writerman on April 16, 2007 7:30 AM
Jeff,
I'll say it in your own vernacular. You sir, are a fucking asshole. (I'm guessing you hear that a lot?)
Posted by: Rick in Duxbury on April 16, 2007 10:11 PM
Remember to include the Irreverend Jackson and Al Sharpton when you write about people making comebacks after making racisit remarks.
Posted by: junkbarn on October 12, 2007 3:10 PM
I heard Pat Robertson stuttering away at this the other night (because he's SUCH an authority on rap culture and African Americans, ya know) and he was basically attempting to place the blame on rappers use of offensive language in the same context of Imus' offensive languageg. He had the audacity to say "Why haven't guys like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton stepped up the rappers and demanded that the radio stations stop playing songs with lyrics like those?", to which David Gregory of Hardball replied, "Sir, they've both been on those campaigns for years!" (And never mind that the stations that DO play it censor the hell out of those songs to remove such lyrics. BET even goes so far as to block out emblems on shirts if they appear to be gang or drug-related logos on them)!
Yes, current hip hop is different in that it glorifies something other than the love of the music and the culture. It's all diamond, chicks & money-driven and not socially-driven like it was when you and I first discovered it. But to place Imus' comments in the same context as that of a rapper (who Imus has vilified for YEARS, as far back as 1997 when we first started watching him, rappers that call women hoes and bitches and the like) is just plain wrong. He also purports that his show is comedy, not news, but he has a regular feature on his show in which he reviews the daily news/sports/etc., so he's full of it. He IS a news outlet which is why he's on MSNBC and not Comedy Central.
Imus is a grown man. If he is indeed as smart as he pretends, he should know better than to refer to women, regardless of race, as hoes. Period!
The fact is, I don't think he is a racist. I think he might have a bit of an issue with booze and the powder, but not a malicious or even intentional racist! Having had to endure many mornings of his icker, I have witnessed his generosity to children, African-American children included, and have seen him lambaste politicians and the like for a host of social issues on race and religion upon which he and I agree. However, I have also heard him lambaste rappers and athletes for their misogynistic treatment and portrayals of women about as many times as I've heard Jesse Jackson do the same has over the last decade. So, for him to continually present himself as this fair, intelligent, comedian/news/radio personality with such a big heart and a an all-around great guy is just bullshit.
Did he need to be fired from MSNBC? I don't know; that's their decision to make and they made it. But I do think that no one needs to be allowed access to a medium as large as MSNBC to spew sexist and racially derogatory insults at ANYONE. On the same note, I was actually hoping he wouldn't get fired from his CBS radio show. He has provoked so much intelligent dialogue in my home that I can't even begin to put him in the same category as Rush Limbaugh, who somehow manages to continue spewing his racist, sexist, sexual orientation hate speech on air, or that less than human Michael Savage, who goes on air and wishes AIDS and death upon gay people.
Imus says stupid things and there is clearly a place for people saying stupid things on the radio, so in the spirit of fairness, I was hoping CBS wouldn't take his show. I fear that by doing so, it will become more difficult for him to continue his charity work with children and will make him an unintentional martyr to those who believe the nasty things he said that day.
I hope the girls from the Rutgers team can get on about the business of being the reasonable, talented young ladies they appear to be and that Mr. Imus does a lot of soul-searching and realizes that, just because you're reverting back to childhood, it doesn't give you a right to say mean things without having to face some sort of major negative consequences!
I believe highly that he should be reprimanded for his words, but am all about understanding and forgiving. I may never really understand him but I do forgive him. He's still a human and we are all flawed!!!
Jane; "the tall Black chick" (as I'm known here around my office) ;-)