Don Imus Controversy April 11, 2007
Posted by erinsull in race, sports, stereotypes.trackback
I don’t know if people have been following the Don Imus controversy but its big in the sports world right now. Basically on his show “Imus in the Morning”, he described the Rutgers basketball team who just played for the national title as “nappy headed hos”. This is obviously offensive on so many levels. He has apologized as public figures are known to do after making stupid racist/sexist comments. Mel Gibson and Michael Richards taught us all about that earlier this year. It has sparked a pretty intense debate with some, like the National Association of Black Journalists and Al Sharpton, calling for his immediate firing while others cite free speech and say there should be no consequences. What he got was a two week suspension. Espn.com has already gotten 1,000 reader comments about this controversy. It has people talking.
There are many more editorials and player/coach/fan reactions about this on espn.com. I recommend giving it a look.
One thing to note, ESPN did a poll asking whether Imus should keep his job. The majority of voters said he should…
There’s a page on wikipedia that has all of the controversial racial/sexual stuff he’s said: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_controversial_Don_Imus_quotes_on_women_and_minorities\
That’s more than mildly disturbing…