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These were not the guys whose words or styles of expression would be echoed at office water coolers. These were Runyanesque characters with knowledge of the New York landscape who sounded more like the people you would hear being cynical, sardonic, bitter, and yes, funny, in a newspaper office on TV newsroom in the days before political correctness when news jobs were considered just on the windy side of respectability.
Imus and his crowd indulged in "M.A.S.H." humor aimed at celebrities, particularly those in the New York sports market, and pulled no punches. On the contrary, they competed among each other to see who could be the most cutting and outrageous. They laughed at each other, from what I liked to consider their breakfast-time barstools, probably really kitchens and in-home offices, and those who enjoyed their style of blather laughed with them.
"Imus in the Morning" never sought safety or taste or good fellowship even among themselves. The sought to entertain and show off a brand of wit that had been attracting audiences of different scopes in different quantities for decades. They probably meant harm in the way any really worthwhile satirist or street wit would, but they did no damage. Words may be considered weapons today, but in actuality, "sticks and stones" remains the rule by which genuine hurt is measured.
So, Imus and cronies are sitting in their comfy chairs one day, mikes on, MSNBC cameras recording the unstructured mayhem, and Imus blurts one of the dozens of juvenile ripostes he would deliver that week. The NCAA women's basketball finals are that week, and women basketball players, already a comic stereotype of long standing, are the grist for Imus's nasty comment mill. Rutgers is the team most local to New York, where Imus has had his greatest personal success and where the audience is probably exponentially greater than in any other region of the country, so he mentions the Rutgers team as opposed to Tennessee's or some other contenders.
The phrase he uses doesn't apply to every member of the Rutgers team, even as a stereotype, but Imus isn't really interested in commenting on Rutgers. He is using Rutgers, women's basketball, and a riff about the tournament to make a joke.
Then joke will be in his usual style. Others in his mob will piggyback on it or not. It will go generally unnoticed. Until, that is, someone or some group, decides to take umbrage and play a game Eric Berne described in the '60s as "Uproar."
Of the thousands of meaningless-to-him, curmudgeonly things Imus has said, this one gets attention. Oh, not when it's said. And not to Imus's core audience, who by now knows how to put his utterances into perspective. Days later, when the game of "Uproar" can be orchestrated and Imus's joke can be escalated into a great insult of high-achieving young womanhood and a racist slur of crushingly monumental proportions.
And who will take this game of "Uproar" to its extreme? None other than that honorable citizen who gained his first fame as the outraged perpetrator of the Tawana Brawley hoax, the Rev. Al Sharpton.
The soap opera begins. From soapboxes, protest rings. "Imus has gone too far, He's a racist. He's a joykiller who ruined the wonderful accomplishment of the Rutgers team. He must be removed from the air."
For Sharpton, this is meat. He has his next mission, and what a feather to bring down a media star as famous as Don Imus. The pursuit will be relentless. Word about Imus's outrageous comment that, when said, outraged no one, will spread. Demands will be made, and another victory will be scored for the decent Sharpton and followers to want to erase Imus's kind of bigotry and racial slur from the air.
The soap opera and soap box are joined by the soap sellers. Proctor & Gamble, which has supported and played in many a melodrama, say they are pulling their advertising from Imus's show and from MSNBC altogether. General Motors will follow suit. MSNBC is about to lose about eight percent of it's overall advertising revenue.
Don Imus, with decreasing ratings and dwindling radio clearances, is not worth that.
Time, MSNBC says, to practice "integrity." With its employees allegedly clambering for Imus's ouster, and decency, oh and "integrity" on the line, MSNBC suspends Imus for two weeks and eventually cancels his program.
Not, of course, until the ultimate soap opera can be enacted, an on-air meeting between Imus and Sharpton, in which the radio host can be contrite and apologetic, and Sharpton can decide what he will do in return, as if that wasn't predictable.
He would, of course, be intractable, holier than even his title of reverend allows. He'd shake his head, talk about the great harm Imus had wrought, talk about those poor women at Rutgers who had their joy and esteem snatched from them, and he would not forgive. How could he when what Imus said was so unforgivable?
If Will Smith or Chris Rock said it, it might be all right. If P. Diddy or someone more current in rap said it and added a few lines about killing policemen, raping "sisters," and beating up gays, that's OK. But Imus went too far, and he besmirched the flower of athletic womanhood in ways that would resonate and poison the cultural landscape for years to come.
As I am fond of saying, "Spare me the respectable!" That includes CBS radio which, in its own fit of integrity on Thursday, also sent Imus packing.
The Imus incident is another step in activists taking a molehill - nay, I exaggerate - a speck of dust and turning into a mountain.
The phrase Imus used is barely offensive and can be heard in one form or another by comics on Comedy Central, BET, or even primetime. It's a dig, and undeserved by the Rutgers women, but it's also innocuous and wasn't really directed at anyone but an audience whom Imus believed he could depend on for a laugh. After all, if you are listening to Imus at all, it's a fair guess to say you are entertained by him.
Orchestrated outrage and cowardice in the name of integrity abound here. MSNBC was obviously knuckling under to advertisers, a fair thing for them to do, by the way, as long as they don't couch their action in "integrity." CBS ran on the tide of public opinion that was 50-50 but would make the Cyclops appear more "decent" and "correct" if it went with the "50" in the politically correct camp.
Al Sharpton is a sharpie. Imus's notch on his belt just gives him more power to play his game again. I'm sure he'll be listening to see what might outrage him days after the fact from Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, and Bill O'Reilly. Meanwhile, we should all remember Tawana Brawley and what Sharpton perpetrated there.
Or which side he took when a few lacrosse players from Duke were charged with rape, a charge that was discredited on the day MSNBC announced it was dumping Don Imus immediately and permanently.
Don Imus needs no defense. His act was his act. He was - is - an entertainer who found success with a particular format and lived on it for years. He probably won't retire. With publicity like this, he could find an audience, and protesters can be good for raising awareness of an appearance in a market. Meanwhile, he's made millions on which to live and has the camp in the West for young men who need some help in finding their way in life. He aided in his own demise, but it was the willingness of the press and public and the cowardice of Proctor & Gamble, MSNBC, and CBS that allowed the greater villain, Al Sharpton and his claim to moral superiority to win.
My true belief is P&G and MSNBC wanted to find a way to curtail Imus's place on their schedule anyhow. This incident provided them the opportunity. I've worked in broadcasting for too long to believe any move made has even a smidge to do with "integrity."
As for the Rutgers team, it is sad they had to have their moments of glory tainted, but my sympathy diminishes when I see the teammates willing to be victimized by the taint. They should have shrugged and said, "Screw you" to Imus and Sharpton. The most pathetic moment in this whole affair, even more cringeworthy that watching Imus grovel to Sharpton, was hearing the teammates talk about how "all of their victory was lost," etc. You see, sharpies like Sharpton, and soap opera merchants like broadcasters will even bring the innocent to the place of slaughter to play in their melodrama.
My sympathy for Imus is smaller than it seems here. My sympathy for integrity, in its most sincere and genuine form, is unbounded.
