Imus Returns With New Diversity Twist

By: Paul Lim
College Press Staff Writer


After the fallout from referring to the Rutgers women’s basketball team as “Nappy Headed Hos”, Radio Personality Don Imus made his return to radio after being fired from CBS Radio on April 12, 2007.  The “Imus In The Morning” program previously was aired on 70 stations nationwide and on MSNBC.

Imus resurfaced on WABC in New York City where he spoke to a live audience regarding his time out of the business, reflecting on the issue that got him fired, and the future for Don Imus.

While the radio DJ may say “the program is not going to change”, he has added two African-American cast members to the show.  Karith Foster and Tony Powell, both black comedians, were added to speak on diversity issues.

Rev. Al Sharpton, a strong critic of Imus, says of the new “sidekicks”, “The fact that he now has a black sidekick and that he's on delay, clearly may speak of some of the measures that his new employers have put in to make sure that there's not a repeat offense.”

He adds, "Imus was fired. The move to hold people accountable was won," Sharpton continues, "whether he can, in the course of time, redeem himself, time will tell."

Imus began with an apology, describing the aftermath of the statements like a recovery, with an emphasis of trying to make things better – likening it to alcohol or drug recovery.  He says, "We now have the opportunity to have a better program, to obviously diversify the cast. That just makes sense. ... I will never say anything in my lifetime that will make any of these young women at Rutgers regret or feel foolish that they accepted my apology and forgave me."

C. Vivian Stringer, coach of the Rutgers women’s basketball team referred to his apology as “appropriate” and offers, “Hooray for him, and let us do our thing,” according to the AP.

Of the events that occurred after the “Nappy Headed Hos” controversy, Imus says, "I don't know if it's melodramatic to describe it as a life-changing experience, but it was pretty close. I was there to try to save my life."

Afterwards, he went right back into his regular-type banter, “Not much has changed. Dick Cheney is still a war criminal, Hillary Clinton is still Satan and I'm back on the radio.”

According to WABC Program Director Phil Boyce, WABC and four other Citadel stations, along with 17 other stations will air Imus’ new radio show.  Included in Imus’ first lineup were presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin and Presidential Hopefuls Rep. Christopher Dodd (D-CT) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).