NAACP, Sharpton Want Racist Radio DJs Fired Even After Apology

By Quibian Salazar-Moreno

      During a recent show white veteran radio personality Don Imus referred to the women’s Rutgers basketball team as “nappy-headed hoes”. He continued to disrespect the team, along with his producer Bernard McGuirk, by calling the women “jiggaboos and wannabees” on his live radio show on WFAN in New York which is televised through MSNBC. The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and the NAACP have called for a boycott of Imus, his radio show, his radio station, WFAN and MSNBC until he and his producer are fired.

      Apparently Imus apologized on Friday saying, "It was completely inappropriate, and we can understand why people were offended. Our characterization was thoughtless and stupid, and we are sorry.”

      Folks still want him fired regardless.

      Al Sharpton called for Imus to be fired even though he is expected to be on Sharpton’s radio show today. Sharpton said he will still hold his position.

      "Somewhere we must draw the line in what is tolerable in mainstream media," Sharpton told the Associated Press on Sunday. "We cannot keep going through offending us and then apologizing and then acting like it never happened. Somewhere we’ve got to stop this."

      "Has he lost his mind?" asked NABJ President Bryan Monroe, vice president and editorial director for Ebony and Jet magazines in Chicago on Friday. "Those comments were beyond offensive. Imus needs to be fired. Today."

      "As NABJ strives to dispel stereotypes and promote accurate portrayals of minorities in the media, we find this characterization of these young black women offensive and hateful," added Barbara Ciara, NABJ vice president/broadcast and managing editor at WTKR in Norfolk.

      Imus has been on the air since 1968 and was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1989. In 2002, Talkers Magazine named Imus as one of the greatest talk radio show hosts of all time. Howard Stern and Don Imus have had beef since the 1980’s and was documented in Stern’s film Private Parts.