Some eyebrows were raised yesterday when Don Imus had this exchange, CNN reports:

Sportscaster Warner Wolf told Imus that Adam Jones wanted to change his name to disassociate himself from past legal trouble.

"He's been arrested six times since being drafted by Tennessee in 2005," Wolf said.
"What color is he?" Imus asked.

"He's African-American," Wolf responded.

"Well, there you go," Imus said. "Now we know."

There are now news reports that Don Imus will be hired by WABC in New York for their morning show. His new paycheck -- over $10 million. When you compound this with the reported $20 million payout he got from CBS when he got fired, he will have made a small fortune for getting fired. If these numbers are anywhere near true, it's an enormous reward for bad behavior.

So, Imus makes offensive comments. Imus gets $30 million. That ought to show him!

As I explain in this short video, I never thought Imus should have been fired. But I also didn't expect to get him to get millions of dollars for being an ass, either.



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After Don Imus was fired this spring as a result of racially insensitive comments, he didn't just vanish into thin air: he has hired Martin Garbus, the lawyer who defended Lenny Bruce, fielded offers from media companies, and started to lay the groundwork for what New York magazine calls his "increasingly likely if improbable comeback."

Which raises the question: What??? To say that an Imus comeback is improbable is like saying that Lindsay Lohan is sure to stay out of trouble, or that the Brad-Angelina marriage is certain to work. And it leads to today's poll question:

There were at least 20 people within sight of the shooting of seven-year-old Tajahnique Lee, but they all say they didn't see what happened. As the New York Times reports, one fellow said he was too busy attending to his young son. Another said he and his neighbors were engaged in conversation on a very important topic. The shooting occurred a year ago, but it remains unsolved because not a single witness will step forward.

So, who do you think was more deserving of being fired -- Don Imus or Michael Savage?

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How dare he?!!! Joe Scarborough mentioned a pole! I am aghast. Do people live in the same country I do? Is this the same country where Paris and Britney and Lindsay go around without their underwear on?

We have some sort of bizarre double standard in this country where some people are allowed to do anything and everything, and others aren't allowed to say anything that might be even vaguely offensive.

As you can see from the video above, all Scarborough says is, "You think she works the pole?" Because of this "outrage," conservative and liberal bloggers (his Imus moment?) have skewered him (can I say that?). Given that earlier in the show he was talking about an exercise routine involving a stripper's pole, he is clearly referring to that and not anything more salacious.

A reference to a stripper's pole is so innocuous compared to most things we see in the media today. Has anyone ever gone on the internet? Do these critics have any idea what our real "community standards" are these days?

Also, how is this sexist? Am I not allowed to talk about strippers on the air anymore because it might offend women? They exist whether we talk about them or not. Their very existence is not some sort of sexist plot by a male dominated society. They exist because men and women are attracted to one another.

Some critics seem to be touchy because the comment is about a specific person, a candidate's wife! So what? Yes, Fred Thompson's wife is younger and attractive. Good for her and definitely good for him. The wife of Democratic presidential candidate, Dennis Kucinich is also hot. If you ask me, Mrs. McCain is kind of a looker, too. And Laura is not so bad, either.

I noticed NB blogged about the Don Imus Incident, a lot so I thought I would share this video. John Gibson invited comedian Patrice O'Neal and Sonia Ossorio to talk about the current climate after the recent radio firings. The Joke in question makes Don Imus look like a saint, but be warned it's quite graphic and it may offend you.

I never imagined the day that I would watch a Fox News clip and hear an explanation for the "Donkey Punch".

Patrice O'Neal appears to be the Fox News go-to guy in regards to racism and comedy he's been invited to talk about the "Michael Richards Incident" and the "Don Imus Incident", we'll wait another week or two and see what the next "incident" is.

Down goes another radio show. "The Dog House with JV and Elvis" has just been fired by CBS Radio. This is absolutely ridiculous. They were fired for imitating an Asian accent. Under this standard, nearly every talk show host in the country would be fired.

From time to time, we do fake accents on our show -- and we will continue to do so. Firing people over this is asinine. The accent we do most often is Middle Eastern, because it's my dad's accent. Are they going to fire me for imitating my dad?

But I also do an Indian accent, a Norwegian accent, a Southern accent (usually when making fun of Republicans; I know that's a ridiculous stereotype, many of our listeners are in the South, but that's what makes it funny), etc., etc.

I also do a robot voice every once in awhile (I promise the show is not as silly as these examples seem to indicate, but for reasons I still can't quite understand people seem to like the robot voice). Am I going to be reprimanded for offending robots everywhere?

Finally, I am most proud of my Movie Phone voice. I hope that guy doesn't get a campaign started against me. If you'd like to start a protest, press 1.

Opie and Anthony just got in trouble on XM Satellite Radio for having an open conversation about sex with Laura Bush, Condoleezza Rice and Queen Elizabeth. Apparently there was violent imagery involved as well. That part is unacceptable. I'm not going to get into what the ramifications of that should be and if an apology fixes the situation.

So, this is not a judgment on XM's actions in this case, since there was a different number of issues involved. For the rest of this post, I will discuss just the sexual part of the conversation, not the part involving violence, which has a different standard -- and should.

I want to make two points about open sexual talk on-air. First, context matters. They are on satellite radio and I view that as a free speech zone. There is a rating system for parents and parental blocking system on XM. Those are responsible precautions. Because of that and the fact that it is a for-pay system, they should be allowed to have a very, wide range on any and all discussions. They can be completely racist, sexist or any other damn thing they please. As long as they don't advocate outright violence in a way that is clearly illegal, I think it is imperative that we have places where people can speak completely freely.

You never know where speech takes you sometimes. And what seems like horribly offensive speech might open up very necessary dialogue and allow you to talk about issues that are buried and not discussed in the open nearly enough. We need to have a place where adults talk without fearing offense. If you are offended, be an adult and turn the channel.

We can't censor everything based on the lowest common denominator of sensitivity. This applies to conservative thought, liberal thought or completely non-political thought. You don't need the concept of freedom of speech to protect pleasant speech, you need it to protect speech that might be and is offensive to some.

Second, talking about sex with public officials should be completely inside the bounds on satellite radio. We used to do it all the time when we were exclusively on Sirius Satellite Radio (we are now in national syndication on local radio stations and XM satellite radio). We would often ask questions like (don't read further if you are easily offended by the idea of sex): Who would you rather do: Laura Bush or Condoleezza Rice?

Should all Muslims be looked upon with suspicion because of the radical ideology of some Muslims? This might seem like a no-brainer to most of us, but some people actually make the argument that we should be wary of all Muslims because of the actions of a few, like the idiots who were planning to attack Fort Dix.

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I'm not a fan of Mitt Romney. His televangelist looks alone make me uneasy. Then there's also that nasty flip-flop habit.

But I can't deny that I'm happy to see the Romney camp call out Al Sharpton on what certainly sounds like an anti-Mormon comment. Here it is:

"As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyways, so don't worry about that; that's a temporary situation," Sharpton said during a debate with [Christopher] Hitchens at the New York Public Library.

Not everyone in America signed on to Sharpton's elevation to National Moral Arbiter during last month's Imus imbroglio. (The news networks, on the other hand, were happy to acquiesce. That Tawana Brawley messiness was wiped from the record in an instant.)

"In no way did I attack Mormons or the Mormon Church when I responded that other believers, not atheists, would vote against Mr. Romney for purely political reasons," Sharpton said.

Last month Sharpton insisted, when asked if Imus was bigot, that he couldn't know what was in Don Imus' heart - i.e., perception matters as much intent. Fair enough.

Well then, all we have to go on are Sharpton's words and how they sound. And they certainly sound, um, bigoted.

Everyone knows that Don Imus wasn't the only radio host to make borderline offensive comments about race. Just last week, two disc jockeys from 92.3 Free in New York, JV and Elvis, were suspended after a crank call to a Chinese restaurant. And for years, other prominent radio personalities have toed the line of racial stereotype, sometimes clearly parodying intolerance, sometimes participating in it. In fact, during the Imus controversy, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann detailed some of the other comments: Rush Limbaugh calling Barack Obama a "halfrican-American," Neal Boortz saying that Cynthia McKinney looked like a "ghetto slut." Now, the fickle finger has landed on Limbaugh again, as a result of a parody song that he played on his show in mid-March called "Barack the Magic Negro." (The phrase, Magic Negro, originated in an L.A. Times Op/Ed piece.) Should all racial matter, parodic or satirical or critical or otherwise, be cleared from the airwaves? Where are the lines? Who gets to draw them? Is there any such thing as a nonpolitical definition of offensive speech?


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I'm tempted to put together a Handbook of Racial and Ethnic Humor. It would have chapters on Mexicans, native Americans, Asian Indians, Hispanics and Blacks. Remind me if I'm missing anyone, because consistent with the principles of the Civil Rights Act I aspire to be an equal-opportunity social critic, a nondiscriminatory ethnic offender. I want to let everyone have it and I don't want to leave any group out. Why? Because this country, which was once far too uptight about sex, is now far too uptight about race.

The Don Imus incident was one thing, because he picked on specific individuals. But now look at the two New York radio hosts who have been suspended for making a prank phone call to a Chinese restaurant. The two DJs spoke of Asians as having hot, spicy bodies. They attempted to order lice from the menu. They bragged about their prowess at kung fu. All of this was broadcast on "The Dog House with JV and Elvis," a mid-morning show on the CBS-owned station WFNY. Sure enough, the Organzation for Chinese Americans, putting on its best Al Sharpton imitation, has demanded apologies and retribution. And sure enough CBS Radio has sent the two DJs home and is doing it's best to do public repentance.

Enough with all this nonsense. Yes, we need civil debate in this country. But we also need a wide space for freewheeling satire and social criticism and yes, even ethnic humor. Many people automatically assume that such humor will intensify racism, but it's equally plausible that it would diffuse racism by providing a relatively harmless outlet for it. Besides, the taboo nature of ethnic humor makes it the funniest type of humor in America today. Most really good comics already know this.

So call up a friend. Tell him or her a really good ethnic joke. Then both of you laugh like hell. It's a small thing, but it's also a declaration of independence from political correctness. Then email the invertebrates at CBS Radio and tell them to give the the two DJs their jobs back.