Imus Fired from TV & Radio Show

Now that they fired Don Imus for calling women on the Rutgers' Women Basketball team "nappy headed hoes," I wonder if CBS is going to fire all the radio executives and give back the millions they make off the racism and sexism that is gangsta rap?

For instance, CBS' urban radio stations aired the 2005 Oscar winning song "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" from the movie Hustle & Flow thousands of times. The reason I pick on this song (though I could choose hundreds of others) is that it won an Oscar while calling women "hoes" four times, not to mention all the other expletives about women it has (see it's lyrics here, but be warned).

Imus gets fired for saying a word that black men say repeatedly about white and black women and are then rewarded for it with an Oscar! CBS gives us a dictionary definition for hypocrite.

Let's examine this a little deeper. Why is it OK for black rappers to say the same racist and sexist words and worse, but when a white talk show host says it one time he's fired? Why can the word "ho" be said thousands of times by rappers on the same airwaves with no repercussions that Imus' said it on?

Is it wrong for him because he's white, or because it's deplorable to say those words about anyone? Either it's wrong, racist and sexist for EVERYONE to call women "hoes," regardless of their race or gender, or there must be a significant difference between rappers and Don Imus?

If you say it's OK for the rapers, the question is why? Because they're black or merely "expressing themselves?" If you think that, you're a sexist who believes it's OK for men to demean women as long as they're black or "describing the reality of life in the 'hood."

If you say it's wrong for Imus but not them, you're an anti-white racist, which is what I think is at the core of this episode.

Personally, while his words AND the words of the song are appalling, offensive and should never be spoken of any woman, I think this is happening to Imus because he's a white man talking about black women.

If Imus was a black rapper talking about black women or even white women, this NEVER would've hit the news and if a good enough drumbeat played in the background he may even have received an Oscar for it.

Now, if there are certain rules for one race (in this case, whites) that another race (i.e., blacks) can break without penalty, what's that called? Does it have a name? It does. It's called discrimination on the basis of race.

I agree with Jesse Lee Peterson. The only way men like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton can continue to exist is by making it look like racism is thriving just as much as it was in the 1800's. Therefore, they actively look for white people to ruin, and say nothing when blacks do the same thing--just like they did the 3 Duke lacrosse players who had their charges dropped today. Do you think Sharpton's going to apologize to them anytime soon?

Also, I think the news media and ESPN are complicit in both cases because they stand on the side of being politically-correct rather than true (as an aside, I'll be interested to see if they spin Imus into their tribute to Jackie Robinson this weekend).

This episode is another in a long line of evidence that demonstrates all racists are not created equal. Jackson, Sharpton and a myriad of rappers are some of the most bigotted racists in America. The only difference is, their anti-white racism is socially acceptable.

Bottom Line: Either it's wrong for every single person on the planet to call women "hoes," like the Rutgers' coach said in her press conference, or there's a double standard based on race. It seems to me that our culture lets you can call any race of woman any racist and sexist thing you want as long as you're not white.