Don Imus Benched Two Weeks for Racial Comments

by Allie's Gone Hollywood on 10/04/07 at 10:59am
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Radio host Don Imus, suspended for two weeks for calling the Rutgers female basketball players “nappy-headed hos,” called the punishment appropriate Tuesday but stressed, “I am not a racist.”

“What I did was make a stupid, idiotic mistake in a comedy context,” Imus said on his show Tuesday morning, the final week before his suspension starts.

Asked by NBC “Today” host Matt Lauer if he could clean up his act as he promised on Monday, he said, “Well, perhaps I can’t.” But he added, “I have a history of keeping my word.”

The radio host tried to shift some of the focus from himself, saying, “that phrase originated in the black community. … I may be a white man, but I know that these young women and young black women all through that society are demeaned and degraded by their own black men and that they are called that name.”

Imus said his staff had been trying to set up a meeting with the Rutgers players to apologize, but he said he didn’t expect forgiveness. Of the two-week suspension by MSNBC and CBS Radio, he said: “I think it’s appropriate, and I am going to try to serve it with some dignity.”

Members of the Rutgers team and coach C. Vivian Stringer planned to speak publicly about the comments later Tuesday.

The Rev. Al Sharpton also appeared on “Today” and called the suspension “not nearly enough. I think it is too little, too late.” He said presidential candidates and other politicians should refrain from going on Imus’ show in the future.