AP reports MSNBC has decided to dump Don Imus. The cable news network will no longer simulcast "Imus in the Morning" amid growing outrage over the radio host's racial slur against the Rutgers women's basketball team.
"This decision comes as a result of an ongoing review process, which initially included the announcement of a suspension. It also takes into account many conversations with our own employees," NBC news said in a statement.
NBC News president Steve Capus said on MSNBC after the announcement, "It was the only decision we could reach."
"I take him at his word that he is not a racist," Capus said. "But those were racist comments and there should not be a place for that on MSNBC."
On Tuesday 10 members of the Rutgers team spoke out for the first time about the incident.
Some of them wiped away tears as their coach, C. Vivian Stringer, criticized Imus for "racist and sexist remarks that are deplorable, despicable, abominable and unconscionable."
These women are terrific athletes who did nothing to deserve Imus' despicable comments, and no amount of apologizing will be enough to erase what was done.
At the Rutgers campus in New Brunswick, N.J., about 300 students and faculty rallied earlier in the day to cheer for their team, which lost in the national championship game, and add their voices to the crescendo of calls for Imus' ouster. One of the speakers was Chidimma Acholonu, president of the campus chapter of the NAACP.
"This is not a battle against one man. This is a battle against a way of thought," she said. "Don Imus does not understand the power of his words, so it is our responsibility to remind him."
In an earlier post I alluded to the power of words, and the responsibility one must take for what they say. This was not the first time Imus made a racist comment ... it was the most recent incident. We need to keep the pressure on and encourage CBS to follow suit and Dump Don!
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