< Back | Home

Don Imus poses for a promotional photo.


Don Imus

The Controversy Continues

By: Crista Leigh Collins

Posted: 5/5/07

Editor Note: The following article contains offensive language. Reader discretion is advised.

Video courtesy of http://www.youtube.com

Imus Controversy Timeline

1989 - Imus is inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame.

1992 - Imus refers to African-American sports columnist Bill Rhoden as a "New York Times quota hire", inplying that the writer was hired because of his ethnicity, rather than his skill.

1993 - Refers to African-American PBS Television personality Gwen Ifill as a "cleaning lady".

1996 - Offends President Bill Clinton at the annual Radio and Television Correspondents Association dinner by making crude jokes about the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

1998 - Describes critic Howard Kurtz as a "beanie-wearing little Jew boy".

1998 - Sued by radio talk show host Howie Carr after explicity describing a sexual scenerio involving Carr's wife and boxer Riddick Bowe.

1998 - The New York Times reports that, during an interview with 60 Minutes host Mike Wallace, Imus told a producer that side-kick McGuirk was hired to perform "n***r jokes".

2003 - Gets involoved in a name-calling match with Shock Jock Howard Stern after it was suggested that Imus stole material and bits from Stern's show.

2004 - Refers to publishers Simon & Schuster as "theiving Jews". Imus then gives a mock appology, calling his previous comment "redundant".

2005 - Sued for slander by Dr. Howard Allen Pearson. It is alleged that Imus referred to Pearson as "an arrogant f*****g doctor who doesn't mind letting a child suffer" after a 2004 confrontation at the Imus ranch.

2005 - Calls news anchor Contessa Brewer "fat", "fat ass" and a "skank (who) has to spend three hours with makeup in the morning". The comments caused Brewer to leave the show.

2006 - Uses phrases such as "lying fat little skunk from Texas", "coward", "crybaby" and "congressional dirtbag" to describe Texas Congressman Joe Barton.

April 4, 2007 - During an on-air discussion about the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship, Imus refers to the Rutgers University women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos". On April 11, NBC announces that MSNBC will no longer simulcast Imus in the Morning. One day later, CBS announces that the network has decided to cancel Imus indefinately.


© Copyright 2010 Classroom Publication