• Celebrity
    • OTE – Screen Kings
    • Daniel Kaluuya Digital Cover
    • Digital Cover Method Man
    • Digital Cover Zazie
    • Celebrity News
    • ‘Yes, Girl!’ Podcast
    • Entertainment
    • Black Celeb Couples
    • Celebrity Moms
    • Red Carpet
    • If Not For My Girls
  • Fashion
    • ESSENCE Fashion House 2022
    • Fashion News
    • Street Style
    • Accessories
    • Fashion Week
  • Beauty
    • Best In Black Beauty 2023
    • ESSENCE Hair Awards 2022
    • AVEENO Skin Health Startup Accelerator
    • Beauty News
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
  • Hair
    • Hair News
    • Natural
    • Relaxed
    • Transitioning
    • Weave
    • 4C
  • Love
    • Love & Sex News
    • The Solve Podcast
    • Weddings
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
  • Lifestyle
    • Black History Month
    • ESSENCE Gift Guide 2022
    • ESSENCE + smartwater Live Well Challenge
    • Build Your Legacy 2022
    • Dream & Plan with Confidence Prudential
    • AMEX Platinum Travel
    • Homecoming Season 2022
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Money & Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Black Travel Guide
  • News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Sponsors Recognition Page 2022
    • Latest News
    • Raise Your Voice
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Video
  • Festival
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2022 Fest Videos
  • Events
    • 2023 Wellness House
    • 2023 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2023 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Girls United Summit
    • 2022 ESSENCE Fashion House
    • 2022 Homecoming Season
    • She Got Now
    • Dear Black Men
    • I Am Speaking
    • Power Tools
  • Studios
  • Girls United

WHERE BLACK CULTURE, COMMUNITY AND CONSCIOUSNESS MEET

Sign up for ESSENCE Newsletters the keep the Black women at the forefront of conversation.

Your email is required.
Your email is in invalid format.
Confirm email is required.
Email did not match.
Select the newsletters you'd like to receive:
Please select at least one option.
By clicking Subscribe Now, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Skip to content
SUBSCRIBE
  • MAGAZINE
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Celebrity
    • OTE – Screen Kings
    • Daniel Kaluuya Digital Cover
    • Digital Cover Method Man
    • Digital Cover Zazie
    • Celebrity News
    • ‘Yes, Girl!’ Podcast
    • Entertainment
      • Paint The Polls Black
    • Black Celeb Couples
    • Celebrity Moms
    • Red Carpet
    • If Not For My Girls
  • Fashion
    • ESSENCE Fashion House 2022
    • Fashion News
    • Street Style
    • Accessories
    • Fashion Week
  • Beauty
    • Best In Black Beauty 2023
    • ESSENCE Hair Awards 2022
    • AVEENO Skin Health Startup Accelerator
    • Beauty News
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
  • Hair
    • Hair News
    • Natural
    • Relaxed
    • Transitioning
    • Weave
    • 4C
  • Love
    • Love & Sex News
    • The Solve Podcast
    • Weddings
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
  • Lifestyle
    • Black History Month
    • ESSENCE Gift Guide 2022
    • ESSENCE + smartwater Live Well Challenge
    • Build Your Legacy 2022
    • Dream & Plan with Confidence Prudential
    • AMEX Platinum Travel
    • Homecoming Season 2022
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Money & Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Black Travel Guide
  • News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Sponsors Recognition Page 2022
    • Latest News
    • Raise Your Voice
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Video
  • Festival
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2022 Fest Videos
  • Events
    • 2023 Wellness House
    • 2023 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2023 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Girls United Summit
    • 2022 ESSENCE Fashion House
    • 2022 Homecoming Season
    • She Got Now
    • Dear Black Men
    • I Am Speaking
    • Power Tools
  • Studios
  • Girls United
Home · News

CBS Cancels Imus One Day After MSNBC Drops the Radio Host

 
By · Updated October 29, 2020

Don Imus, the embattled radio host who made racially charged comments about the Rutgers women’s basketball team, has been fired from CBS, according to a statement from the media company. CBS announced on Thursday that it was canceling Imus’ show, effective immediately, one day after MSNBC cancelled their television broadcast of it. Both media companies initially planned to merely suspend Imus for two weeks.

“In our meetings with concerned groups, there has been much discussion of the effect language like this has on our young people, particularly young women of color trying to make their way in this society,” said CBS President and CEO in a statement.

“That consideration has weighed most heavily on our minds as we made our decision, as have the many e-mails, phone calls and personal discussions we have had with out colleagues across the CBS Corporation and our many other constituencies,” Moonves also said in the statement.

On Thursday night the Rutgers team met with Imus for several hours. They accepted his personal apology, according to a statement read Friday by coach C. Vivian Stringer.

“We, the Rutgers University Scarlet Knight basketball team, accept—accept—Mr. Imus’ apology, and we are in the process of forgiving,” said Stringer, who added that the team still finds his remarks “unacceptable.”

Imus’ wife, Deirdre Coleman Imus, who is helming his radio fundraiser in his absence, said that the young women have received hate mail amidst the frenzy of attention.

“I want to say the hate e-mail being sent to them must stop,” she said on CBS Radio Friday. “If you must send e-mail, send it to my husband.”

When asked about the hate mail, Rutgers team spokeswoman Stacey Brann told Associated Press that the team had received “two or three emails” but also “over 600 wonderful e-mails.”

On Tuesday, members of the Rutgers University women’s basketball team spoke publicly for the first time about the issue at a press conference.

“We are students first,” said Essence Carson, a 20-year-old junior from Paterson, New Jersey, who fielded most of the audience’s questions. “We did not do anything to deserve this controversy.” Carson also said the team has agreed to a private meeting with Imus in the near future, but they have not yet determined whether they will accept his apology.

CBS Radio originally announced on Monday night that they would suspend Imus’s radio talk show for two weeks in response to Imus calling the team “nappy-headed hos” on the air last week.

“I’m not a ho. I’m a woman, someone’s child,” sophomore Kia Vaughn said. “I want to ask him, ‘After you’ve met me, as an African-American woman, do you still feel that I’m a nappy-headed ho?’”

In response to the question of whether the lyrics in popular rap songs are partly to blame for Imus’s use of the word, Carson said, “Rap music has desensitized people to some of the lyrics, but that doesn’t make it any more right.” She went on to say that the focus should be on moving toward women not being classified by degrading names in any context.

“This has scarred me for life,” said junior Matee Ajavon of the derogatory remarks. “I’ve dealt with racism before. But for this to be in the public eye like this, it will be something I will tell my grandchildren and other future generations.”

Imus’s remarks sparked widespread outrage from the public. On Monday the Reverend Jesse Jackson led a protest with his Rainbow PUSH Coalition. Outside the NBC Tower in Chicago, about 50 protestors called for the radio host’s dismissal, wielding signs, and chanting “Imus must go and Rosenberg, too.” Sports announcer Sid Rosenberg likened the Rutgers women’s basketball team to the NBA’s Toronto Raptors during the notorious April 4 broadcast of Imus in the Morning.

“These people are making money off bigotry,” Jackson said, “so we must remove the profits earned from that bigotry.”

Talk about it: Did MSNBC and CBS do the right thing firing Don Imus?

More than 20,000 signatures have been added to the National Organization of Women’s online petition against sexism and racism, SIGN here.

Credit: Associated Press

COMPANY INFORMATION
  • Our Company
  • Customer Service
  • Essence Ventures
  • Change Your Address
  • Contact Us
  • Job Opportunities
  • Internships
  • Media Kit
  • tag
SUBSCRIBE
  • Newsletters
  • Give a Gift of ESSENCE
  • Magazine Tablet Edition
FOLLOW US
MORE ON ESSENCE
  • Home
  • Love
  • Celebrity
  • Beauty
  • Hair
  • Fashion
  • ESSENCE festival

ESSENCE.com is part of ESSENCE Communications, Inc.

Essence may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.

©2023 ESSENCE Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Essence.com Advertising Terms

Get The ESSENCE Newsletter and
Special Offers delivered to your inbox

By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Get The ESSENCE Magazine
by subscribing below
subscribe now