Imus in the Hot Seat

What Don Imus said was tastleless but what ever happened to the first amendment? Don Imus is an entertainer, is every entertainer going to be held to the same standard? It seems this is a very slippery slope.

On a somewhat similar topic when are the civil rights leaders (Jackson and Sharpton) going to protest on behalf of the three Duke Lacrosse players for having their civil rights trampled?

 

Noticed the government was not commented on this at all? All this talk about the First Amendment, but no court action....

We can all say things that can estrange us from our spouse, family, neighbors, employers - government is not involved.

In regards to rappers saying worse things than Imus - they deserve the same kind of heat with little break for not being an "outsider".

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dbermanmd @ Apr 12 2007, 08:12 AM) [snapback]421970[/snapback]</div>

Jesse Jackson is a fraud. He has been corrupted by dollars and power. I think there may have been a time when he was genuine, now he is just into money and power. If he had any sense of civil rights and or justice he would come stop hounding Imus and make a public apology to the Duke lacrosse players who in the end were only guilty of having bad taste in strippers.

 

<strike>malorn - I'm clueless why you shouted in uppercase at my post</strike>

dbermanmd - you need to slow down. It should be obvious I'm not advocating government or court involvement. (see below).

Thought it was obvious I am not imploring the courts or the govenment to get involved. In fact, I wish Rev. Jackson and Rev. Sharpton should excuse themselves and their politics.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Delta Flyer @ Apr 12 2007, 07:54 AM) [snapback]421966[/snapback]</div>

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dbermanmd @ Apr 12 2007, 07:53 AM) [snapback]421965[/snapback]</div>

Berman, so many people here have said that he was protected legally by the first amendment that you're sounding like a broken record. the "punishment" many people refer to is corporate, not criminal. And we're seeing that happen now. But if you want to know the potential (and i said potential, i'm not a lawyer and not willing to judge him legally) court actions, take a look at the following:

http://www.megalaw.com/top/defamation.php

Defamation and slander are actionable items. The players on the team CAN sue him for damages.


The Civil Rights act of 1964:

This has been held up in many, many court cases. Some of the important ones are:

Bundy v. Jackson - Title VII liability can exist for sexual insults (Title VII is the portion of the Civil Rights Act that covers sexual harassment).

Civil Rights Act of 1991 - Provides for jury trials and increased damages

Faragher v. City of Boca Raton - an Employer can be held responsible for sexual harassment by its supervisors if it doesn't take appropriate action to prevent and correct such actions.

So, in short, the companies have every right to fire him for what he said. And in fact, they should fire him. These girls have every right to sue Imus. If the companies don't take appropriate action (as determined by a jury, if it comes to that), they can be sued as well. IMO, suspending him for 2 weeks is a slap on the wrist. Mandating that he attend sexual harassment awareness classes and such would most likely be sufficient to protect them. Firing him for what he said would definitely protect them.

 

There is an old Chinese saying,

"Disaster comes from the mouth".

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Delta Flyer @ Apr 12 2007, 09:16 AM) [snapback]421991[/snapback]</div>

It was not me, it was drbermanmd

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(malorn @ Apr 12 2007, 11:35 AM) [snapback]422045[/snapback]</div>

Sorry about that

dbermanmd would better serve himself if he slowed down take more careful aim on his cyber chain-gun

 

CBS just axed Don Imus and his program

 

Will Michael Richards (Kramer) be hosting that time slot now????

Boo-Yahhh

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Delta Flyer @ Apr 12 2007, 05:34 PM) [snapback]422197[/snapback]</div>

He will almost certainly get picked up by someone- he has too large an audience. Probably either HBO or Showtime, or satellite radio. If he gets a show on XM, I'll cancel my subscription.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godiva @ Apr 11 2007, 06:56 PM) [snapback]421734[/snapback]</div>

BINGO!

Told you so.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godiva @ Apr 11 2007, 06:56 PM) [snapback]421734[/snapback]</div>

Now let's see if I'm 3 for 3.

And I won't be buying any Bigelow Tea. No loss. I prefer Twinnings.

CBS fires Don Imus from radio show.

One has to wonder if his behavior and choice of vocabulary was restricted to the airwaves. That kind of talk in the workplace violates Title VII. His talk ON the air violated FCC regulations. And it's slander. So wrong on so many levels.

But I'll bet FOX would love to have him. Maybe he can get Ann Coulter as a regular guest.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godiva @ Apr 12 2007, 07:14 PM) [snapback]422229[/snapback]</div>

Godiva, it didn't take a Karnac to predict that one!

Bigelow dropped their sponsorship of Imus (along with Staples, GM, and P&G) before he was fired.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(larkinmj @ Apr 12 2007, 06:33 PM) [snapback]422242[/snapback]</div>

That's what I thought. But the article I read said that Imus thanked them for staying with him.

"Imus made a point Thursday to thank one sponsor, Bigelow Tea, for sticking by him."

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(malorn @ Apr 12 2007, 07:46 AM) [snapback]421964[/snapback]</div>

I think the issue here is that it's time for all of us to act like adults (and, perhaps, domesticated animals forced to live in severely close proximity with each other) and MELLOW OUT!

Sure, the First Amendment protects hate speech (in theory, I suppose)...but, really, what has happened to our pride in ourselves?

Who cares if this is prohibited or not? Isn't it apparent that the language he used is so terribly charged??

So what if "rappers use racial slurs all the time..." Don't we have any pride in OURSELVES anymore, where we can choose to take the high road, instead of indulging ourselves in this sort of thing? It's so pathetic that there can even be such an argument about this issue.

Someone, sometime, somewhere, needs to be adult and *choose* to restrain herself. To NOT say the hurtful thing, even though it would feel SOOOOO good.

Perhaps, God willing, it'll be catching. Wouldn't it be nice if general peer pressure from the majority of us made it so the vulgar and boorish among us faded into obscurity?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pinto Girl @ Apr 12 2007, 07:42 PM) [snapback]422252[/snapback]</div>

Amen!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pinto Girl @ Apr 12 2007, 04:42 PM) [snapback]422252[/snapback]</div>

For me, there are two very different kinds of peer pressure.

Type 1 is "I don't like what Person A is saying, so I'm not going to listen to A any more".

Type 2 is "I don't like what Person A is saying, so I'm going to ostracize not only A but also Person B if B listens to or does business with A".

To me, type 1 is ethical and type 2 is not. Type 2 leads to suppression of minority ideas by the majority viewpoint. Just like I think the government shouldn't ban speech even when I think the ideas are bad, I don't think we should take it into our own hands to do type 2 peer pressure, even when we think the ideas involved are bad.

I'd be happy to have Imus off the air because his audience drops off and without ratings he can't sell commercials. But I'm not happy to have him off the air because advertisers are afraid they'll be boycotted for carrying their message to his listeners. Just as I'm not happy when advertisers are pressured by conservative Christian groups to stop advertising in gay magazines.