April 13, 2007

In the end, it was all about the money. Don Imus, I mean. The radio talk show host whose program was also shown on MSNBC was the victim of advertisers. If the advertisers had not started pulling out, how many believe that Imus’ racist remarks about the Rutgers University female basketball team would have been enough to terminate him? Howard Stern says far worse things about everybody and he’s still going strong, event though it’s by satellite and not broadcast.

A black CBS board member says Imus should be fired from his CBS radio show, but he thinks the two-week suspension is right for now.

Imus’ problem – among others – is that he’s a white man who disparaged black women. When black men or black women disparage their fellow blacks, that’s called entertainment. Tune in HBO, or comedy central, or black entertainment television and listen to the foul-mouthed black comedians who trade in this sort of stuff. Chris Rock wouldn’t have anything to say if his curse words were censored.

So it’s a double standard, but what else is new?

Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.