Anybody believe him? Anybody care?
NEW YORK - Months after returning to the radio with a pledge to mend the wounds caused by his comments about a women's basketball team, Don Imus is once again defending on-air remarks regarding race.
During an on-air conversation Monday about the arrests of suspended Dallas Cowboys cornerback Adam Jones, Imus asked, "What color is he?"
Told by sports announcer Warner Wolf that Jones, who used to be nicknamed Pacman, is "African-American," Imus responded: "There you go. Now we know."
In the face of criticism that ensued, Imus said Monday that he had been misunderstood.
"I meant that he was being picked on because he's black," Imus said in a statement released by his spokesman.
I didn't hear the show, but I found some audio (this guy links to it). The sentences after the ones everyone's quoting don't seem to back up Imus' claim. In fact, he and Wolf are doing a pretty good job of picking on him themselves. And since Jones has been arrested six times and involved in 12 incidents requiring police intervention for what some would call pretty thuggish behavior, the "they're just picking on him because he was black" is pretty thin.
Comments
Amazing how freedom of speech get punted around these days.
Tell the truth (in this case)...get hammered by the media.
Tell a lie (and the media runs with that)
A true No-WIN scenario.
I will admit that Imus is nothing like he used to be (anyone recall 1200 hamburgers to go?), but maybe he still believes that since this football player cannot stay out of the judicial system AND he's black, that perhaps that screams volumes as to the state of the community at large.
Then again, the first victim of any "war" is always the truth.
You decide.
B.G.