AaronFreedman.com

It was inevitable.

The New York Times:

CBS brought the tumultuous weeklong crisis over racially insensitive remarks by the radio host Don Imus to an end late this afternoon when it canceled the “Imus in the Morning” program, effective immediately

Imus has always been, well, controversial. His comments frequently are borderline racist, anti-semitic, and sexist. Still, he usually manages not to cross that very, very dangerous border. But he screwed up, and possibly permanently damaged his career. Imus had made racist comments before, but none got as much attention as this. Why? Maybe because his comments were directed to a team of young, female athletes who managed to get to the most important game in their season. Or maybe this was finally the breaking point. But, whatever the reason, Imus is gone. In fact, this whole chain of events reminds me of a traditional Passover song, Dayenu (It would have sufficed)…

If Media Matters had written the article about Imus’s comment, but other newspapers had not picked it up — Dayenu (It would have sufficed)!
(Chorus: Day, day, enu! Day, day, enu! Day, day, enu! Dayenu, Dayenu, Dayenu! Day, day, enu! Day, day, enu! Day, day, enu! Dayenu, Dayenu, Dayenu!)

If the other newspapers had picked it up, but NBC and CBS had not condemned Imus’s remarks — Dayenu!
(Chorus)

If NBC and CBS had condemned Imus’s remarks, but Imus had not apologized — Dayenu!
(Chorus)

If Imus had apologized, but various organizations had not called for Imus to be fired — Dayenu!
(Chorus)

If various organizations had called for Imus to be fired, but Imus had not appeared on Al Sharpton’s radio show — Dayenu!
(Chorus)

If Imus had appeared on Al Sharpton’s radio show, but CBS and NBC hadn’t suspended him for two weeks — Dayenu!
(Chorus)

If CBS and NBC had suspended Imus for two weeks, but if he had not met with the Rutgers women’s basketball team — Dayenu!
(Chorus)

If Imus had met with the Rutgers women’s basketball team, but if Proctor and Gamble had not dropped all of its ads from MSNBC’s daytime programming (and other advertisers dropping ads from Imus’s show) — Dayenu!
(Chorus)

If Proctor and Gamble had dropped all of its ads from MSNBC’s daytime programming (and other advertisers dropping ads from Imus’s show), but MSNBC had not dropped Imus’s show — Dayenu!
(Chorus)

If MSNBC had dropped Imus’s show, but CBS had not dropped it — Dayenu!
(Chorus)

But all jokes aside, I am very ashamed at Imus for making such racist comments. And as for him loosing his show, I’m sure XM or Sirius (or their new combined company, if they do ever merge), will be happy to pick up Imus, even if he’s not in the star lineup.

Technorati Tags: CBS, Don Imus, NBC, Dayenu, Rutgers, song