As I am a "bleeding heart liberal," I wanted to post my feeling on the Imus situation. Was he wrong for saying what he said? Of course. Not one person debates that. Was he out of line? Yes. Was it racist? Likely. Was it a fire-able offense? OF COURSE NOT! We have a little thing in this country called free speech. That includes unpopular speech. That includes hate speech. That includes offensive speech. Perhaps Imus should have been fired because his radio show sucks, but not because of what he said. Had he dropped a few F bombs, or incited a riot, that would be grounds for firing. [And I'd also like to point out that Al Sharpton has the right to protest and ask for Imus' head. That, too, is protected by free speech.]
"If you live in a society with truly free speech, you should expect to be offended daily."
-Vincent Rocco Deliberato
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3 comments:
Of course he deserves to be fired. If he violated any part of his contract he should get fired. Freedom of speech is not all encompassing when you are representing another entity. CBS probably had a contract stipulation for just such and event. Granted they only took action after sponsers left and pressure was applied by the black community. He took a chance and got burned. I personally don't think it was racist. It's just as funny as white people getting called honkey or cracker or rappers using the same words, "nappy head, nappy chest, nappy chin" Wicked/ICE CUBE. With that said I didn't care for him either way and I am tired of listening and talking about it.
Did his contract have a "no-nappy" clause? We don't know, but I doubt it....I don't blame CBS one bit for firing him. They're a corporation, and only think in terms of dollars and cents. Once sponsors started the leave, he was gone. I get that.
And realistically, I don't care about his show being gone, either. Honestly, was it even on in Cleveland?
nappy!
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