Imus is back.
Posted by Media Outrage on December 3rd, 2007
Don Imus returned to the airwaves Monday eight months after he was fired for a racially charged remark about the Rutgers women’s basketball team, and introduced a new cast that included two black comedians.
Imus’ lineup of guests featured two presidential hopefuls, Democrat Chris Dodd and Republican John McCain. As he did several times in the days after the episode, Imus condemned his controversial remark last spring and said he had learned his lesson.
“I didn’t see any point in going on some sort of `Larry King’ tour to offer a bunch of lame excuses for making an essentially reprehensible remark about innocent people who did not deserve to be made fun of,” he said Monday during his debut on WABC-AM.
Again, Imus apologized to the basketball players and called the ensuing furor a “life-changing experience.”
“I will never say anything in my lifetime that will make any of these young women at Rutgers regret or feel foolish that they accepted my apology and forgave me,” he said. “And no one else will say anything else on my program that will make anyone think that I didn’t deserve a second chance.”
His debut Monday completed a comeback that seemed improbable at the height of the uproar last spring over his calling the players “nappy-headed hos.” CBS Radio fired him on April 12, pulling the plug on his “Imus In the Morning” program that had aired on more than 70 stations and the MSNBC cable network.
December 4th, 2007 at 8:53 pm
I was at the Don Imus debut on Monday and he seemed genuinely contrite. He even repeated his detailed apology during the last hour of the program so that anyone tuning in late would hear it.
Although there were a lot of technical difficulties, where at times the studio audience could not even hear Imus everyone there seemed supportive and happy to welcome back the I-man. Most of the time the crowd was on their feet cheering and applauding.
Like i said the technical difficulties were the only drawback and they still didn’t seem to be resolved this morning when i listened on my radio. The telephone connections with guests were another problem that i’m sure will be resolved.
The technical difficulty was probably worse for people who were listening on the radio or internet to the point where a lot of things didn’t make sense.
Lee VanHalen and his music played many songs and were just what was needed to break up any awarkedness in between segments caused by the technical problems.
While there were some empty seats, it was explained to us that many people bought tickets to support his ranch for kids with cancer but just couldn’t get out of work to be there.
Imus cane prepared, introduced everyone to his new additions to the program, thanked an endless list of people including Sean Hannity, and Phil Boyce and seemed genuinely surprised when Opie and Anthony made a surprise appearance.
Imus came prepared and surely is back on top of his game. I’m looking foward to his book reviews/interviews/ as well as his antics that made me laugh first thing in the morning. I feel confident that this show will work – confident enough that i spent one hundred dollars to see the first show.
The only downside to the whole morning was Curtis Sliwa whining, complaining and dumping on Imus right before Imus’ show began. One mistake ABC made was having Sliwa on the air just prior to Imus. It didn’t sound funny, but unprofessional.
At the end i think everyone leaving felt good about being their for Don Imus although “we” were the ones who felt like Academy Award winners as we were handed green”goodie” bags on the way out.
mary
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