Don Imus News
December 2007: Don Imus returns to radio
Don Imus is back on the airwaves with a 6a.m. slot on WABC-AM. His show will include two black comedians, Karith Foster and Tony Powell.
The New York Times has more on Don Imus's return.
August 2007: Don Imus reaches settlement whilst new action filed
Voice of America reported that Don Imus has reached a settlement with CBS Radio, but he also faces a lawsuit from Kia Vaughan, a member of the Rutgers University women's basketball team.
April 2007: Don Imus at first suspended then fired
MSNBC said that it was dropping its simulcast of the Imus in the Morning radio show, and not just suspending it.
CBS made a similar announcement of its decision to cease broadcasting the Imus in the Morning radio show.
Earlier it had been announced that Don Imus has been suspended by CBS Radio and MSNBC for two weeks, for making racist comments, specifically his reference to the mostly black members of the Rutgers University women's basketball team as 'nappy-headed hos'.
Subsequently, Imus appeared on Rev Al Sharpton's radio programme and said: "Our agenda is to try to be funny and sometimes we go too far, and sometimes we go way too far."
Don Imus met the Rutgers team and apologised and their coach said the team was "in the process of forgiving".
25 March 2005 More trouble at the Ranch ...
The Wall Street Journal criticised Don Imus yesterday for the costs his charity expended in bringing sick children to his ranch for visits. It also mentioned that Eliot Spitzer looked into the delayed filing of the Imus ranch's financial statements. This CNN story, 'Imus charity questioned', provides good background.
Of more interest is this article, 'Citizen Imus Under Fire' by David Kiley of Businessweek, who looked into the story a while back and reflected on issues such as quality rather than quantity.
Charitable giving is a minefield and it's only right and proper that the media explore the effectiveness of funds donated by the public. It is genuinely public interest reporting. What Kiley's article does, is to clearly analyse the issues and put them in their proper context.
According to Reuters 30 November 2004:
" ...Don Imus is being sued by his son's former nanny over an on-air outburst in which he called her a terrorist after firing her over an incident with a pocket knife and a paper-cap gun.
"In a civil suit made public on Tuesday, Cathleen Mallette, 24, said Imus and his wife, Deirdre, hired her in October 2003 as a full-time nanny to their 5-year-old son, Wyatt. She was fired a month later over the incident at Imus's New Mexico ranch."
The nanny is seeking "compensatory and punitive damages in an amount to be determined at trial," and alleges that on Nov. 29, 2003, Imus appeared on his "Imus in the Morning" show live from the New Mexico ranch "and spewed out patently slanderous aspersions concerning" her.
Imus immediately called the claims absurd, and vowed to fight. "I won't be settling this," he told the New York Daily News.
The excellent Smoking Gun site has a copy of the complaint lodged by Mallette at the Supreme Court.