Imus is back on the air and that’s just fine with me.
I never listened to him, or any other shock jock, before and I won’t now. No, not even to make sure he doesn’t go off again, notwithstanding how much some black leaders want me to (Rev. Sharpton’s press conference on the subject will be announced soon. Stay tuned). Life is too short to spend hoping we’ll have another band wagon to jump on and chase down another powerful white man. I could have lived a long time without Imus’s ‘nappy headed ho’ psychic assault and I hope to go another lifetime before I ever do again. Call me weak, but I won’t be surfing the air waves looking for more insults. In my experience, they have a way of finding you without any extra help. Let’s hope his new show is nice and uneventful.
Besides, whatever else you have to say of Imus, he has been more contrite than just about any one else in public life who’s been caught redhanded saying something so unregenerately hateful. I actually admire him a little after reading about his first day back at work:
“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.”
I don’t think I could have handled this so graciously. So, ball’s in your court, Don. Stay off the radar.
