Here we go again! The cowboy hat wearing curmudgeon found a way to make news after laying low for over a year. Of course I’m talking about Don Imus, who made news yesterday on his comments regarding Dallas Cowboys player Adam “Pacman” Jones. I chose not to write anything about this news until I heard from both sides. Also, I’m NO Al Sharpton; I like to hear more than a snippet of a perceived prejudice before crying “INJUSTICE!”
Now 24 hours after my first listen to another Imus controversy, I’m ready to state my case: First of all, I can’t believe I have to try to make a case for either Don Imus or Pacman; both are NOT martyrs. The former has a stereotypical racist bent way before the “nappy headed ho” comment last year and the latter; for lack of a better word is an idiot. I would not want to be a defense lawyer for either of these two because their reputations precede them.
Second, Imus is either incredibly smart to try to get some buzz for his new radio show by making a hot-button comment on race or incredibly stupid to revisit the same subject that nearly wrapped up his almost 40-year career last year. I think he’s a little bit of both.
Third, if Imus’ producer is talking about an NFL player being arrested six times, why does Imus need to ask, “what color is he?” Why did Imus need to know the color of his skin? Is he retarded or just forgot the percentage of blacks in the NFL; hel-lo this is not the 1950s and 1960s NFL, about 70 percent of NFL players are black. Why would he want to even touch that subject with a ten-foot pole?
Fourth, why would Imus wait 24 hours before coming back on what he meant by the statement “there you go, now we know” after the producer told him the color of the NFL player? Even if they had to go on a commercial break, the producer needed to remind him to clarify his “there you go” comment after they got back from the break. And he hired black people on his show after the whole Rutgers fiasco? Explain that to me; that no black person on his crew checked him about that comment before he faced another Al Sharpton’s camera.
Finally, with all the aforementioned scenarios, I find it difficult to say Imus is completely innocent but I choose to give him the benefit of the doubt only because he tried to explain himself today that he was trying to show the disparity in arrests among blacks and others (cool save, but there’s still a bit of smoke here).
Obviously, he had no clue about Pacman Jones – the guy deserved ALL his arrests. At a certain time up till last year, he was a nuisance off the field that rivaled his talent on the field. For only that reason, Imus' ignorance of the subject, I choose to dismiss this case (regardless of past precedents) for insufficient evidence.
Tags: Don Imus, Adam Jones, Pacman Jones, NFL, Race
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