WFAN, MSNBC host calls Black student athletes 'nappy-headed ho's' during
show
WASHINGTON, April 6 /PRNewswire/ -- America and the National
Association of Black Journalists are outraged and disgusted by the crude
and insulting comments leveled by WFAN radio personality Don Imus against
the student athletes of Rutgers University's women's basketball team. Imus
called the team "nappy-headed ho's" during a radio interview, simulcast on
MSNBC.
NABJ calls for an immediate, sincere and unequivocal apology from the
sophomoric host and expects all journalists of all colors to boycott his
show until he acknowledges and apologizes for his damaging remarks.
"Has he lost his mind?" asked NABJ President Bryan Monroe, vice
president and editorial director for Ebony and Jet magazines in Chicago.
"Those comments were beyond offensive. Imus needs to be fired. Today."
Imus and his producer, Bernard McGuirk, went on to further attack the
black members of the team, calling them "jigaboos and wannabees."
"As NABJ strives to dispel stereotypes and promote accurate portrayals
of minorities in the media, we find this characterization of these young
black women offensive and hateful," said Barbara Ciara, NABJ vice
president/broadcast and managing editor at WTKR in Norfolk. Ciara said Imus
has an obligation as a broadcaster to "speak with a responsible voice."
Sports journalists around the country were equally dismayed.
"The disrespectful comments by Don Imus were degrading to women," said
Gregory Lee, chairman of the NABJ Sports Task Force and senior assistant
sports editor at the Boston Globe. Lee said task force members question
MSNBC's leadership in aligning itself with someone who feels free to
denigrate black women and student-athletes.
An advocacy group established in 1975 in Washington, D.C., NABJ is the
largest organization of journalists of color in the nation, with nearly
4,000 members, and provides educational, career development and support to
black journalists worldwide.
SOURCE National Association of Black Journalists
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Related links:
http://www.nabj.org
CONTACT:
Kristin Palmer, Communications Manager of the
National Association of Black Journalists, +1-301-445-7100, Ext.
107, kpalmer@nabj.org
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