Imus Treads Thin Racial Ice Once Again

Don Imus is once again treading on thin ice with comments he made on the air Monday that were seen by many as racist. Imus insists the comments were being twisted.

In an interview Monday that aired on WABC-AM in New York and on the cable channel RFD-TV, Imus was talking about NFL player Adam Jones - a man who has been arrested six times - with the show’s sportscaster, Warner Wolf. Imus asked Wolf what color the player is, and when Wolf responded that he’s African American, Imus said, “Well, there you go. Now we know,” writes The New York Times.

Charges that Imus had gone back to his old ways - he was fired last year for calling the Rutgers women’s basketball team a group of “nappy headed hos” - flew in the hours following the broadcast. But Imus said that he meant the player was being picked on by the police because he was black.

On yesterday’s show, Imus said, “Warner and I were talking about ‘Pacman’ Jones being arrested six times, and obviously they are picking on him. So I asked Warner what color he was. Obviously, I already knew what color he was […] And I said there you go, that’s the point. What people should be outraged about is they arrest blacks for no reason. There was no reason to arrest this kid six times.”

Phil Boyce, vp of WABC-AM, has publicly supported Imus, saying, “I think some people may be misunderstanding what he meant.” He said no disciplinary actions would be coming.

Al Sharpton, however, who helped lead the fight against Imus during the last controversy, said he finds the remark “disturbing” because it plays into stereotypes. He has not said whether he will take any action.