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Radio Shock Jock Don Imus recently exposed his racism and sexism by calling the all-female and mostly black Rutgers women’s basketball teams “nappy-headed hos.” Initially Imus was suspended from his TV and radio show, Imus in the Morning for a two week period from NBC and CBS. But after most advertisers pulled their support, including Staples, General Motors, Sprint Nextel, GlaxoSmithKline, Procter & Gamble, PetMed Express, American Express and Bigelow Tea, NBC decided to drop his show altogether. Executives from the network had called his comments \u00e2\u20ac\u0153racist and abhorrent.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Interestingly enough, most of the mainstream criticism of Imus has focused on its racism, but not sexism. The Rutgers Basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer responded, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not about them as black or nappy-headed… It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s about us as a people. When there is not equality for all, or when there has been denied equality for one, there has been denied equality for all.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Imus has been making the rounds of talk shows offering apologies. He appeared on Al Sharpton’s show claiming that he “went too far.”He also met face to face with the Rutgers team earlier in the week. But this is not the first time Don Imus has let his prejudices slip. Some years ago, he called PBS’s African American talk show host, Gwen Ifill a “cleaning lady.” <\/p>\n![\"Jill](\"http:\/\/www.enterstageright.com\/archive\/articles\/0503\/051203nelsonjill.jpg\")
GUEST: Jill Nelson, journalist and activist, and author of “Straight, No Chaser: How I Became a Grown-Up Black Woman” and editor of the anthology “Police Brutality.” Nelson also contributes to a group blog with Women in Media and News<\/em><\/p>\n