Sharpton Calls for Imus to Be Fired

Talk show host Don Imus is under fire for making racist comments on his radio broadcast. On Wednesday's edition of "Imus in the Morning," Imus and his producer Bernard McGuirk called the Rutgers women's basketball team -- who had just lost the national championship game the night before -- "nappy headed hos."

* "Imus in the Morning" - excerpt of April 4th, 2007 broadcast.

"Imus in the Morning" is broadcast on WFAN which is owned by CBS and is syndicated on more than seventy radio stations and the television network MSNBC (which is owned by NBC, which, in turn, is owned by GE). Public condemnation intensified after Imus initially refused calls to apologize. Speaking on his radio show one day later, Imus said people shouldn't be offended by what he called: "some idiot comment meant to be amusing." As the controversy grew, Imus had an apparent change of heart, and finally apologized on Friday.

Several civil rights and media groups have rejected the apology and are calling for Imus to be removed. The Rainbow/PUSH coalition will hold protests today outside the offices of MSNBC's parent company NBC. The Rev. Jesse Jackson said: "If he has a right to use that platform to insult and degrade then we have a moral obligation to picket NBC and to protest." The NAACP and the National Association of Black Journalists have also joined the calls for Imus's firing and a boycott of his show.

* Rev. Al Sharpton, civil rights leader, former presidential candidate and founder of the National Action Network.
* Maretta Short, president of the National Organization for Women - New Jersey.

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