Let us stipulate that MSNBC fired Don Imus today for commercial reasons. Let us further concede that CBS radio will likely do the same, and with the same rationale, soon. And let us still more admit that Mr. Imus has hurled plenty of epithets in his almost 40 years of comedic broadcasting — so much so that MSNBC and CBS must feign shock as they denounce his line-crossing in reference to members of the Rutgers women’s basketball team.
None of that matters. The youth of Mr. Imus’s latest victims should have stayed his mighty clout. Thoughts of their proud families and friends ought to have made deployment of his scabrous wit unthinkable. He owes them more than an apology.
Barry Barnett
