Culture

NBC Apparently Fires Radio Talker Don Imus

by Markus Schlegel | April 11, 2007 at 03:07 pm

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Unconfirmed reports coming out of NBC tonight say that the company has ridded itself of controversial radio host, Don Imus.

It is unclear whether this decision helps usher in a return to less aggressive-less-smut talk radio or is just an ephemeral single case, after similar incidents concerning radio in the case of ABC ./. blogger Spocko had also generated a strong wave of negative public response to ABC's attempts to silence critical reporting from the blogosphere.

Any hope Don Imus had that the scandal surrounding his racially charged remarks would be a brief, 24-hour news story disappeared on Wednesday.

More high-profile critics turned out to call for the firing of Imus. And some companies have decided that suspension isn't enough of a punishment for the radio host. General Motors (nyse: GM - news - people ) said Wednesday it is pulling its advertising from Imus's show. Earlier, Staples (nasdaq: SPLS - news - people ) and Procter & Gamble (nyse: PG - news - people ) announced that they are pulling their advertising from the show.

The controversey surrounds the shock jock's comments about the Rutgers University women's basketball team. Imus referred to members of the Rutgers team as "nappy-headed ho's."