Imus Suspended by MSNBC For Two Weeks

Breaking news. Not important news, but breaking news.

Here's video of Al Sharpton taking Imus to task on Sharpton's radio show. Sharpton babbles on for a while before getting to any question.

I kind of understand what Imus was doing. He was making such an unwarranted, unprovoked, and inappropriate attack on the Rutgers women's basketball team that everyone would get he didn't mean a word of it. At least I think that's what he was doing. It was a random over-the-top put-down that made no sense, and hence would be taken, he thought (to the extent he thought about it all), as just a bit of silliness.

The trouble is, that often still pisses people off, and most aren't willing to excuse a racist remark just because it was so inappropriate and racist that it couldn't possibly have been seriously intended.

That's why I don't ever touch the third rail of racial humor. I deal with it the way I deal with brown peoplel generally -- I just smile politely, keep my eyes averted, and dutifully hand over my wallet while praying for a quick death.

PS: I don't like Imus, so I'm not being a fanboy defending him.

It's just odd -- many comedians get away with racial humor all the time. They have a kind of comic exception to the rule against it. Why only professional comedians should be assumed to be just joking around, whereas everyone else in the world is assumed to mean this sort of joke cruelly and with racist intent, I don't really know.

posted by Ace at 06:50 PM

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