Is Imus now on the firing line?

PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- The firestorm surrounding Don Imus' radio comments spread Tuesday from the "Today" show to the Rutgers campus and to 30 Rockefeller Plaza, rendering the outcome of the question "will he survive?" no longer certain.

Last Wednesday, Imus said in reference to the Rutgers women's basketball team, "That's some nappy-headed hos there, I'm going to tell you that."

In a series of fast-moving events yesterday, which included a sponsor defection, protesters at NBC headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza called for Imus to be fired.

A short time later, millions of viewers nationwide finally heard from those who suffered most from his racial and sexist slur, the Rutgers University women's basketball team, when team captain Essence Carson and coach C. Vivian Stringer told reporters during an emotional news conference that the team had agreed to meet with Imus at an undisclosed location.

The players reserved judgment on whether he should be fired until after they meet him.

"We haven't really discussed accepting his apology," Carson said. "I think that's what the meeting in the near future will uncover."

Stringer criticized Imus for his "racist and sexist remarks that are deplorable, despicable and abominable."

Of her team, Stringer said: "They are God's representatives in every sense of the word."

She would not excuse Imus' remarks because they were made in jest and in keeping with his show's long pattern of racial and sexual humor. "Has society decayed to such a point," she asked, "that we can forgive and forget because it's just a slip of the tongue?"

Carson added that, "We would like to express the great hurt that he has brought to us."

Scarlet Knight center Kia Vaughn stood before dozens of reporters in New Brunswick, N.J., Tuesday and said, "I'm not a 'ho.' I've achieved a lot. Unless they have given this name a whole new definition, then that is not what I am." Vaughn's statement was just one of many emotional moments.

"We were stripped of this moment by the degrading comments made by Mr. Imus," guard Heather Zurich said. "This morning, instead of attending study hall and class, I stand here discussing something that never should have happened."

For Imus himself, the day began on his own radio program, simulcast on MSNBC -- his two-week suspension begins Monday. He was allowed to stay on the air this week because of previously scheduled charity broadcasts. He told viewers, "I'm gonna serve the suspension and try to do that with some dignity."

Minutes later, he appeared on "Today," where the Rev. Al Sharpton once again asked for his resignation. "Too little, too late," Sharpton said of the suspension.

Clearly angered, Imus then charged that Sharpton had effectively misrepresented a radio interview that he had conducted with him the day before, saying Sharpton "tried to hang a couple of things on me." He then added that Sharpton "didn't have the same kind of courage that I had when I walked into that studio by myself."

In blunt terms, this is called digging your hole just a little deeper, as was evident when "Today" weatherman Al Roker posted on his own blog just after 8 a.m. that Imus should be fired.

Meanwhile, as the media feeding frenzy spun out of Imus' control, it also veered perilously close to some of the most important media figures in the country. The Imus story led all three evening newscasts Tuesday night, with "Nightly News'" Brian Williams saying "the story has become entrenched in the national conversation," while ABC "World News" anchor Charles Gibson noted that "it started as an off-hand comment has evolved into a national discussion about race."

But left unsaid in the networks' reportage was the critical question of their own future involvement with "Imus in the Morning," for years a popular "watering hole" for media heavyweights such as Williams, Gibson, NBC's Tim Russert and many others.

NBC News declined to comment on whether its personalities would appear on the show after the suspension is lifted. But in a phone interview, CBS commentator Andy Rooney, a frequent Imus guest who was suspended by CBS nearly 20 years ago for making a homophobic remark -- said, "It was a dumb thing he said I don't think it was vicious and he genuinely wishes he hadn't said it. It was really stupid of him to say, but I can't condemn him."

Rooney added, chuckling, "I would go back [on the show] if he asked me -- sure -- but I hope he doesn't ask me."

Media's future involvement on the radio show may not be the only fallout. A spokesman for Staples said his company will no longer advertise on the program because of last week's comments. Cindi Bigelow, co-president of Bigelow Tea, said in a statement, "This unfortunate incident has put our future sponsorship in jeopardy."

Jeff Greenfield, the veteran political commentator, now with CBS News, and a frequent Imus guest, said in an interview, "Assuming advertisers stay with him, then the first question is what is the political/journalist community going to do? [Republican presidential candidates] John McCain and Mike Huckabee have said they will continue to appear, but the most interesting question to me is what about the Democratic candidates, since about 90 percent of black voters vote Democrat. What about Chris Dodd, who's been doing it for years? What about Barack Obama, or Bill Richardson or Harold Ford Jr., who Imus pushed as hard as he could to get re-elected?" Ford lost his bid for senator of Tennessee.

Meanwhile, about 200 people attended a demonstration protesting Imus' comments yesterday outside 30 Rockefeller Center. "We had remained silent for too long and it was time to take action," said Natatia Griffith, president of the New York Coalition of 100 Black Woman, who called the suspension "a nice vacation." Hazel Dukes, president of the New York State conference of NAACP branches, called the suspension "an insult," adding: "We have drawn a line in the sand. He's got to go. ... We know there's freedom of speech, but this has got to stop."

But most devastating for Imus was the Rutgers news conference. Bryan Monroe, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, who sparred with Imus on Sharpton's radio program Monday and will meet with CBS chief executive Leslie Moonves Wednesday, said, "I don't know how anyone can sit there and watch coach Stringer and those wonderful women and not be moved."