Essay 1973

From The New York Times…

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Contrite Don Imus: ‘I’m a Good Person’

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK (AP) -- Calling himself “a good person” who made a bad mistake, radio host Don Imus said Monday he would check his acid tongue after being lambasted for making racially charged comments about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team.

“Here’s what I’ve learned: that you can’t make fun of everybody, because some people don’t deserve it,” he said on his nationally syndicated radio show Monday morning. “And because the climate on this program has been what it’s been for 30 years doesn’t mean it’s going to be what it’s been for the next five years or whatever.”

Imus said he was “embarrassed” by the remarks, in which he referred to the mostly black team as “nappy-headed hos.” He said he had made the comments in the course of “trying to be funny,” but he was not trying to excuse them.

“I’m not a bad person. I’m a good person, but I said a bad thing. But these young women deserve to know it was not said with malice,” he said.

Imus said he hoped to meet the players and their parents and coaches, and he said he was grateful that he was scheduled to appear later Monday on a radio show hosted by the Rev. Al Sharpton, who has called for Imus to be fired over the remarks.

“It’s not going to be easy, but I’m not looking for it to be easy,” Imus said.

Sharpton has said he wants Imus fired and that he intends to complain to the Federal Communications Commission about the matter.

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