The Effect of an Apology

In the case of Don Imus, there were several apologies actually made.  Immediately following the comments, Imus made an apology on his radio show (see YouTube video below). 

In reality, this apology probably hurt Imus because it was so short and seemed relatively unplanned.  The apology took all of twenty seconds and Imus made the mistake of saying “we can understand why people were offended” which can make it seem like people who were offended are actually at fault.  The tone of this apology does seem sincere; however, Imus’s behavior following the incident does not back up this sincerity.  Later, Imus appeared on various shows including ones hosted by Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton in order to seek forgiveness.  In all, these apologies were directed at the wrong audience.  Imus wronged the women of the Rutgers basketball team first and female African Americans second.  He should have apologized in that order, rather than appealing to the masses first.  A personal apology is far more likely to be accepted than a large-scale one.  Thus, his widespread approach further hurt his odds of being forgiven.   Finally, Imus made an apology to the Rutgers team at the NJ governor’s mansion.  Although there are no records of this event because it was closed to the media, the two hour plus meeting was by far Imus’s most successful apology.  For once, he subjected himself to answering questions rather than having the upper hand that he is used to.  In the end, this apology was sufficient enough for the women to accept the apology and move on.

Overall, Imus definitely needed to apologize.  The order of his apologies and the way he went about the initial days after his comments were not effective for being forgiven, though.  Imus should have appealed on the personal level first and then dealt with the rest of the population that may have indirectly been affected by what he said.  Most of all, Imus’s recent actions show that he is resorting to his old ways and that his apologies were not sincere and therefore not effective.       

The Don Imus Debacle

After the 2007 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament Championship Game between the Rutgers’ Lady Knights of Rutgers University and the Lady Vols of the University of Tennessee, Don Imus, the host of the MSNBC radio show Imus in the Morning at the time, made various racially-driven comments about the players from the Rutgers team. Imus and his executive producer Bernard McGuirk talked about the appearance of the “rough,” “tattoo[ed]” girls from Rutgers compared to the “cute” girls from Tennessee. The pair went on to refer to the Lady Knights as “nappy headed hoes” and “Jigaboos,” referencing the Spike Lee film School Daze.

There was an immediate backlash from fellow members of the media, political figures, and the nation as a whole. Imus issued a series of apologies, some on the air and others in more personal settings, however he was still fired from his position by the CEO of CBS Radio Leslie Moonves.

Living in New Jersey at the time, this issue was extremely prevalent across the NY/NJ media. I was a direct witness to both sides of the story as well as much of the aftermath the insensitive comments created. Indirectly, the Imus debacle also threatened the life of the NJ governor Jon Corzine, who got into a serious car accident on his way to Imus’ formal apology to the Rutgers team and the governor’s mansion.

Not everyone was against Imus , though. Fellow “shock-jocks” Gregg “Opie” Hughes and Anthony Cumia, better known as Opie and Anthony, were outraged that “a radio pioneer and philanthropist” was fired from his job over something that they did not even consider that edgy. This led to the creation of People Against Censorship, a group devoted to defending freedom of speech.

I definitely think that the Rutgers Lady Knights deserved an apology, but Imus’s various apologies were not too convincing, especially after he has continued to make racial remarks on the airwaves.