For the record, an estimated 70% to 80% of rap music is purchased by American whites, not to mention the percentage of Asians and Latinos. The US makes up only 10% of the world-wide rap music CD market and entertainment is the #1 US export. Gansta’ accounts for only a portion of hip-hop and is only one of the many of kinds of music that black people listen to or create in the U.S. or world wide. African-American leaders, churches, celebrities, institutions and population in general (including Al Sharpton), has always been in the forefront of the anti-jazz and anti-ganga’ rap movements. Yet we as a people still have to watch as the American music industry (black and white) makes its billions from hocking this latest form of minstrelsy.

Philecia Harris, Washington, DC, USA

Odd that everyone jumped on the "nappy-headed hos" comment instead of the "jigaboo" one.

Let's deconstruct the first. Is it really that hurtful to say someone has messy hair? Growing up (white) in 1980s Mississippi (perhaps that shatters my credibility, but it shouldn't), it was a common insult that black kids hurled at each other. It's hardly racial invective, even if it is racially specific. As for "hos", I don't think anyone would seriously argue Imus was saying the girls were prostitutes. Imus was making an aesthetic comment, albeit in a misogynistic way.

And now "jigaboos." That's actually a pretty harsh racial term -- on par with, say, "jungle bunny." Blacks have never co-opted the j-word because it's supposed to raise them to comic derision, as opposed to pure hate. "Jigaboo" conjures old movie stereotypes, so it's shocking it was less of an issue.

Two final points: Tennessee is hardly a "white girls' team" and Rutgers is a solid state school, but that's about it.

Jay, Jersey City, NJ

Andrew,
You join the long, growing list of hypocrites and selective moralists going after Imus. He was trying to be funny, spectacularly unsuccessfully, but that was the context. If you were a regular fan of the show you'd know he's a big fan of Hip-Hop and appropriates it's vile slang all the time (he calls his wife the "green ho" for her env. activism). Imus is guilty of not realizing he's an old white guy now who's not allowed to spew racially charged barbs, unlike the wildly crass young black comedians on HBO's Bad boys of Comedy. You are a regular on Bill Maher's show--Maher tells numerous gay jok,es which I've witnessed you laughing your ass off right in front of him. I'm a white liberal married to a black woman and we are both appalled at what was done to Imus--a public stoning caused by wild overreaction by media types and bloggers not really familiar with Imus' show or his long-time philanthropy toward the poor, minorities, and veterans.

jim rice, St. Louis, , mo

I find it disheartening but somehow not surprising that in most of the uproar around the Imus Affair, no one is talking about this is as another instance of the constant BATH of misogyny that American women are subjected to. Perhaps because it is a bath, an atmosphere, a contempt so routine and daily that we don't even notice it? At any rate, to this white female listener, it feels that way.

NK Shapiro, New York, NY, USA

Thank you for distinguishing between what Imus said and the venom that is found in today's hip hop music. It is a problem that needs to be discussed but it is a red herring when talking about what happened to Don Imus. Its no accident that the Hannity's and Limbaugh's of the world want to focus on this issue and change the debate. From my POV as soon as Snoop Dogg starts giving John McCain cameos in his videos and Tim Russert performs skits on his new CD then they will be comparable. Until then its just a diversionary tactic that when used by men like Hannity and Glen Beck is quite suspect.

Scott, Alexandria, USA/VA

1) You are the first, to my knowledge of associating the comment with "locker room banter." Good for you. (Although, "white" probably should've been eliminated; I doubt the "colored (?)" locker rooms are any less misogynistic.)

2) "Nappy," in this instance, more likely has associations with tight-curls than "unkempt."

Gene Touchet, Palm Springs , California

Like you I do believe Imus will come back. No doubt he will reignite his ire on somthing like Fox "News", nestled nicely between Hanity and O'Rielly. As they spew out there hate and mis-infomation in every rant.

Eoin Healy, Cork, Ireland

I'am dissapointed that you, like many others, only focused on the race angle. The race issue is a topic which needs to be adressed not only in the US but world wide, I'am sure you'll agree. But our attiudes towards women also need to be adressed. You were wrong to say that Ruters lost to 'a white girls team'. Tennessee, who won the nation title are made up of mostly African- American women(8 of the 10 squad members, I think). This feeds futher the racial divide in America by false reporting by journalists. It was not a black versus white issue. I do agree with you that the fact that they were young black women was too much for many in the US. Well done to CBS, who fired Don Imus, for having the guts to do so. Even though he did not go to 'rehab', Imus did appear on the Rev. Al Sharpton radio show last weekend. For over an hour he apologised and bowed his head as the Reverand dished out a sermon on civil rights.

Eoin Healy, Cork, Ireland

I'm still trying to figure out why the Rutgers' women care what Don Imus says or thinks. They are above it.

He's a sad, sorry old coot who got his comeuppance and should just be ignored.

pete, brooklyn, ny

You don't change what people think by stopping them talking. An open hearing for strong views from people open to debate is much better than forcing the creation of secret societies and cliques in which the strong views grow stronger without the counterpoint provided by open debate.

Conor Neill, Barcelona, Spain

Imus show was as close to an open salon of the Amerian political elite as existed. The point you fail to notice is his open and growing hostility to the war in Iraq and the "war criminals" behind it that Imus has evinced in the last few months. His ratings have been increasing at a time when the country has finally begun to turn decisivily against the war. What a misplaced set of priorities for a nation up to its ears in war crimes to silence a dialogue that may have been instrumental to much greater achievments. Was the American political community worse off for Imus? To the contrary Imus's voice was an emergent voice from a soul seeking a firmer moral foundation for his society while making the medicine as digestible as possible.

Thomas Rossetti, Pittsburgh, PA

I have a problem with the assumption that one "throwaway" remark makes a person a bigot. Imus has always been an equal opportunity offender, poking fun at all races, genders, etc. It was just a stupid comment that would have received no notice but for the self-righteousness of a few and the fact that he made fun of a group of innocents. Additionally, Andrew translates the word "nappy-headed" for his Brit audience, but most Americans had no knowledge of that word prior to a week ago.
Also, despite the dominance of this story, there has yet to be one scientific poll released; but if you read websites frequented by the average black person, or look at most unscientific polls, you will find that most blacks view the issue as one of free speech or of problems with hip-hop culture. In fact, blacks seem more likely than whites to oppose the firing and less like to find his words offensive. The outrage among most blacks is directed at Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. This is PC run amok.

Mark , Central, NJ

Sullivan got nappy wrong, and, worse, the opposing team is not white. Imus was not making a racial distinction between the teams.

For the record, Imus routinely supports the liberal candidate, very often the black candidate.

Dom, Smallville, US

Acknowledgements first: I have watched Imus daily for several years, and, despite some misgivings about some of the humor, enjoy the program. His loss will be significant to many.
That said, the most revealing thing about this is how many of those who have profited from being on the program--with the exceptions of those cited in the first response--- are unusually silent. And then you have David Brooks (on Meet the Press) saying with a straight face that he was not aware of what went on in the program.
For a time, this will have a strangely polarizing effect. There are a lot of Imus supporters in various parts of the country who welcome what Imus does to cut through much of the cant and talking points that are so rote in much of the media. They have been largely silent in all of this. They will take much time to forgive those who have bailed.

Paul D, Decatur, IL,

Uh....I think it's important to note that the Tennessee team is not a "white team" at all. You can check their web page, but it's mostly Black (only three white girls), which is about the same ratio as the Rutgers team. The comments were actually directed at the fact the Rutgers team had tatoos and were generally "tougher" looking than the Tennessee team.

http://utladyvols.cstv.com/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/tennw-w-baskbl-mtt.html

nate , New York, NY

Pondflyer, a few brave souls have stepped forward to stop the witchhunt, among them James Carville, Rudy Gulianni, Bill Maher, Craig Crawford,Mary Matalin, Tom Oliphant and Tom Friedman. The spineless have been much more numerous of course, arn't they always?

nlp, wilmington, NC

Andy, try "tightly curled" instead of "unkempt." Senator Everett Dirksen's hair was never "nappy," although it was certainly "unkempt." You have seriously miseducated your British audience.

Tom Roland, Berkeley, CA

Perhaps if Imus (a physically weird looking and sounding person, apparently botched plastic surgery, strange diet regimes cannot hide how unpleasant he looked each morning on MSNBC TV) had remained a faceless radio personality, his comments would have evaporated into the ether, and he would have just kept on going.
Let's face it he created a Perfect Storm of an opportunity to be ambushed by Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton et al., who meanwhile refuse to go after fellow African American rappers guilty of using the same phraseology.
What is more crucial is the sheer hypocrisy of the American elite who indulged him all these years and were recepients of his favors, an invitation to appear on his program was useful opportunity to plug their books or to boost their chances at elections.
Nobody's stepped forward to defend him, so despite their mutual cowboy shtick and locker room talk they were not friendly with this shock jock, but just used each other for their own self-promotion!

Pondflyer, Bethesda, MD, USA

My God! Why does Imus have to be used as a scapegoat! He made a mistake, apologized, but that's not enought! This whole thing was blown out of proportion. MSNBC and CBS should have helped him apologize publicly and backed him - so sorry!

Judy Gutierrez, Houston, TX

Beautifully written and right on the money!

Enrique, Woodland, USA/ California

It's just another case of OTT political correctness; the comments were made in a moment of levity and should be considered as such. Why do these people take themselves so seriously. They know what Imus' views are so they shouldn't have been surprised. I suspect they were just waiting for a stick to beat him with. One final question; why do only "Afro-Americans" warrant this epithet? We never hear of "Anglo-Americans" or "Italo-Americans" or "Sino-Americans"!

Robert Graham, Luxembourg, Luxembourg

Hi Ade, of Greater Manchester

Yes, many Lady Vols are black, but Imus was going on and on about how beautiful and angelic the white players looked as compared to the thugish, butch, tatoo'd "nappy headed hos" on the Rutgers team. If you check out the TV clip on YouTube it is crystal clear he was contrasting the white players against the black players- and the black players were disgusting while he wanted to get busy with the white girls.

cminmd, Gaithersburg , MD

"The spectacle of an older white man putting down a young black female team — while praising the beauty of a white girls’ team who beat them — struck a raw nerve. "

Utter rubbish!

The majority of players on both teams are black. Simple visits to their websites would have shown you that. Do you really need to make the situation any worse than it really is? Have you actually done any investigation for this story or is a cut and paste job?

I expect better of the Times.

Ade, Greater Manchester, UK

I believe that among other advertisers, the African American president of American Express was not amused by this and other crude, prejudiced remarks made by Imus. Was this worse than calling Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post "a typical boner nosed Jew in a beanie," calling black athletes apes and Venus Williams an animal, or any of the other comments he made? Maybe not particularly. But it's the final straw. We just don't think this is funny any more.

Alexandra, New Brunswick, New Jersey

I’m a 58 yr old white woman who watched Imus every day. I would have told you I listened for the political conversation unequaled anywhere else, and, in fact, I often found Imus so crude that I changed the channel. But I’m trying to come to terms with having enabled that crudeness. Mostly I was fascinated by the complexity of a person who, unlike the rest of us, allowed his stream of consciousness to emerge only barely censored. I do not think Imus saw himself as racist, and so I generally didn’t either (though I did think him a misogynist – depends on whose ox is being gored, I guess). Hidden in our dark places is a soup of unwanted prejudices, and now that we’ve gotten rid of Don Imus we can congratulate ourselves for not being like that. He performed the useful role of the scapegoat, in other words. But unless we all genuinely face the implications of the sins we asked him to carry into the desert for us, this ugliness will simply surface somewhere else.

kathy smith, burlington, Vermont, USA

He wouldn't get away with it in Britain, the Politically Correct capital of the world. John Reid's Thought Police would be storming the studios ready to arrest him and take him away, probably to ASBO Central for his tagging device and an official caution. Maybe he could do community service, even from America, by manning a talking CCTV camera remotely in one of Britain's troubled neighbourhoods.

Mike Mitchell, Spalding, England