The NY Times

Letter to the Producer

April 9, 2007

I just read David Carr’s piece on Mr. Don Imus in today’s NY Times. Mr. Imus had the temerity to disgustingly refer to the Rutgers University’s women’s basketball team as “nappy headed hoe’s.”  As a father of a daughter who graduated from Rutgers, and a listener to WFAN, I believe that Mr. Imus should be suspended and permanently removed from the airwaves. He has had a long history of trashing African-Americans, Jews and Catholics. His parodies of Cardinals Egan, O’Connor and former President Bill Clinton are incredibly offensive, and his loutish conduct is repulsive. I am constantly amazed that so many political figures of both parties and broadcast personalities come on his program. Either they are unaware of his true repulsive character or don’t really listen to the claptrap he promulgates with sidekicks like Bernard McGirk and Sid Rosenberg. The late and unlamented Jimmy Snyder (known as Jimmy the Greek) was fired after twelve years on CBS-TV following a remark to a reporter about “the racial superiority of black athletes.” In comparison to Snyder’s foolish and inaccurate remarks, Mr. Imus crosses the “taste and decency” barrier each and every moment. If we really wish our society to place the “race” issue behind us, then WFAN and the FCC should take steps to make our “free airwaves” free from Imus and his race and religious baiting rhetoric.

Richard J. Garfunkel