Rutgers team accept Don Imus' apology · 2007-04-14 11:25
Rutgers women’s basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer said the team had accepted radio host Don Imus’ apology, AP news agency informed.
“We, the Rutgers University Scarlet Knight basketball team, accept ??” accept ??” Mr. Imus’ apology, and we are in the process of forgiving,” Stringer said.
“We still find his statements to be unacceptable, and this is an experience that we will never forget,” she said.
The team had just played for the NCAA national championship last week and lost when Imus, on his nationally syndicated radio show, called the players “nappy-headed hos.”
The statement outraged listeners and set off a national debate about taste and tolerance. It also led to his firing by CBS.
Don Imus, once named one of the 25 Most Influential People in America by Time magazine and a member of the National Broadcasters Hall of Fame, apologized on the air late last week.
But many of his advertisers still bailed in disgust, particularly after the Rutgers women spoke publicly of their hurt.
On Wednesday, a week after the remark, MSNBC said it would no longer televise the show. CBS fired Imus Thursday from the radio show that he has hosted for nearly 30 years.
“He has flourished in a culture that permits a certain level of objectionable expression that hurts and demeans a wide range of people,” CBS Corp. chief executive Leslie Moonves said in a memo to his staff.
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