Maybe I'm naive, stupid or both ("Both! Both!" I hear you shouting). But I'm inclined to let Don Imus up easy this time.
If you haven't heard, the radio host who got himself fired for referring to the players on Rutgers' primarily black women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos" did it again the other day. Apparently.
I say apparently, because his explanation for making what seemed on the surface a racist comment about NFL miscreant Adam "Pacman" Jones made sense to me. What he said was "There you go ... Now we know" after being told Jones was black during a discussion of Jones' multiple arrests.
At the time, this was construed as a snide stereotyping of Jones as just another black criminal. But Imus swears that what he meant was exactly the opposite: That he'd been arrested so many times simply because he was black.
You know what?
The more I read the exchange in the transcript, the more I think he's telling the truth. If only because he'd have to be a complete moron to make that sort of comment again after the Rutgers thing, and I don't think Don Imus is a complete moron.
So there you go. If I'm on the jury, Imus walks this time.
-- Ben Smith
Comments