On the April 9 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, Rev. Al Sharpton said about radio host Don Imus: "[W]e want him fired." Sharpton added: "[I]f there's no punishment, what message are we sending to the country?" Sharpton and host Wolf Blitzer were discussing Imus' April 4 comments on MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, in which Imus referred to the Rutgers University women's basketball team as “nappy-headed hos.” Imus had appeared on the April 9 broadcast of Sharpton's radio program, The Al Sharpton Show.
Blitzer asked Sharpton if Imus' “good work” for charity affected Sharpton's perception of Imus' remarks. Sharpton pointed to former Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Al Campanis and CBS football analyst Jimmy “the Greek” Snyder as examples of individuals who were fired for racially insensitive comments even though they “did things in his community.” At the end of the interview, Sharpton asked rhetorically if, in “the 21st century,” saying, " 'I'm sorry' and hav[ing] a few of your big-shot friends come out and say they forgive you, when you didn't do anything to them in the first place" would be more appropriate than the firings of Campanis and Snyder were in the 1980s.
From the April 9 edition of CNN's The Situation Room:
BLITZER: So, did he reassure you, or you still want him fired?
SHARPTON: Oh, no, we want him fired. I think that it is clear we're not just talking, Wolf, about his personal beliefs or feelings or even his being contrite. What we're talking about is public policy. There's no way the airwaves should be used to allow people to call people “nappy-headed hos.” That's what he called these people. And for him to say that and to just walk away like, “I'm just sorry, I made a mistake,” would then mean that the FCC, who regulates everything on the airwaves and who sanctioned people as -- as far as Janet Jackson with a wardrobe malfunction, has no purpose at all.
BLITZER: Everybody seems to think, though, or at least a lot of people are suggesting, including [Sen.] John McCain [R-AZ], who just spoke out on this matter -- maybe he deserves a chance, a second chance given the anguish. You saw him eyeball-to-eyeball. Did you sense how sorry he is?
SHARPTON: The question becomes whether or not we are going to have a regulatory policy that goes based on how contrite someone behaves or whether or not they step over the line. Again, Janet Jackson was contrite. The TV station was fined. She was fined. Everybody involved was fined. Are we going to have policy, or are we going to say, “if you say you're sorry or even convince us you are sorry, policy's out the window?” And then the next guy can do the same thing and use the precedent of Don Imus to say, “I can't be punished.” Those of us that believe women ought not to be called “hos” and blacks should not be called “nappy” cannot have that precedent live beyond this particular situation.
BLITZER: Well, did you get the impression he was sincere in his -- in his anguish? You sat just across the table from him during your radio program.
SHARPTON: I got the impression he was sincere. Whether he was sincere about keeping his job or sincere about what he did, I don't know him well enough to make that determination. The real question is whether the stations he worked for are sincere about upholding a standard. The real question is whether the FCC is sincere about having regulations that operate the same for everyone. And when you see some hard-working young ladies who excelled academically to go to Rutgers University and fight their way to the championship being reduced to being called “nappy-headed hos,” the humiliation they feel and a lot of young women -- I had my daughter in the studio today. How do they feel? And if nothing is done about this, if there's no punishment, what message are we sending to this country?
BLITZER: That -- that -- that exchange that you had with him, with your daughter there, I want to play -- I was listening to your radio program today. I want to play that little exchange, Reverend Sharpton. Stand by for a moment.
[begin video clip]
SHARPTON: You see this young lady here? Where she is? You see this young lady?
IMUS: Yes, sir.
SHARPTON: This young lady just graduated and went to Temple [University]. She is not “a nappy-headed ho,” she's my daughter.
[end video clip]
BLITZER: And -- and what was his response to you?
SHARPTON: I think he was a little taken back. And I think he understood why the impact of this is a lot more than just something that should be argued in the boardrooms of some radio station. He hit a lot of us where we live, and a lot of us that have condemned a lot of the language in -- in gangsta rap and a lot of language on the radio and said to kids, “You got to quit using negative words,” how do we go back and tell our kids to clean up their words when you can call some exemplary young women this and we say nothing and extract no punishment to protect their integrity and self-esteem?
BLITZER: John McCain just said only a few moments ago that everyone deserves a chance at redemption. He's willing to give Imus another chance. [Democratic strategist] James Carville here in The Situation Room said he's been on his program for many years. He's been a friend of his. He's going to give him another chance, will continue to go on his program. Do you think big-name celebrities, whether politicians or media stars or others, should continue to be guests on Imus' radio program?
SHARPTON: I think that if there is no punishment, if there is no policy enforced to continue to go there is to endorse the policy that it doesn't matter how vile you get and who is violated, that an apology will do. It's strange to me that none of them have stopped to talk about the offended. It is easy for people that have not been offended to forgive people that didn't offend them. I think that is arrogant and insensitive. I would think that everyone, especially those running for president, would first say, “Wait a minute. Has there been some punishment and acknowledgment by those who were offended here? How can I forgive somebody for something they didn't do to me?”
BLITZER: What about all the good work he's done over the years? He's got a program at his ranch, as you know, out West. He brings sick children there, including a lot of minority kids. He gives them a chance to be out -- out West. What about all the good work --
SHARPTON: I don't --
BLITZER: --the millions he's raised for these young kids?
SHARPTON: I don't think anyone discounts that. I think that that is good, and he ought to be applauded for that. But I don't think that answers the point that he himself said that he did a repugnant, racist act. And I think that if someone is accused of something, sure, you weigh their background. But you still do not say that that totally means that you have immunity from behaving in a great way -- in a way that is a great insult and a great offense to people. I mean, if -- if you go to all of those disc jockeys that have been fired for saying offensive things. Look at Al Campanis. He did things in his community. He was fired. Jimmy the Greek, fired. Are we now going to get to the 21st century and you have someone say something more repugnant than Campanis, more repugnant than Jimmy the Greek, and just have someone say all you got to do is say, “I'm sorry” and have a few of your big-shot friends come out and say they forgive you, when you didn't do anything to them in the first place?
BLITZER: The Reverend Al Sharpton. Thanks very much for coming in.