Should Don Imus Have Been Fired?

In light of the off-color remarks made by radio personality Don Imus, a career that spanned decades has been effectively ended. On April 12, 2007, both MSNBC and CBS radio cancelled the long-running show, "Imus in the Morning," to the delight of the Rutgers women's basketball team, but to the chagrin of fans, sick children, and injured military veterans.

Racist and sexist remarks aside - what I consider to be a much more important issue has been overlooked in this whole controversy. Imus has hosted 17 annual charity events, raising money for children with debilitating diseases. During these events, which, by comparison, spanned almost the entire lives of the members of the Rutgers women's basketball team, he raised over $50 million to provide comfort, care, and research for the families of children with these diseases.

Imus was in the middle of his 18^th annual fundraiser when his show was cancelled. In his last few hours on the air, he managed to raise an additional $1 million.

If that's not convincing enough of the value of Imus's show, earlier this year, he used his position as a radio personality to raise $6 million to benefit the most technologically advanced military rehabilitation center in the United States, the Center for the Intrepid, based out of Texas. He was one of many parties which contributed to the facility, which helps injured veterans recuperate and make the transition to civilian life.

Some say justice is served. CBS radio and MSNBC played to the so-called fans and made an example of Imus, canceling his radio show and Imus in the Morning, removing a voice that has broadcasted across radio and television for decades. I beg to differ. I don't think this is justice at all. I think this is a perfect example of a situation where the ends do not justify the means.

While the Rev. Al Sharpton claims that the push to get Imus's show cancelled was more about the "misuse of the airwaves" rather than an attack on Imus himself, I wonder if he thought about the flip-side to this push. Imus made a remark that he probably shouldn't have, offended these girls, and, as a decent person, apologized and was served with a two week suspension. That wasn't good enough for the so-called victims of this so-called verbal attack. They had him pulled from the air, and effectively took away the audience that he used to help raise money for sick children. One off-color remark should not equal the loss of charitable contributions to beneficial causes.

Was what Imus said offensive? I'm sure it was. But are we going to fire every radio personality who makes an off color remark and somebody gets offended? If we do, half of the people working in radio will be out of work. When you weigh the implication of Imus's comment against the work that he has done to help children and veterans, was it worth having his shows cancelled? The response to that question is no doubt subjective, but, in my opinion - definitely not.

My first inclination would be to say, "At least there is always XM or Sirius satellite radio," but now I'm not so sure - and that's a discussion for another day.