Shock Jock Suspended As Racist, Sexist Comment Causes Outrage

One of America's most popular radio hosts yesterday was subjected to a public dressing down by members of a college women's basketball team amid an outpouring of public anger at his on-air racist and sexist insult.

In an emotional news conference from Rutgers, the state university of New Jersey, carried live and at enormous length by cable networks, players accused the host, Don Imus, of destroying what should have been a moment of unadultered triumph - their improbable rise to the finals of the college championships - by calling them "nappy-headed hos".

"We would just like to express our great hurt and sadness that this brought to us," said Essence Carson, the team captain.

"This has scarred me for life," said Matee Ajavon, another player.

For Imus, who has made a career out of being surly in the morning in a show that is carried by NBC and CBS radio and broadcast simultaneously on MSNBC, the ritual humiliation by the 10 players, their coach, and university officials was the least of his worries yesterday.

On Monday night, he was suspended for two weeks by his employers and ordered to clean up his act. "Our future relationship with Imus is contingent on his ability to live up to his word," MSNBC said in a statement. The suspension goes into effect next Monday.

But that degree of punishment did not cool the outrage at his remarks, with the Reverends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, and officials from the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Organisation for Women demanding that he step down or get the sack.

"This is a two-week cooling off period," Mr Jackson said yesterday. "It does not challenge the character of the show, its political impact, or the impact that these comments have had on our society."

The broad sense of outrage generated by Imus's remarks was telling of an emerging new culture in America that is increasingly unwilling to tolerate rhetorical transgressions.

It is also increasingly stern about demanding amends. Imus is due to meet the Rutgers team to explain himself.

That change in celebrity culture appears to have been noticed late by Imus, who is in the habit of straying into dangerous territory on his show.

Yesterday, Gwen Ifill of PBS television, who is African-American, revealed in a piece for the New York Times that Imus had referred to her more than a decade ago as the cleaning lady who covered the White House.

Apparently Imus believed the same standards still applied. He initially issued only a lukewarm apology for his disparagement of the Rutgers team. By yesterday morning, as it came to dawn on him that the remarks would not be tolerated, his apologies became increasingly desperate.

He told listeners he had no objections to his suspension.

"I'm trying to serve it without whining because as bad as I feel I don't feel as bad as those young women feel," he said.