THE UNIVERSITY DARY KANSAN
TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 2007
NEWS
CELEBRITY
7A
Critics doubt radio host's apology
Richard Drew/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rev. Al Sharpton, left, and radio personality Don Imus appear face-to-face on Rev. Sharpton's radio show, in New York on Monday. Imus issued another apology for referring to the Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos" on his morning show last week.
BY JOCELYN NOVECK ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — It's a familiar dance that plays out ever more frequently in our popular culture. A public figure transgresses, and we wait to dissect the apology. Was it sincere enough? Contrite enough? Specific enough? Did he feel our pain?
Don Imus' critics don't really care. For them, it's time to dispense with the ritual and move on to a world where actions have consequences.
Not that the radio host wasn't working hard to save his job on Monday, seeking to atone for his "nappy-headed hos" comment in a testy appearance on the Rev. Al Sharpton's radio program. But for many, the public apology — used so often in the past year — was seen like a tired vehicle, even a "meaningless incantation," in the words of ethics columnist Randy Cohen.
"I don't care about an apology," said Angela Burt-Murray, editor in chief of Essence magazine, who's been one of the stronger voices speaking out against Imus' characterization of the Rutgers women's basketball team. "You're not a child on the playground. You're an adult who needs to take responsibility for his actions. And there need to be consequences."
The public apology has merely made a quick fix, Burt-Murray said, to get back to business as quickly as possible. "Michael Richards apologizes. We move on. Mel Gibson apologizes. We move on," she said. "When does it stop? When do WE make it stop?"
For one of the nation's top feminist activists as well, Imus' efforts at public remorse are pointless.
its completely hollow" said Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women, who called his words "beyond racist and sexist." Her organization launched a drive Sunday for members to contact Imus' corporate bosses at CBS Corp. and NBC Universal to demand his
firing — and she says a few thousand have responded so far.
"This guy is just trying to get himself out of trouble," said Gandy. "It's hard to take him seriously wher look at his past. He's not a first
time offender.
The 47th time.
I think it rings pretty false."
Imus had made several attempts to apologize for his remarks - his level of contrition apparently expanding with each new attempt.
of everybody, because some people don't deserve it," and indicated the climate on his show would change. On Sharpton's program, he acknowledged he'd gone "way too far."
"You're not a child on the playground. You're an adult who needs to take responsibility for his actions.And there need to be consequences."
ANGELA BURT-MURRAY Essence magazine editor-in-chief
By the public-apology standards
Last week, he said people should relax rather than be incensed over "some idiom comment meant to be amusing." On Monday, he gave a 10-minute explanation on his own show, saying "you can't make fun
tirade. Author James Frey faced the music with Oprah Winfrey. And Sen. John Kerry, after his gaffe about the military, went to explain himself at the microphones of ... Don Imus.
pology standards of the past year, he's trying hard. Gibson went on national television with Diane Sawyer to say he wasn't an anti-Semite. Richards, aka Kramer of "Seinfeld," made a rambling apology on David Letterman's for his, "n"-word
This ever-rising chorus of mea
culpas leaves Cohen, author of a syndicated ethics column, rather disgusted.
"What passes for a public apology is utterly pro forma," he said. "It's: 'I apologize and I take full responsibility' ... after which the person goes right on and does the same thing as before."
Cohen was careful to note that there ARE times when apologies are meaningful. When you're in a fight, for example, and you say something hurtful at the height of passion, your apology means something.
Or when the person apologizing shows real, undeniable remorse and a clear intention never to repeat a similar offense again. Few people believe that about Imus, Cohen says.
The "nappy-headed ho" comments were "only a slightly exaggerated form of what Imus does every day." Cohen said.
"I'd fire the guy."
REALITY TV
"Laguna" star arrested after making racist comments
BY GENE JOHNSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEATTLE — Television actor Jason Wahler hurled racial and homophobic invectives at a police officer when he was arrested over the weekend after punching a hotel security guard and passing out drunk in a hallway, said a Seattle Police Department report.
Wahler, 20, a star of MTV's "The Hills" and "Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County," was arrested early Sunday for investigation of assault and criminal trespass. He posted bail and was released from the King County Jail.
It was Wahler's third arrest since September, when he punched a city worker and tow-truck driver. Last month, a judge sentenced him to 60 days in jail — a sentence he was scheduled to serve beginning in May — and ordered him to attend
Alcoholics Anonymous classes and a one-day program at the Museum of Tolerance for using racial slurs.
The police report said that shortly after midnight on Sunday, officers responded to the Waterfront Marriott hotel. A security guard told them there had been an altercation in the lobby, and that someone wrestled with Wahler to restrain him.
When the guard asked the pair to settle down or leave, Wahler shoved him in the chest and then punched him in the mouth, the police report said. Another person removed him from the building, but he came back a short time later.
Two police officers found him passed out on the third floor, reeking of alcohol, and woke him up.
wanter then "repeatedly" called Officer C. DePina, who is not black, a "n-----" and a "f----", DePina wrote in the report. "Wahler stated he was rich and would have my ass. Wahler made vague threats to assault officers."
Woodland wonder
Mike Siegel/ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Tiger cub, Hadiah, is seen on display for the first time at the Woodland Park Zoo on Monday in Seattle. The baby female Sumatran tiger was born December 12, 2006.
SR. AND ROBERT F. VICKERS, SR.
ORIAL LECTURE SERIES