6/23/2008

in

Radio personality Don Imus attempted to downplay remarks he made on Monday that have been construed as racist.

Justin Zaremba

On Tuesday, U.S. radio personality Don Imus tried to downplay statements he made on Monday that linked a football player's race to brushes with the police.  
  
During his breakfast show on Monday, Imus discussed the suspension of Adam "Pacman" Jones, a football player that recently signed with the Dallas Cowboys. Jones was suspended by the NFL in April 2007 because of his link to a Las Vegas triple shooting.  
  
A colleague of Imus stated that Jones had been arrested six times since he had been drafted by the Tennessee Titans in 2005. In response, Imus asked what color Jones was.  
  
Upon being told that Jones is black, Imus responded, "Well, there you go. Now we know."  
  
Imus responded on Tuesday during his show, "Obviously I already knew what color he was. The point was to make a sarcastic point."  
  
He said, "What people should be outraged about is they arrest blacks for no reason. There's no reason to arrest this kid six times, maybe he did something once, but I mean everybody does something once."  
  
In April 2007, CBS Radio fired Imus for his comments about Rutgers women's basketball team, who are predominantly composed of black members.