What Were They Thinking?: Crisis Communication: The Good, the Bad, and the Totally Clueless

Don Imus: “I Can't Get Anywhere with You People”

Sometimes even veteran, accomplished broadcasters create their own crises and then make it worse by not immediately recognizing the severity of the situation. Consider Don Imus and his now infamous April 4, 2007, “nappy-headed hos” comments directed toward the Rutgers University women’s basketball team, which was playing for the NCAA national championship in the spring of 2007. This despicable and deplorable racist comment was part of a larger Imus riff that morning making a convoluted comparison between the darker-skinned black women from Rutgers (whom he and his producers saw as tough, unattractive, and thug-like) and the lighter-skinned, more attractive, and, apparently Imus believed, more “likeable”Tennessee team.The terms “jiggaboos” and “wannabes” were used by the all-white, allmale Imus broadcast crew. This went over the line even for a crew known to lack sensitivity to any race, color, or creed. Radio talk show host Don Imus was thinking that, with powerful friends in the media, he could give a late, lame, and awkward apology regarding an insulting and totally inappropriate racial comment about the nationally acclaimed Rutgers University women’s basketball team without suffering any long-term consequences. What were they thinking?. An apology has to be delivered immediately through an appropriate medium and in words that express genuine regret while offering no caveats or qualifications in the process. The Lesson. 136 Don Imus “I CAN’T GET ANYWHERE WITH YOU PEOPLE” Adubato_final_book 5/20/08 4:32 PM Page 136 It was like so many other unscripted, unprompted, and in this case unfunny riffs that Imus had conducted, except this time, he picked the wrong target and used the wrong words to ignite a controversy that captured the attention of the nation for several weeks, until the Virginia Tech tragedy turned the media spotlight in a new direction. When Imus made that stupid comment, it is a safe bet to assume that he thought nothing of it—neither did any of the on-air team he was working with. His sidekicks, producers, and the people behind the scenes didn’t even blink. In fact, the next morning, Imus went on the air and made light of the “nappyheaded hos” bit. Basically, he said that people should learn to take a joke and not take themselves so seriously. But others were taking Imus’s comments very seriously. The Flames of Controversy Ignite Media Matters, the liberal media watchdog that keeps track of television, radio, and Internet commentary, blasted Imus. They made his “nappy-headed hos” comments available on the Web for those who had missed the original radio cast or the simulcast on MSNBC. Still, most mainstream media outlets didn’t pay much attention to the incident until the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) jumped into the fray and blasted Imus for his comments.This raised the ante significantly.The issue of race and how it could and couldn’t be talked about on the public airwaves was now front and center. NABJ president Byron Monroe saw and heard Imus’s onair rant against the women’s basketball team on the Media Matters Web site and immediately sent out an e-mail to his board of directors with the following subject line: “FYI—Do we need to address.” Mr. Monroe, who is also a top-level editorial director at both Jet and Ebony magazines, then wrote: “I DON IMUS 137 Adubato_final_book 5/20/08 4:32 PM Page 137 heard the words come out of his mouth and thought, ‘Has he lost his mind?’”1 Once the NABJ blasted Imus on their Web site and sent out an e-mail with their position, things began to happen quickly. The NABJ said they were “outraged and disgusted.” They demanded an “immediate and sincere apology” from Imus.That statement and the challenge by the NABJ were posted at 5:30 A.M. on Friday, April 6. Don Imus went on the air at 6:06 A.M. and attempted what would be his first apology, which went like this: “I want to take a moment to apologize for an insensitive and ill-conceived remark. Our characterization was thoughtless and stupid, and we’re sorry.”2 Instead of squelching the problem, this apology made the story even bigger. It was now forty-eight hours past the insensitive racial rant, and Imus was feeling big pressure from CBS and NBC, his radio and...