US 'shock' talk-show host loses jobs over racial slur

WASHINGTON: One of America's most popular talk-show hosts on Thursday lost his second broadcasting job in as many days a week after uttering a racial slur on the air that has triggered a national media frenzy.   

Broadcasting giant CBS dropped Don Imus's radio show, carried on 61 stations nationwide, for calling the mostly African-American women's basketball team of Rutgers University a group of "nappy-headed hos (whores)."   

CBS's decision came a day after MSNBC television dropped its simulcast of "Imus in the Morning" after a clamor mounted for the firing of the veteran "shock jock" and major advertisers began to shun the program.   

"From the outset, I believe all of us have been deeply upset and repulsed by the statements that were made on our air about the young women who represented Rutgers University in the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship with such class, energy and talent," CBS chief Leslie Moonves said in a statement.   

Moonves said the company had met with minority and women's groups in recent days to discuss the controversy.   

"In our meetings with concerned groups, there has been much discussion of the effect language like this has on our young people, particularly young women of color trying to make their way in this society," he said.   

"That consideration has weighed most heavily on our minds as we made our decision, as have the many e-mails, phone calls and personal discussions we have had with our colleagues across the CBS Corporation and our many other constituencies."   

NBC News President Steve Capus, whose company owns MSNBC, said the network had concluded that "there should not be any room for this sort of conversation and dialogue on the air. It was the only decision that we could reach."   

Capus denied his decision was influenced by the withdrawal of advertising by powerful sponsors like American Express, Sprint Nextel, and General Motors.   

Both NBC and CBS had already announced that Imus, 67, would be suspended for two weeks. The firings came as the clamor by anti-racism activists and the media drumbeat reached fever-pitch.   

The Imus case dominated the news coverage of US cable channels and splashed across the front pages of newspapers, underscoring the country's sensitivity to racial epithets.   

Imus has repeatedly apologized on-air for his remark and sought a private meeting with the Rutgers players, and his supporters have argued that what he said pales compared with the language even more coarse, provocative and racist in art forms such as "gangsta" rap.   

Before his firings, many of the movers and shakers of US society, from pundits to presidential candidates, who were guests on Imus's show had been weighing whether to risk a return visit.   

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, a leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination, was among those willing to give Imus another shot.   

"I would appear on his program again, sure," Giuliani was quoted as telling reporters. "I believe he understands he made a very, very big mistake."   

But Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama, who appeared on the show two years ago, had said Imus should be dropped by the networks.   

"He didn't just cross the line ... he fed into some of the worst stereotypes that my two young daughters are having to deal with today in America," said Obama, an African-American, on ABC television.   

Imus started his career at a small radio station in California in 1968 and attracted as many devoted followers as enemies with his sharp-tongued brand of "insult humour".