NBC, CBS suspend Imus show
'Morning' benched after host's racial remarks
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NBC News execs made the decision after days of considering Imus' remarks and amid increasing calls that his show be taken off the air.
"Don Imus has expressed profound regret and embarrassment and has made a commitment to listen to all of those who have raised legitimate expressions of outrage," NBC said in a statement.
CBS Radio suspended Imus' syndicated radio show for the same time period but had no further comment.
Imus will be a guest on the "Today" show along with the Rev. Al Sharpton on Tuesday to express additional contrition for referring to the Rutgers team as "nappy-headed hos" on his show last week.
On Monday, Imus appeared on Sharpton's radio show and repeatedly asserted that his show is a comedy act, and this was a case of a joke that had gone too far.
The uproar caught NBC News and CBS Radio between the need to condemn Imus' actions while preserving the valuable real estate he occupies on the dial. "Imus in the Morning" is challenging CNN in the ratings on MSNBC; his radio show reaches 2.25 million listeners each week.
NBC News execs said the network's continued relationship with Imus is "contingent" on his changing "the discourse on his program moving forward."
"Imus in the Morning" is produced by CBS Radio's WFAN-AM and simulcast on MSNBC. Show is produced at MSNBC headquarters in Secaucus, N.J.
NBC said the two-week suspension would begin Monday after two already-scheduled radiothons to benefit Tomorrow's Children's Fund and the CJ Foundation for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome research, set for Thursday and Friday.
An MSNBC spokesman said it was unclear what would replace Imus' show, a staple of MSNBC's schedule since the net launched in 1996.
The statement came after days of deliberations by NBC News prexy Steve Capus and senior veep Phil Griffin, who were weighing various options for Imus, who ignited a media firestorm with his comments last Wednesday.
Among the options considered by NBC execs was removing Imus from the show altogether. Instead, NBC is suspending his show and is giving Imus a huge platform to explain himself on "Today."
On-air barbs are an Imus staple. During his time on MSNBC, he has called Rush Limbaugh "a fat, pill-popping loser" and MSNBC host Tucker Carlson "a bowtie-wearing pussy."
On Sharpton's show, Imus said he should be held to a different set of standards than a TV news personality.
"I'm not a journalist," he said. "I'm not Tim Russert. I'm not a politician. I don't have any -- we don't have an agenda. Our agenda is to try to be funny, and sometimes we go too far. And sometimes we go way too far. In this case we went way too far."
Imus faced some sharp questioning from Sharpton, who repeated his call for him to be fired. "You could be the nicest guy in the world, but you ought to be fired," he said.
Rev. Jesse Jackson and a group of activists picketed at an NBC station in Chicago carrying placards that read "Imus Must Go."
