Imus defends himself after racial remarks

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Syndicated radio/TV host Don Imus repeatedly apologized on Monday for calling a mostly black women's basketball team "nappy headed hos," but said he would not resign.

Imus has been under fire since his comments last Wednesday about the Rutgers squad, and he faced one of his toughest critics, the Rev. Al Sharpton, during his nationally syndicated radio show Monday.

Imus -- whose show originates from MSNBC's headquarters in Secaucus, N.J., and also is simulcast on the news cable channel -- said that "sometimes we go too far, sometimes we go way too far" on his radio show.

He acknowledged that apologizing wasn't enough and that "some gesture of reconciliation" would be required. He said he had been trying to meet with the Rutgers players and their parents and the coach to "ask for them to forgive me."

He said he didn't want to be portrayed as racist for the remarks, which he said weren't meant to be racial.

"'Nappy' is racial," Sharpton chided Imus.

"Yes sir, I understand that," Imus said. He said that he didn't say some of the other things that had been attributed to him.

"You didn't argue with it, either," Sharpton said. "It's the same show."

Imus said he wouldn't resign but said his critics had the right to call for his firing.

Imus, whose radio show is often graced by Washington media and political elite, apologized again several times on Monday's "Imus in the Morning" show. He said that his show was a place where, for the past three decades, many people have been made fun of but said the Rutgers team shouldn't have been.

"Some people don't deserve to be made fun of, like these young ladies who played for the national championship in basketball," Imus said. The Rutgers team lost last week to the University of Tennessee.

He also defended himself, saying, "I'm not a bad person. I'm a good person who said something bad."

Sharpton kept up the pressure Monday on his radio program, calling for Imus' resignation or firing. He wasn't alone.

"I cannot see another way this saga can end," Brian Monroe, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, said Monday on Sharpton's syndicated radio show.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter