FACTBOX: Don Imus, veteran broadcaster
(Reuters) - U.S. radio star Don Imus apologized on Monday for racist and sexist comments about a predominantly black women's basketball team that spurred calls for his firing and a boycott of his sponsors.
Following are some facts about Imus.
* The National Association of Black Journalists says Imus has had a history of racial insults on his program, having called journalist Gwen Ifill of the Public Broadcasting Service a "cleaning lady" and referring to columnist William Rhoden of The New York Times as "a quota hire."
* A pediatric doctor sued Imus in 2005 for slander, alleging Imus had defamed him by calling him "one of the worst doctors in the world" during his "Imus in the Morning" show.
* Imus was sued by his son's former nanny in 2004 over an on-air outburst in which he called her a terrorist after firing her.
* The White House in 1996 denounced a "fairly tasteless" skewering of President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, by Imus. With the Clintons looking on uncomfortably at the Radio & Television Correspondents Association dinner, Imus joked about allegations of the president's marital infidelity.
