Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Rutgers Women Meet The Press


C Goodman

Racist, sexist and deplorable. That's how Rutgers women's basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer described the comments made by radio talk show host Don Imus about members of her team at a news conference this morning. Last week, Imus drew criticism for calling the predominately black team "nappy-headed hos" and said they were some rough looking girls. Imus has since apologized for the offensive remarks, but that's done little to stop calls for his termination from civil rights leaders like the Reverend Al Sharpton.

But the biggest news to come out of the Rutgers press conference was word that team members have agreed to sit down with the broadcasting legend to discuss the comments. Team member Essence Carson said she and the other players were angry and disgusted but would meet with Imus. They stopped short of saying whether they thought he should be fired for calling the team "nappy-headed hos."

The Imus controversy even found its way to the White House today. Spokeswoman Dana Perino was asked if President Bush thought Imus' punishment was strong enough. "The president believed that the apology was the absolute right thing to do. Beyond that, I think that his employer is going to have to make a decision about any action that they take based on it."

No word on when a meeting between Imus and the girls might happen.

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