Martin Garbus Calls Les Moonves A Nappy-Headed Ho
Okay, not exactly. But Martin Garbus, the legendary litigator now representing former CBS radio host Don Imus, is coming out swinging.
Yesterday Garbus announced that Imus would sue CBS Radio for the unpaid portion of Imus's $40 million contract. He said to expect the lawsuit by the end of next week.
Garbus cited a clause in Imus's contract acknowledging that his show was "unique, extraordinary, irreverent, intellectual, topical, controversial." This language may be part of the contract clause we discussed back in this post.
This morning's news includes another argument we'll probably see in the eventual lawsuit. From the AP:
CBS Radio and MSNBC had delay buttons, but didn't use them when Imus made racist and sexist comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team, lawyer Martin Garbus said on ABC's "Good Morning America.""That means CBS and MSNBC both knew the language that was going out, and both knew the language complied with (Imus') contract. ... It was consistent with many of the things he had done," Garbus said.
Interesting. It sounds like CBS may have a real fight on its hands. And if the matter goes to a jury trial, there may be some sympathy for Imus. Here are the results of our recent ATL poll:
And this poll was taken before we learned about the exact wording of the contract clause, as well as CBS's alleged failure to use its delay buttons.
Hey Yul Kwon -- CBS wants its million dollars back...
Imus Lawyer: We'll Sue for Full Contract [Associated Press]
Imus Lawyer: Bosses Could've Cut Remarks [Associated Press]
Earlier: Is the Nappy-Headed Don Imus Entitled To One Free Bite of the Hoho?
(6) Comments
CBS had to fire Imus, even if his contract had said "Imus will not be fired for saying 'nappy-headed hoes.'" They might have to pay up, but that doesn't change the fact it was something they had to do.
10:50: Fair point. But wow, that's one expensive stand on principle.
Expensive, maybe. But since tons of top advertisers were pulling their ads, it might not have been economically viable to keep Imus on the air anyway.
With three little words (or two depending on how you count), Don Imus destroyed a franchise that was making millions for both himself and CBS. Ouch.
Without the creative freedom to push the limits of what could be said on the air, who would have listened to Imus anyway? For all his interviewing politicians, he was not exactly NPR. It's a cost of doing business for creative professionals like that, whose stock-in-trade is pushing the line of propriety; if you're Imus and CBS, you had to know this day might come, and they should have been better prepared for it. The moral of the story is, better to just keep it straight up disgusting and sexist, like Howard Stern.
Imus is disgusting ... and not just for what he said. By blaming CBS for letting his comments go out over the air instead of bleeping it out, he is doing nothing but passing the buck of responsibility. Any apology he made is now completely meaningless.
What a jerk.