Don Imus – the I-Man – is one of American radio’s institutions. Imus in the Morning has been on the air one way or another since 1971. For UK readers, think of John Humphrys with the forty years of reporting replaced by shock-jocking, cocaine and alcohol addiction. Then stick a Stetson on it. That’s Imus.

As David Carr from the New York Times put it:

[Imus] fills a demand for serious discussion on contemporary radio so that the journalists and politicians pushing an agenda or a book don’t have to get in line behind the strippers at Howard Stern’s show.

In fact Imus’ style owes much to Howard Stern, but his success is down to one of those byzantine US arrangements by which his show is produced and syndicated by a CBS-managed radio group, but is televised simultaneously on NBC’s cable news channel, where it provides a cheap and effective kickstart to the day’s schedule.

Or at least provided. Because a couple of days ago NBC pulled Imus’ show from TV. And today CBS did the same for radio, after advertisers queued up to shift their spots. Here’s why [HT: Media Matters]:

Wednesday, April 4 Imus in the Morning:

DON IMUS: That’s some rough girls from Rutgers. Man, they got tattoos and –
BERNARD McGUIRK: Some hard-core hos.
IMUS: That’s some nappy-headed hos there. I’m gonna tell you that now, man, that’s some – woo. And the girls from Tennessee, they all look cute, you know, so, like – kinda like – I don’t know.

Yes, Imus is the evil cowboy grandpa of Chris Moyles. The I-Man serves up his western drawl over straight shots of racism, misogyny and homophobia that are ‘comedy’ (the movie Brokeback Mountain became – wait for it – ‘Bareback’ Mountain). Imus articulates the prejudices of his audience with a wink – they’re not real, just comic riffs.

And it’s been going on a long time. According to the Village Voice, Imus and his colleagues have called O.J. Simpson’s lawyer “chicken wing Johnny Cochran,” Sammy Davis Jr. “a one-eyed lawn jockey,” former US Defence Secretary William Cohen “the Mandingo,” and his black wife “a ‘ho.’”

Around the drolery, Imus has a penchant for serious talk to Washington insiders – politicians and commentators. So not many of the beltway elite filed out to chastise him. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, it took a couple of days for Imus to say sorry:

Friday, April 6 Imus in the Morning:

IMUS: Want to take a moment to apologize for an insensitive and ill-conceived remark we made the other morning referring to the Rutgers women’s basketball team. It was completely inappropriate, and we can understand why people were offended. Our characterization was thoughtless and stupid, so, and we’re sorry.

By Tuesday, Imus was shifting the blame:

Tuesday, April 10 Imus in the Morning:

IMUS: … this phrase that I used didn’t originate – it originated in the black community. That didn’t give me a right to use it, but that’s where it originated.

The tactics didn’t work. This is how CBS chief Leslie Moonves canned the I-Man:

…Imus has been visited by Presidents, Senators, important authors and journalists from across the political spectrum. He has flourished in a culture that permits a certain level of objectionable expression that hurts and demeans a wide range of people. In taking him off the air, I believe we take an important and necessary step not just in solving a unique problem, but in changing that culture, which extends far beyond the walls of our Company.

Which nicely excludes Moonves himself, and CBS management. And so it ends. It wasn’t exactly Talk Radio, but then Imus is not the real loser, he’s made his money. Standing in the green room of shame are all the people who thought they could excuse the ‘comedic’ ribbing for a chance to talk politics. And the listeners who chuckled merrily on. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong.