I am distressed and saddened that too many Americans either do not understand - or choose to ignore - the real culprits and the hypocritical situation in the entire Don Imus firing affair last week.

Let me say, first of all, that I am not a Don Imus fan and never have been. I chose, a long time ago, not to listen to Imus on his CBS radio program or on MSNBC. I am no admirer of “shock jock" broadcasting, believing there are all manner of important subjects out there that require no envelope-stretching titillation for interesting public discussion.

I abhor Imus' words about the Rutgers' women's basketball team. They were offensive, nasty and glibly mean-spirited. That “ho" word, colloquial for “whore," is an affront to all women, of all races, no matter how and where it is used.

Which is why you must understand that Imus is not the end-all culprit in this matter. Imus' comment about the Rutgers' women was simply par for the course - with him. He has probably, over many years, offended all races, ethnic groups, religions and certainly all of the female sex. It would not surprise me to learn that many comments were even more outrageous and offensive that the one aimed at Rutgers.

And yet, the CBS and NBC broadcasting corporations kept him on the air for years, and advertisers chose, with forethought, to market themselves on his program. Why weren't all these people suitably outraged before at Imus' comments about Jews and women and whoever else he went off on?

I'll tell you why. Because Imus was bringing in millions of advertising dollars for CBS and NBC - and he was apparently boosting the sales of the show's advertisers too. They all knew what was happening on the Imus show and as much as sanctioned it with the use of their air waves and their advertising dollars.

So what caused CBS, NBC and the show's advertisers to finally say this latest comment was enough? Because black activist leaders Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton said it was.

Who died and made Jackson and Sharpton the arbitrating judges of all that is acceptable and unacceptable??? And why weren't they comparably outraged by Imus before now?

Just to be clear: This is absolutely not just a black issue. Oh no. Imus has been a long-time equal opportunity offender of too many races, ethnic groups and women to say he has picked only on blacks.

But Jackson and Sharpton decide the offensive comment aimed at Rutgers was the one they didn't like? I repeat: Where were they all those years when so many people were being grossly offended by Imus???

And, equally important, where have these two been while the most prolific users of the “ho" word - the so-called 'gangsta' rappers - spew their filth about women of all races all over the airwaves on MTV? Why have these two not led such a strong and public protest against all these objectionable, so-called rapper “artists" who fill our children's eyes and ears with destructive ideas and images? Why have they watched so many of these sleazebags become multi-millionaires by demeaning women, sexuality and family values without mounting a public outcry against them, the likes of the one they waged against Imus?

That's the hypocrisy part, folks, and this situation reeks of it. No one has used that offensive “ho" word in reference to women more or longer than these rappers, but Jackson and Sharpton went after Imus in a huge, public way for using it. Imus was dead wrong, but you cannot deny the hypocrisy of punishing him and letting the rappers continue. Even more troubling is that these rappers are skewing the perception of acceptable behavior for our young people, while Imus was primarily offending adults.

I wrote a column once about comedian Bill Cosby being harangued and demeaned by other black comedians and by rappers for pointing out that these rapper lyrics and videos were harmful to our youth. I wonder what he thinks about this mess.

Until the broadcasters stop presenting such objectionable materials and until advertisers stop paying money to support these demeaning rap cd's, videos and live performances, then they are the real and true culprits in this situation. Imus could never, ever have survived without the support of these companies. They encouraged his behavior by supporting him.

These companies should really not try to make the American public think they just woke up one day and learned Imus said something offensive. We weren't born yesterday.

We understand they were all making lots of money off of Imus, who, along with some rappers, has been hurting and offending so many of us for years. We understand they were all profiting at our expense.

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