KING’s Man of the Year: Don Imus

If good-ol'-boy racism were an actual human being, he'd be a no-brainer for Man of the Year.

Think about it. In '07, Good-Ol'-Boy Racism campaigned harder than Obama, landed more punches than Mayweather and dropped more hits than a T-Pain, Lil' Wayne, Kanye West, Timbaland compilation.

For instance, in July the Notorious G.O.B. released "Jim Crow Justice in Jena.” This courtroom banger featured noose hangings, black kid–stomping white high schoolers, a retaliatory beatdown by six black boys and an aggravated-battery conviction that could have landed Jena Sixer Mychal Bell in prison for 15 years had protesters not successfully demanded that he be retried in juvenile court.

In September G.O.B. leaked "Torture Chamber,” a bonus track about the six white men and women in Big Creek, West Virginia, who allegedly trapped a 20-year-old black neighbor, Megan Williams, in a toolshed for six days. They took turns raping her, stabbing her, choking her, calling her a nigger and forcing her to eat rat and dog feces, as well as drink from the toilet.

Good-Ol'-Boy Racism followed up with "Office Hours Lynching,” a sample-heavy battle record about Madonna Constantine, the black professor at Columbia University Teachers College who found a noose hanging on her office door last October.

Since Good-Ol'-Boy Racism is not an actual homo sapien, KING is stuck with Don Imus, the calcified, white shock jock who managed to make the block hot for hip-hop just by being his racist self. On the off chance that you don't know this twisted story by heart, a recap: On April 4, Imus hit the airwaves as usual for his top-rated, 20-year-old radio show, Imus in the Morning. At some point during the broadcast, which originated on WFAN radio and was simulcast on MSNBC-TV, the 66-year-old mentioned the women's basketball championship showdown between Rutgers University's Lady Scarlet Knights and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville's Lady Vols.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don Imus "So I watched the basketball game last night—a little bit of Rutgers and Tennessee.”
Sports announcer Sid Rosenberg "Yeah, Tennessee won last night. It's the seventh championship for [Coach] Pat Summitt. They beat Rutgers by
13 points.”
Imus "Those some rough girls from Rutgers, man. They got tattoos…”
Executive producer Bernard McGuirk "Some hard-core hos.”
Imus "Some nappy-headed hos there, I'ma tell you that now. And the girls from Tennessee, they all look cute, you know. It's kind of like a…I don't know…”
McGuirk "A Spike Lee thing.”
Imus "Yeah.”
McGuirk "Yeah, the Jigaboos versus the Wannabes—that movie that he had…”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Known as the original shock jock, Don Imus had long trafficked in isms. In previous broadcasts he'd called Hillary Clinton a bitch, suggested bombing Mecca as a way to eliminate terrorism and described the "Jewish” management of CBS Radio as "money-grubbing.” Of veteran black newswoman Gwen Ifill, Imus has reportedly said that it was "wonderful” of The New York Times to "let the cleaning lady cover the White House.”

Imus' isms didn't stop esteemed guests from Tom Brokaw to Charles Barkley from going on his show, nor did it deter more than 3 million listeners from tuning in each week. But this attack on do-right black college women took the Imus shtick too far, even for fans of casual racism wrapped in "smart” humor. After "nappy-headed hos,” Imus was no longer the irascible Archie Bunker type who saved his invective for powerful people. He was a racist ovary-puncher.

Imus' two-week suspension and sorry­palooza—he first apologized on his radio show, then on the Rev. Al Sharpton's show, then face to face with the Lady Scarlet Knights at the New Jersey governor's mansion—didn't stop the calls for his head. Thanks to the sustained public outrage, major advertisers, including General Motors and American Express, pulled out. Shortly after, CBS Radio and MSNBC announced that Imus in the Morning would become "Imus on the Unemployment Line.”

Thus ended another tale of white male isms gone awry—until socially conservative black America decided to pick up the baton and run way too far with it.

For more from this story, including a timeline of Don Imus' craziest quotes, and other controversial Man of The Year picks by other publications (we see you Time Magazine!), cop the KING Magazine Dec. '08/Jan. '07 issue, on newsstands now!