OTTAWA – American radio host Don Imus earned a rebuke from the CRTC on Friday thanks to comments made during his show on MSNBC Canada in the fall of 2004.
MSNBC Canada no longer exists, however MSNBC is on the eligible satellite list and Imus in the Morning is MSNBC’s 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. morning program.
The CRTC says it received over 100 complaints about comments made on the November 12 and November 19, 2004 programs. Shaw, Rogers and MSNBC, which owned Canadian version of the channel, shut it down later that month for economic reasons.
Imus and his co-hosts had this to say about the death of then Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on November 12:
Imus: …You would think the Palestinian people would be pissed off, because Arafat stole billions of dollars from them, and they are all eating dirt. And the fat big wife is living in Paris.
2nd host: They’re all brainwashed though, that’s what it is, and they’re stupid to begin with. But they are brainwashed. Stinking animals (laughter). Gotta drop a bomb right there, kill ‘em all right now …
3rd host: Just imagine standing there. (laughter, inaudible comment)
Imus: We have Andrea there, we wouldn’t want anything to happen to her.
2nd host: Oh, yes, she’s gotta get out. Just warn Andrea, get out, and then drop a bomb, kill everybody.
3rd host: It’s like the worst Woodstock. (laughter)
Imus: And here’s their problem, they’re all Woodstock from hell.
As for the November 19th show, complainants said that a parody segment of the late General George S. Patton Jr. contained racist comments:
Imus: Alright, here now – Imus in Washington senior military affairs advisor, the late General George S. Patton, Jr.:
(Speaker – a changed voice): At ease. I am here this morning to briefly discuss the subject of moral outrage – specifically, mine. You probably are familiar with the matter I’m referring to: the United States Marine shooting a prostrate Iraqi insurgent who, just one day before, had been cowardly – and in violation of the rules of warfare – gunning for our boys from inside a Muslim mosque – a shooting conveniently caught on videotape by an embedded NBC News crew. Convenient, indeed – and not for us, for them – the sons of bitches we’re fighting! – providing them with another cozy "Al Jazeera moment" for the Muslim masses to respond to with their routine pack-of-rabid-sheep mentality.
General Sherman perhaps said it best: "War is hell" – a phrase I myself noted now and again during my war, when we beat the hell out of another gang of fascists who’d sworn allegiance to a no-good bastard with a mustache. Well people, it is still hell – as the young Marine who plugged that bastard clearly understood from the previous day’s combat when he had lost a comrade to a booby-trapped raghead cadaver and had gotten shot in the face himself. Was the NBC News embed unit there to record any of that, so that we could witness that bit of action from the comfort of our living room sofas? Apparently not. Rather, we are treated to this episode, without benefit of combat context, so that we can have our knee-jerk "moral confusion" and guilt buttons pushed.
And pushed by what? By pictures of a soldier dispatching an enemy combatant who had sworn fidelity to some bearded fatwa fairy who relishes the idea of cutting our heads off with a rusty bread knife and who will stop at nothing to kill us even if it means he himself dies in a (bleeped) – damn suicide attack. Patton rule of war No.1: you are not there to die for your cause. You are there to make the other miserable son of a bitch die for his! To help the United States of America achieve that end, I will now suggest a place where you can "embed" that TV camera; up your butt! I hope that’s not too "morally confusing." Thank you for your attention. That is all.
The Commission’s decision agrees with the complainants, saying some of the comments “were abusive and violate the Broadcasting Act.
“More specifically, the Commission is of the view that comments made during the 12 November 2004 broadcast that Palestinian people are ‘brainwashed,’ ‘stupid to begin with,’ and ‘stinking animals,’ and that a bomb should be dropped on them and that they should be ‘killed right now’ were clearly disparaging, insulting and abusive within the meaning of section 3(b) of the Regulations,” reads the decision.
“(T)he Commission is of the view that use of the term ‘raghead’ and of the phrase ‘pack of rabid sheep’ to describe Muslim mentality was abusive and offensive toward Muslims. Given the context of the statements (e.g. the military conflict in Iraq), the Commission finds that such phrases are particularly problematic and were likely to expose Muslims to hatred or contempt based on their religion,” it added.
As for sanctioning MSNBC or placing some kind of restrictions on the American news channel? A no-go, added the Commission. “The Commission further notes that American MSNBC service issued an apology about the content of those broadcasts. The Commission accordingly considers that the record does not support the placement of any restrictions on the program in question or on MSNBC in general at this time.”
