Newly fired Imus meets with Rutgers players
POSTED: 7:06 a.m. EDT, April 13, 2007

Story Highlights• Rutgers coach says meeting with Imus was "productive"
• CBS pulls plug on "Imus in the Morning" radio show
• Sharpton calls Imus firings a "first-round victory"
• Imus says he will not go on "some talk show tour"


NEW YORK (CNN) -- Hours after he was fired by CBS, radio host Don Imus met Thursday night with the Rutgers women athletes whom he had ridiculed with racist and sexist comments.

The Rutgers women's basketball coach called the meeting with Imus "productive."

CBS' decision to dump Imus came a day after NBC Universal decided to cancel his simulcast on MSNBC and followed nearly a week of cries for the firing of the radio host.

The Rev. Al Sharpton applauded the Imus firings as a victory in the battle against abuse of the airwaves. (Watch Sharpton say his efforts won't stop with Imus )

CBS said "all of us have been deeply upset and revulsed by the statements that were made on our air," in a written statement from CBS President and Chief Executive Officer Leslie Moonves, announcing the decision. (Watch what led to CBS' decision )

CBS, which carried Imus on 61 radio stations, had originally announced it would suspend his show for two weeks.

CNNMoney.com reports "Imus in the Morning" generated about $20 million in revenue last year, about one percent of CBS Radio division's total. (Full story)

The Rutgers team -- including the 10 players, their parents, coaches, administrators and religious leaders -- met with Imus Thursday night at the New Jersey Governor's Mansion.

"We were able to really dialogue," said coach C. Vivian Stringer. "I thought it was productive. I am extremely proud of our 10 young basketball members. I have been throughout this entire ordeal."

Stringer declined to talk about what was said during the meeting or the CBS decision.

Imus: 'I've apologized enough'
The outrage started last week, when Imus described the Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos" the day after the team lost the NCAA championship to the University of Tennessee. (Gallery: Other controversial comments aired on Imus show)

Amid the outcry over his on-air racial slur, Imus said Thursday that he had "apologized enough" and that he will not go on "some talk show tour."

"I'm not going to go talk to Larry King or Barbara Walters or anyone else," Imus said on his flagship station in New York, WFAN-AM, which is owned by CBS Corp. and distributed "Imus in the Morning" nationally.

"The only other people I want to talk to are these young women at the team, and then that's it," Imus said.

NBC News President Steve Capus, appearing on CNN, said Imus' comments had "touched a nerve" within the organization and firing him was "the only action we could take." (Vote: Is Imus' career over?)

Despite being dropped by NBC, Imus hosted his show from the MSNBC studios in New Jersey, though he did not appear on TV.

"As you know, MSNBC folded up yesterday, so we're just on the radio," he said.

Imus was broadcasting his 18th annual radio charity fund-raiser, which has pulled in $50 million since 1990. It ends Friday.

"This may be our last radio-thon, so we need to raise 100 million dollars," Imus said, chuckling.

According to The Associated Press, Imus raised $1 million in the first five hours of Thursday's fund-raiser.

Imus' disparaging remarks about the Rutgers players prompted eight companies to pull their ads from his show: Staples, General Motors, Sprint Nextel, GlaxoSmithKline, Procter & Gamble, PetMed Express, American Express and Bigelow Tea.

Sharpton: 'No champagne bottle popping'
Sharpton had pressured CBS to cancel Imus' morning show, but the issue "was never about Don Imus," he said Thursday.

"It was about the misuse of the airwaves," he said.

"We cannot afford a precedent established that the airwaves can be used to commercialize and mainstream sexism and racism. But there will be no champagne bottle popping by those of us involved in this. This is not about gloating," Sharpton said.

Sharpton said he wants to show the media and the public that it is not necessary to "be misogynist and racist to be creative or to be commercial in this country." (Watch an analysis of whether other shows need taming )

Earlier Thursday, the father of a player on the Rutgers team joined Sharpton at a rally outside the network's offices.

Linzell Vaughn, father of sophomore center Kia Vaughn, said Imus' comments were "like a slap in the face."

"Do not disrespect our children," he said. (Players talk of hurt, seeking understanding)

Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson also spoke on Thursday afternoon outside CBS' offices and called for Imus' firing.

"This is not the first time this has happened on this show," he said, and spoke of previous Imus comments that Jackson characterized as racist and sexist.

"'Three strikes you're out' ought to apply to this position," he said.

Bruce Gordon, a member of CBS Corp.'s board of directors, also said he wanted Imus fired from WFAN.

Speaking Thursday on CNN's "American Morning," Gordon said that, speaking "as an African-American man in this country, Don Imus violated our community. He attacked beautiful, talented, classy women and when those women showed themselves to the country, I think that those words matched with those images made it clear to America that Don Imus was wrong."

Gordon is a former president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.