Follow-up: Imus Appears on Sharpton's Radio Show

Don Imus appeared on Al Sharpton's radio show today and there was apparently nothing pleasant about it. The following comes from AllAccess.com:

In a contentious exchange, IMUS, who said "Our agenda is to be funny and sometimes we go too far. And this time we went way too far," denied SHARPTON's contention that he was getting off "unscathed" by apologizing for the comments, asking SHARPTON, "Are you crazy? How am I unscathed? Don't you think I've been humiliated?" "I'm trying to meet with these young women and the coach to ask for forgiveness," IMUS told SHARPTON.

"If I'd have been thinking, I wouldn't have said this," IMUS said of his comments, but the talk veered into a discussion of sickle cell anemia fundraising (IMUS said, "I bet I can raise a lot more money than you all can," with SHARPTON retorting that "before last WEDNESDAY you could") and several past incidents on IMUS' show.

Rep. CAROLYN CHEEKS KILPATRICK (D-MI), Chairman of the CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS, called in to voice her offense at IMUS' comments, adding "I don't know what it does to young children" to hear IMUS' comments. "We don't call it nappy hair- that's a child thing,' she said. "We call it good hair, and curly." She added that "Mr. IMUS doesn't understand the impact" of his comments, and said he and his crew "need to be fired."

KILPATRICK suggested that Congress should regulate speech on the airwaves and on MSNBC, and continued to rip IMUS for insulting women in general, leading IMUS to complain in exasperation, "I can't get anyplace with you people," drawing SHARPTON to suggest that the term "you people" meant something racist, which IMUS vehemently objected, saying that he clearly meant SHARPTON and KILPATRICK.

The part I want to stress is the last one. If you don't think Al Sharpton doesn't have a reversed racist agenda, when he feels the words "you people" are racist, then I don't know what to tell you. Oh, and nice of Al to have both sides of a story on. Make sure that Al Sharpton and Rep. Kilpatrick, both black, get to go off and beat up on the white guy. Fair and balanced, my arse.

One other thing - government should stay the hell out of broadcasting. Congress should regulate speech? What next for the government? We're heading towards being like the Soviets.

This story will continue to simmer, I'm afraid.