DJ became a star before a slur
COLLEGE STATION — Disc jockey Don Imus, whose career was made and then undone by his acid tongue during a decades-long rise to radio stardom and an abrupt public plunge after a nationally broadcast racial slur, has died. He was 79.
Imus died Friday morning at Baylor Scott and White Medical Center here, having been hospitalized since Christmas Eve, according to a statement issued by his family. Deirdre, his wife of 25 years, and his son Wyatt, 21, were at his side, and his son Lt. Zachary Don Cates was returning from military service overseas.
Imus survived drug and alcohol woes, a raunchy appearance before President Bill Clinton and several firings during his long career behind the microphone. But he was vilified and eventually fired after describing a women’s college basketball team as “nappy headed hos.”
Despite repeated apologies, Imus — just 10 years earlier named one of Time magazine’s 25 most influential Americans — became a pariah for a remark that he acknowledged was “completely inappropriate … thoughtless and stupid.”
His radio show, once home to presidential hopefuls, political pundits and platinum-selling musicians, was yanked eight days later by CBS Radio. But the shock jock enjoyed the last financial laugh when he collected a reported multimilliondollar settlement of his five-year contract with the company.
Imus’ unsparing on-air persona was tempered by his off-air philanthropy; he raised more than $40 million for groups including the CJ Foundation for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. He ran a New Mexico ranch for dying children and often used his radio show to “solicit” guests for donations.
In the decade before his “nappy headed hos” debacle, Imus redefined his show by mixing his comedy segments with A-list guests: politicians (Sens. John Kerry and John McCain), journalists (NBC-TV’s Tim Russert and the New York Times’ Frank Rich) and musicians (Harry Connick Jr. and John Mellencamp).
A book plug on Imus’ show guaranteed sales, and authors were soon lining up for a slot on the show.
But he rarely missed a chance to get in trouble, even in the good times. He engaged in a longrunning feud with shock jock Howard Stern, who usurped Imus’ position as the No. 1 morning host in New York City.
And he outraged guests at the annual Radio and Television Correspondents Association Dinner in 1996, cracking wise about Clinton’s extramarital activities as the first lady sat stone-faced nearby. “We all know you’re a pot-smoking weasel,” Imus said at another point about Clinton.
A February 2006 profile in Vanity Fair contained the quote that might best serve as Imus’ epitaph.
“I talk to millions of people every day,” he said while riding home in a limousine after one show. “I just like it when they can’t talk back.”
Imus remarried in December 1994, to the former Deirdre Coleman. They had one son, Wyatt.