Imus radio show producer created furor with shocking remark on air

BERNARD MCGUIRK 1957-2022

Bernard McGuirk, a New York radio fixture who, as the on-air foil of shock jock Don Imus, helped incite a furor when the two men demeaned the Rutgers women’s basketball team in a racist, misogynistic exchange that marred, but only briefly disrupted, both of their careers, died Oct. 5. He was 64.

The death was announced by WABC, the AM station where McGuirk was a co-host of a popular morning program until shortly before he died. The cause was prostate cancer, the station said. It did not specify where he died. He lived in Lido Beach, N.Y., on Long Island.

After decades at Imus’ side, McGuirk took over his drivetime slot on WABC in 2018 as one half of “Bernie & Sid in the Morning,” with Sid Rosenberg. To the broader public, though, he was probably better known for the events of April 4, 2007.

By then McGuirk had worked on “Imus in the Morning” for 20 years. Bantering with the host and the newsman Charles McCord, he played an integral part in turning the show into a nationally syndicated juggernaut, with millions of listeners on dozens of stations and hundreds of thousands of cable television viewers, all drawn by a high-low mix of political talk, author interviews, news updates and crude jokes.

On the morning in question, during a discussion of the University of Tennessee’s win over the Rutgers squad’s largely Black lineup in the NCAA title game the previous night, Imus interjected.

“That’s some rough girls from Rutgers,” he said. “They got tattoos and —”

“Some hard-core hos,” McGuirk responded.

“That’s some nappy-headed hos there,” Imus went on, chuckling.

McGuirk then cited a “Jiggaboos versus the Wannabes” story line from the Spike Lee film “School Daze.”

It did not take long for the exchange to rocket around the internet. Imus initially tried to play down the accusations of racism. He soon admitted, however, that even for a show whose humor was often meant to offend, the remarks had gone “way too far.”

Imus had defused similar situations in the past by apologizing. Not this time.

Black organizations, women’s groups and employees of the companies that broadcast “Imus in the Morning” — CBS on radio; MSNBC on cable TV — called for both men to be punished. Advertisers pulled out. Many listeners stood by Imus and McGuirk; many highprofile guests did not.

The show, which originated on WFAN in New York, was soon canceled, and CBS fired both men. McGuirk subsequently addressed the matter in an interview on the Fox News program “Hannity & Colmes.”

He apologized to the Rutgers players and said that if anyone had made such comments about his daughter, “I’d kick their teeth in.” But he also sought to justify the exchange, saying it was in sync with the tenor of the show.

“We dwell in a world of comedy, ridicule,” McGuirk said in the interview. He also said that some of the offensive language at issue “derives from the hiphop community, and we appropriated it.”

And, as he had on other occasions, he cited his background as a further defense.

“I came from the streets myself,” he said.

Bernard Joseph McGuirk Jr. was born in New York’s Bronx borough on Oct. 26, 1957. His father, a bus driver, and his mother, Patricia (Cunningham) McGuirk, were Irish immigrants.

Bernard Jr. grew up in a public housing complex in the South Bronx. The family later moved to Yonkers, N.Y. A onetime altar boy, he graduated from Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx.

After a few idle years, he entered the College of Mount St. Vincent in the Bronx, driving a cab to pay his tuition. He earned a degree in communications in 1984.

McGuirk’s survivors include his wife, Carol (Petrovich) McGuirk, whom he married in 1990; a son, Brendan; and a

daughter, Melanie.

Fox News Channel Bernard McGuirk was known for his remark about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team on the Imus radio show.