AP News, April 11th, 2007
Even if talk show host Don Imus survives the storm of protest swirling around him, his employers are already feeling the effects of his racially charged comments last week as advertisers pull out of his nationally distributed radio show.
General Motors Corp., a significant advertiser on the show, said on Wednesday that it was suspending its advertising but could resume it at a later date.
"This is a very fluid situation, and we'll just continue to monitor it as it goes forward when he returns to the air," GM spokeswoman Ryndee Carney said, adding that GM would continue to support Imus' charitable efforts for children dealing with cancer and autism.
Imus' show originates on the New York radio station WFAN, owned by CBS Corp., and is distributed nationally on radio by the syndication company Westwood One. It is also simulcast on the MSNBC cable network, which is owned by General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal unit. CBS owns an 18 percent stake in Westwood One and also manages the company.
American Express said Wednesday that it had also pulled its advertising from Imus' show as of Tuesday. "Our policy isn't to advertise on controversial programming," company spokeswoman Judy Tenzer said.
Procter & Gamble Co. and the office supply chain Staples Inc. said earlier said they would pull out, and Bigelow Tea said it was considering doing so. How many other advertisers follow suit could depend largely on how Imus handles the fallout from the controversy.
Kim Hillyer, a spokeswoman for TD Ameritrade, said the brokerage was "evaluating" its continued advertising plans in the program but did not have any further comment.
Imus' program is worth about $15 million to CBS Corp. through advertising on WFAN and syndication fees received from MSNBC and Westwood One.
A CBS Radio spokeswoman declined to comment on the advertiser actions or to identify other advertisers that may have pulled out of Imus' shows.
Imus caused an uproar with remarks on an April 4 broadcast when he referred to members of the mostly black Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos."
The comments have been widely denounced by civil rights and women's groups, and Bruce Gordon, former head of the NAACP who is also a board member of CBS, has told The Associated Press that he hopes that Imus is fired. A CBS spokesman declined to comment on Gordon's remarks.
Random House, a major book publisher, was also reconsidering its plans to continue buying advertising and having authors appear on Imus, said spokesman Stuart Applebaum. Random house is part of the privately held German media company Bertelsmann AG.
Imus has a national reach and is known for mixing weighty topics with "barroom humor," something that many of his advertisers accept, said Tom Taylor, the editor of Inside Radio, an industry publication. "It's sort of like a Starbucks with grumpy old men."
But with Imus' remarks widely replayed on the Internet on sites such as YouTube, which is owned by the Internet search leader Google Inc., Taylor said there was a risk that advertisers as well as potential guests would become increasingly reluctant to be associated with him.
Much depends on how Imus handles himself in the coming days and weeks, Taylor said, noting that Imus will be hosting a charity event for his home station WFAN on Thursday and Friday.
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AP writers Tom Krisher in Detroit and Tim Paradis in New York contributed to this report.
