After Imus, don't bet on change
Posted: Sunday, April 15, 2007 3:35 PM by Dateline Editor
Filed Under:
The Mank Blog
by Josh Mankiewicz, Dateline correspondent
Don Imus is gone. But will the kind of language that got him fired disappear with him? Don’t bet on it. Rap and hip-hop artists routinely use many of those same words -- and worse -- all while depicting women as little more than sex partners.
Shock radio is alive and well. Howard Stern’s contract is worth $500 million.
And more than a week after the debate started over where funny ends and offensive begins, comedians at the Comedy Union in Los Angeles were finding that line—and erasing it. So is Imus’ firing the end of this debate? Or just the beginning?
Jasmyne Cannick writes and blogs about racial and civil rights issues. And about the long running battle by black Americans against degrading themes in music and popular culture.
Jasmyne Cannick: It’s easy to go after the Imuses. The challenge now is to go after the people in your own community. There’s not a day that I get up and get in my car that I don’t pass by someone who is blaring lyrics of “ho,” b- words, n-words. Often times it’s African-American women who are listening to these lyrics as well.
Josh Mankiewicz: And that’s more offensive to you than anything Don Imus says?
Cannick: Absolutely. The kids in my neighborhood don’t know who Don Imus is. They’ve never heard of him. But they do know who Snoop Dogg is. They know who all of those rappers are.
And this week it was rapper Snoop Dogg who said it was acceptable for black rap artists to use the same language Imus did, because, he said, those songs come from rappers’ minds and souls. They’re being purchased by people of all colors. Jasmyne Cannick isn’t buying.
Cannick: If we expect for other races to not disrespect us, we have to stop disrespecting ourselves. There are very few cultures that refer to each other with degrading names. Why is that African-Americans see no problem with it in their rap lyrics?
Mankiewicz: The argument on the other side of that is there’s a market for that. There are people buying those rap CDs not in spite of those lyrics but because of them. So, why should an artist change if their product is selling?
Cannick: Yeah, at the end of the day it does all come down to money. But again, maybe we can actually talk about why we do go and buy that, why we do support that.
And that same free-market argument applies to talk radio as well.
Mankiewicz: Is this the end of insulting, degrading language on the radio?
Sarah McBride, covers radio for the Wall Street Journal: God, no. Absolutely not. We may a see a short die down of insulting, degrading language on the radio and then it’s gonna be back. I think hosts are being really careful about what they say right now. But, as with all these situations, it blows over and then people go—back to as much as they can get away with.
Because on talk radio, controversy sells.
McBride: The more controversial they are, the bigger the audience they get, the higher the ratings and the more advertisers are prepared to pay to be on those shows. So, of course you wanna push the envelope if you wanna be a successful national radio host and that’s pretty hard.
Comedian Chris Spencer tours nationally. He’s not afraid to push the envelope, and says nothing that’s happened in the last week will make him change his act.
Mankiewciz: Once you start sugarcoating or sort of sanding down the harder edges of your act, is that a good thing?
Chris Spencer, comedian: No, then I won’t be me, know what I mean? This right here, this forum is for me to be able to shock, to be edgy, to say things that other people are thinking and my goal is to make it funny. When it’s not funny, is when it becomes offensive.
Mankiewicz: So if you get seasick, don’t join the Navy.
Spencer: Bingo.
If there is to be any long-lasting impact from the fall of Imus, it’s likely to be felt more on public airwaves than it will be in a comedy club where you make the choice to hear someone’s act. In this business, if you’re not funny, you’re out of business.
Comedians like Tommy Chunn say audiences aren’t paying to right social wrongs.
Mankiewicz: The marketplace plays a big role in this, doesn’t it?
Tommy Chunn: The marketplace plays a huge role in what you say, where you say it, as a standup.
Mankiewicz: Because if people laugh, that means it worked.
Chunn: You’ve got to go with it.
But remember, until eleven days ago it worked for Don Imus. That line between what’s entertaining and what’s degrading has been blurring for a long time. It didn’t start with Imus, and it’s unlikely to end now.
Jasmyne Cannick says it comes down to simple economics. If you stop buying it, they’ll stop selling it.
Cannick: We make these talk show hosts. We make them by buying their albums and listening to their shows and supporting them. You know, we have to shift our way of thinking if we really want to make an institutional change. And until the majority of us are ready to do that, it’s not going to happen.
It won’t be easy to change our diet of cultural junk food. A lot of people get rich feeding at that trough. In fact, if broadcasting history is any guide, Mr. Imus may be back on the air before too long... because whatever his sins, he attracted an audience.
