Disgraced shock jock Imus to sue CBS Radio

Last Updated: Thursday, May 3, 2007 | 3:15 PM ET

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A lawsuit will be Don Imus's rejoinder to CBS Radio, which fired the controversial U.S. radio host after his recent racist and sexist comments about a university-level women's basketball team.

Radio personality Don Imus will sue his former employer, CBS Radio, for breach of contract after he was fired for his comments about the Rutgers University women's basketball team.
(Richard Drew/Associated Press)

Imus has hired lawyer Martin Garbus, a First Amendment specialist, to help him sue his former employer.

Garbus said on Thursday that he expects to file a breach of contract suit on behalf of Imus by next week.

According to Garbus, part of the host's CBS contract acknowledged his services to be "irreverent" and "controversial."

The cantankerous longtime radio host was just three months into a five-year, $40-million US contract with CBS when he described the predominantly black Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos" on the April 4 edition of his nationally syndicated show, Imus in the Morning.

MSNBC, which aired a television simulcast of the radio show, and CBS initially issued Imus a one-week suspension.

Don Imus, left, faced off against Rev. Al Sharpton on the latter's radio show just days after Imus's notorious comments. Sharpton helped lead the campaign calling for Imus to be fired.
(Richard Drew/Associated Press)

Rev. Al Sharpton led civil rights activists and women's groups in calling for Imus to be fired.

Amid the growing public outrage, MSNBC cancelled its simulcast and CBS eventually dismissed Imus and, later, the producer with whom he shared the offending banter.

In the weeks since Imus's April 12 dismissal, Sharpton has kept the issue in the spotlight, specifically targeting hip hop artists and the music industry for popularizing and desensitizing certain racial slurs and derogatory terms.

He has called for performers to abide by a code of conduct that will not "offend or dehumanize" people based on race, gender or other categories.

Sharpton is scheduled to lead a so-called "March for Decency" in Manhattan later Thursday that will pass the buildings where four major music labels — Sony, Warner Music, Universal and Time Warner — are housed before staging a rally in Columbus Circle.