J Walking

J Walking

Imus lawsuits won’t restore dignity

posted by David Kuo | 1:37am Wednesday August 15, 2007

The first lawsuit against Don Imus and no fewer than a half-dozen corporations has been filed. Why? The attorney speaks:

“This is a lawsuit in order to restore the good name and reputation of my client, Kia Vaughn,” said her attorney, Richard Ancowitz, in an exclusive interview with the ABC News Law & Justice Unit.

What Don Imus said was absolutely wrong and there is no justification for what he said. The young women that he slighted deserved only praise and not racist condemnation.
That being said, I do not think this is a lawsuit about restoring “the good name and reputation of” Kia Vaughn. To the degree anyone remembered Ms. Vaughn’s name, they already held her in high esteem. She is a fine young woman. She was wronged. An apology was issued. Don Imus was very publicly fired. That seems more than sufficient.
That, of course, is much easier from this side of the keyboard. I haven’t had to endure what she has. I haven’t walked in her shoes.
But if this is really about reputation, I think it is fair to say this lawsuit does nothing good for that reputation. Quite the opposite, it puts her in a far less favorable light. The lawsuit’s breathtaking scope – naming more than six different companies – makes it seem more like greed than restoration of name and reputation.
I am struck by the enormous difference between this situation and that little girl in Boston who publicly forgave the man who shot her leading him to plead guilty to the shooting.
Ms. Vaughn had her name sullied by being part of the team Imus affronted. She could best restore her name by publicly forgiving and moving on. That is a lot to ask of a young woman – I don’t know that I could do it – but what a powerful statement it would be.



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Comments read comments(9)
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Stan

posted August 15, 2007 at 11:46 am


Well David your arrogance is showing. You know what is best to relieve the pain in this young woman’s heart? How dare you define what her forgiveness should look like.
Maybe this is God’s way of offering her relief. Maybe this is the road she is being asked to walk. Really David did you just put this up so you can stir the pot some more? How about a post asking Imus to get down on his knees and ask for forgiveness again, and again?



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Larry Parker

posted August 15, 2007 at 12:17 pm


Disclosure in advance: I am a huge Rutgers basketball fan and live in New Brunswick, NJ near the university.
That said … don’t you think the timing of this is related to the fact Imus is negotiating a megabuck deal to return to radio? In other words, the fact that his career is continuing to PROFIT (literally and figuratively) from the disgusting thing he did (and things he has done over many years)?
I have no doubt that there are perhaps some opportunistic advisors around young Ms. Vaughn (and I do wonder what Rev. Buster Soaries, the level-headed minister who was helping Rutgers Coach Stringer and the team, would say to all this …). Yet and still …
Imus makes the media companies he works for megabucks by spewing hatred.
In a fair (or even an unfair) world, should he?
This lawsuit may well perform a public good by helping to highlight that cognitive dissonance in the legal arena as opposed to the (inevitably self-serving) media arena.
PS — CBS Radio has hired New Jersey’s most infamous shock jock, a guy who makes Imus look downright tame, to replace him. Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose …



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c kitty

posted August 15, 2007 at 12:48 pm


First, people who file civil lawsuits are often accused of greed by those who do not understand the particular pain they have suffered.
Second, the pain does not just stop and it is exaccerbated by those who say things like “get over it” or “forgive and move on”. One can go on when the offender and onlookers finally “get it”, when they finally perceive the damage that was caused. Unfortunately it often takes a lawsuit to make others see the pain, the damage.



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Ken Herfurth

posted August 15, 2007 at 3:09 pm


David, I agree (which with you is like a 50-50 split).
Money cannot buy a reputation or restore dignity. One’s reputation and dignity is a gift one gives to oneself. Imus said disgusting things before the incident and I’m sure he’ll contniue. She has suffered no financial loss because of him. This suit appears to be greed (noticed, I said appeared, I cannot read her heart), but even if it is not based on greed, it will not provide one iato of dignity or honor to her reputation.



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M_David

posted August 15, 2007 at 4:06 pm


To the degree anyone remembered Ms. Vaughn’s name, they already held her in high esteem.
No. She is a money grubber and a whiner. I remember her, and I have zero esteem for her as a person. If she were my daughter I would be ashamed. Talented, and that’s the extent of my esteem.
Just like Imus. Talented, but so what. If he were my son, I would be ashamed as well.



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Larry Parker

posted August 15, 2007 at 8:37 pm


FYI (and you probably already know this), Rod Dreher attacked you for not ragging on Vaughn ENOUGH.
Between you and Rod, if this is Christian charity … :-(



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V. Mollard

posted August 17, 2007 at 2:23 am


SOMEBODY out there please help me understand this b.s. Every since this began, we have done nothing but crucify a man who has been granted a free pass for 40 years for his behavior. CBS knew what he was about and we’ll move forward from that! I find it incredibly hard to wrap my brain around that fact that these black woman had never,never heard the term “nappy headed whores” before. It is a part of their black culture. Perhaps they didn’t ascribe to it, but their black male conterparts use the words against their women for years. All of sudden this is a shock????? and offends their sensibilities??? P L E A S E give me a brake. Just watch a Chris Rock special and see all the black women(many of them upper class) hysterical laughing when he starts referring to black women liking a particular type of sex, or using the term “bitch” to describe black women,etc. Have these black basketball players been on the moon?? I don’t think so. I’m sure they go to “frat” parties which are several levels below “classy” quite often (having attended Rutgers myself) NOW it bothers them because a man of lower standards, Al Sharpton told them they should be horribly, horribly offended? We needed to send Mr. Imus out to speak to them and grovel for their forgiveness? God I want to puke. But even after doing so and making sure he lost his job, and after years of doing public service to the poor and disenfranchised (many of them black by the way) that wasn’t enough. Now we’re going to get on the “suing” bandwagon. Let’s make some money off this. Oh, and by the way; who is Kia Vaughn???????? And what was it that happened to her “reputation”.



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Larry Parker

posted August 17, 2007 at 10:17 am


Imus is going to make LOTS of money off this. He’s going back into radio …
“Ever since this began, we have done nothing but crucify a man who has been granted a free pass for 40 years for his behavior. CBS knew what he was about and we’ll move forward from that!”
Yes, CBS knew what he was about and (with WNBC and his first Cleveland station) made massive amounts of money off his hateful shtick, so they gave him a “free pass.” As soon as they couldn’t make money off of him any more, they fired him. (Or do you naively think it was because of Rutgers’/Sharpton’s, etc. complaints?)
PS — Just because African-American men sometimes use NHH, two wrongs don’t make a right. Besides, they’re not doing it over the PUBLIC AIRWAVES …



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