Imus slurs are 'abusive,' Canada watchdog says

Mon Jan 30, 3:36 AM ET

TORONTO (Hollywood Reporter) - Don Imus has been fingered by Canada's TV watchdog for calling Muslims "brainwashed" and "stinking animals" during a 2004 broadcast that aired here on MSNBC Canada.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, in a rare judgment of U.S. programing airing on Canadian airwaves, said Friday that the veteran U.S. broadcaster had uttered abusive comments that breached Specialty Services Regulations introduced in 1990.

"The commission is of the view that comments made during the November 12, 2004, broadcast of 'Imus in the Morning' that Palestinian people are 'brainwashed,' 'stupid to begin with' and 'stinking animals' and that a bomb should be dropped on them and that they should be 'killed right now' were clearly disparaging, insulting and abusive."

The CRTC said it was responding especially to one written complaint that questioned why the regulator had imposed restrictions on the distribution of Al Jazeera in Canada to guard against slurs against Jews or Israel "and not place similar restrictions on a service such as the American MSNBC service."

The regulator said most complaints it received after New York-based Imus made comments during the live broadcast of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's funeral cited a comment that most Palestinians might be upset "because Arafat stole billions of dollars from them, and they are all eating dirt. And the fat, big wife is living in Paris."

The regulator said Canadians expect that a public-affairs program "no matter how controversial in style, will provide credible information and informed commentary on pertinent social, economic and cultural issues."

The CRTC, in its ruling, said "branding a group of people as 'stupid,' 'stinking animals' that should all be 'killed right now' is not consistent with this expectation."

The CRTC said it will send a copy of its decision to MSNBC along with Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc., two Canadian cablecasters airing "Imus in the Morning" as part of their offerings.

But as MSNBC issued a formal apology following the offending broadcasts in 2004 in response to separate U.S. complaints, the CRTC said it will not consider "any restrictions on the program in question or on MSNBC in general at this time."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

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