Abstract This essay applies symbolic convergence ...

The Nappy-Headed Ho: A Fantasy Theme Analysis Of The Don Imus Scandal From A Black Feminist Approach

Abstract This essay applies symbolic convergence theory (SCT) with its critical method, fantasy theme analysis (FTA), to explore Don Imus’ use of fantasy themes to depict members of Rutgers predominantly black, female basketball team as “nappy-headed hos.” This analysis concludes that Imus was extremely successful in getting his two co-hosts to help him develop a fantasy plotline. While the shock jock started the dialogue, his ideas caught fire, and all three men added important elements that served to frame black women negatively. They placed great emphasis on character development, while not referring to game highlights or individual skills at all. Instead, they focused on superficial elements such as the basketball players looks, describing them as masculine, nappy-headed and tattooed. Because the members of the Rutgers basketball team did not fit their description of an ideal woman, Imus and his co-hosts resorted to stereotypes deeply entrenched in cultural narratives of black women. Worth noting is while highly negative, Imus’ comments brought to light other instances where people condone similar misogynistic messages in comedy and rap music and fostered solutions to reduce both types. Scholars must encourage essays such as this one to keep the discussion of free speech, race and gender on the public’s agenda. Keywords: fantasy theme analysis, stereotypes, feminist race, critical studies, Don Imus, Rutgers women’s basketball team Introduction Feminist literature documents the negative effects of beauty ideals and stereotypes that reinforce a patriarchal, hegemonic ideal. For instance, dominant social values symbolically belittle women, either by not showing them at all or by depicting them in stereotypical roles (Van Zoonen,1994, p. 17). In the end, sexist images reproduced by the media make hierarchical and distorted sex-role stereotypes appear normal (Carter & Steiner, 2004). These ideals serve as instruments to transmit stereotypical, patriarchal, and hegemonic values about these groups to audiences. For example, Duffy and Gotcher (1996) employed symbolic convergence theory and its associated fantasy theme analysis in their study of teen magazine, YM, concluding that the publication portrays a world where a woman’s success is gauged by her beauty, sexuality and ability “to get the guy” (p. 32).

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Previous studies have shown that while media are unjust to both black and white women, they marginalize black women to a greater extent (e.g. hooks, 1992 & Squires, 2007). Black feminist theorists assert that black women’s experience of various issues could not be conceived as separable from their experience of racism. This is relevant because women of color do not experience sexism in addition to racism, but sexism in the context of racism. Therefore, they bear an altogether different burden from that of white women. For example, Meyers (2004) used black feminist theory to determine how class, gender, and race shape the way media portray African American women victims and their perpetrators to the larger public. Subsequently, the researcher found violence against African American women victims seriously minimized and the victims blamed for their perpetrators behaviors. The results indicate media portrayed most victims as stereotypic “jezebels” whose lewd behavior provoked assault, and absolved the perpetrators of responsibility. Coverage also represented locals as underclass troublemakers prone to crime while students were linked to law-abiding, middle class values and norms. In one instance Meyers (2004) noted that “by positioning the harassment of these women against the gyrations of a woman who appears to be welcoming and encouraging male attention and desire, the story suggests that violence against women is the result of female provocation” (p. 106). Similarly, Benedict’s (1997) study explained the prevalence of the virgin or vamp dichotomy in the media coverage of sex crimes. Benedict (1997) found the habits of coverage to be not only racist, class-oriented, and sexist, but also inaccurate. The most commonly covered rape story contained the scenario of a Caucasian female victim with an African American male perpetrator. These stories, which proved statistically inaccurate, reflected and perpetuated the

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attitude that Caucasian women are more valuable than African-American women (cited in Flanders, 1997, p. 118). However, not as common are studies that look at creative and imaginative shared interpretations aspects of such portrayals. This essay attempts to bridge that gap by combining critical feminist theory with a fantasy theme analysis (FTA) to examine one of the most covered instances of hate speech in the 2000s, Don Imus’ classification of black women as “nappyheaded ho’s” during a 2007 discussion about the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship. Because the news coverage of events often sets the tone for societal viewpoints, it is imperative to question how journalists present information to the public. Studying media content helps scholars understand how race, gender, religion and politics figure into the cultural landscape. Audiences, particularly white ones, often form opinions on race relations based on stereotypes and media representations (Domke et al., 2003). In the end, cultural narratives send viewers, readers and listeners hidden messages that suggest a story’s importance, and ultimately people’s importance within society. Fantasy theme analysis builds on the assumption that through conversations, speeches and messages, people build a shared view of reality that, while not necessarily objective is created symbolically (Bormann, 1985). Within a common culture created by a group or organization, codes of conduct and characteristics are identified, and the goal is for the rhetorical vision to “chain out,” as Bormann (1985) puts it. The process of chaining out can take place between a speaker and audience in small groups, or on television, radio and other forms of media. Fantasy theme analysis looks at the creative and imaginative shared interpretation of events that fulfill a group’s psychological or rhetorical need to make sense of its experience and

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to anticipate its future. In particular, such studies focus on the symbolic realities or “rhetorical visions,” as Bormann (1985) calls them. Rhetoric traced in such analyses present racism cloaked in themes that Bormann, Cragan and Shields (1994) call “modal societal fantasy themes,” which are fundamental beliefs and values that comprise society’s symbolic reality (p. 260).

Feminist Theory Ardener (1975) posits that women and men in patriarchal, capitalist societies tend to form two distinct circles of experience and interpretation, one overlapping the other (cited in Krolokke & Sorensen, 2006). The masculine circle converges with the norms of society, providing a masculine signature and overriding the feminine circle. Women can either try to translate their points of view into a masculine mode or try to separate alternate models of communication. Therefore, women’s perspectives are often not openly articulated. As a result, their expression is muted (e.g. Orbe, 1998; Collins, 2000). For example, muted group theory sees language as excluding and demeaning women based on several factors, including words to describe them. For example, “stud,” and “playboy” are popular words to depict promiscuous men. Conversely, less appealing words, such as “slut,” “hooker,” and “whore,” are used to describe promiscuous women. Worth noting is that muting is not the same as silencing. It is successful only when the non-dominant group ceases to develop alternate communication styles to express their experiences and code their messages. As a result, media coverage often follows the patriarchal paradigm as outlined by Hartmann (1981),who defines the model as a set of materially-based social relations that create a solidarity among men of all races and classes “who are united in their shared relationship of dominance over their women” (1981, p. 14-15). Vavrus (2009) adds that news outlets often

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feature institutional sexism and patriarchy, resulting in news representations of women that are weak gestures of gratitude toward feminist achievements alongside blame for allegedly complicating their lives. With these findings in mind, this essay looks at fantasy themes Don Imus and his cohosts formed. It uses Bormann’s (1972) Symbolic Convergence Theory (SCT) and its critical method, fantasy theme analysis, the theory deals with “shared emotions, motives, and meanings in terms of socially shared narrations or fantasies” (Bormann, 1985, p. 128). Because of its focus on shared creations of social reality through dramatized messages, SCT offers a useful framework to investigate underrepresented groups. To address cultural narratives, the first research question asked: RQ1: What are traditional cultural narratives of African American women? While early feminist theory emphasized the commonalities of women’s oppression, it neglected profound differences between women in terms of class, age, sexuality, religion, race, and nationality. Debates about the adequacy of gender as the central concern of feminist theory led to the useful concept of intersectionality, which emphasizes that women do not experience discrimination and other forms of human rights violations solely on the grounds of gender, but for a multiplicity of reasons, including age, ethnicity, class, nationality, and sexuality (Ludvig, 2006). Because of obvious differences in coverage of black and white women, hooks (1992), and Moraga and Anzaldúa (1981) evoked the concepts of “interlocking identities” and “interlocking oppressions.” This sentiment is reflected in age-old stereotypes of AfricanAmerican women such as the sexually promiscuous black woman—the “oversexed-blackJezebel”—the “mammy” and the “welfare cheat,” as well as the “overachieving black lady” who

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emasculates the black males in her life (Lubiano, 1992). Newer stereotypes are gold digger, angry black woman, and independent black woman. The “independent black woman” is depicted as a narcissistic, overachieving, financially successful woman who emasculates black males in her life, while the “gold digger,” is viewed as a freeloader who wants to live off the fruits of someone else’s labor. Media often depict the “angry black woman” as upset and irate. For example, journalists used the angry black woman archetype in their narratives of Michelle Obama during the 20072008 presidential primaries. For example, Fox’s Bill O’Reilly depicted her as a strong, opinionated, outspoken woman (Michelle Obama to go home). Similarly, Michelle Malkin, a well-known blogger, dubbed Mrs. Obama “Obama’s bitter half.” Mrs. Grievance was the bold title on the cover of a July 2008 issue of National Review, which featured a photo of an angrylooking Obama. Similarly, Cal Thomas stated on Fox News that black women on television “are usually angry about something,” and singled out Michelle Obama as an example (Thomas, 2008). This essay turns to such stereotypes and cultural narratives of black women in order to determine the social reality that Imus and his co-hosts asked listeners to embrace. An intersectional approach to analyzing the disempowerment of marginalized women attempts to capture the interaction between two or more forms of subordination. It addresses the manner in which racism, patriarchy, class oppression, and other discriminatory systems create inequalities that structure the relative positions of women, races, ethnicities, and classes. To address women in sports, the second research question asked: RQ2: How does Imus build on dominant cultural narratives of women in sports?

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Hargreaves (1994) asserted that in American culture, sports has been among the most resistant to social change compared to other areas of society. For example, Newell (2001) found that USA Today’s coverage of the United States’ women’s soccer team 1999 World Cup victory reinforced male-dominated norms on the playing field, focusing on the athlete’s appearance, sexuality and roles as mother and wife. Newell’s findings suggest the media drew attention away from their skill and athleticism and ultimately reduced the threat to males’ natural and biological supremacy. Other studies have a shown a tendency for media to frame black athletes more negatively, as illustrated in Imus’ 2007 comments. For example, Schell (1999) concluded U.S. sports media often give women of color considerably less coverage than they give their white female counterparts. They also depict them in a racially stereotypical manner. Maas and Holbrook (2001) examined sports magazines, such as Sports Illustrated and Women’s Sports & Fitness, and concluded that black women were almost invisible. However, when depicted, media portrayed them in team sports considered more masculine than individual sports. The absence of minority women supports the traditional belief that sports are solely for white, heterosexual, nondisabled women (Schell, 1999). Johnson (2005) asserts that such stories fit a convenient narrative pattern that storytellers have used for more than a century, a pattern that incorporates remnants of an outmoded view of women and black people and their roles in society. Such findings support the idea that the “ideal of female beauty in the United States puts a premium on lightness and softness mythically associated with white women, and downplays the rich stylistic manners associated with black women” (West, 2001, p. 130). The assumption, backed by media ratings, is that white viewers may not connect with stories unless they see themselves as possible victims (Kane, 2004).

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In the end, hooks (1992) asserts that media outlets often institutionalize white and male supremacist ideologies, which produce “specific images, representations of race, of blackness that support and maintain the oppression, exploitation and overall domination of all black people” (p. 2). Collins (2000) asserts that media and society attach such qualities to black women to justify oppression. This concept has been central to describing a new generation of feminists -primarily women of color -- with multiple cultural and class experiences. To address fantasy themes in Imus’ transcript, the third question asked: RQ3: What are the main fantasy themes portrayed in Imus’ broadcast? In fantasy theme analysis, schemata is used to describe, interpret and evaluate the rhetorical materials that comprise the symbolic reality of groups, be they small groups, political parties, or other rhetorical communities. Through stories and rituals the members of a group create a common consciousness—a shared understanding of the group and what it means to be a member (Bormann, Cragan, and Shields, 1994). The theory provides an explanation for the creation and maintenance of group consciousness through communication. Bormann (1985) explains that developing a sense of community involves the creation of a common consciousness, such as that found in participation in a rhetorical vision, and identification of a collective self. Establishment of the group identity usually involves division between the “we” of the group and outsiders, who are portrayed as the “they,” unsympathetic, or evil. Bormann (1985) explains that fantasies clearly defining the groups are crucial to the emergence of its consciousness. Bormann’s fantasy themes are part of complicated stories that unite people in a symbolic reality. Bormann (1985) asserts symbolic cues, such as restatements, metaphors and inside cues, and jokes flowing from different communicators are evidence that a fantasy has chained and

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people have converged symbolically to a shared reality (Bormann, Cragan and Shields, 1994). In this case, Don Imus created the fantasy vision and two of his co-hosts carried it out; however, they based their viewpoints on traditional archetypes presented in media. The next question addresses this reality by asking: RQ4: What do the archetypal structures or master analogues of the broadcasters’ rhetorical visions reveal about their worldviews and, by extension, their supporters? Associating a culture’s shared worldviews to core archetypal narratives is fundamental to rhetorical and psychological theory. A rhetorical vision is a function of one or a blend of three archetypal structures or master analogues: righteous, social, and pragmatic (Page & Duffy, 2009). The righteous analogue conveys content that is moral, just and proper. The social analogue emphasizes key components of human relationships, while the pragmatic analogue highlights practicality and effectiveness (Cragan & Shields, 1981). Methods Scholars studying underrepresented groups are attracted to interpretive methods because they offer insight into complexities in society (Bogdan & Biklen, 1982). Inserting texts into the system of culture within which media produce and distribute them can help elucidate features and effects of the texts that textual analysis alone might miss or downplay. Interpretive analysis often looks at how cultural meanings convey specific ideologies of gender, race, class, gender, and other ideological dimensions. It does not attempt to address its questions from a social scientific orientation. Content analysis is useful for measuring the frequency of specific types of subject matter (e.g., race or gender themes) in articles, but it does not contribute to an understanding of the messages conveyed by the work as a whole. This essay uses Bormann’s (1972) theoretical lens of symbolic convergence theory and

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its method of fantasy theme analysis as its theoretical framework. FTA is a particularly helpful method to help figure out how complex content converges into shared meaning. Fantasy themes present a common experience or shape a shared perception of reality. Sentence, phrases and single words contain the themes. To analyze the process of symbolic convergence, the researcher makes a careful inspection of the spoken and imagined artifacts (Page & Duffy, 2009). FTA offers a clear technical vocabulary for the general analysis of imaginative language and imagery: dramatis personae, plot, scene, sanctioning agent, and master analogue. This ability to explore and understand the meaning constructed by diverse elements makes FTA appropriate to guide this study. The analytic task is to group several related fantasy themes into a fantasy type. The final and highest level, the rhetorical vision, is the summation of fantasy themes and types that constructs a broader view of things, an overall interpretive framework (Page & Duffy, 2009). This essay breaks Imus’ famous 2007 transcript into three fantasy themes that culminate into one rhetorical vision that builds on a review of black feminist theory literature. It then addresses each type and describes how Imus and his co-hosts incorporated them into their plotline. Findings and Discussion Group members can use the fantasy type as a script to explain and evaluate breaking news and bring it into line with the values of their group. In this case, the news took place on April 4, 2007, when Don Imus discussed the Rutgers University women’s basketball team, a contender in the NCAA Basketball Finals, with the show’s executive producer, Bernard McGuirk, and former announcer, Sid Rosenberg. McGuirk was responsible for overseeing the program’s on-air operations and guest bookings. Rosenberg, on the other hand, is an American radio personality who has hosted many radio shows.

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Bormann (1985) asserts that at some point, storytellers must converge or come to hold a common image as they share fantasy themes. In this case, convergence occurred during the actual broadcast while Imus and his co-hosts shared their rhetorical vision and fantasy themes. They were all on one accord in their vision of the basketball game. In the end, the commentators presented a social issue within a comfortable cognitive frame using racist and sexist terminology. Following the FTA methodology, I first read Imus’ transcript to identify repetitive characterizations through words. Table 1 reveals four different fantasy types. In the first one, Imus and his co-hosts characterize the Rutgers women’s basketball team; in the second one, they characterize the Tennessee, female basketball team; in the third one, they compare the game to a scene in a movie; in the fourth one, they dismiss the Rutgers’s team as manly. Table 1 Fantasy Theme analysis schema (constructed from analysis of Imus’ transcript) Fantasy type 1: ‘‘Black women are jezebels’’ (righteous master analogue): Fantasy theme: Rutgers’ basketballs players are “nappy-headed ho’s” Characterizations: rough, unchaste, tattoos, unkempt hair Fantasy type 2: ‘‘White basketball players are sweet and innocent’’ (righteous master analogue): Fantasy theme: the black and white basketball players are enemies “us” versus “them.” Characterizations: “White women are better than black women because they are cute, chaste, and righteous” Fantasy type 3: “jigaboo vs. wannabee” (social master analogue): Fantasy theme: From a “colorist perspective,” white is right.” Characterizations: These women are divided by those who are cute by mainstream standards and those who are not as attractive just like the Spike Lee’s movie, “School Daze.” In this case, the white women are the “wannabees,” while the black women are the “jigaboos.” Fantasy type 4: “Female athletes are masculine and unattractive” (social master analogue): Fantasy theme: The members of the Rutgers’s basketball team look like male basketball players. Characterizations: They are rough, tall and masculine.

Fantasy type 1: ‘‘black women are jezebels’’ On April 4, 2007, Imus and his two co-hosts provided their interpretation of the NCAA Basketball Finals for millions of listeners on more than 70 stations and the MSNBC television

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network. They discussed an event in which a predominantly black, female basketball team played a predominantly, white, female basketball team. In the first part of the transcript, Imus started the fantasy theme with this excerpt:

Verbal Transcription: Section 1 IMUS: So, I watched the basketball game last night between -- a little bit of Rutgers and Tennessee, the women’s final. ROSENBERG: Yeah, Tennessee won last night -- seventh championship for [Tennessee coach] Pat Summitt, I-Man. They beat Rutgers by 13 points. IMUS: That’s some rough girls from Rutgers. Man, they got tattoos and -McGUIRK: Some hard-core hos. IMUS: That’s some nappy-headed hos there. I’m gonna tell you that now, man, that’s some -- woo. And the girls from Tennessee, they all look cute, you know, so, like -- kinda like -- I don’t know. Analysis Fantasy type one illustrates a righteous master analogue in which black women are portrayed as rough and unchaste. Building on the historical “jezebel” archetype, the three men describe them as being nappy-headed hos. “Nappy,” is a derogatory reference to the rough texture of hair of some black people. The Urban Dictionary, a searchable archive of contemporary American slang, defines “nappy” as someone of African descent who has tightly coiled unkempt hair that is unwashed and uncombed. The Urban Dictionary describes “ho” as prostitute, whore, hooker, tramp and slut, all negative terms to describe a woman. In other words, Imus and his co-hosts implied that members were impure, tainted and unworthy of respect. To provide further proof that the black women were rough and unchaste, the broadcasters described them as having tattoos, which has a negative connotation, dating back to the 1970s when mostly hippies and bikers had tattoos. The men mentioned tattoos as a way to conjure negative images of the female athletes. 12


Imus succeeded in getting his co-hosts to participate in and add to his plotline, proving that if fantasies are sufficiently compelling and speak convincingly in a dramatic form, participants may consolidate the fantasies into a credible interpretation of reality. Together the three men created the storyline that “although black women made it to the championship, they are still inferior to white women.” Their verbal attacks against black young women conjured images stereotypes of black women as sexually promiscuous or “oversexed-black-Jezebels,” relating to hooks, 1992; Wallace, 1979 & Squires, 2007. They continued their fantasy in section two of the transcript:

Verbal Transcription: Section 2 IMUS: And the girls from Tennessee, they all look cute, you know, so, like -- kinda like -I don’t know. McGUIRK: A Spike Lee thing. IMUS: Yeah. McGUIRK: The Jigaboos vs. the Wannabes -- that movie that he had. IMUS: Yeah, it was a tough -McCORD: Do The Right Thing. McGUIRK: Yeah, yeah, yeah. IMUS: I don’t know if I’d have wanted to beat Rutgers or not, but they did, right? Fantasy type 2: ‘‘White basketball players are sweet and innocent’’ In contrast to fantasy type one, fantasy type two depicts “white basketball players as sweet and innocent,’’ illustrating a “good versus evil” dichotomy. Referring back to Maas and Holbrook (2001), the men focused on looks instead of capability on the basketball court. The broadcasters depicted the black basketball players as “bad.” They described them as “unchaste, unattractive and deviant.” Characterizations in this section include: “white women are better than black women.” They are cute, chaste, and righteous. In this section, the differences between “us”

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and “them” are clearly distinguished in these character themes, with the battle lines drawn according to race: black women versus white women.

Fantasy Type 3: “Jigaboo Vs. Wannabee. In fantasy type three, the men continued their “us” versus “them” theme using a “jigaboo vs. wannabee” analogy to describe the two teams. The men’s symbolic cues included references to skin tone and beauty. The fantasy theme is based on a “colorist perspective” in which lightskinned black women are portrayed as more attractive than dark-skinned women. McGuirk referred to the Spike Lee movie “School Daze,” which McCord mislabeled as “Do the Right Thing.” In Lee’s movie, the women divided into two camps, the dark-skinned “jigaboos” and the fair-skinned “wannabees,” who taunted each other with names such as “pickaninny,” and “tar baby.” In this case, the Rutgers team members became “jigaboos,” while the Tennessee team took on the role of “wannabees” who are perceived more attractive by mainstream standards. The primary dramatis personae were “damsels,” or “wannabees” who are sweet, cute white woman versus “jigaboos” who are dark skinned black women. These attacks were particularly offensive on Imus’ show because his audience is predominantly conservative and white, while Spike Lee’s audience was predominantly black. The next portion of their talk addressed gender stereotypes, which were sexist and racist:

Fantasy Type 4: “Female Athletes Are Masculine and Unattractive” Fantasy type four included the idea that female athletes are masculine and unattractive. The fantasy theme particularly targeted the black female, depicting them as rough, ugly and manly looking. The transcript included this excerpt:

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Verbal Transcription: Section 3 ROSENBERG: It was a tough watch. The more I look at Rutgers; they look exactly like the Toronto Raptors. IMUS: Well, I guess, yeah. RUFFINO: Only tougher. McGUIRK: The [Memphis] Grizzlies would be more appropriate. The fantasy theme included the idea that “female athletes are hard to watch. It is hard to tell if they are men or women.” These comments imply superior female athletes do not fit the stereotype of mainstream beauty. This portrayal denigrates women in general; however, they target black women in particular. Perhaps, these commentators had a hard time believing “hard core” black women could make it to the championship level, so they attempted to explain the phenomena in a recognizable package, relegating black women to familiar cultural narratives, framing them as unchaste, unattractive and masculine. From a patriarchal viewpoint, the commentators used the comments to imply although the Rutgers basketball players were superior athletes, they were not important in mainstream society because they looked like men and they did not fit the stereotype of a beautiful woman. They had “nappy” hair, “tattoos” and were “hos.” This description helped complete the broadcaster’s fantasy plotline in a comfortable cognitive package. While the three men perhaps knew their description was derogatory, they were so wrapped up in Imus’ persuasive plotline, their comments got out of hand. Referring to Littlejohn (1996), fantasy themes constitute an important ingredient in persuasion. Imus was extremely effective in persuading the other two men to participate in his fantasy plot. They each added an important element that served to frame black women as not as cute or chaste as white women. In this way, Bormann (1985) argues that fantasy themes are not entirely different from reasoned discourse. In other words, “the force of fantasy not only 15


accounts for the irrational and non-rational aspects of persuasion but that it provides the ground for the rational elements as well” (p. 16). Imus dismissed this conversation as only meant to be humorous. However, his use of racial slurs and a derogatory description of women immediately ignited a public debate, as civil rights and women’s groups widely denounced him. “Don Imus has stolen a moment of pure grace from us,” Essence Carson, the captain of the Rutgers women’s basketball team said at a news conference a week after the broadcast. (CNN, 2007). In the article “Trash Talk Radio,” Gwen Ifill argued that the players on the basketball team had not developed the stability to handle the shock jock’s juvenile comments. The writer praised the teammates’ abilities to overcome their personal obstacles to participate in the NCAA Championship. For all their grit, hard word and courage, the Rutgers girls got branded ‘nappy-headed hoes’ – a shockingly concise sexual and insult, tossed out in a volley of male camaraderie by a group of amused, middle-aged white men. The ‘joke’ – as delivered and later recanted – by the radio and television personality Don Imus failed one big test: it was not funny.” (Ifill, p. 1) The New York Times released an article that captured the emotions of the basketball team after Imus’ comments. In the publication, “Rutgers Women Sends Imus an Angry Message,” Robert Strauss quotes head coach, C. Vivian Stringer who noted that the team had a combined Bplus grade point average. ‘Let me put a human face on this,” she said. “These young ladies are valedictorians of their class, future doctors, musical prodigies and, yes, even Girl Scouts. They are all young ladies of class. They are distinctive, articulate” (Strass, 2007). After outrage from the initial repeated reports, Imus issued a statement of apology on his morning show (Imus, 2007):

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I want to take a moment to apologize for an insensitive and ill-conceived remark we made the other morning regarding the Rutgers women’s basketball team, which lost to Tennessee in the NCAA championship game on Tuesday. It was completely inappropriate and we can understand why people were offended. Our characterization was thoughtless and stupid, and we are sorry. MSNBC executives argued that Don Imus was using his First Amendment right when he insulted the women’s basketball team. They challenged viewers to consider his comments as a by-product of freedom of speech. However, after heated criticism from the public, on April 11, 2007, Steve Capus of NBC News announced that MSNBC would no longer simulcast Imus’ morning show. Capus said he made this decision based on the general reaction of the public, anger from the show’s sponsors and out of consideration of the high profiled African-American personalities working for the NBC Corporation. MSNBC issued a statement of their plans: MSNBC will drop its simulcast of the “Imus in the Morning” radio program, responding to growing outrage about the radio host’s racial slur against the Rutgers women’s basketball team” (NBC News, 2007, p. 1). Public Opinion of the Event Public opinion and audience response is a key ingredient of critical theory. MSNBC, which broadcasted Imus’ show on television in the morning, suspended and later fired him. The numbers were different based on race and party affiliation. Poll findings indicate that white Republicans were significantly more likely to disagree with Imus firings. While these numbers do not tell whether they bought into his fantasy plotline, they offer some insight into the implications of the incident. Some supporters cited the First Amendment as their reason to support the shock joke, while others perhaps shared similar viewpoints of African-American women. For example, a USA Today/Gallup poll showed his total unfavorable rating was 48% among whites, compared with 56% among nonwhites. A slightly higher percentage of nonwhites 17


than whites express no opinion of Imus (Carroll, 2007). Similarly, nonwhites were much more likely than whites to support the decision to fire Imus from his radio show. Fifty percent of nonwhites endorsed Imus’ termination, while 33% said CBS should have only suspended Imus, and just 4% said the network should have done nothing. This compares with 35% of whites who supported firing Imus, 50% who supported suspending him, and 10% who supported no action against the radio talk show star (Carroll, 2007). Findings indicate people differed based on party affiliation as well. For example, Democrats were more likely than Republicans to support Imus’ firing. Among Republicans, 31% agreed with the decision to fire Imus, while 49% said he should have been suspended, and 13% said no action was needed. Democrats were evenly divided as to whether Imus should have been fired (45%) or just suspended (44%); with 5% saying no action should have been taken. Results were based on telephone interviews with 1,007 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted April 13-15, 2007. After the Rutgers debacle subsided, Imus returned to the airwaves on December 3, 2007. Conclusions and Implications This essay uses Bormann’s fantasy theme analysis (1985) to illustrate how Imus and his co-hosts used cultural narratives to explain the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship. It explored historical and modern portrayals of black women. It then identified assumptions underlying a fantasy theme analysis, described the method’s concepts, and presented the plot, characters and implications of Imus’ comments. Although this analysis includes poll results, I did not seek to identify audience reception. Collective intent and experience are not necessary to reading and understanding the rhetorical composition of these texts. Instead, my goals were to understand and assess the rhetorical

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visions of Imus and his co-hosts. The results of FTA may provide crucial insights regarding the ideas and positions the three men themselves are likely to embrace, and the results certainly offer direction for further study of the viewers’ experiences of symbolic convergence. The analysis concludes that Imus was extremely successful in getting his two co-hosts to help him develop a fantasy plotline about the Rutgers’s female basketball team. While the shock jock started the dialogue, his ideas caught fire, and all three men added important elements that served to frame black women negatively. It appears that the three men placed great emphasis on character development: They did not refer to game highlights or individual skills at all. In fact, they focused on superficial elements such as how the basketball players looked, describing them as masculine, nappy-headed and tattooed. Because the members of the Rutgers basketball team did not fit their description of an ideal woman, Imus and his co-hosts resorted to stereotypes deeply entrenched in cultural narratives of black women. The degree of consistency between the three men was remarkable. Imus was particularly effective in getting his two co-hosts to help him develop a fantasy theme about the Rutgers’s female basketball team. While Imus started the dialogue, his ideas caught fire, fanned out, and persuaded the two men to add on to his storyline. While using different terms and descriptions, all three men added important elements to the plot that served to frame black women negatively. The men’s use of a racial slur and a derogatory description of women immediately ignited a public debate as civil rights and women’s groups widely denounced him. The comments illustrate hooks’ argument that media institutionalize white and male supremacist ideologies, which produce “specific images, representations of race, of blackness that support and maintain the oppression, exploitation and overall domination of all black people” (1982, p.

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2). It also relates to Frye (1957), who argued that socially and culturally recognizable stories reassure and attempt to impose order on chaos. Also worth noting is while highly negative, the shock jock’s comments had many positive implications for the communications field. One positive outcome was that his comments became a catalyst for change. For example, Turner (2007) said his comments could prevent other citizens from using racist language without thinking about the hurt it might cause. “Do we need an amendment to the Amendment? I suppose, however we should thank Dandy Don for his faux pas. It has forced some of us to think before speaking and that’s a good thing” (p. 1-2). In addition, the comments encouraged people to utilize their First Amendment rights to combat the negative statements. In other words, the answer to free speech is more free speech. Rich (2007) argued that after the remarks, there was an avalanche of free speech against it. He said the great thing about “more free speech” is that speakers and listeners can learn, discern, and in some cases, take action (p. 1). The comments also encouraged people to question double standards in rap music and standup comedy. For instance, Turner (2007) argued that free-speech opponents should examine its standards of acceptable content and hold everyone accountable. He added when society accepts certain forms of hate language and crucifies others, which blurs the line of respect. The consequence of this double standard is confusion. Critics often discussed the idea that both rappers and shock jocks use the same words, but only one group is reprimanded. However, context and intent make a big difference in how people perceive freedom of speech. For example, misogyny is exemplified in lyrics where hip-hop artists refer to woman as “bitches” and “whores.” However, rappers primarily target people from a similar background with similar viewpoints. The issue of hate speech also became relevant. Gelber (2002) argued that the standard way of looking at the problem of the conflict between

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free speech rights on the one hand, and the harm done by hate speech on the other, is to try to strike a balance by restricting some instances of hate speech, but not others. Moreover, the balance is to be struck by weighing the right to free speech against the harm done by hate speech. The First Amendment ensures that America continues to be a marketplace of ideas, and while his comments tested the boundaries of free speech, they brought to light other instances where people overlook similar stereotypes. Scholars must encourage fairness across the board and public discussions and essays such as this one, which will help keep the discussion on people’s minds.

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