Local DJ gets unjustly "Imus'd"

Imus, Imus, Imus - he's a black hole right now, from which there's no escape. Like a recovering addict, I've sworn off writing about him, but this week, in the aftermath of Imus' firing, the story took on an unexpected local angle.

I'm originally from the Poconos, so during and immediately following my high school years, I listened to 93.5 FM, WSBG. The station's most prominent DJ was Gary Smith (above), host of the Gary in the Morning program.

This past week, Smith was summarily fired following a skit Smith did on his radio show that was in poor taste, but more importantly, poorly timed.

On Monday morning, Smith decided to use "I'm a nappy-headed ho," as the station's Phrase that Pays, referencing what Imus said that resulted in him losing his radio and cable TV shows. The ninth person who called in and said it won some sort of prize.

A press release issued by the company that owns WSBG stated that Smith "used the phrase with full knowledge of the reaction to Don Imus' use of the exact same phrase just a day earlier, which is the reason he was terminated and not suspended."

Smith has a well-earned reputation of being a pillar in the community; he appears unpaid at many charity events, and he's entertained legions of fans during a 17-year career at the station, including me.

Smith should have been reprimanded for the dumb move, but not fired. There's plenty of differences between the Imus' needlessly making ridiculous remarks about the Rutgers University Women's basketball team, and repeating a statement as a joke when it's not directed at anyone.

I do see management's point - even repeating "nappy-headed ho," especially considering the national controversy, was ill-advised and downright foolish. But, should it cost a man, who is in otherwise good standing in the community, his livelihood? I'm not buying it.

You cannot even compare Imus to Smith. Imus has a checkered past that's rife with racial remarks that can be interpreted no other way than the guy's a racist. A few days ago, I blogged about a New York Times piece by Bob Herbert. In it, Herbert discusses a transcript from a 60 Minutes piece on Imus from about 10 years ago, during which it was confirmed that he regularly uses the "N-Word."

Smith doesn't have that past.

The bottom line here is that we have our next Janet Jackson Moment, sort of.

I'm for free speech, with certain limitations. To the people who think Imus should not have been fired, I'd ask this - walk down the aisle of cubicles in corporate America, or say it on an NFL sideline, or even bagging french fries at McDonald's. You're getting fired, and you should be.

Imus is no different.

But, what happened to Gary Smith is absurd. A trumped up charge of racial intolerance. By all accounts, he didn't do it with malice or direct the statements toward anyone.

I'm not alone in my opinion, either. There's online petition to bring Smith back to the airwaves. I signed it, and so far 600 other people have as well.

Radio personalities around the nation expressed similar outrage that Smith, under these circumstances, would be fired. Howard Stern said that he plans to offer Smith a job. Who knows? Maybe getting fired will be one of the best things to happen to Smith, if he ends up on Sirius.

It will be interesting to see how this one plays out.