Tom Finneran has his Imus Moment
Oh Tom Finneran. Didn’t you learn anything from Don Imus? Or John DePetro? Or Bob Ryan? If you’ve got a hankering to advocate for smacking women around, it’s probably best to do so once you’re off the air.
Yesterday, Tom decided to talk about Britney Spears’ horrible performance at Sunday’s Video Music Awards on MTV. We didn’t know you were a fan, Tom:
“Come on, a lot of divas show up late for rehearsal,” [co-host Wendy] Murphy said.
“Then she comes down an hour later,” Finneran said. “So it’s 4 1/2 hours late. Diva? You know what she’d be if I was there waiting for 4 1/2 hours? She’d be a diva with a black eye. I’d give her a dope slap.”
“I mean,” Finneran said, “I wouldn’t do it as a guy to a gal.”
Right. Because a guy hitting a woman is wrong, but a woman hitting a woman is totally fine, and kinda hot.
Of course, domestic abuse groups are livid.
“Whoever ends up in front of that microphone seems to become a neanderthal,” [executive director of Jane Doe Inc. Mary] Lauby said. “Silly me, but I expect the former speaker to operate at a different level than that. It’s really a huge disappointment.”
WRKO is standing by its man, however:
WRKO spokesman George Regan said Finneran is a “gentleman” who wouldn’t mean “any disrespect toward women.”"People are overreacting. This is talk radio,” Regan said.
Calm down, ladies. Tom Finneran will hold the door open for you like the gentleman he is, then give you a black eye.
September 13th, 2007 at 10:21 am
“So what if he said Hitler had a point? This is talk radio!”
September 13th, 2007 at 10:25 am
I see someone took down Regan’s comment. Maybe it’s because Boston Maggie is in bed with Regan, and they fear his wrath? So sad when a PR flak dictates to a “journalism” outfit.
September 13th, 2007 at 11:27 am
STOP THE MADNESS. We are focusing on the wrong thing. Our democracy our freedoms and our middle class are disapering before our eyes and we are spending time talking about how late and fat Britney Spears is and then spend more time talking about people who have spoken out of line. The way to fight bad speach is with good speach. Sitting around discussing what the penalty for bad speach should be is not productive and anti-American. Lets start focusing on the system issues that exist in this country.
WAKE UP AMERICA!!
PS: I missed when did Imus advocate slapping women around.
September 13th, 2007 at 11:41 am
The joke was an old man talking “hip-hop”. Since then we have seen Rev Al, Al Roker, Matt Lauer, all make ill advised comments. Even New Jersey Assemblyman, Baptist Minister Steele, who demanded Imus firing has been indicted by the US Attorney! Imus apologized, so get over it and get on with your life!
September 13th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
I don’t know what happened with the comment, but seeing one person anonymously mock the journalistic standards of another is pretty rich.
September 13th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
Anonymous, um no. George Regan no more runs our editorial content than you do. But if you are going to take shots, at Regan, at us, at anybody, throw your own name on it. Cool?