Bernard McGuirk's task is to give the boss "some illusion of deniability or distance"

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: This Time, the Shock Jock’s Sidekick Couldn’t Shield the Boss
By JACQUES STEINBERG
Published: April 12, 2007


Bernard McGuirk, the producer on “Imus,” doing his imitation of Cardinal Edward M. Egan.

Just before Don Imus infamously referred to the Rutgers women’s basketball team on his radio show on April 4 as “nappy-headed hos,” another voice could be heard describing them as “some hard-core hos.”

That voice belonged to Bernard McGuirk, the producer and booker on “Imus in the Morning” for more than two decades, who does double duty on the air as one of a half-dozen supporting cast members. Their task — and Mr. McGuirk’s charge in particular — is often to give their boss some illusion of deniability or distance. Only then can they express what he might want to say about blacks, Jews, gays or women but perhaps feels he can’t, given his stature as an interviewer of the famous and important.

Among the many striking aspects of this particular instance is that it represented a rare, though hardly unprecedented, occasion in which Mr. Imus took Mr. McGuirk’s bait and allowed himself to wade into deep trouble alongside his producer, instead of watching safely from the shoreline. Last night, the lingering outrage over Mr. Imus’s comment resulted in Mr. Imus’s losing his television outlet; MSNBC, which simulcasts his program, announced that it was dropping it. CBS Radio, his primary employer, has yet to announce any plans to follow suit....

***

Mr. McGuirk, for example, periodically fashions an oversize FedEx envelope into a cone on his head to do a profane caricature of Cardinal Edward M. Egan of New York. Using a high-pitched Irish brogue (the same voice Mr. McGuirk long used to lampoon Cardinal John O’Connor, before his death), the producer-as-cardinal said on the March 16 installment of the show that “the only thing Hillary Clinton has in common with the late great President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, God rest his soul, is that they both enjoyed extramarital affairs with women.”

A former altar boy who is the son of Irish immigrants, Mr. McGuirk, who is in his mid-40s and writes his own material, also had his Cardinal Egan make homosexual slurs about Anderson Cooper and describe Mr. Imus’s wife as having multiple sexual partners in her husband’s absence. Mr. Imus, watching from alongside Mr. McGuirk onstage in Boston, where the show was being broadcast live, could be seen laughing but said nothing in response....

***

Neither CBS Radio nor MSNBC has singled out anyone else for his role in the back-and-forth about Rutgers, for which Mr. Imus has apologized repeatedly in recent days. Whether Mr. McGuirk or any other Imus employee is to be punished has yet to be determined. That said, the entire cast will effectively be serving a two-week suspension on radio alongside the host, beginning Monday....

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/arts/12imus.html

[NormanYorkstein]

1. I'm boycotting CBS Radio sponsors until Imus is fired

Anyone sponsoring CBS Radio should be prepared for a boycott.

[jbnow]

2. Here is the transcript

Imus didn't say the worst in the conversation.It is the Imus show but he was almost the least offensive, as offensive as he was.
I want the Mcguirk bashed every time Imus is. He said the worst things and started the ho thing and rosenberg added his insult. (Though rosenberg actually started by talking about the game itself)

This conversation was about their looks. Would they have a conversation about the looks of a mens team in a championship game, whatever their race?
Imus says the girls from Tennessee were "cute" and they were mostly black too. But would they comment on ugly or cute for the men?
Women basketball players tend not to be the petite, wispy yet buxom. Nappy-headed is racist but overall he was more sexist.

But this mcguirk said the most foul things. His name should always be included. The Memphis Grizzlies? Jigaboos? Hard-core hos?

http://mediamatters.org/items/200704040011
From the April 4 edition of MSNBC's Imus in the Morning:

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 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.

McGUIRK: A Spike Lee thing.

IMUS: Yeah.

McGUIRK: The Jigaboos vs. the Wannabes -- that movie that he had.
SNIP

IMUS: I don't know if I'd have wanted to beat Rutgers or not, but they did, right?

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 Grizzlies would be more appropriate.

[DeepModem Mom]

3. Yep! I was glad to see this article on McGuirk's role. Also...

I've just seen snippets of Imus's shows the last few days. Maybe I just missed him, but I didn't see Bernard at all.

[Kingshakabobo]

4. McGuirk is the worst. He's a hard-core homophobe and bigot. n/t

[NoSunWithoutShadow]

5. What you said! And a Kick. -eom

[DeepModem Mom]

6. a.m, kick