Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Imus vs. Contessa, cont'd ...


Contessa Brewer: no implants
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I woke up extra early today, before dawn, to take the pulse of radio's Don Imus and MSNB news reader Contessa Brewer. (Yes, the anti-depressants are kicking in nicely.)

If you remember, it was suggested here that Contessa could have grounds for a sexual harassment lawsuit given her treatment by Imus & Crew on the WFAN radio/MSNBC TV morning program, except the First Amendment might get in the way.

Anyway, Imus was told by the hard-boiled female traffic reporter, that she's been informed they're not to pick on Contessa anymore, and Imus demanded to know who told her that. "Management sources," she said, not naming a name.

Imus tried to draw some MSNBC management type who was off-camera into the conversation, but he wouldn't bite.

When newstime came, Contessa naturally was given the story about silicone breast implants to read.

"You have them?" Imus asked her.

"No, I don't need them," she said.

Know anyone who does?

Of course.

Does Amy? (ie., Amy Robach, Contessa's predecessor, who left the show cause of the I-Man's crew on-air tomfoolery.)

No!

Contessa seemed OK with it, and smiled nicely, but then, mysteriously, that was her last segment on the show, which I don't believe is normal. Before leaving, she asked Charles McCord, the news reader who's spent 30 years with Imus, how he's lasted so long since she goes home everyday and wants to pull her hair out.
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I-Man: reigned in?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

i sure would like to know what happened to Contessa. You article is all i can find on the subject.

wleehuffman@aol.com

Anonymous said...

I don't even think that Robin Quivers is subjected to the kind of stuff that Contessa put up with. I know what Imus's show is about and I watch it regularly but they were just acting like a bunch of horney 14 year old idiots who have never been around a woman before. And I think that it was a case of once they knew they had her unnerved they piled on constantly. I would like to see her file a harrassment case against them. I felt bad for her and thought it was out of line. Today now that she is gone they constantly made comments about how big her butt was and crap like that. First amendment is one thing but its still a job and to me it was just out and out harassment. They acted like a bunch of bullies and jerks and now she is gone. Stern would never treat Robin like that.

Anonymous said...

That is because Robin Quivers is one of the brightest women on the radio. Cuntessa Brooder is just a pretty face and all women should be angry about having a pretty face shoved into their morning enjoyment ONLY because they have a face. If you can FIND a picture of here wide ass, post it here. She's a dumb idiot who did not deserve the shot she got.

Anonymous said...

I was an avid listener to IMUS until i head them call her a slut this morning . IMUS also said he fired her and that she is a stupid bimbo and that she shouldnt have made the comments she did on a MSNBC webpage. She should sue them .They have driven all the women off the show.

Anonymous said...

Last time I checked, Tracey Burgess was still doing every traffic update in the morning so pay attention. She obviously understands what it takes to survive and actually contribute to the show each morning, unlike that bozo Contessa Brewer. She took the gig reading the news on Imus because she figured she had nothing to lose, nobody knew who she was anyway. This was her chance to have her name heard by millions and she didn't want to play the game by Imus' rules. Well guess what? It's his show! You know the scene going in, don't complain about it now.

Anonymous said...

Why is it every time the I-Man acts like the I-Man people are offended? This is not unlike the 1994 (or was it 1995) White House correspondents' dinner all over again. For some reason, people expect Imus to act like Larry King or some other media sychophant if they fawn all over him. But Imus has demonstrated time and time again that he has integrity and isn't going to change his ways. That's what makes him and his show so refreshing.

Was Contessa Brewer surprised that Imus, Bernie, et al. acted like a bunch of frat boys? That's what they are, and that's a big part of their appeal. Besides, if you watch/listen to Imus for a few days, it's pretty clear that they are equal-opportunity assholes -- they are assholes equally to everyone. Even Imus is the butt of jokes -- no one is spared and no one should be expected to be spared.

And, in defense of Imus, the humor is never mean-spirited. Even though it's often blunt and at times crude, it's never hateful.

And, as others have pointed out, Brewer is much better known because of her association Imus than she would have been if she had remained a news reader. She served her time in purgatory, so to speak, and is getting to move along.

Anonymous said...

I was shocked by the ugly attack on Mize Brewer. I thought she was an asset to the show. It was charming the way She was always appropriately embarrassed when the crew pried into her private life. The viciousness of the attack makes me think there is something else going on. Maybe Imus or Charles put some O riley style moves on her and got rebuffed.

Anonymous said...

On 4/29/2005 I watched the most disgusting attack of Contessa Brewer by Imus and his staff. I am joining the growing boycott of his show and the shows of his guests and have written the FCC. Free speech may be protected by the 1st amendment, but such speech is not protected during daylight hours when children may be watching.

Anonymous said...

col c.a.,
Imus is the poster-boy for every insecure, obnoxious frat-rat asshole that I have ever met, in the Marine Corps, or elsewhere in the world. I enjoy self-effacing "over-the-top" comedy, but this jerk's campaign against Ms. Brewer (because of a remark which she was supposedly "overheard" making at a restaurant) is way out of line. Since when is calling a lady "a fat pig" and inferring that "her fat butt is stuck in the Holland Tunnel" to be considered harmless?
Get this over-the-hill dried fruit off the air. Bernie will have to go back to selling hot dogs at Shea, but, hey, that's life!
Sick of Donald

Anonymous said...

I like Imus generally, but find the childish, locker-room mentality they sometimes exhibit ridiculous. I ususally switch stations when they start that garbage.

Contessa did right to leave, although she was a positive to the show. She's been on later in the day anchoring msnbc.

Anonymous said...

Since when is it funny to try and humiliate a woman with dumb sexual innuendos and insults? Where did these scum grow up, on a garbage scow?

They threw every lowbrow epithet and comment at her, especially when she was trying gamely to read the news, then lambasted her for allegedly screwing up.

Maybe Imus got away with that stuff in the past, but this was brutal sexual harassment of a co-worker in front of an audience--though an understandably dwindling one--of millions.

He clearly thinks he'll get away with it again, so anyone nauseated, as I was, by his and his dimwit sycophants' behavior should lay it on him. May want to start with his oh-so-righteous guest list. If the likes of Russert, Alter, Fineman, Matthews and others want to lie with this braying jackass, shame on them.

He's obviously trying to out-Stern Stern due to his plummeting ratings. Hence, uber-lout Sid and Bernard McGuirk's increasing vulgarity. Yeah, the same guy so outraged when anyone on the show mentions pedophile priests. Go figure. In any case, such a defender, who mocks women and abuses them with filthy sexual gibes, the church does not need at present.

Still, one supremely comic moment did occur just after Imus first heard about Contessa's comments on Page Six and that she'd said he "had a problem relating to beautiful women."

He sputtered, "I wonder what Mrs. Imus would make of that comment."

Ah, Don, although beauty may indeed be in the eye of the beholder, there is a limit.

Anonymous said...

MSNBC tried to dictate to IMUS that he had to have one of their news readers be a part of his show.

I'm sure his response was, Charles reads the news. I'm sure they responded with something like: "We could do a tandem thing with Charles and one of our people"

It's his show. They pay him a ton of money to do it.

If someone is to blame for this tiff about Contessa, it is the executive staff of MSNBC. They put her in that position, she accepted it, probably not knowing that it was contrary to IMUS' wants for the show.

If she knew, than there is no one to blame but herself.

SJ

Anonymous said...

Oh, Stern picked Robin Quivers a long time ago. That is a weak argument.

Contessa was in it for the attention, Robin is in it for the long haul.

SJ