Don Imus is going to sue CBS for $120 million, according to a draft copy of the suit - expected to be filed next week - that ABC News has obtained.
The lawsuit reportedly says that CBS Radio expected Imus to be "controversial" and "irreverent" under the terms of his contract. He also claims the show was on a 5-second delay that let the network censor him if they wanted.
In a statement released by CBS in response to news stories about the impending lawsuit, CBS said that "We terminated Mr. Imus for cause. Based on the comments in question and relevant contract terms, we believe that the termination was appropriate and CBS would expect to prevail in any attempt by Mr. Imus to recover money for his actions."
CBS is expected to rely on a clause in the contract that says Imus can be terminated for 'just cause' if CBS determines that he used "distasteful or offensive words or phrases, the broadcast of which [CBS] believes would not be in the public interest or may jeopardize [the networks's] Federal license to operate..."
But Martin Garbus, a well known First Amendment attorney who represents Imus, says CBS breached Imus' contract, pointing to the clause: "Company [CBS Radio] acknowledges that Artist's [Imus'] services to be rendered hereunder are of a unique, extraordinary, irreverent, intellectual, topical, controversial and personal character and that programs of the same general type and nature containing these components are desired by Company and are consistent with Company rules and policies."
The $120 million suit covers the $40 million remaining on Imus' multiyear contract (which began in 2006), stock options, damages to his "reputation and future prospects" and "damage to Imus' charitable and business endeavors."
[ABC News]
love him or hate him he's going to win, and win bigtime.
stern went through the same thing and everytime he seem to have won.
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Zero point Zero.
This topic is bigger than Imus and CBS even though they are the focal point. Very interesting to see how this unfolds over time. Sadly it looks like Imus might not be the only "shock jock" that will be going through this in 07.
this will be settled out of court.imus is worth
120 million like opie and anthony are worth six million.imus is a prick always was a prick.there is a diffrence of being edgy and being a prick.he choose to be a prick
Just curious - what do the 2nd and 4th posts have to do with the Imus lawsuit?
Seriously, regardless who your radio hero is, doesn't the current environment of censorship and special interest powers concern you?
You can post zero point zero, Baba Booey, Your Mom's Box, Doghouse, what? or any other shows little catch phrases. The issue at hand in this case seems much larger than juvenile radio wars and false idolatry.
Stepping off soap box now...
This will be big for the radio world. Political correctness is killing our country. This is really not a first amendment issue. This is a racist issue. If Don Imus was black and said Straight haired sluts about a all white female team none of this would of ever happened.
Woot! That is what you get when you sell out talent to professional "victims".
if death had a face ...
The problem with the Imus story is that there's no one to root for.
Did Imus have the right to say what he did? Yes.
SHOULD Imus have said what he did. No. The women basketball players didn't do anything to anyone to deserve being made fun of.
Did people have the right to be offended by his comments and call for his head? Yes.
Having said, that, Al Sharpton is a media whore who hosts a low-rated radio show and therefore is a competitor to Imus
CBS has a lot of fucking nerve to act as if they had no idea about the kind of things Imus routinely said on his show. Now that we've seen parts of his contract, we KNOW that they were ridiculously hypocritical to can him for what they paid him millions of dollars to do for years.
This will be settled out of court, with both parties agreeing not to disclose the terms of the settlement. Imus will get millions to go away quietly.
My solution? Put 'em all on a barge and shove it out into the middle of the ocean.
I wonder how effectively CBS will be able to hide this hypothetical settlement. Aren't they required to report that kind of loss on their SEC filings? If they normally pay out, say, $50k a quarter in settled lawsuits, and next quarter the number is $80,050,000... it's not hard to guess about what Imus got.
I personally miss Don Imus a great deal (sorry for our resident pre-pubescent poster)and with the passage of just a few weeks, only goes to show how overblown this thing was. People used Imus for their own ends, and nothing has changed.
He won't get 120 million- but he could get what's left on his contract and then some. I hope he wins. If the sappy idiots who feel sorry for the Rutgers girls being called "nappy headed hos" think they did them a favor, wait until life hits these women in the face with a REAL problem. Their coach won't be there to pump up her reputation with her phony outrage.
What a disgrace......
business got their way many years ago and can hide almost ANY financial settlement.
stern settled with CBS and all we got to see was that they gave stern tapes for 10 years or something like that but we never got to actually see the settlement dollars.
you are right they will settle for pennys on the dollar and he will walk away with a few million tax free and get cleared of his non-compete clause...
the stern case was the tapes for five years
for 2 mil.
the stern case was the tapes for five years
for 2 mil. the 2 mil was the known part of the settlement. they didn't disclose the larger part , look how quickly sternbots are reprogramed .
the stern case was the tapes for five years
...after which, Stern retains full rights to the tapes. As for the reporgramming part, I've no idea what that has to do with anything...
Imus will get the rest of his contract paid out as well as a couple mil thrown in after; Just like O&A got paid for fucking in a church.
Good luck bro