digg this | mixx! | reddit | del.icio.us | Newsvine | |  e-mail article |  print | post comments | NEWSLETTER ©DiversityInc. Reproduction in any format is absolutely prohibited.

From actors to corporations to radio personalities, 2007 was filled with culturally incompetent incidents. Which were the five most egregious? E-mail us at editor@DiversityInc.com to tell us what you think were the worst. Here's what DiversityInc chooses:

No.1: Don Imus

The worst has to be Don Imus and his infamous remark: calling the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos." If you were on another planet and missed this story, here's what happened: On his morning radio show after the team played in its first national championship game, Imus made his comment. He also characterized Rutgers' black team members as "jigaboos and wannabees."

Imus' morning radio show was heard on CBS radio and simulcast on MSNBC. Both companies eventually fired Imus.

"Imus clearly hit a nerve. In almost 10 years of publishing DiversityInc.com, we've never received more e-mails on any other subject--thousands of e-mails, most of them demanding Imus be fired," wrote DiversityInc Partner and Cofounder Luke Visconti in his Ask The White Guy blog.

Imus has since resurfaced, eight months later, on ABC Radio Networks. His new show features some racial diversity. He added two black cast members: Karith Foster and Tony Powell, both comedians, who Imus vowed would help the show be a leading force about the discussion of race in the United States.

In bringing Imus back to the air, WABC-AM program director Phil Boyce told The Associated Press that the decision strictly boiled down to dollars and cents. "Obviously, we're doing this because we think we can make more money," Boyce said. "There's an opportunity to charge more for our advertising rates. I am not ashamed of saying it is about the money. We are running a business." 

But will those sponsors return? In the wake of Imus' toxic remarks on April 12, sponsors of the program fled, including Procter & Gamble and American Express (Nos. 14 and 23, respectively, on The 2007 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity^® list), as well as Staples, Simon & Schuster, Random House, and others.

No. 2 Isaiah Washington

In January, the Golden Globes proved diversity hiring works when the Hollywood Foreign Press Association honored "Grey's Anatomy," which was created and is run by a black woman and features one of television's most diverse casts. As the cast gathered backstage to answer questions from the media, one of its stars, Isaiah Washington, took it upon himself to lean into the mic and announce, "No, I did not call [co-star] T.R. [Knight] a faggot. Never happened, never happened."

Washington's use of the slur for a second time to explain that he did not use the slur was roundly criticized by his co-stars. Washington met with leaders of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network(GLSEN), issued an apology and filmed a public-service announcement denouncing the use of gay slurs. In June ABC, the network that airs "Grey's Anatomy" did not renew Washington's contract. He has since resurfaced on another network.

(See also: Which Words (And the Celebrities Who Use Them) Are Most Offensive?)

No. 3 Intel Corp.

In August, Intel made its multicultural misstep. Picture this: Six muscularly built, topless black men bowing at the knee to an average-looking white man dressed in khaki pants and a blue button-down shirt. If you're wincing, that's because you know that picture is a crass reminder of slavery.

That's the image Intel used for its advertising campaign: "Multiply Computing Performance and Maximize the Power of Your Employees."

The company said the advertisement's intent was to convey the performance capabilities of Intel's computer processors by linking their ability to that of six black-male sprinters. But why use all-black sprinters and then picture them half naked? The blog Afropologe asked, "Do black people even work at Intel?"

An Intel statement released by Nancy Bhagat, vice president and director of Integrated Marketing, read: "Intel's intent of our ad titled 'Multiply Computing Performance and Maximize the Power of Your Employees' was to convey the performance capabilities of our processors through the visual metaphor of a sprinter. We have used the visual of sprinters in the past successfully. Unfortunately, our execution did not deliver our intended message and in fact proved to be insensitive and insulting. Upon recognizing this, we attempted to pull the ad from all publications but, unfortunately, we failed on one last media placement. We are sorry and are working hard to make sure this doesn't happen again."

(See also: Baloney Meter: Ad Agencies Can't Buy Diversity)

No. 4 Rush Limbaugh

In April, Rush Limbaugh aired a rendition of "Puff the Magic Dragon." The version tried to belittle Sen. Barack Obama by changing the words of the song to "Barack the Magic Negro." The song sounded like a minstrel, as though it was part of the soundtrack to D.W. Griffith's racist film "The Birth of a Nation."

This version of "Puff the Magic Dragon" was part of a video entitled "U Da Real Negro Al, Screw Obama," a parody by Paul Shanklin, a conservative political satirist. The video included Shanklin trying to imitate the Rev. Al Sharpton's voice along with a slideshow picturing Sharpton and Obama pointing out the differences in their "blackness." Toward the middle of the video, Shanklin harmonizes "Barack the Magic Negro," suggesting that Obama is somehow a manufactured black man.

No. 5. D.L. Hughley

In July, comedian D.L. Hughley thought it would be funny to follow up Imus'  rant with his own on NBC's "The Tonight Show."

"He called them nappy-headed hos and they weren't hos," Hughley, who is black, told the show's host Jay Leno. "But there were some nappy-headed women on that team. Shut up, I'm gonna say it. I don't give a damn if you all like it or not. You know it's true. They were some of the ugliest women I've seen in my whole life."

But while Imus' comments were met with ridicule, Hughley's comments received a round of applause and laughter from the audience. The drastic difference in responses again ignited the debate over whether there is a double standard with what people can get away with saying. For more on the N-word double standard, read the Jan./Feb. 2008 issue of DiversityInc magazine, out soon. Subscribe now.

While the mainstream media ignored Hughley's comments, bloggers did not, indicating that audiences throughout the nation were tired of humor that wallowed in stereotypes.

On Keyboard Quarterbacks, blogger Karen Bailis said the double standard clearly has to do with the race of the person making the off-color comments. She wrote, "If a black comic makes a racist, sexist joke about Rutgers' women's basketball team in the forest of late-night TV, does it make a sound in the mass-media landscape? Apparently not."

And in an open letter to Sharpton and Bill Cosby, blogger Francis L. Holland requested the support of both men in a boycott of one of Hughley's performances. "Mr. Hughley shows no regard for our Black Women and is unapologetic about his social unacceptable behavior towards the Black Community," wrote Holland.

More Marketplace >>

digg this | mixx! | reddit | del.icio.us | Newsvine | |  e-mail article |  print | post comments | NEWSLETTER

Send Your Comments About This Article Now