DON IMUS ON HIS PERSONAL LIFE, GETTING SOBER, AND THOSE "LITTLE SCHMUCKS" AT MSNBC
In the February issue of Vanity Fair, Don Imus tells contributing editor Buzz Bissinger that he regrets the times he's been mean to people (on newsstands in New York and L.A. on January 4 and nationally January 10). "It's fine to pick on people who can defend themselves and deserve it. Some people don't deserve to be picked on who I picked on, so I don't do it anymore." He has no problem, though, taking on Jack Welch, calling his recent book a "stupid … almost unreadable piece of shit"; Bill Frist, "a fucking criminal"; Chris Matthews, "that idiot"; Tucker Carlson, "a twit" and "a pussy"; and the people at MSNBC, "little schmucks."
"I'm not getting enough respect from them," Imus complains about MSNBC. "Do you know how absolutely powerful I am? I don't think they realize that. They're used to dealing with these little schmucks over there, but they don't realize that I'm an American icon. What do you think this dope from Vanity Fair is here for? They're not doing a profile of fucking Chris Matthews or those other fucking lightweights over there. Why? Because I'm the fucking man." Imus also accuses MSNBC of making bad decisions, such as the hiring of Ron Reagan and Carlson.
Bissinger reports that during the week he spent with Imus his feelings toward him shift wildly—he finds him perverse, smart, savvy, mercurial, childlike, with it, out of it, appealing, and an asshole. Bissinger observes that Imus looks 10 years older than his actual age of 65, and appears "pale and frail and sucked dry." He often remarks that he doesn't feel well; sighs when he walks, as if each step were his final one; and has coughing fits and screams that his ears hurt, muttering "Oh, man" and "Oh, shit." The voice, once a manic rat-a-tat, is softer now, and sometimes garbled. His eyes seem squeezed and compressed.
Imus has been sober for 18 years and says he doesn't like to be around people who drink. "I don't take any chances. I've had 18 sober years. I just got to get through the day.… I mean, after a while, two or three drinks, most people get stupid. As I was.… I was not a good drunk." Imus tells Bissinger that he and his wife, Deirdre, never go out, never see friends. Once he's finished with work for the day, around 1 p.m., he takes a nap, plays chess with his seven-year-old son, Wyatt, talks with Deirdre, and reads.
Bissinger reports that Imus is thinking about getting a book published by Hyperion that he would call A Letter from Wyatt, inspired by thank-you notes written by his son that Imus himself has amended by adding his own commentary—Bissinger calls the letters demented. In a missive to Jeffrey Katzenberg, the senior Imus refers to Michael Eisner as Michael Eichmann and calls him a "prick." Imus wants $2.5 million for the book, funds he would donate to the Imus Ranch, which hosts children with a history of cancer or blood disorders, or who have lost a sibling to sudden-infant-death syndrome.
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