Shock jock Don Imus has had his radio show back for only two weeks and he's already stuck his foot in his mouth. In talking with conservative talker Jay Severin, Imus asked Severin if not supporting prediential candidate Mike Huckabee makes him "gay or what": 

“Why don’t you like Huckabee, because you’re gay or what?” Imus inquired. 

To which Severin replied: “I’m very happy, yes, and I would think that would make me like Huckabee.”

Imus then admitted he was being rude to Severin who, he said, “couldn’t be more loyal.” Then he asked Jay he would come back on the show if invited. 

“I’ll think about it,” Severin said, which prompted Imus’ sidekick Charles McCord to quip “if the phone works from the closet.”

Severin tells the Boston Herald that he wasn't offended by Imus' comment. To make his heterosexuality clear he added, "I am only too happy to submit myself for a ‘field test’ with Gisele (Bundchen) and any of her friends, if you can arrange it." Ah, you stay classy Jay!

This isn't the first time Imus' show insulted gays. Earlier this year, he "jokingly" used a Spanish anti-gay slur in an interview with presidential candidate Bill Richardson. After complimenting Chris Matthews' appearance in January 2006, he asserted his manliness by repeating jokes that referred to Brokeback Mountain as "Fudgepack Mountain." In 2000, his reaction to serial killer's Andrew Cunanan went, "Why are they bothering to catch this guy? He's just whacking off freaks!" In April, AmericaBlog posted a four-minute segment where he laughs at jokes at a series of anti-gay jokes.

Imus' history of offensive comments includes women, racial minorities and gays. The controversy over his remarks about the Rutgers Basketball team was a matter of time, as he says things that deserve that kind of furor pretty frequently. It sounds like he's playing that game all over again.

You can add GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) to the growing list of folks (John Kerry, John McCain, Frank Rich) and organizations (MSNBC, CBS) now caught in the blowback over the Don Imus controversy. GLAAD has come under fire from both Gay City News and gay-rights activist Michelangelo Signorile. This GCN article details how GLAAD was considered missing-in-action in regards to Imus--and not just during the most recent flap over the Rutgers basketball team.

GCN's Andy Humm reports that as far back as 2000 another journalist--Philip Nobile--tried to get GLAAD to act on Imus' homophobia (Nobile organized an Imus Watch web page on TomPaine.com), but that despite promising to monitor Imus, GLAAD did nothing. Nobile speculates it was because GLAAD didn't wish to offend The New York Times columnist and frequent Imus guest Frank Rich, to whom GLAAD had just given an award. (Rich addresses the issue in his Sunday New York Times column.)

GCN also reports how GLAAD initially took no public stance in regards to Imus' latest controversy. The paper states that on April 11th, Marc McCarthy, GLAAD's senior director of communications said, "This is not an issue in GLAAD's mission." However, GLAAD's website states their mission as being "...dedicated to promoting and ensuring fair, accurate and inclusive representation of people and events in the media as a means of eliminating homophobia and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation." Hmm, sure sounds like their mission to me. When GLAAD finally did issue a statement about Imus, they made no mention of his numerous homophobic slurs, nor did they call for his firing unlike other gay groups.

Since I’m a second-class citizen — a gay man — my seats for the ballgame of American discourse are way back in the bleachers. I don’t have to wait long for a shock jock or stand-up comedian to slip up with hateful epithets aimed at me and mine. Hate speak against homosexuals is as commonplace as spam. It’s daily traffic for those who profess themselves to be regular Joes, men of God, public servants who live off my tax dollars, as well as any number of celebrities.

John Aravosis over at Americablog has a post about Don Imus and his ongoing comedic shtick that is pretty much offensive to everyone. In case you missed it, Imus landed in hot water this week for his shockingly racist comments about a female basketball team (for which he was suspended for two weeks). In the clip (which is below the fold), Imus and his producer, who is pretending to be Cardinal Egan, joke about beating up "faggots", Anderson Cooper "taking it up the poop chute", wishing a sissy on America Idol would be the victim of a hate crime and more. Boy, it must be hard to come up with such fresh, clever jokes. No wonder Imus earns millions of dollars every year!