God Squad draws fire with stints on shock jock
radio
By PATRICIA LEFEVERE
Special to the National Catholic Reporter New
York
Msgr. Tom Hartman and Rabbi Marc Gellman have been dispensing
interreligious harmony over the airwaves more than a dozen years. Off camera
they admit to being like brothers. They close their telecasts of
The God Squad with a handshake, followed by a hug and a kiss on the cheek -- a
gesture they hold is more real than ritual.
For thousands of New York-area Catholics and Jews the priest-rabbi
team represents good theology and good taste. But their appearance once a month
on one of Americas raunchiest radio/TV shows Imus in the
Morning has raised eyebrows.
The two clergymen -- both 52 -- are seen regularly across Long
Island, N.Y., where both have congregations. Cable-viewers can watch them on
the interfaith Faith & Values/VISN network. Across the nation they
sometimes make guest appearances on ABCs Good Morning
America. They have won Emmy and Christopher awards for their media
partnership. Their popularity prompted New York Gov. George Pataki to ask them
to preside at a beachside memorial service for the victims of TWA flight 800
that crashed off Long Island in July 1996.
So what are they doing appearing regularly on shock jock Don
Imus radio show?
The shock jock, who has been on the New York airwaves for more
than 25 years, holds top ratings among morning shows through his infamous
insults and name-calling. In 1996 -- after he skewered the Clintons and most of
the nations political and journalistic elite at a Washington
correspondents dinner -- MSNBC invited Imus to bring his radio show to
television. Within weeks his audience grew from 2 to 15 million.
Listeners cant escape the racist, sexist and
homophobic rhetoric that critic Philip Nobile says is the stock-in-trade
of Imus and his crew. Nobile, a Brooklyn author and freelance journalist, has
set out on a one-man crusade to persuade The God Squad to quit Imus.
Nobile has written the pair and sent two letters to Hartmans
superior, Bishop John McGann of Rockville Centre, N.Y. In his first letter to
the bishop, Nobile accused Hartman of giving scandal by his association
with Don Imus, the most powerful and active white racist and homophobe in the
American media.
Nobile, who holds a theology degree from the Catholic University
of Louvain in Belgium, contends that the Imus show routinely smears
racial minorities, homosexuals and the handicapped with vicious and vile
remarks that should shock Catholic conscience.
Imus uses such terms as queers and homos
to refer to homosexuals and frequently uses names derogatory to lesbians to
describe Hillary Clinton and her female supporters, Nobile said in his letters
to the clergymen. Nobile found some of the most flagrant anti-gay rhetoric
coming from Imus sidekicks: his brother, Fred Imus; his movie critic, the
ex-New York cop, Bo Deitel; and sound engineer Lou Ruffino.
Women fare little better than minorities or gays, Nobile said,
noting that Imus had proposed naming eight new heifers on his New Mexico ranch
after eight female media stars. While sexual innuendo and double-entendre are
standard fare on Imus, black women are the targets of more insults than their
white sisters, Nobile said, noting that Imus called Gwen Ifill the
cleaning lady. An African-American, Ifill is a political correspondent
for NBC news and a former New York Times White House correspondent.
Imus producer Bernard McGuirk, in appearances on the show,
has referred to blacks as Brillo-heads, dark meat and
Sambos. McGuirk has used ethnic stereotypes to refer to Jews and
has called Arabs towel heads and Asians our urine-colored
brothers, Nobile wrote.
Imus did not return repeated phone calls from NCR and did
not respond to questions faxed to his office.
McGuirk regularly dons a Federal Express mailer envelope,
pretending its a miter, and parodies New York Cardinal John
OConnor. Usually the cardinal is reduced to reading the New
York State Lotto numbers.
How does Hartman find the parody? Its very
funny, he told NCR. But does the cardinal laugh? Hes
never asked for a tape or video of the show, OConnors
spokesman Joseph Swilling told NCR, but he knows of it.
Swilling, who sometimes tunes in Imus en route to work, wouldnt
characterize the parody of OConnor as homophobic or
racist, as Nobile insists it is. But it can be very
irreverent, Swilling said.
Nobile called Gellman hypocritical when he preached
healing in the aftermath of the August shooting at a Jewish Community Center in
Los Angeles. The rabbis remarks came just minutes after blacks and Arabs
had been slimed on the very same Imus show, Nobile said.
McGann chose not to respond to Nobile and instead passed his
letter to Hartman. The priest did not dispute Nobiles charges but
defended the God Squads nine-year run on Imus as an effort to bring
hope to people who are on their way to work. We have tried to reach out to many
people who dont regularly go to church, synagogue or mosque, but will
listen to clergy on a radio show, he said.
Hartman said that he and Gellman attend to Imus and
his crew both on and off the air, though they hardly agree with all that is
said on the show. The priest noted that hed asked his host not to use
Jesus Christ as an expletive on the air and that Imus
didnt realize he was doing it and apologized, Hartman said.
[Imus] said he would refrain from doing that.
Hartman said that he and Gellman talk to Imus off the air about
things said by his team that are inappropriate.
In September Nobile sent a second letter to McGann urging the
bishop to cancel an Imus radiothon designed to raise money for the
dioceses new AIDS shelter, Christa House. You have the power to ...
save the Rockville Center diocese from the shame of taking pieces of silver
from a whited sepulcher like Imus who mocks Christian values while using Fr.
Hartman as a fig leaf, Nobile wrote.
The radio benefit went on as scheduled Oct. 8, raising $500,000
for the $6 million home. When it ended, Imus contributed $25,000 of his own
money to Christa House.
Hes doing a real good job with his soul, despite
his locker room, bad boy style, Hartman told NCR. No
radio DJ has done as much for children, he said, citing Imus
efforts on behalf of Tomorrows Children, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
research and his proposed New Mexico ranch for children with cancer.
Hartman said that the radiothon developed after Imus asked him to
list what he was grateful for last Thanksgiving. Hartman named Christa House,
which the priest vowed to build after his brother Jerry died of AIDS in 1996.
Jerry Hartman and his partner sought the aid of the church during their
illness. Jerry, a Universal Studios executive, told his brother that he had
plenty of money, good doctors and a supportive family, but he wanted to aid
those without medical insurance or family care.
Hartman has watched Imus change greatly over the past decade,
seeking and finding help for his addictions to alcohol and drugs, the priest
said.
He no longer erects a wall around himself, Hartman
said. He described Imus as pathologically shy and looking for
authenticity. ... He believes that someone whos hurting needs to be
helped. ... He admires the pope and Mother Teresa.
But Hartman admitted that reaction is mixed toward his
appearance on the show. Imus has even asked The God Squad why they continue to
come on. They provide the same reply that Hartman gave Nobile -- to reach the
unchurched and those who do not attend synagogue.
Gellman told NCR that he will continue on Imus, because
I believe in Don Imus heart; I dont always believe in his
mouth. Most of his congregation is glad that religion has a public face
and that Im bringing honor to Jews by appearing. The reaction is
overwhelmingly positive among men, he said, but not so positive
among women.
The rabbi found fault with Nobiles criticism, noting that
theres a pernicious idea out there that religion has to be separate
from society; that religion has to be absolutely pure. He said that
neither he nor Hartman were Imus defenders. If Sen. [Joe]
Lieberman, Anna Quinlan, Bill Bradley and Al Gore can be on, why cant
we?
Gellman believes his critics have asked the wrong question.
Its not Should we be on Imus? Its How
should the religious message be delivered? The rabbi points to
Jesus, who, he said, talked to prostitutes, took his message to the most
populous places and didnt care what people said or thought about him.
If its good enough for Jesus, its good enough for
me.
But will it be good enough for Bishop James McHugh who succeeds
McGann next month and will become Hartmans new boss? Hell
look at everything in the media and everything in the diocese, Hartman
told NCR. Will that spell the end of his mornings on Imus? Who
knows? Hartman replied.
National Catholic Reporter, December 17,
1999
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