On yesterday's Imus in the Morning radio program (simulcast on MSNBC) Imus referred to the Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy-headed 'hos" after the show's producer, Bernard McGuirk called the team "hardcore 'hos."

The transcript [via Media Matters]:

DON IMUS: So, I watched the basketball game last night between -- a little bit of Rutgers and Tennessee, the women's final.

SID ROSENBERG: Yeah, Tennessee won last night -- seventh championship for [Tennessee coach] Pat Summitt, I-Man. They beat Rutgers by 13 points.

IMUS: That's some rough girls from Rutgers. Man, they got tattoos and --

BERNARD McGUIRK: Some hard-core hos.

IMUS: That's some nappy-headed hos there. I'm gonna tell you that now, man, that's some -- woo. And the girls from Tennessee, they all look cute, you know, so, like -- kinda like -- I don't know.

McGUIRK: A Spike Lee thing.

IMUS: Yeah.

McGUIRK: The Jigaboos vs. the Wannabes -- that movie that he had.

IMUS: Yeah, it was a tough --

CHARLES McCORD: Do The Right Thing.

McGUIRK: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

IMUS: I don't know if I'd have wanted to beat Rutgers or not, but they did, right?

ROSENBERG: It was a tough watch. The more I look at Rutgers, they look exactly like the Toronto Raptors.

Putting aside for a second the show's erroneous knowledge of Spike Lee joints (the film in question was School Daze, not Do The Right Thing) the comments recalled a 2001 on-air incident in which Rosenberg said Venus and Serena Williams would have a better shot at appearing in National Geographic than Playboy.

Late Thursday, MSNBC issued a statement distancing itself from the show:

"While simulcast by MSNBC, 'Imus in the Morning' is not a production of the cable network and is produced by WFAN Radio. As Imus makes clear every day, his views are not those of MSNBC. We regret that his remarks were aired on MSNBC and apologize for these offensive comments."

Funny, considering MSNBC was touting Imus' strong first quarter ratings just two days ago.

Imus deflected criticism over the Rutgers remark, telling the New York Times "not worry about some idiot saying something meant to be amusing."

Rutgers then issued its own statement: "We agree with Mr. Imus that this was, in his own words, an 'idiot comment.' We are very proud of the success of the Rutgers women's basketball team. Coach Stringer and the Rutgers players are outstanding ambassadors for this great institution."