NEW YORK (AP) – Even as advertisers defected and politicians piled on, it was an internal mutiny within NBC News about Don Imus’ racial slur that was key to pulling the plug on his MSNBC simulcast.

About 30 angry NBC News employees, many of them black, met with news division president Steve Capus less than 24 hours before Mr. Capus decided that a two-week suspension of Imus’ morning telecast wasn’t enough.

They said they’d had it with Mr. Imus’ brand of coarse ethnic humor, capped with last week’s reference to the Rutgers female basketball players as “nappy-headed hos.”

“Within this organization, this had touched a nerve,” Mr. Capus said Wednesday. “The comment that came through to us, time and time again, was `when is enough going to be enough?’ This was the only action we could take.”

Despite being banished from the NBC family, MSNBC faces the embarrassing problem Thursday of having the just-fired host broadcast his annual radio charity fundraiser from its studios in New Jersey. The 18th annual Radiothon, which has raised more than $40 million since 1990, began Thursday with Imus making reference to the dangers facing his career.

“This may be our last Radiothon, so we need to raise about $100 million,” Mr. Imus said at the beginning of the show Thursday morning, before chuckling.

“I’ve been running my mouth for 30 years and I’ve said some stupid stuff,” he said. But this time, he continued, his remarks were “really stupid.”

He said he had apologized enough and plans to meet with the Rutgers players. “At some point, I’m not sure when, I’m going to talk to the team. That’s all I’m interested in doing.”

The Radiothon runs through Friday.

Mr. Imus’ ultimate fate depends on the CBS Corp., which owns both the radio station WFAN-AM that is the host’s broadcast home, and the syndicator Westwood One, which distributes “Imus in the Morning” to stations across the country.

CBS Radio, which has also suspended Imus for two weeks without pay, said it would “continue to speak with all concerned parties and monitor the situation closely.”

The Reverend Al Sharpton, who has sought Mr. Imus’ firing, said he will meet Thursday with CBS officials.

Bruce Gordon, former head of the NAACP and a director of CBS Corp., told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he hoped CBS would “make the smart decision” by firing Imus.

“He’s crossed the line, he’s violated our community,” Mr. Gordon said in a telephone interview. “He needs to face the consequence of that violation.”

A growing list of sponsors – including American Express Co., Sprint Nextel Corp., Staples Inc., Procter & Gamble Co., and General Motors Corp. – had said they were pulling ads from Imus’ show indefinitely.

American Express spokeswoman Judy Tenzer said the company doesn’t advertise on “controversial programming,” while Sprint spokeswoman Sara Krueger said: “We do not want our advertising associated with content which we, our customers and the public find offensive.”

Mr. Imus’ program is worth a total of about $15 million in annual revenue to CBS Corp., through advertising on WFAN and syndication fees received from MSNBC and Westwood One. It wasn’t clear how much of that total came from MSNBC.

Two black on-air personalities at NBC News, reporter Ron Allen and the “Today” show’s Al Roker, had already publicly urged Mr. Imus’ firing on Web log entries.

Mr. Allen said he didn’t buy the argument that Imus was “edgy” and had hurled slurs at many others. “Personally, I don’t think being an `equal opportunity’ insulter makes this OK,” he said.

Mr. Roker said he was tired of cruelty that passes for funny, humor at other people’s expense.

“He has to take his punishment and start over,” Mr. Roker said. “Guess what? He’ll get re-hired and will go on like nothing happened. CBS Radio and NBC News need to remove Don Imus from the airwaves. That is what needs to happen. Otherwise, it just looks like profits and ratings rule over decency and justice.”

Democrat Barack Obama on Wednesday became the first presidential candidate to call for Imus to be fired. “He didn’t just cross the line, he fed into some of the worst stereotypes that my two young daughters are having to deal with today in America,” said Obama, the only black candidate in the race.

Mr. Imus has apologized repeatedly for his comments. He said Tuesday he hadn’t been thinking when making a joke that went “way too far.” He also said that those who called for his firing without knowing him, his philanthropic work or what his show was about would be making an “ill-informed” choice.

Mr. Imus’ program has been the only thing MSNBC has aired on weekday mornings for the 11 years of the network’s existence.

MSNBC loses a morning show personality at a time when his show has been doing very well. Almost as many people had been watching the telecast of his radio show than the highly-produced newscast on CNN – leading CNN to dump its two morning anchors just last week.

Producing its own morning show will also cost MSNBC money at a time it has been cutting costs, but it doesn’t have the threat of an advertiser boycott.

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On the Net:

Radiothon: http://wfan.com/pages/332252.php