His justification for that comment was that he meant Jones was being targeted by the police. His radio station seems to be letting him get away with that.
I saw a clip of the explanation this morning on CNN. He said that race has been a major topic of discussion on this show since the return and that he didn't mean what some were interpreting him to mean when he made that comment. He cited that he has two black "cast members," and went through a list of guests including Jesse Jackson and some others that I cannot remember. He also was going to have Dick Gregory on today, originally to discuss George Carlin's death, but that they would be talking about this incident. Gregory is a comedian, but he was also highly involved with activism during the civil rights movement.
If that's the explanation that people are going with, so be it. I would just like to see some reason why the sports caster that was on reading the Jones story didn't ask Imus what he meant by "what color is he?" I know Imus is the host of the show, but that's a poor way to represent yourself if you'll take a question like that without inquiring the meaning behind it.