On this afternoon’s “Tucker” on MSNBC, the Rev. DeForest Soaries, Jr., who mediated yesterday’s meeting between Don Imus and the Rutgers women’s basketball team, explained what he meant when he told Meredith Vieira this morning that he thought Don Imus owed “restitution” for the “injury” he inflicted on the Rutgers team. But the real reason to watch this clip is for Soaries’ comments at the end, in which he acknowledges the double-standard being applied to entertainers who use the same language Imus did, and he criticizes Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton for refusing to forgive Imus. Watch:

First, as far as restitution goes, Soaries says that it’s probably enough that Imus was fired, but that if he really wants to help he can “make contributions to this dialogue” in order to “investigate eliminating the double-standard” when it comes to these kinds of comments. Then Soaries said:

You can’t be angry when Don Imus says negative things about people and not be angry when your favorite athlete or artist says the same thing. I can’t protest when white people kill black people, but remain silent when black people kill each other or when black people kill white people. To have civil society, you must have a moral consensus that’s applied consistently, and unfortunately Mr. Carlson, we are a culture that gravitates to entertainers and athletes and politicians and not to moral leaders, and that’s what we need.

If you think that sounds like a veiled criticism of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, just listen to what came next:

CARLSON: Speaking of moral leaders… [Jackson and Sharpton] have said in public, “We don’t forgive Don Imus,” despite the fact that he’s asked, groveled, for their forgiveness and they publicly said no, we’re withholding our forgiveness. Do you think they’re good representatives of Christianity?
SOARIES: … I didn’t hear Reverend Jackson’s remarks or Reverend Sharpton’s remarks, but I have a congregation that worships in this room behind me on a regular basis. We teach, practice and preach forgiveness. Where there is no forgiveness, there is no Christianity.

Carlson was rendered momentarily speechless, stuttering for a moment before thanking Soaries for his remarks.

Video here.