SiriusXM fires 'Opie & Anthony' host over tweets

Published April 05, 2016

In a April 26, 2006 file photo, radio shock jocks Greg "Opie" Hughes, left, and Anthony Cumia, right, leave CBS Radio studios on 57th Street with fans after finishing their first morning show, in New York. (AP)

"Opie & Anthony" radio show host Anthony Cumia has been fired by satellite radio company SiriusXM, which cited his "racially charged" and "hate-filled" remarks on Twitter as the reason.

Cumia's remarks and postings, including tweets and retweets that were degrading to women, were "abhorrent" to SiriusXM, its spokesman Patrick Reilly said Friday. The shock jock was fired late Thursday, Reilly said.

Cumia's response Friday on Twitter included an obscenity in relation to SiriusXM. He said he was fired over material that was not aired and was not illegal.

Earlier this week, Cumia posted tweets and photos about what he said was an attack on him as he took photos in Times Square.

He said a woman, angered at being photographed, called him a "white mother (expletive)" and then repeatedly punched him. He said he defended himself without hitting back.

In subsequent tweets about the confrontation, Cumia let loose a string of profanity and insults against the black woman, including describing her as "pig face worthless" and using an anti-female expletive.

"This was an animal. I shoulda smashed it's face," he wrote.

In later tweets, after being condemned as a racist in some Twitter postings, Cumia said he was the victim and was being unfairly derided over his views of violence in the black community.

Asked by one Twitter poster if he had reported the attack to authorities, Cumia responded that he could take punches without wasting the police's time.

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