Radio DJ/Red Dead Voice Actor Cumia Fired For Racist Twitter Rant

[MovieBob]

Radio DJ/Red Dead Voice Actor Cumia Fired For Racist Twitter Rant

Now-former satellite radio shock jock voiced gunsmith Jeb Murphy in 2010 Rockstar hit

Following a long day of public and media outrage, satellite radio provider SiriusXM fired shock jock Anthony Cumia - one half of the controversial radio duo Opie & Anthony - over what the company called a "hate-filled" tirade on Twitter.

Though the details have been disputed by some (and the offending tweets long since deleted) the events stemmed from a confrontation between Cumia and an unidentified woman in Times Square who allegedly objected to the DJ taking pictures while she was in frame. According to Cumia, the ensuing argument escalated and he was "assaulted" by several men seemingly on the woman's behalf. Following the incident, he (Cumia) posted a long stream of profane Tweets laced with sexual and racial slurs (the woman and the alleged attackers are said to have been Black) which then devolved into an angry screed against NYC's broader African-American population along with several other subjects.

Cumia and radio partner Greg "Opie" Hughes are no strangers to trouble with employers: Originally employed by Boston-area station WAAF, they were fired in 1998 over an April Fools' stunt wherein they incorrectly reported that the city's then-mayor had died. In 2002 they lost a syndicated gig with New York's WNEW over a public-sex "scavenger hunt" game that led to a couple being arrested for public lewdness in St. Patrick's Cathedral. They were also suspended from XM (pre-Sirius) in 2007 over an interview segment wherein "Homeless Charlie" made graphic references to sexually-assaulting Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and First Lady Laura Bush.

In 2010, Cumia provided the voice of gunsmith Jeb Murphy [http://reddead.wikia.com/wiki/Jeb_Murphy] for the hit Rockstar videogame Red Dead Redemption; alongside a few other comedians/radio-personalities with connections to the show.

At this time, there has been no announcement of either Cumia or Hughes future plans regarding Opie & Anthony.


Source: CNN [http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/04/showbiz/celebrity-news-gossip/anthony-fired-tweets-opie-and-anthony/index.html?hpt=hp_t2]

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[Phrozenflame500]

http://i.imgur.com/VUjiT62.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/HApYTeC.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/Vw4w4ec.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/csWvCDF.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/FqE7Peo.png

Yup, deserved what he got. If I was SiriusXM I'd have fired him on principle disregarding the backlash.

EDIT: Because this will inevitably come up, remember: Twitter is a public area and everything said on it reflects on you and everyone you associate with including your employer. Once you've set the privacy option to "public" you are personally responsible for everything said on that account.

EDIT 2.0: I got the Twitter screenshots from <url=http://gawker.com/siriusxm-host-claims-cuntrag-assaulted-him-in-racist-1599491744>this Gawker article. While I generally regard Gawker as the journalistic equivalent of shitposting they seem to be the only site hosting them that I can find. They have a bunch more there if you're interested.

 

[josh4president]

Judging from the bizarre racial tirade I would have thought Anthony had voiced Herbert Moon.

 

[Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)]

What did he think was going to happen. Did he think that no one would have a problem with his twits. Has this man ever been on the internet for the past 5-10 years.


Edit

Judging from the bizarre racial tirade I would have thought Anthony had voiced Herbert Moon.

That would make this story incredibly ironic

 

[vdrandom]

Every week I read some news about people being fired for what they did on their PERSONAL internet media in the US of A. Are the employers there so retarded they fail to tell professional from personal?

I mean, yeah, it's not nice to go and feed the trolls or insult people over teh internets, but firing people only for that is just mindblowingly stupid.

 

[Rutskarn]

Every week I read some news about people being fired for what they did on their PERSONAL internet media in the US of A. Are the employers there so retarded they fail to tell professional from personal?

I mean, yeah, it's not nice to go and feed the trolls or insult people over teh internets, but firing people only for that is just mindblowingly stupid.

If your employee's whole job is to be a personality that people are loyal to and respect, and that person publicly identifies themselves as an insane racist, then what are you supposed to do? Hope nobody else on the internet noticed, and everyone keeps tuning in to see what ol' Anthony's up to this week?

Dude wasn't fired on principle, dude was fired because he managed to jettison any goodwill sensible people could have towards him. Since that goodwill is literally his only asset to the company, I'd say firing him was the most professional thing they could do.

 

[Plunkies]

Every week I read some news about people being fired for what they did on their PERSONAL internet media in the US of A. Are the employers there so retarded they fail to tell professional from personal?

I mean, yeah, it's not nice to go and feed the trolls or insult people over teh internets, but firing people only for that is just mindblowingly stupid.

If your employee's whole job is to be a personality that people are loyal to and respect, and that person publicly identifies themselves as an insane racist, then what are you supposed to do? Hope nobody else on the internet noticed, and everyone keeps tuning in to see what ol' Anthony's up to this week?

Dude wasn't fired on principle, dude was fired because he managed to jettison any goodwill sensible people could have towards him. Since that goodwill is literally his only asset to the company, I'd say firing him was the most professional thing they could do.

You clearly don't understand Anthony, or the tone of the show he's on. People who listen to the show know exactly what his views are, and race relations are a fairly regular topic. People watch him because he's a funny guy, and the fact that he is and always has been an insane racist only makes him funnier. He's probably looking at this and going "Really? This is what they finally get me on?"

 

[AJey]

Every week I read some news about people being fired for what they did on their PERSONAL internet media in the US of A. Are the employers there so retarded they fail to tell professional from personal?

I mean, yeah, it's not nice to go and feed the trolls or insult people over teh internets, but firing people only for that is just mindblowingly stupid.

If your employee's whole job is to be a personality that people are loyal to and respect, and that person publicly identifies themselves as an insane racist, then what are you supposed to do? Hope nobody else on the internet noticed, and everyone keeps tuning in to see what ol' Anthony's up to this week?

Dude wasn't fired on principle, dude was fired because he managed to jettison any goodwill sensible people could have towards him. Since that goodwill is literally his only asset to the company, I'd say firing him was the most professional thing they could do.

You clearly don't understand Anthony, or the tone of the show he's on. People who listen to the show know exactly what his views are, and race relations are a fairly regular topic. People watch him because he's a funny guy, and the fact that he is and always has been an insane racist only makes him funnier. He's probably looking at this and going "Really? This is what they finally get me on?"

A funny racist is still a racist, and last time I checked, that is not an attribute one wants to be associated with.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

Every week I read some news about people being fired for what they did on their PERSONAL internet media in the US of A. Are the employers there so retarded they fail to tell professional from personal?

I mean, yeah, it's not nice to go and feed the trolls or insult people over teh internets, but firing people only for that is just mindblowingly stupid.

If your employee's whole job is to be a personality that people are loyal to and respect, and that person publicly identifies themselves as an insane racist, then what are you supposed to do? Hope nobody else on the internet noticed, and everyone keeps tuning in to see what ol' Anthony's up to this week?

Dude wasn't fired on principle, dude was fired because he managed to jettison any goodwill sensible people could have towards him. Since that goodwill is literally his only asset to the company, I'd say firing him was the most professional thing they could do.

Yeah, when you've got such a huge image, and your company puts their stake in that image (and, subsequently, their own), you're speaking for the company at that point. If he was, like, as simple as, say, a day worker, or a runner, or something, then they could get away with him being attached to the company still. They don't have as big a voice. But he basically speaks for them every time he opens his mouth, and the company did what was in their best interests - let him go.

I'd also see some logic in letting him stay if it was actually a private personal forum he was on, but it wasn't. It was Twitter. This is his public persona. There is no "personal" in that; this is how he represents himself to the entire world. And let's be frank, the company is acting purely out of self-interest. This is containment and PR management, not ideological.

 

[Plunkies]

A funny racist is still a racist, and last time I checked, that is not an attribute one wants to be associated with.

To be fair, the term "racist" has lost all meaning at this point. Anyone who talks in any way negative about black people in general or a specific black person is likely to be called a racist. I don't actually think he's a racist in the sense that he hates black people, but he's very clear about his views regarding black people and their tendency to commit a disproportionate amount of crime. I have no doubt that a lot of the people who like to feel superior when public figures say naughty words would definitely label him a racist though. Like in this case, for example.

 

[black_knight1337]

This whole racism thing is getting way out of hand. He was the victim in the confrontation and nothing he said on Twitter was inherently racist.... Oh wait, he's white, and they were black, must be racism, can't just be that they were being savages.

 

[Story]

I don't even know who he is.
But wow, gee, someone got fired over something they said through social media?
Whelp. Another one bites the dust.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

This whole racism thing is getting way out of hand. He was the victim in the confrontation and nothing he said on Twitter was inherently racist.... Oh wait, he's white, and they were black, must be racism, can't just be that they were being savages.

Dude.

http://i.imgur.com/VUjiT62.png

Can't get more racist then that, and that's ignoring all the "savage violent animal" remarks. How much mental gymnastics do you have to pull to call that not racist?

 

[Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)]

This whole racism thing is getting way out of hand. He was the victim in the confrontation and nothing he said on Twitter was inherently racist.... Oh wait, he's white, and they were black, must be racism, can't just be that they were being savages.

........did you read his twitter rants, If you haven't Phrozenflame500 posted some of them up top. The men is fucking racist.

 

[Ferisar]

A funny racist is still a racist, and last time I checked, that is not an attribute one wants to be associated with.

To be fair, the term "racist" has lost all meaning at this point. Anyone who talks in any way negative about black people in general or a specific black person is likely to be called a racist. I don't actually think he's a racist in the sense that he hates black people, but he's very clear about his views regarding black people and their tendency to commit a disproportionate amount of crime. I have no doubt that a lot of the people who like to feel superior when public figures say naughty words would definitely label him a racist though. Like in this case, for example.

Mmmnope. Racism hasn't lost much of anything. Also, at a surface-level, yeah, statistics look bad; in reality, earnings, social dynamics, locations, portrayal and expectations all play a part.

OT:
Guy says stupid shit, guy gets fired.

Whomp whomp.

 

[Plunkies]

This whole racism thing is getting way out of hand. He was the victim in the confrontation and nothing he said on Twitter was inherently racist.... Oh wait, he's white, and they were black, must be racism, can't just be that they were being savages.

If anything I commend him on the restraint he showed for getting violently assaulted and the only retaliation he took was a few mean spirited insults on twitter.

He'll be fine though. This is a guy who makes a living pushing the envelope and saying things that are likely to rile people up. He's lived his life assuming any day he could get fired for something he says. And in fact, has often gotten fired for just that. He coined the phrase "F U money". He's got plenty of cash and it gives him an insurance policy to say what he wants and not have to worry too much about the hit he'll take for it if it's a slow news day.

This is him in GTA 4 and GTA 5....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kcQ6H3bEz4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPuz1n2LFVs

Here's Anthony talking about his racism with Louis CK....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw34J3R9kRg#t=5m13s

 

[ASnogarD]

I think this news is rather poorly presented, there is simply not enough information to work on here... it relies on implication rather than solid fact.
The original Twitter feed is deleted and only have a forum posters copy to go on, which may or may not be complete and / or accurate (not saying the poster in question is dishonest but in the context this information should be in the original news report, rather than supplied after by a fellow poster).
We have no idea on the original incident, merely a vague she objected to being in the frame of a picture being taken by the alleged racist... I mean how did she object, was she polite and he irrationally blew up on her causing the surrounding men to rally to her defence or was she rude and obnoxious which riled him up causing the event ?

The racism is implied but not really specific, according to the tweets the poster supplied, the DJ may of been commenting on the people at the event and bemoaning the amount of violence that is commonly perceived to be in the black communities... its not like he actually says black people are not people, or use typical racial slurs.

Given the current information, and my lack of knowledge regarding the shock jock in question, I am thinking that this is a case of racism merely by implication and the fact that a white individual had a disagreement with black individuals, a common knee jerk reaction to most situations where white and any other none white race get into a encounter.

Question here is would there be a similar outcry if the DJ was not white... I would imagine he would of been considered merely a rude person having a tantrum online.

 

[CriticalMiss]

If anything I commend him on the restraint he showed for getting violently assaulted and the only retaliation he took was a few mean spirited insults on twitter.

Is there actually any evidence he was 'violently' assaulted? If he was then why didn't he report it to the police (the coverage I have seen mentioned that he didn't)? And methinks that saying black people are savages and wishing death upon the woman he was taking a picture of is a little more than mean spirited.

 

[Cecilo]

If anything I commend him on the restraint he showed for getting violently assaulted and the only retaliation he took was a few mean spirited insults on twitter.

Is there actually any evidence he was 'violently' assaulted? If he was then why didn't he report it to the police (the coverage I have seen mentioned that he didn't)? And methinks that saying black people are savages and wishing death upon the woman he was taking a picture of is a little more than mean spirited.

Love the double standard, ask a woman the same question, about if they were "Violently" assaulted, Unacceptable, ask it about a man. Totally fine.

 

[Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)]

If anything I commend him on the restraint he showed for getting violently assaulted and the only retaliation he took was a few mean spirited insults on twitter.

Is there actually any evidence he was 'violently' assaulted? If he was then why didn't he report it to the police (the coverage I have seen mentioned that he didn't)? And methinks that saying black people are savages and wishing death upon the woman he was taking a picture of is a little more than mean spirited.

Love the double standard, ask a woman the same question, about if they were "Violently" assaulted, Unacceptable, ask it about a man. Totally fine.

you dance around the question, she was just saying that it's a little bit weird that he didn't call the police after the fact

edit: that was really bad typo