Racist 'Opie And Anthony' Shock Jock Fired After Twitter Rant; SiriusXM Issues Statement

Anthony Cumia, the cantankerous co-host of SiriusXM's 'The Opie & Anthony' radio show, has been fired following a widely publicized racist rant on Twitter.

Cumia, who claimed to have been attacked by a black woman in New York City Tuesday night, posted multiple violent, threatening Tweets calling the woman a “whore b*tch piece of c*nt” whom he said he hoped got “shot in the face.” Cumia alleged the woman attacked him after he took a photo that “caught” her in the frame (though she appears to be the focus of the photo in question), and said he didn't call the police because he didn't want to escalate the situation.

SiriusXM Senior Vice President of Communications Patrick Reilly issued a brief statement explaining the decision to fire Cumia:

SiriusXM has terminated its relationship with Anthony Cumia of the Opie & Anthony channel. The decision was made, and Cumia informed, late Thursday, July 3 after careful consideration of his racially-charged and hate-filled remarks on social media. Those remarks and postings are abhorrent to SiriusXM, and his behavior is wholly inconsistent with what SiriusXM represents.

This is hardly the first time Cumia has promoted racism -- but it is the first time it traveled this far outside of “Opie & Anthony”'s niche audience. As Jezebel noted, Cumia “regularly makes jokes at the expense of black people on his SiriusXM show and his personal podcast. It's been going on for years, but the kind of people who would typically be offended by the things Cumia says about race aren't willing to wade through hours of his radio show everyday.”

With this in mind it does seem when Reilly said Cumia's behavior was “abhorrent” and “wholly inconsistent with what SiriusXM represents,” what he perhaps meant was SiriusXM was kind of OK with what Cumia was doing until his “abhorrent” behavior caused public outrage that might compromise the company's other ventures. In any case, we're glad to see him go.