New York radio host fired following racist Twitter tirade against black woman 'who punched him in the face in Times Square'

  • Anthony Cumia claimed on Twitter on Wednesday that a woman attacked him when he caught her in a frame while taking photos
  • He branded her a 'c***', an 'animal b****' and a 'savage' and said that he hoped one of her 'home boys' killed her
  • He insisted he was not racist, saying 'there is a deep seeded problem with violence in the black community' that no one talked about
  • SiriusXM, on which he hosted a show for 20 years, said that the rant was 'abhorrent' and that he has been fired

By Lydia Warren

Published: 13:14 EST, 3 July 2014 | Updated: 09:36 EST, 4 July 2014

A radio host for SiriusXM has been fired after he unleashed a shocking racist tirade on Twitter.

Anthony Cumia, one half of The Opie & Anthony Show, called a black woman a 'c***' and an 'animal b****' on Wednesday after claiming she punched him in the face as he took photos in Times Square.

On Friday, a spokesperson for SiriusXM said that the rant was 'abhorrent' and 'wholly inconsistent with what SiriusXM represents'.

'SiriusXM has terminated its relationship with Anthony Cumia of the Opie & Anthony channel,' Patrick Reilly said. '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.

Tirade: SiriusXM host Anthony Cumia, pictured in April, has unleashed a foul-mouthed rant on an African American woman he claims hit him in New York City, calling her a 'c***' and an 'animal b****'

Tirade: SiriusXM host Anthony Cumia, pictured in April, has been fired after unleashing a foul-mouthed rant on an African American woman he claims hit him in New York City, calling her a 'c***' and an 'animal b****'

'Those remarks and postings are abhorrent to SiriusXM, and his behavior is wholly inconsistent with what SiriusXM represents.'

Despite the latest development, the fouled-mouthed shock jock still showed no sign of remorse.

 

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On Friday morning, he tweeted: 'Sirius decided to cave and fire me. Welcome to bizarro world. Fired for s*** that wasn't even on the air & wasn't illegal. So, who's next?'

He wrote that he was fired via email, adding: 'F*** Sirius.'

His firing came after he explained on Twitter on Wednesday that he was trying to take photos of the area in New York City on Tuesday night when the unidentified woman was caught in the frame.

Attack: He shared this image online, saying the woman became annoyed when he caught her in a picture

Attack: He shared this image online, saying the woman became annoyed when he caught her in a picture

Foul-mouthed: In another image shared on Twitter, he called her a 'C*** RAG' and worthless

Foul-mouthed: In another image shared on Twitter, he called her a 'C*** RAG' and worthless

Racist remarks: He posted that there was 'a deep seeded problem with violence in the black community'

Racist remarks: He posted that there was 'a deep seeded problem with violence in the black community'

She objected to being in the images and punched him multiple times as she called him a 'white motherf***er', he claimed on his Twitter feed.

He uploaded photos that he claim show her throwing punches at him, branding her a 'c*** animal'.

'Savage violent animal f***s prey on white people,' he continued in the hours-long rant. 'Easy targets. This C*** has no clue how lucky she was. She belted me 10 times. I had a gun.

'She's lucky I was a white legal gun owner or she'd be dead. Then 5 blacks started giving me s***!'

'I hope a home boy beats her to death,' he added. 'They aren't people.'

In another post, Cumia wrote: 'There's a deep seeded problem with violence in the black community. Try to address it and you'll be exiled to racistville. But it's real.'

Disgusting: As he ranted for hours, he said that he hopes he gets shot as he continued to racially abuse her

Disgusting: As he ranted for hours, he said that he hopes he gets shot as he continued to racially abuse her

Assault: He said that white people are easy targets because the police weren't going to do anything

Assault: He said that white people are easy targets because the police weren't going to do anything

Never-ending: In yet more posts, he said that black communities are violent but it can't be spoken about

Never-ending: In yet more posts, he said that black communities are violent but it can't be spoken about

When Twitter users asked why he didn't press charges, he responded that there were no police officers around and that she said she would claim he had sexually harassed her if he reported it.

'Lying c***,' he wrote. 'I hope she gets shot in her ass f*** face. Ugh.'

He added that there was no point taking it further with authorities because he was a white guy and she was a black girl.

'It's really open season on white people in this day and age,' Cumia wrote. 'No recourse. Fight back and you're a racist. The predators know this. Good luck.'

As he posted his rant, he received mixed responses, with some people pointing out that she had mentioned the color of his skin, while others attacked him for being racist.

Predictably, he had no time for that.

'I was assaulted and used "mean" words on Twitter and I'M the bad guy in all this?? Lol!' he tweeted.

Cumia
Cumia

Controversial: His show The Opie & Anthony Show has faced hefty fines in the past for its offensive content

After reports emerged about his rant, Cumia denied he was racist and was simply giving his attacker the lack of courtesy she deserved.

Cumia has been on air with his co-host Greg Opie Hughes for 20 years in a career that has been dogged with controversy. The show has been fined by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) twice.

They were fined $21,000 for shows from between 2000 and 2001, in which a 17-year-old girl was told to take off her underwear and rub a telephone over herself.

In 2004, Viacom - the parent company of CBS Radio/Infinity-owned stations - had to pay $3.5 million to cancel all pending indecency claims against the show after a segment called 'Sex for Sam' encouraged people to have sex in public places.

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taking people's pictures without their consent invites retaliation

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white people are not a protected race so other races can be as racist as they want to white people and get away with it , its disgusting and needs to change

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Black women especially can give you some really violent attitude. That happens frequently when you have not finished school. Language was invented so we could communicate between ourselves. Bitch slapping and swearing are not methods of communication. And then they wonder why they can not seem to get a good job.

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What colour was she then , had she been white would that also be a racist remark ? Strange old world .

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A weird moment of media honesty about a very real problem in the US.

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Opie And Anthony is the most amazing radio show in history. To dismiss them as mere shock jocks is wrong. Its a shame they aren't legally available in this country and their show is one of final remaining real and sensible voices left in media. However they know their time is up due to this culture of apology and I fear this might be the incident that Opie has been seeing coming for a very long time. That said contracts are up and they have been threatening to leave in October for a long time so this might just make their decision. The real victim of thisfarcical situation : little Jimmy Norton

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What was he taking a picture of?

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Seems like he got it right to me

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Just a shame that it's turned into a race thing. She's certainly not totally innocent but that photo was intrusive. It's not a photo of the general area, it's focused on her and I too would be irritated by some stranger taking a photo of me. While I wouldn't have physically attacked him, I still think he's a complete dick and he instigated the situation.

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And nobody was outraged that he was physically assaulted.......Twitter.

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