Radio Host Anthony Cumia From SiriusXM's 'Opie and Anthony' Show Fired for Controversial Twitter Rant

Anthony Cumia, the "Anthony" part of the unfiltered "Opie and Anthony" show on SiriusXM radio, has been fired after criticism mounted over a graphic Twitter rant he engaged in that was called "racist," "misogynistic," and "hate-filled."

Sirius decided to cave and fire me. Welcome to bizarro world. Fired for shit that wasn't even on the air & wasn't illegal. So, who's next?

— Anthony Cumia (@AnthonyCumia) July 4, 2014

RT @TedChrist: @AnthonyCumia Not suspended? Fired, so fired? -Fired, fired, so fired.

— Anthony Cumia (@AnthonyCumia) July 4, 2014

According to his Twitter account, Cumia says he was informed of the decision via email.

USA Today confirmed the firing via a statement from SiriusXM:

"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."

The tweets that led to the firing were sent early Wednesday morning. According to Cumia, he was taking pictures in Times Square late Tuesday/early Wednesday when a black woman took exception to being included in one of the pictures and "punched" him (as many as 10 times, he said). That's when, he explained, five other black men jumped in and started giving him "sh**."

(Source: Twitter)

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

— Anthony Cumia (@AnthonyCumia) July 2, 2014

He then took to calling the woman all sorts of names, including "c***," via a vile Twitter rant. But it was his comments on violence in the black community and referring to her and others as "savages" and comments that "they aren't people" that has drawn the ire of many.

It's a jungle out in our cities after midnight. Violent savages own the streets. They all came 2 defend this pig. I had to yell like at dogs

— Anthony Cumia (@AnthonyCumia) July 2, 2014

The automatic jump to violence in that community is astounding. No discussion. It's start punching at the least little thing. Uncivilized!!

— Anthony Cumia (@AnthonyCumia) July 2, 2014

RT @HuntsvilleDore:a female beat u? -No,an ANIMAL BITCH used it's instinctual violence on me. I restrained myself from putting it to sleep

— Anthony Cumia (@AnthonyCumia) July 2, 2014

RT @KyleScutch: Did u hit her back -I was fooled by my upbringing. "Don't hit a woman". But this was an animal. I shoulda smashed it's face

— Anthony Cumia (@AnthonyCumia) July 2, 2014

Cumia said in his tweets that he actually showed restraint: He explained that the had a gun with him but did not use it.

The radio host is a well-known New York concealed cary permit holder. TheBlaze featured him and his Second Amendment thoughts in a January 2013 story.

Cumia's remarks were immediately met with backlash. The New York Post called it a "misogynistic, racially charged rant." A writer at the Washington Post said Cumia had "sad, racist double standards." The website Gawker described it as a "racist, violent tirade," and even did a follow-up post about Cumia's "history of public awfulness."

But after numerous individuals and outlets began criticizing the rant and calling Cumia racist, he again took to Twitter to defend himself and said the woman was the one who first injected race into the altercation by calling him a "white motherfu****":

(Source: Twitter)

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

— Anthony Cumia (@AnthonyCumia) July 2, 2014

He snapped several pictures of the woman during the alleged attack and posted them on Twitter. According to the New York Post, Cumia didn't file a police report for the incident. He later said doing so would have been a "waste" of the officers' time.

Cumia's said on Twitter he plans to react in "total freedom" on Monday.

As for his former employer, he didn't wait to hold back.

"Fu** Sirius," he tweeted.

[instory-firewire]