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Anthony Cumia finds SiriusXM “hypocritical” for dropping him after a Twitter tirade drew wide criticism for racist remarks.
“For 10 years on SiriusXM, I had addressed these issues, I made jokes, I talked about it, used double entendre and innuendo,” the host said on Fox News’ late-night program RedEye on Friday. “So to fire me for something that was on social media is kind of hypocritical, I think.”
The former SiriusXM host was fired from the Opie and Anthony show on July 3 after he posted a series of vitriolic Twitter messages expressing outrage at a woman who allegedly punched him in the face in New York. Mediaite posted video of the Fox News appearance.
EARLIER SiriusXM Fires ‘Opie and Anthony’ Host After Racist Tirade
“I was livid. I defy anybody to be that angry — especially after an assault — and come off reasonable,” Cumia said of his tweets. “I wanted to make a point, and boy, did I ever.”
SiriusXM, in a statement last week from senior vp communications Patrick Reilly, deemed the tweets “abhorrent to SiriusXM, and his behavior is wholly inconsistent with what SiriusXM represents.”
“It wasn’t racist. I still say it’s not racist,” Cumia said on RedEye, before explaining: “I was talking about people that instantly go to violence. There was no word — I walked down the street, she called me a white motherf—er and started punching me in the face. So I addressed her and other people that act like that.”
When asked if he’d accept his job back if he apologized, the host waved off the suggestion. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” he said. “This is exactly who I am, I’m not going to deny it. I go off on tears like this, I curse, I say horrific things about people that piss me off. And that’s exactly what I did.”
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