Anthony Cumia

OR on Anthony Cumia and the State of Free Speech


Radio show host Anthony Cumia relaxes in his backyard.

 

Otaku Revolution is a mix of odd personalities. Of the four main contributors two are Opie & Anthony fans, one is a Howard Stern fan, and one non-affiliated. What we all share, perhaps to our detriment, is a propensity for speaking our mind.

This past week co-host to the Opie & Anthony radio show, Anthony Cumia, was allegedly attacked while taking photos around Times Square in New York City. Following the attack he went on a racially tinged Twitter tirade verbally attacking the person who physically assault him and the society which, in his and the mind of many, promote such physical confrontations. SiriusXM would later fire Anthony for his tweets. For more information here is an AP story about to the incident and a list of stories ran by various websites.

Opie & Anthony, along with co-host Jim Norton and a myriad number of popular friends of the show, have long been proponents of free speech. Before you get your panties in a twist, we’re not talking about the First Amendment governmental protections. We’re talking about the American & civilized sensibility that people should be able to speak their minds openly and honestly. Time and time again the O&A show have denounced organizations and groups who have tried to censor individual comments and supported those who made them, regardless of whether they actually agree with said comments.

True to his word and character, Anthony continued to speak out on Twitter and defend himself against critics. Eventually SiriusXM, like most other organizations who’re too lazy/irresponsible to stand up for the people they pay to speak, would part ways with the radio host. Before that the always lamentable organization Gawker would pick up the Twitter tirade. In their traditional anti-speech way focus more on the words than the content said, not caring about the context, right to say it, or physical assault that lead up to it. In addition to questionable content in the original article the author, clearly ignorant of whom Anthony is and the O&A show, partook in actions unprofessional for someone who’d like to be identified as a journalist.

From there other media sources ran, only looking at the Twitter comments, often misconstruing, or all together leaving out, the precursor events.

Through the fires of this heated debate I reached to some or our contributors to get their personal thoughts on this incident. The intent was to get these varied opinions, without inadvertently turning members against each other, for a balanced discussion as possible. As always Otaku Revolution has been a forum for free expression, divisive as that may be.


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