May 15, 2007
Opie and Anthony Suspended for 30 days
Posted by ryan at 05:14 PM in media , news , politics , radio . | 11 Comments
Gregg “Opie” Hughes and Anthony Cumia have been forced to suspend broadcast of their XM radio show for 30 days effective immediately. The suspension comes after a frequent guest of the show made comments about having violent sex with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and First Lady Laura Bush. Opie and Anthony laughed and egged on "Homeless Charlie" as he talked about "punching her in the f***ing face and f***ing her". Anothony Cumia added, "I could just imagine the horror on Condoleezza Rice's face when she realized that you were holding her down and f***ing her."
Adding to the gravity of the situation, there is speculation that this may hamper approval of the XM / Sirius merger which has come under some scrutiny from the FCC and Justice Department.
I expect this to end in an all out cancellation of the Opie and Anthony show by XM. Good riddance fellas.
Comments
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Good riddance? You've never even listened to a show... But yeah, I canceled XM. Posted by: polamex at May 15, 2007 6:54 PM |
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Good riddance? I guess you think it's ok to say what you want to say, but you think O and A should be censored? Stupid people and their stupid double standards. If you support free speech at all, you should be supporting them, even if you hate what they have to say. Posted by: me at May 15, 2007 7:05 PM |
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Yes good riddance. I listened to enough of O&A to understand that I didn't enjoy the humor and thought it was trash. How much do I need to listen to? I'm not going to keep listening to something I find no value in. This has absolutely *nothing* to do with freedom of speech. Anyone who thinks this is a freedom of speech issue does not understand freedom of speech. O&A are not going to prison for what they said, our government will not and cannot take action against them for their words. That is what freedom of speech does to protect them. This is purely a business decision. O&A are employees of a business and are paid millions of dollars to do what they do at the discretion of their superiors who pay their salaries. When they do something like this it hurts their employer by loss of sponsors and loss of listeners. Posted by: ryan at May 15, 2007 7:40 PM |
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Aaaahh....yet another instance of letting the free market work things out. Posted by: Matt at May 15, 2007 9:34 PM |
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Yep, let free market work it out. XM's stock is down 2.5% since the announcement. Posted by: polamex at May 15, 2007 10:21 PM |
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That is not entirely true. Shares of XM were down all day today and only fell another 1% after the announcement at roughly 2:45pm. Now consider the fact that XM slid 6% in the week since O&A made those remarks and has slid 13% in the past month. If you'd like to look at the big picture, XM's stock is down 65% since the addition of O&A to their lineup in October of 2004. ; ) Posted by: ryan at May 15, 2007 10:35 PM |
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I was afraid to start using statistics. Posted by: polamex at May 16, 2007 7:38 PM |
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Statistics are awesome because you can twist them into proving anything. Posted by: ryan at May 16, 2007 7:47 PM |
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As far as market value, I think XM would tank if they fired them. I mean, I was on hold for over an hour waiting to cancel last night. And it's a pay service... what's next The Sopranos or Penn & Teller's Bullshit? Posted by: polamex at May 16, 2007 7:48 PM |
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As far as the free speech angle goes, threats are not protected speech. Posted by: karen at May 27, 2007 3:01 PM |
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Karen, yer back! Just in time for a new election season too. ; ) Posted by: ryan at May 27, 2007 3:30 PM |