Anthony Cumia: I Have ‘Options’ After Being Fired For Racist Social Media Rant

You may remember Anthony Cumia, of the SiriusXM radio program Opie & Anthony, going on a Twitter rant that many considered racist last week after something went wrong while taking a picture in New York’s Times Square. A woman who ended up in one of his photos got upset, an altercation ensued, and Cumia went on Twitter with many racially-charged posts that resulted in his firing on July 3, as reported by The Inquisitr.

Well, fast forward two days from his firing and Cumia is telling the New York Daily News that even in spite of the national attention his racially-charged rant and firing have brought, he still has career options.

“When reached by a Daily News reporter at his posh home on Long Island, Cumia — who reportedly earns $3 million a year — acted like getting the ax was no big deal.

“‘I’m doing fine,’ he said at the Roslyn Heights home. ‘There’s plenty of options in this day and age and that’s all I’m going to say about it.'”

In a statement on Cumia’s firing, the company made clear what it thought of his Twitter rants but stopped short of saying what would happen to Cumia’s show considering Cumia only made up half of the Opie & Anthony Show. Also unclear is what will happen to their channel on the satellite radio provider.

The following is SiriusXM’s statement in full, as quoted by The Wall Street Journal, again not directly spelling out the future of the Cumia’s co-host, the show or the channel:

“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.”

As for Cumia looking forward to other “options” in today’s media environment, it may be tough to find someone willing to hire someone who made such statements so openly.

One just needs to look to Alec Baldwin (fired from MSNBC for homophobic slurs), Isaiah Washington (fired from Grey’s Anatomy for homophobic slurs), Mel Gibson (basically banished from Hollywood for anti-semitic and other slurs and incidents, including domestic violence) as examples of how one’s actions in a moment can alter your career for either the short term (Baldwin) or the long-term (Washington, whose career never fully recovered from his firing, and Gibson).