XM Satellite Radio has suspended Gregg "Opie" Hughes and Anthony Cumia, hosts of "The Opie & Anthony Show" and ceased broadcast of the show for 30 days, effective immediately.
XM has said they deplored the comments aired on "The Opie & Anthony Show" last week. At the time, the company strongly expressed its views to Opie and Anthony, and they issued an immediate apology.
Comments made by Opie and Anthony on yesterday's broadcast put into question whether they appreciate the seriousness of the matter. The management of XM Radio decided to suspend Opie and Anthony to make clear that our on-air talent must take seriously the responsibility that creative freedom requires of them.
UPDATE: I'm looking for the offending audio from yesterday's broadcast that caused this... I hope to have it shortly.
Pfft. Anyone want a slightly used Inno?
Couldn't have happened to nicer people.
Say hi to Diamond Dave on skid row, b-b-bboys.
And the XM cancellations begin. Now you will all see the true passion of the pests. Something you Stern zombies will never have. Just watch what we do now.
xm SOLD OUT.... Hopefully we never have to find out but I dont think Sirius would ever do that to stern. Who knows though. Really they could take any racist bit on the show and blow it up, Im shocked they havent tried yet.
I have to say that this is pretty lame on XM's part.
That being said, due to the pests, XM is going to lose millions in subscriptions....hahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahhaha.
sorry. I was serious on the first part.
I GOT 4 THAT ARE GOING GOING GONE. TIME FOR AN MP3 PLAYER.
I'm listening to yesterday's show as I type this. I haven't heard one out of bounds comment.
The O and A Pests are some of the most persistent, resourceful, grudge-holding group of radio listeners out there. This is going to be ugly. I hope XM is prepared for the onslaught they are bringing on themselves.
Looks like I'll be cancelling my XM....
...at least for the month
Looks like I'll be cancelling my XM....
...at least for the month
No one is safe.
This might make me keep my subscription to XM. I hate it that part of my subscription dollars goes to these idiots. I hope the O&A fans do cancel -- maybe then XM will cancel the stupid show.
WTF is wrong with xm? i'd really love to hear this 'terrible' audio from yesterday because i must have missed it. Then again I only got to listen to the replay of the xm show and I do think there was something screwy going on /old material for a while.
Jim you realize you have the ability to block the xl channels? also there are alot of us who enjoy this show and might hate what you listen to, but you have that choice and I am not going to want your choice taken away.
This is sickening. I'm torn as to whether or not to cancel; I love most of XM's programming, but as an O&A fan, I feel sickened by the fact that E-Lo and the rest of the management crew at XM are a bunch of pussies who can't stand behind their talent. I listened to yesterday's show, and heard nothing inappropriate. I can't find the buttons/link to the "inappropriate" audio that was posted; probably my screenreader acting screwy. I hope XM is ready for what they're bringing on themselves by doing this. Free FM is available for online listening, right?
"xm SOLD OUT"
hmmm...
guess it was all lip service about how important these two were to the company. i bet CBS will be next they always follow someone else's lead. sure they said they would not but i bet they do.
did both the audio's make it on the air at CBS or was it after their show ends there or was it bleepeD?
hmm looks like Rev. Jerry Falwell dead at 73 is going to push them off the front page of the news...ouch
Words can not express the amount of respect I have lost for XM because of this decision. I PAY to subscribe to a PREMIUM radio service for the explicit purpose of listening to content that is not pressured into being watered-down and politically correct by the government or advertisers. XM made it quite clear today that they are no different than any other media company and that they will fold to the pressures of Al Sharpton and the other attention whores of fake political correctness.
Shame on XM. I highly doubt I will keep my three subscriptions.
The pests leaving E-XM won't due any harm to the company. After all, they have Oprah!
Fuck XM. I will not pay for censored radio. I dont know why Stern fans would be happy about this, if they can censor O & A on satellite radio....guess who the fuck is next?
Oh well, I cancelled my sub. Pests, dont be afraid to do the same, and make sure you tell them exactly why your cancelling.
That's the end. Whether you like the show or not, the fact is satellite radio just cencored a show. The party's over. And any Stern fan who thinks he's not on the hit list is crazy, he's the crown jewel. Safe on satellite? Nope.This happened on the XM only side. If O&A come back in 30 days what does it matter? If you listen to what was said, by a homeless man and not even O&A, any reasonable person can see there is nothing to this. If a satellite company is willing to suspend talent, it's over. And while you can argue who is more important to their respective companies it's irrelevant. If Howard was so important to CBS, they would have retained him, they had right of first refusal. This is about companies not willing to stand up to special interests and risk massive fines as per the new 10x fine increase. The result is the end of comedic radio shows and hello to wacky morning zoo.
I called waited on hold for 30 minutes and cancelled three of my four radios (my wife has the other one). They tried to buy me back I said no. The principle of this is too important.
This is no surprise...don't forget that Clear Channel owns a percentage of XM...So if they didn't let O&A go...you best believe there would be backlash on the terrestrial side.
I have said this a million times before...The FCC and all the big players brought this upon themselves...they didn;t back the air talent back then and now it is coming to bite them in the ass for not fighting for their first amendment rights...the FCC is nothing but a bunch of racketeering thugs anyway...in private industry if you tried their tactics you would be doing time...but since this is our government the racketeering is "legal".. Secondly Clear Channel,CBS,Entercom,etc begged the FCC to change the rules so they could own many stations in the markets...they basically put many stations to a slow death...It was far better in the 70s before deregulation...smaller ownership meant more jobs in the marketplace and so on...As far as Stern goes he basically has set guidelines himself as far as how far is how far...
The Bullies are afraid to tangle with Sirius
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBqDAtpsvGk
I'll wait to see if this suspension is real or a firing. I'm a big fan of Ron & Fez, but if it becomes a firing then bye bye 10 more subs.
sirius here i come ... i will cancel my xm subscription
XM has the worst people running it... I always said that before and now they have proven it again... KISS ME KATE...
xm SOLD OUT.... Hopefully we never have to find out but I dont think Sirius would ever do that to stern. Who knows though. Really they could take any racist bit on the show and blow it up, Im shocked they havent tried yet. Dave, you hit it on the head, XM would rather sell out then fight.. I mean just look at the merger.. When the going gets tough, the pussy XM Radio gives up.. I doubt that sirius would do that to Howard, but then again nobody listens to Howard anymore.. Or do they?? Hey Harry kiss this.... bonehead...
I linked to your article from my blog post Opie and Anthony - First they came for the Jews
The mindless retards need their poo poo jokes.
"If Howard was so important to CBS, they would have retained him, they had right of first refusal."
That is a total fabrication, stop lying to try a make your more out of your heroes.
That being said, XM is a bunch of cowards. I am shocked that they did this and support O&A thru this matter.(I'm a Stern fan) I hope they sue the bejeezus out of XM.
My husband and I cancelled XM today - what happened to Free Speech? As someone states above - but should be restated...When the Nazis came for the Jews,
I remained silent; I was not a Jew.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I did not speak out; I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.
How much more are we going to let the government take away our first amendment? I might not like always what you have to say but I will defend your right to say it!!!
Even though I am sickened by this, I understand it. XM is trying to get political approval for the merger. If O&A are in the crosshairs of political figures then the merger will be a lot rougher than it should be. By suspending, not firing, O&A they lighten the political burden and they can get the merger approved. O&A WILL be back, they are the number one show and station on XM. They only did this to benefit the listeners in the long run through the merger. Had XM not been trying to get approval for the merger, XM and O&A would tell the politicians to "F off". Having said that, am I cancelling my subscription? No, because they will be back on the air. I did ask for a month credit on my subscription. Remember, they haven't been fired. In the words of Opie himself, "Just turn the dial". Listen to another station, they will be back on soon.
I am amazed by how many commenters have said they "heard nothing inappropriate" during the broadcast in question. I guess jokes about raping the Secretary of State (or anyone else) don't get classified as inappropriate??
I am not saying these guys should get fired, since it's not a public broadcast. But I am saying they're a bunch of repulsive reprobates that represent the worst of this country.
JS you're right it was inappropriate. As for people saying that O&A didn't say anything it was all homeless Charlie, you need to listen to it again because Opie said and I quote "That is exactly what I meant" then laughed when Charlie talked about beating and raping a woman.
As for people canceling their radios and smashing them over this, I find it more then funny. All they are doing in the end is giving more money to XM. Some people have more then one radio, and have vowed when the suspension is lifted they are going to re-subscribe. They are turning down a month free subscription (which is $12.95 for main radio and $6.99 for the family plan, however many they have). Just to turn around in less then a month reactivate paying not only the monthly cost but also $14.99 activation per radio they put back on!
Essentially giving XM more money then taking the credit to begin with, which comes out of XM's pocket, they are putting more money into XM's pocket. To me, this is just to damn funny; the only statement being made is that they are going to pay more for their service.
Personally I think this is a big publicity stunt, think about it. O&A are getting more coverage then ever before, XM is getting more coverage also then ever before, and the subscribers are paying more, especially the ones that are canceling with early cancellation fee's. You know what they say no publicity is bad publicity.
Funny, everyone but the subscriber is getting what he or she wants.
Btw; You're not making more of a point by canceling your radio then by taking the credit, they only calibrate their deactivations every three months so all the numbers tell them is that there was a lot of deactivations and a lot of reactivations in the same quarter. Not to mention your voice is getting heard the same way whether you keep it or cancel it, the activity records for this situation is the same and that is the only way they are taking stock in this situation is by activity record.
qpq. They were NOT suspended for what was said last week, they were approached by XM because XM thought it was inappropriate and they issued an apology on their own. However they agreed NOT to mention that show again so that the public would calm down about it, then they broke that agreement twice resulting in their suspension.
Dude! I am so glad I subscribed to Sirius!!!
Is XM sirius??? Way to shoot yourself in the foot.
Idiots!!!!