Anthony of 'Opie and Anthony' Fired For Twitter Rant

[Giordano]

Just a note on law: you can legally take a picture in the USA of a street scene with a crowd in it without a release, but if you are highlighting any individual in the picture, you should get a release from that individual before publicizing the picture. This is particularly true if you are attributing any negative quality to the individual (i.e. subject to ridicule). There are obviously gray areas, and exceptions (for example, a "celebrity" does not have the same protections as a "common person"), but this is the law as I understand it (I am happy to be corrected).

I don't know all the issues in this case, but it appears that the twitters played a big role. I must admit I found the Opie and Anthony show as an example of what is wrong with the current USA and I am happy to have one of them "overstep" the line and be fired. But in any case, it seems to me that they were hired because the types of statements they make increased the number of people who tuned in, and they therefore can be fired whenever the types of statements they make is likely to result in losses in the number of people who tune in. Almost all contracts with public celebrities make it clear that anything the individual does in their own lives that significantly reduce the value of "the brand" (their public image) would allow them to be fired. This is different from an auto body welder who joins the Communist party or who utters racist remarks: these things do not reduce the value of his "brand," his welding.

 

[Meed]

What a nation of spineless, sniveling pussies we've become. He was absolutely right in his description of the bitch, and if I had a subscription to Sirius I'd be cancelling it as well.

Speaking as a big Opie & Anthony fan of many years, there is no doubt that Anthony is a racist *******. In the incident that got him fired, the problem wasn't the names he called the woman who punched him, it was the generalizations he made.

(I'm not saying he should or should not have been fired though)

So, I wonder if the "Duck Dynasty" wing of the Free Speecher Brigade of Conservative Real 'Murricans will defend this radio host?

I'm a "Free Speecher" if you want to call it that, although I'm not a conservative. I argued against firing the Duck Dynasty (a show I've never seen in my life) guy, but I won't be arguing either side of Anthony's firing because I'm too biased on the subject.

How you gonna get fired on your day off!?

It's almost hilarious how his fans are running around spewing racial slurs, because the idiot decided to harrass a black woman under some scaffolding, and said he was "taking pictures of Times Square", and then spewing *actual* racism and misogyny afterwards.

There's only one forum (a forum with a very liberal poster base) I visit to discuss O&A. Here are a few quotes from some of the longtime O&A fans there:

"It's pretty hilarious. He talks **** about black people for years, then gets his ass kicked by one while others stand around and laugh at him."

"I'm sure the woman definitely punched him for no reason at all out of nowhere"

"This is the picture that started the whole thing. So his story about innocently taking pictures of the city is already BS. He was purposely snapping pictures of this woman."

"****. I followed Ant on twitter, unfollowed him the next day--because I mean jesus ****--and then right after that I miss out on a big twitter eruption of violence? What a load. I can't say I feel at all sorry for Anthony. Sorry guy, but you ARE a huge prick even if you are funny."

"Judging by the "OH NO YOU DIINT" hand gesture and the way she's walking towards him, I'm going to take an educated guess and say that Drunk Ant had already provoked her before he took the picture. She's still very stupid for hitting someone who very well could have shot her if his greed didn't outweigh his irrational hatred of black people, but that's not an innocent looking photo."

"Actually, a lot of fans I've seen are supplying the ammo to the media because it's hilarious to see Ant squirm. Yeah, a lot of them are ****, but a lot of them are also ******** with a sense of fair play. Racist Ant is the worst Ant, and that needed to stop years ago."

"I'm so rooting for just Ant to get fired, lose every penny he has, and have to back to a menial existence. He's a brilliantly funny dude, but no one deserves to get smacked back down into nothingness like he does. "

Of course there are some racist O&A fans out there as well.

I only know the guy by name because I'm a big Louis CK fan and he's a frequent guest in their show. I think I've listened to all of those segments, at least what's on youtube. I don't have any particular opinion about Anthony, nor Opie. Couldn't probably tell which one was which on the show, because frankly I don't care.

Are you sure? There must be 60+ hours of Louis CK on O&A on youtube. It would be hard to listen to a radio show for that many hours without knowing who's who.

 

[Aepervius]

If she were white would all the pathetic social justice warriors be moaning and bitching? Somehow i doubt it.

It Does not matter how much melanine she has in her skin. Or if it is male or female. Radio show host want into a rant against somebody using a lot of insult, then was fired for it, then is surprised that the radio show decided to fire him. News for you : as a spoke person / radio show host / public persona, what you say on public can come back and bite you in the ass even if it was not said on job.

 

[Aepervius]

In fact he is not the first one to realize that public persona/PR Staff stating stuff on a blog/twitter can make him lose a job. There was that PR woman recently. And a few others. By now anybody on a show should be aware that making a rant in public can come back and bite you.

Frankly it is not different than an actor doing some bad stuff or rant or showing themself drunk *privately* and not beign renewed.

 

[FFed]

Been a fan of the boys since 2000. And part of the reason is they hate the political correct ******** that our society had become. The fact that people think Anthony made racist remarks shows just what is wrong with our society. Nice country when you get assaulted and lose your job for telling the truth. The fact that bleeding heart sissies get offended by what he says makes me like him even more.
happy birthday Jimmy.

 

[TeapotCavalry]

Are you sure? There must be 60+ hours of Louis CK on O&A on youtube. It would be hard to listen to a radio show for that many hours without knowing who's who.

60h+ ? I think I've found like 15 episodes of various lengths (1h to 2h). So I guess I haven't listened to all of them. Is it more believable now that I don't know which one's Opie and which one's Anthony? It's pretty easy not knowing who's who when you don't care and tune in just for Louis' stories.

I've listened to many, many podcasts that, if asked, I couldn't tell you who the hosts are. Least important info, IMHO. YMMV.

ETA: I'm listening to another O&A episode with Louis CK, and it occured to me, I can't really consistently differentiate between the other voices except Louis. Maybe it's because English is not my native language and some nuances of English speech delivery and mannerism go past me. Is the guy with hoarser voice Opie or Anthony?

 

[colander]

If she were white would all the pathetic social justice warriors be moaning and bitching? Somehow i doubt it.

I think they would probably just be confused about why he decided to call a white woman a ******

 

[Alareth]

The fact that people think Anthony made racist remarks shows just what is wrong with our society.

People think he made racist remarks because he made blatantly racist remarks.

 

[Babbylonian]

This guy is clearly just not interested in doing things the easy way. It's way too easy to insult people without making racist and/or sexist remarks. I applaud anyone willing to go the extra mile and offend millions of humans rather than just taking each one at a time as if they were individuals.

 

[Mumbles]

It Does not matter how much melanine she has in her skin. Or if it is male or female. Radio show host want into a rant against somebody using a lot of insult, then was fired for it, then is surprised that the radio show decided to fire him. News for you : as a spoke person / radio show host / public persona, what you say on public can come back and bite you in the ass even if it was not said on job.

Probably, even more likely when off the job - there's no plausible way to say "I was only in character"when you're spewing hatred towards black people after you harass one in the early morning.

In fact he is not the first one to realize that public persona/PR Staff stating stuff on a blog/twitter can make him lose a job. There was that PR woman recently. And a few others. By now anybody on a show should be aware that making a rant in public can come back and bite you.

Justine Sacco - I only remembered her name because she came to my mind as well - mostly because everyone was partying on her while waiting for her 12-hour plane flight to land so she could learn that she was fired. Fun times, but not as much fun as this, though.

There's only one forum (a forum with a very liberal poster base) I visit to discuss O&A. Here are a few quotes from some of the longtime O&A fans there:

"It's pretty hilarious. He talks **** about black people for years, then gets his ass kicked by one while others stand around and laugh at him."

"I'm sure the woman definitely punched him for no reason at all out of nowhere"

"This is the picture that started the whole thing. So his story about innocently taking pictures of the city is already BS. He was purposely snapping pictures of this woman."

"****. I followed Ant on twitter, unfollowed him the next day--because I mean jesus ****--and then right after that I miss out on a big twitter eruption of violence? What a load. I can't say I feel at all sorry for Anthony. Sorry guy, but you ARE a huge prick even if you are funny."

"Judging by the "OH NO YOU DIINT" hand gesture and the way she's walking towards him, I'm going to take an educated guess and say that Drunk Ant had already provoked her before he took the picture. She's still very stupid for hitting someone who very well could have shot her if his greed didn't outweigh his irrational hatred of black people, but that's not an innocent looking photo."

"Actually, a lot of fans I've seen are supplying the ammo to the media because it's hilarious to see Ant squirm. Yeah, a lot of them are ****, but a lot of them are also ******** with a sense of fair play. Racist Ant is the worst Ant, and that needed to stop years ago."

"I'm so rooting for just Ant to get fired, lose every penny he has, and have to back to a menial existence. He's a brilliantly funny dude, but no one deserves to get smacked back down into nothingness like he does. "

Of course there are some racist O&A fans out there as well.

Fair enough, you have my apology. I'll even modify my statement: It's almost hilarious how the O&A fans that agree with his bigotry are running around spewing racial slurs, because the idiot decided to harass a black woman under some scaffolding, and said he was "taking pictures of Times Square", and then spewing *actual* racism and misogyny afterwards.

 

[12AX7]

Just a note on law: you can legally take a picture in the USA of a street scene with a crowd in it without a release, but if you are highlighting any individual in the picture, you should get a release from that individual before publicizing the picture. This is particularly true if you are attributing any negative quality to the individual (i.e. subject to ridicule).

Someone should tell that to these guys:

People of Walmart

 

[Checkmite]

Been a fan of the boys since 2000. And part of the reason is they hate the political correct ******** that our society had become.

Yeah, remember the good old days back when we could call black people "lucky savages" and they didn't get all uppity over it? Man, where does the time go?

 

[Psiload]

I'm not going to say "it couldn't happen to a worse human being," but you'd have to search hard to find a worse human being. Happy 4th of July, Anthony.

Yep... in this world with prisons stuffed to the rafters with mass murders, serial rapists, and all manner of psychotic criminal scum... you'd have to look far and wide to find a human being worse than the guy who said hurtful words on twitter.

 

[Giordano]

Someone should tell that to these guys:

People of Walmart

To my knowledge, they each have some basis to sue. Should I offer to find a lawyer for a fee for them? Again, I would be happy to be corrected; my knowledge may be out of date...

 

[Meed]

60h+ ? I think I've found like 15 episodes of various lengths (1h to 2h). So I guess I haven't listened to all of them. Is it more believable now that I don't know which one's Opie and which one's Anthony? It's pretty easy not knowing who's who when you don't care and tune in just for Louis' stories.

I've listened to many, many podcasts that, if asked, I couldn't tell you who the hosts are. Least important info, IMHO. YMMV.

ETA: I'm listening to another O&A episode with Louis CK, and it occured to me, I can't really consistently differentiate between the other voices except Louis. Maybe it's because English is not my native language and some nuances of English speech delivery and mannerism go past me. Is the guy with hoarser voice Opie or Anthony?

Oh I believe you, I just figured you probably hadn't listened to ALL of the appearances. Looking it up, it seems he's had 46 appearances on the show clocking in about 110 hours total (I under estimated by quite a bit). You can find them all by searching "Louis CK on O&A #1, Louis CK on O&A #2, ..." Be sure to listen to "Louis CK critique's Paul O's film, GAP" if you haven't (one of my favorite Louie appearances).

Not sure about "hoarser", but in the above clip Opie is the first one who talks, followed by Ant saying "Oh, that's right". Jim Norton is the one who basically plays good cop throughout. When I first listened to the show I had trouble distinguishing between O & A as well but I knew Jimmy's voice.

Fair enough, you have my apology. I'll even modify my statement: It's almost hilarious how the O&A fans that agree with his bigotry are running around spewing racial slurs, because the idiot decided to harass a black woman under some scaffolding, and said he was "taking pictures of Times Square", and then spewing *actual* racism and misogyny afterwards.

Cheers.

 

[angrysoba]

Ha ha ha! Sacked! Ha ha ha!

 

[Mumbles]

Yeah, remember the good old days back when we could call black people "lucky savages" and they didn't get all uppity over it? Man, where does the time go?

Bahahahahaha!

Bad attitude to take, though. I know what song I was rocking over July 4th.

 

[Mumbles]

And now here's the funny part: This Anthony guy will be fine. He'll have a podcast, or a web tv show, or whatever, like Glenn Beck after he got kicked off of of Fox, or Obi-Wan Kenobi once he got cut down by Darth Vader. There's no point in even getting mad about it.

But the folks who rushed to expose their hatred and bigotry, well...I'm feeling like a room without a roof...

 

[Cain]

Yep... in this world with prisons stuffed to the rafters with mass murders, serial rapists, and all manner of psychotic criminal scum... you'd have to look far and wide to find a human being worse than the guy who said hurtful words on twitter.

Fair enough. I completely overlooked all of the public figures sitting in jail cells, awaiting their media shaming.

 

[TeapotCavalry]

Oh I believe you, I just figured you probably hadn't listened to ALL of the appearances.

Gotcha I might have misread the tone of that post.

Looking it up, it seems he's had 46 appearances on the show clocking in about 110 hours total (I under estimated by quite a bit). You can find them all by searching "Louis CK on O&A #1, Louis CK on O&A #2, ..."

Oooh, cheers. That gives me some clips I haven't seen before. I used to just search for "Opie Anthony Louis CK" and got a lot of duplicate clips.

Be sure to listen to "Louis CK critique's Paul O's film, GAP" if you haven't (one of my favorite Louie appearances).

Haah, I have, twice Once with the actual GAP footage running in the video ( possibly NSFW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_i9WUHK_gA ). I don't know how real this Paul O guy is and how much is just an act, but Louis' commentary is brilliant.

Not sure about "hoarser", but in the above clip Opie is the first one who talks, followed by Ant saying "Oh, that's right". Jim Norton is the one who basically plays good cop throughout. When I first listened to the show I had trouble distinguishing between O & A as well but I knew Jimmy's voice.

Alright.
ETA: I think Jim Norton is the one I was thinking of with the hoarser voice.