My Guess: Opie and Anthony are Screwed
The media's covering a tasteless sexual rant by a guest on Opie and Anthony's radio show Wednesday that was targeted at Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and First Lady Laura Bush, but no one's explaining what the guy said.I put the transcript and audio up on Watching the Watchers, so people can judge for themselves. I don't listen to the show, so I can't judge the comments in the context of what they do every day. I have trouble imagining a context in which the sentiments aren't ugly as hell, especially the part where host Anthony Cumia plays along and chimes in.
Although the comments aired on XM, which requires a subscription and doesn't answer to the FCC, the pending XM/Sirius merger requires federal approval and gives Washington another reason to go after satellite radio for indecency.
Because of the merger plans and the recent Don Imus firing, I expect that Opie and Anthony will be out of work within a week.
I'm not in favor of it, since I don't know the show and think we're encouraging media gutlessness by letting outside groups hound targets off the air. But as a longtime XM subscriber, I must have heard 1,000 ads promoting these shock jocks over the years, and I've never understood why they're two of XM's marquee names.
Comments
Rape isn't funny. I won't be renewing my subscription to XM radio.
It's about the first ammendment. It's an XL channel. (You can block it.) It's a slow news week and they're bigger targets now. Lots of us fought/fight for the rights we were born with. I hope it's not in vain.
Wow.. it's amazing how you're getting hammered in the comments over there. Kind of strange, really... I guess lots of fans are feeling really defensive.
I fail to see why this is an issue. I am an XM subscriber, and i enjoy their show. I pay for their show. It is supposed to be UNCENSORED. I heard the show, and the bit in question. They had a homeless man come into the studio, which they often do, and let him talk, giving the listener a view from his perspectve. Yes, the man made some awful comments, but the rape was not the joke. The homeless man was the joke. Opie and Anthony is NOT a show for everyone. You must PAY FOR IT TO HEAR it. Many of us enjoy it.Can someone please explain to me why there is an outrage over this, but nothing when HBO airs an episode of OZ or the Soprano's and there is a rape scene? In both instnces you must PAY to be exposed to this.
I am also a fan of radio in general. This climate of "I don't like what he said, boycott his sponsers and demand he get fired." needs to stop. I have NEVER owned a radio where you could not reach down and turn a dial, push a button and listen to something else.
I listen to the show just about every day they say tastless off color stuff all the time.... if you don't like it don''t listen....
These guy get fired I'll probably cut my XM sub as I have it for 2 reasons O&A and Baseball (which I can get streamed over the internet from my phone for the same price as XM)
I like how they can spaek about what ever they want and if the off color jokes of a homeless guy get them fired what is next, I get fired for saying I hate (insert group) to a group who paid to hear me?
I believe that XM will stand behind O&A on this one. The company understands that there are a lot of fans out there paying good money to listen to them and they (the fans) will speak up if the show goes away. I have 4 radio subscriptions and I will terminate all of them if the show is cancelled. That's not a comment that's based on an angry reaction, but one based on principle. XM radio as a concept, and the XL channels in particular cater to an audience that by choice want variety, quality and at times edgy content.. if the media hungry critics take that away from us, and jeopordize the content of the remaining shows then why would we pay hard earned money for what we no longer want.
as a paying customer i should be able to listen to whatever i want and if anyone else didnt like wha they said then change the channel. it's xm come on!
Well, Wayne and Isaiah... if your significant other was raped, you would feel differently. Rape is not funny! It is a crime of power and violence. And the victim is hurt for life.
George Carlin makes an excellent case against the whole "Rape isn't funny" argument.
If O&A are taken off the XM airwaves my XM receiver becomes a useless piece of trash and my subscription will be cancled. Why not go after the parasites really doing damage to our country and change the channel if you dont want to listen. Its a show / its a joke / its not real - should we start the book burnings now or later?
There are more than 170 channels on XM. Why would, as a previous poster suggested, anyone want to cancel their subscription?
If you don't like O&A listen to another channel.
The offensive comments, by the way, weren't made by Opie nor Anthony. They were made by a guest (a guy they picked up on the street while walking between their CBS and XM studios).
Are broadcasters now responsible for the comments that their guests make? If so, shouldn't anyone who has posted the audio, or reported on it, be vilified as well??
This assault on people for what they say (even if what they say is reprehensible) is getting out of hand.
By way of disclosure, I'm the news and programming director at Paltalk.com. O&A have a webcam in their studios and their shows can be seen live every weekday on Paltalk.
More about this can be found on my blog: www.garybaumgarten.com
While I'll agree that the bit was on the poor taste side, I think this is a lot of media hot air over nothing.
It will be interesting to see how long it takes for the media to wake up and realize that it is their own first amendment rights that are being eroded here as well.
Is there anything sadder than a shock jock? It must be hell living in that brain.
XM is welcome to fire anyone. Radio is a business, and if XM wants to protect their not-terribly-successful format, they're welcome. It seems likely to backfire as Imus' firing will, but no one is being censored. Enough with the censorship talk, it does not apply in either case.
As to the merits of Opie and Anthony, there aren't any that I can detect. I never thought I'd hear a dumber, less funny, less mature, more racist, more misogynist version of Howard Stern because I couldn't imagine how it would draw an audience, but there's no accounting for taste, I guess.
I do think that the reaction is so violent because the idea that these two shitbags would have anything to say to Condi Rice about anything at all is nauseating, being down in the kiddie porn site purveyor rank of humanity as they are, but that's just my opinion.
I am not a fan of the show, but my husband is. He doesn't always agree with everything he hears, but he listens for the parts he does enjoy. Even he felt that this particular incident on Wednesday crossed the line.
In my own opinion, anyone who thinks something like this is humorous or even has any purpose being aired could have signficant and dangerous mental issues, possibly even the potential for criminal activity -- very much like people who abuse animals often go on to abuse or even kill humans as well. It's just frightening ... in all the wrong ways.
Bobsbetterhalf,
You're referring to psychopathy. There's a lot more than just laughing at tasteless jokes. A lot more.
Stop being so sensational.
Sensationalism was the exact opposite of what I intended by my remarks ... but had that been my intent, it would certainly have been appropriate for the subject matter, now wouldn't it?
"Just laughing at tasteless jokes" was not what took place on that broadcast. There was "a lot more."
You idiots who think it was an awful bit are retarded!! thats all it was was a bit cause you know good and goddamn well that there would be no way in hell the security around the women in question would even think of allowing a "rape" to happen. So fuck off and grow a god damn funny bone, shit dicks!!!
i have been a victim of rape. it was a horrible experience that took a long time to get thru. i heard the opie and anthony bit and took it for what it was.....a joke. if i had found it offensive i would have turned the radio off. i am paying for my xm service and i choose to listen to the show. there are many messages with the information on how to block a station if you choose not to receive it. i feel "raped" all over when i am told what i am allowed to listen to by the fcc, special interest groups, or advertisers. when everthing is eliminated that someone doesnt take offense to there will be nothing left. its time to end this latest witchhunt!
These guys are miscreant losers and have been since day one. What interests me, thought, is why there is no outcry over their national comedy tour, known as The Virus(?) Not especially funny to those who refer to HIV as The Virus, I imagine.
What a bunch on low life little pr*cks. As are their listeners, employers and sponsors.
If they fire them then I too will drop my XM. It is very simple, if you do not like what they say, turn them off, they always tell people this on their show. I choose to listen to them, every day in fact, and I know they have been trying to make a statement since the Imus thing. I have asked XM for a one month refund since the only things I listen to are O & A and baseball.
I will cancel my XM radio in a HEARTBEAT and switch to Sirius if XM fires Opie and Anthony. And if they do fire Opie and Anthony, XM will be committing business suicide. Their stock has been steadily on the downward slope since the beginning of this year, and an Opie and Anthony firing would violently send it down. Uncensored radio is just that, uncensored. If you don't like it, fine. Don't listen. Silly conservatives.
Condi Rice helps start two illegal wars, sanctions torture, secret prison camps, the violation of Geneva convention statutes, & has profited off the death of a half million Iraqi civilians, & yet these words on the airwaves are 'obscene'???
This country couldn't be more ass backwards.
Opie and Anthony did not do anything wrong. I cannot stand the crap I hear on the liberal left channel, so I DON'T LISTEN TO IT. If XM does not back them they will see how fast Opie and Anthony listeners can cancel a sub. I already cancelled both of mine and will not ever resubscribe if they are not fully reinstated.
If XM fires them, what's next? Why would they fire a hugely popular show for not violating any laws? The pests of O&A are a large, diverse and incredibly cunning group who will create havoc if they are fired. We are junkies, they are heroin. Take a fix from a junkie and see what happens.
oh go screw I paid to hear this . not anymore .
O&A will not be stopped. If XM fires them, XM will see how many pests there are and how influencial we can be.
That's not true, there are lots of situations where rape is funny. Like raping a clown for instance....
Or it can be cute, like this... emuse.ebaumsworld.com
If they are fired I will cancel my XM subscription. I was ready to cancel before O&A where part of the regular subsription. I started listening to them and couldn't believe what I was hearing - I soon became hooked! As a listener for 2+ years, these guys are part of my daily routine. Their humor is way over the top and I find them very funny. I understand that kind of humor as being exaggerated to be funny. If you don't get it - don't listen! It's very simple. We need to stop being a society of crybabys and stop getting our feelings hurt over what was said on the radio. Sticks and stones may break my bones...
If you don't like it, change the station. I don't care what the fuck the homeless guy said. It is on a clearly marked "XL" channel. No one is holding the radio to your ear and making you listen to it. I listened to the show every morning. They would sometimes get on topics that would make me uncomfortable, so i wold change the channel, and come back later. Not turn into a pussy and complain about it. SO FUCK OFF XM AND THE FCC!
Freedom of Speech, any of you whining liberal pukebags ever heard of it? Oh, that's right, I forgot, you reserve it for yourselves. If you don't like a show(radio,tv,live act) turn it off or don't attend! The people who are doing the show have the right - repeat RIGHT to say what they wish. Instead of crying about comedy, try and actually improve something. Take on the tragedy of wellfare, or social security, which you won't be able to collect 'cause your bankrupting the @#$%^^# system!!!
Interesting that this has blown up into such a huge deal.
You can scroll back through all of these comments and see the many people who support O&A and the few who don't, but the bigger wuestion is why do those who hat ethem so much, know so much about them?
These 'Anti O&A' people know a great deal about the show, the content, the characters, even the name of the comedy tour? Interesting. Do you watch all of the TV shows you don't like too?
The issue at hand isn't if the comments made were crude or in bad taste. O&A do not care at all about taste. The issue is if a paid-subscription service should censor a channel labeled XL (which they strongly advertise and promote as uncensored)?
Obviously, if CBS had a problem with the comments, it would seem somewhat justifiable, as they have never claimed to be uncensored, and O&A frequently censor themselves.
Bottom line... no laws (including FCC) were broken.
As for the moral side, O&A have never claimed to be saints. They openly admit to making fun of any and everyone. The do not single out only rape and rape victims to focus on and make fun of. Everyone is a potential target. After all they have several hours of airwaves to fill. This equality in their comedy is what keeps them neutral and out of trouble in most cases.
No, rape and being raped might not be funny, but they are not making fun of you are they? If you feel offended, or it hits too close to home, you are paying for 150+ other channels.
I refuse to pay for for a service that bills itself as uncensored, yet suspends O&A after they apologized for something THEY didn't say. I cancelled my XM. I'll be listening to my mp3 player, and if I want humor, I guess it'll be my crappy local radio, with Ramone & Frunkis in the morning.
I was raped about five years ago. Yes, of course it is a horrible experience. However, I did not take offense to what was said on the Opie and Anthony show.
Wow! They UNCENSORED radio hosts said something off-color or possibly upsetting to some people???? Craziness! Almost as though THAT'S THEIR JOB!
MY husband and I have already cancelled both of our xm subscribtions also.
I sadly suspect you might be right about O&A being screwed, but they shouldn't be. I strongly disagree with the decisions made by XM management, and I've expressed my displeasure by cancelling my five subscriptions.
Thousands of others have cancelled their subscriptions as well, and sponsors have withdrawn - not in protest, but rather in SUPPORT of Opie and Anthony, and the exiting subscribers. There are many news stories reporting on this anomaly. You can find more information about this at www.peopleagainstcensorship.org.
As a long time XM subscriber yourself, you know the channel is easily blocked, labled adult, and that O&A were advertised as raw, uncensored, comedy - you should ask yourself why now? Naturally, it's because of the merger.
However what concerns me most is, If you and I don't like it, what are we going to do? Switch to Sirius?
If the merger goes through, they will be the same company, and I have a big problem with that.
This is why monopolies are bad things, and why there are anti-trust laws to prevent them. One single company should not completely control all aspects of an industry, especially of a very powerful media and infomation source, such as satellite radio.
This leaves the consumer no viable alternative, and is why I oppose this merger.
Wasn't the argument for changing the laws, that it would be beneficial to the consumer?
Who is this merger really beneficial to? Not you and I.
"I've never understood why they're two of XM's marquee names."
Opie and Anthony have never been marquee names since unlike Howard Stern on Sirius, XM Satellite Radio has always acted embarassed of the duo.
If you've listened to these guys for any length of time, you would understand that the homeless guy's comments were an indication of what he wanted to do. O&A's reply indicated that there would be no way in hell this homeless guy would ever get the opportunity, other than what was suggested.
It was an insult to the homeless guy.
Should you now develop an "uppity attitude," about insulting the homeless, do some research on the "homeless shopping spree!"
Again, sexual assault was the only way this homeless man would ever stand a chance with the ladies. It was not a joke about rape, it was an insult to the homeless guy.
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