Warning: This article contains a potentially triggering video of domestic abuse.
The apparent girlfriend of Anthony Cumia, formerly of the popular Opie and Andy talk radio show, took to Periscope this weekend and accused Cumia of domestic violence while filming him as he laughed at her and the allegations.
On Saturday, Cumia was arrested and was charged with second-degree strangulation, unlawful imprisonment in the second degree, assault in the third degree, and criminal mischief in the third and fourth degree after the 26-year-old woman contacted authorities, according to the New York Post.
During her livestream on Periscope, from the account of Dani Golightly, she claims Cumia broke her hand, yells at Cumia to stay away from her, and tries to escape the so-called shock jock as he argues, laughs, and draws nearer to her in his living room.
In the background, Cumia says he’ll pay her to leave his house and disputes that her hand is broken. Here is the video she made.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lslPmbvnJpA
Cumia pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Sunday. Alan Schwartz, Cumia’s lawyer, said, via CBS News, that Cumia “emphatically denies the allegations” and “is optimistic that when the truth comes out, he will be exonerated.”
Said Schwartz, “Simply put, things are not always what they appear to be, and this case is a perfect example of that.”
Prosecutors say Cumia stomped on the woman’s hand, strangled her, and pinned her against a wall during an argument, Newsday reported.
Cumia had been a co-host of the Opie and Anthony show on Sirius, but he was fired in July 2014 after going on a racist Twitter rant in which he said that a black woman attacked him on a New York City street after he took a photograph of her.
“So, I’m taking pix in NYC & a black girl who was in frame punched me in the face. I called her a fucking “&$;;-:” cause that’s what she WAS!” Cumia wrote. “Then she punched me 5 more times. She’s lucky I was a white legal gun owner or she’d be dead. Then 5 blacks started giving me shit!”
There was more to come.
Soon after, Sirius fired him because of “his racially charged and hate-filled remarks on social media.” Since then, Cumia has hosted the Web-based Anthony Cumia Show.
H/T Gawker | Screengrab via The Anthony Cumia Show/YouTube