Radio shock jocks Greg “Opie” Hughes and Anthony Cumia, who were fired after the Catholic League blasted them for offering a descriptive account of a staged live sex act in St. Patrick’s Cathedral two years ago, will return to the air October 4 on XM Satellite Radio, the nation’s largest satellite radio station.
The stunt, which was aired on New York’s WNEW (an Infinity Broadcasting station), was performed by a man and a woman from Virginia in front of men, women and children on August 15, 2002, the Feast of the Assumption, a holy day of obligation for Roman Catholics; the man, Brian Florence, died of a heart attack on September 25, 2003.
The day after the incident, Catholic League president William Donohue filed a formal complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) asking that Infinity Broadcasting be fined and that the license of WNEW be revoked. After FCC chairman Michael Powell asked for an investigation, the show was dumped. Donohue then told the FCC he was satisfied with the firing of the shock jocks and that he personally recommended that “the FCC go no further in the investigation.”
Donohue remarked on the new show today:
“We wish Opie and Anthony well and trust they have learned their lesson. In a press release today, they said, ‘We learned a lot during our two years away from our fans, and we can’t wait to get back on the radio and reconnect with them.’
“We hope they do more than that: never has our office been subjected to more vulgar and obscene rants than when we got Opie and Anthony kicked off the air. It would be wise, therefore, for these guys to go about their business having fun, but without stooping into the gutter just to please the lowest common denominator. There are a lot of depraved young men out there and they don’t need any further encouragement. And one more thing: lay off us Catholics.”
