Episode 1652: Anthony Cumia

Introduction

Episode 1652 of the Joe Rogan Experience, aired May 14, 2021, features Anthony Cumia, a radio personality best known as former co-host of The Opie & Anthony Show on SiriusXM and current host of The Anthony Cumia Show on his own Compound Media network. The episode is problematic because Rogan platforms a figure with a well-documented history of racism, antisemitism, and domestic violence — framing his firing and deplatforming as “cancel culture” rather than accountability for hate speech and violent behavior.

The episode also contains COVID-19 misinformation, including promotion of ivermectin as a suppressed treatment, criticism of public health measures like masks, and framing of legitimate content moderation as censorship. Rogan fails to challenge Cumia on any of his controversies and instead treats him as a sympathetic figure who was unfairly targeted.

TL;DR: Rogan rehabilitates a figure fired for racist tirades and convicted of domestic violence, reframes accountability as “cancel culture,” and spreads COVID-19 misinformation about ivermectin and masks — all without pushback.

The Guest’s Background

Anthony Cumia is a radio personality whose career has been marked by multiple serious controversies.

Firing from SiriusXM (July 2014)

On July 3, 2014, Cumia was fired by SiriusXM after posting a series of racist tweets following an alleged altercation with a Black woman in Times Square. He referred to Black people as “animals” and wrote that it was “open season on white people.” SiriusXM described his remarks as “racially-charged and hate-filled” and stated that his behavior was “wholly inconsistent with what SiriusXM represents.” Cumia refused to apologize.

Sources: NPR - SiriusXM Fires Anthony Cumia; Rolling Stone - Cumia Fired After Racist Tirade; CBS News

Continued Racist and Antisemitic Statements

Cumia’s racist commentary did not end with his firing. He was permanently banned from Twitter by 2021 for repeated violations, including posts calling Black people “incapable or unwilling to assimilate to a civil western society” and referring to them as “things” and “monsters.” More recently, he has posted pro-Hitler content and endorsed antisemitic conspiracy theories about “the Jewish elite” controlling immigration.

He has been photographed with Jared Taylor, editor of the white supremacist publication American Renaissance, and Nick Fuentes, a prominent white nationalist and Holocaust denier.

Sources: Jewish Telegraphic Agency - Cumia’s History of Antisemitism; The Forward - Antisemitic Shock Jock Back on Air; Wikipedia - Anthony Cumia

Domestic Violence Conviction (2015-2016)

On December 19, 2015, Cumia was arrested for assaulting his 26-year-old girlfriend, Danielle Brand, at his Long Island home. He was charged with second-degree strangulation (a felony), criminal mischief, unlawful imprisonment, and preventing an emergency call. Prosecutors stated he choked Brand, pinned her against the wall, and stomped on her hand. Brand suffered a broken rib, chest pain, and a swollen arm. She livestreamed portions of the aftermath on Periscope.

In June 2016, Cumia pleaded guilty to third-degree assault and criminal obstruction of breathing, entering a batterer’s intervention program and alcohol treatment. He later admitted on his own show to biting Brand’s hand because he “was pissed” and “out of his mind.”

Sources: CBS New York - Cumia Arrested; Variety - Fired Host Arrested for Domestic Violence; NBC New York

Far-Right Associations

Cumia co-hosts Compound Censored with Gavin McInnes, co-founder of the Proud Boys, a group designated as a terrorist entity by Canada and classified as an extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. This association further situates Cumia within far-right media networks.

Source: Wikipedia - Anthony Cumia

Key Problematic Content

1. Reframing Racism as “Cancel Culture”

Throughout the episode, Rogan and Cumia frame Cumia’s firing from SiriusXM as a cautionary tale about cancel culture, treating it as an example of overreach rather than a reasonable response to a racist tirade. Rogan credited Opie & Anthony as his primary podcast inspiration, saying “there is not a fucking show on earth that inspired me to do a podcast more than Opie and Anthony,” and treated Cumia’s pivot to independent media as an inspiring story of resilience.

The problem: Cumia was not “canceled” for a minor offense or out-of-context remark. He was fired for a sustained racist rant in which he called Black people “animals” and claimed white people were under attack — language consistent with white nationalist talking points. Framing this as cancel culture obscures the substance of what Cumia actually said and normalizes hate speech by repositioning it as mere controversy.

Source: Washington Post - Cumia’s Sad, Racist Double Standards

2. Minimizing the Domestic Violence Conviction

The episode includes discussion of Cumia’s arrest for domestic violence involving Danielle Brand. However, this discussion treats it as an inconvenient legal ordeal rather than a serious criminal offense involving strangulation. Cumia discussed the plea bargain process without meaningful accountability for the violence itself.

The problem: Cumia pleaded guilty to assault and criminal obstruction of breathing. The victim had a broken rib and was livestreaming out of fear. Treating this as a procedural anecdote rather than a grave matter minimizes domestic violence and sends a harmful message to the millions of listeners in Rogan’s audience.

3. COVID-19 Misinformation: Ivermectin as Suppressed Treatment

Rogan discussed a video about ivermectin that he claimed Instagram had censored, framing this as evidence that effective treatments were being suppressed. He described a medical doctor who “talks about why ivermectin works” and his “success with his clients.” The discussion positioned ivermectin as a proven treatment being hidden from the public by pharmaceutical interests and social media platforms.

Fact-Check: At the time of this episode (May 2021), ivermectin had not been proven effective against COVID-19 in rigorous clinical trials. Subsequent large-scale randomized controlled trials definitively debunked claims of ivermectin’s effectiveness:

• The TOGETHER Trial (published in the New England Journal of Medicine, 2022) found ivermectin “did not result in a lower incidence of medical admission to a hospital due to progression of COVID-19”
• The NIH ACTIV-6 Trial found no significant improvement in time to recovery
• The PRINCIPLE Trial in the UK found no evidence of benefit

The meta-analyses that initially suggested ivermectin effectiveness relied on a fraudulent Egyptian study that was later retracted. When that study was removed, the evidence for ivermectin collapsed.

Sources: NEJM - TOGETHER Trial; McGill Office for Science and Society

4. Criticism of Public Health Measures

The episode included criticism of mask mandates and vaccine requirements at public venues, with discussion of Rand Paul’s confrontation with Dr. Fauci about masks being “theater.” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was praised for his hands-off approach to COVID restrictions, and his pardons of people charged with COVID-related violations were presented favorably.

Fact-Check: At the time of this episode, masking recommendations from the CDC were based on emerging evidence about COVID-19 transmission. A 2021 systematic review in the British Medical Journal found that mask mandates were associated with reduced COVID-19 transmission. DeSantis’s policies in Florida were associated with some of the highest per-capita COVID death rates in the country during subsequent waves.

Source: BMJ - Mask Mandates and COVID Transmission

5. Framing Content Moderation as Censorship

Both Rogan and Cumia characterized social media content moderation as government-adjacent censorship, with Rogan describing how Instagram blocked his ivermectin video. The broader framing suggested a coordinated effort to suppress truth-tellers and silence dissent.

The problem: Social media platforms were removing medical misinformation during a pandemic that killed over one million Americans. While legitimate debates about the appropriate scope of content moderation exist, this episode framed every act of moderation as ideological suppression, conflating the removal of dangerous health misinformation with political censorship.

Joe Rogan’s Role

Rogan’s conduct in this episode is particularly problematic because of what he fails to do rather than what he says directly.

• No challenge to Cumia’s racism: Despite Cumia’s well-documented history of racist statements, white nationalist associations, and Twitter ban for hate speech, Rogan never pressed him on any of it. He treated the firing as a cancel culture story without engaging with the substance of the racist remarks.

• Sympathetic framing of domestic violence: Rather than asking hard questions about the strangulation of a 26-year-old woman that resulted in a guilty plea, Rogan allowed Cumia to recount the episode on his own terms.

• Active promotion of COVID misinformation: Rogan did not merely fail to push back on COVID claims — he was the one promoting ivermectin and criticizing public health measures. He presented debunked treatments as suppressed cures and framed content moderation as censorship.

• Celebrating “uncancellability”: Rogan praised Cumia’s independence and ability to continue broadcasting despite being fired and deplatformed. While media independence is a valid topic, in this context it amounts to celebrating the ability to continue spreading hate speech without accountability.

Real-World Harm

Normalizing Hate Speech

By treating Cumia as a sympathetic figure whose firing was unjust, this episode contributes to the normalization of racist and antisemitic rhetoric. Cumia has continued to escalate his extremist content since this appearance, posting pro-Hitler content in 2024 and associating with white nationalists like Nick Fuentes and Jared Taylor. Platforming him without challenge signals to Rogan’s massive audience that such views are within the bounds of acceptable discourse.

COVID-19 Misinformation

This episode aired during a critical phase of the U.S. vaccination campaign. Promotion of ivermectin as a suppressed alternative to vaccines contributed to a nationwide surge in ivermectin misuse. The American Association of Poison Control Centers reported a 163% increase in ivermectin exposure calls in 2021 compared to pre-pandemic levels. Some people purchased veterinary formulations of the drug, leading to hospitalizations.

Source: National Poison Data System - Ivermectin Exposures

Domestic Violence Minimization

Allowing a convicted domestic abuser to discuss his case sympathetically, without accountability, reinforces harmful attitudes toward intimate partner violence. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States — making responsible media treatment of domestic violence cases a matter of public health.

Conclusion

Episode 1652 is problematic not because of any single issue, but because of the accumulation of harmful content across multiple dimensions. Anthony Cumia is a figure whose career is defined by racism, antisemitism, domestic violence, and far-right associations. Rather than engaging with any of this critically, Rogan treats Cumia as a fellow traveler in the fight against cancel culture, adds his own COVID misinformation to the mix, and gives a convicted domestic abuser a sympathetic platform before an audience of millions. The episode exemplifies how the “cancel culture” framing can be weaponized to rehabilitate individuals who were held accountable for genuinely harmful behavior.