“It’s bulls***! I did not hit her! I did not! Oh, hi Keith!”
Reddit has been abuzz today after a post made by someone claiming to be Danny Ross, a former producer for the now defunct “Opie & Anthony” show. The poster, who goes by the name “TheBlueAwning”, has made several detailed allegations about former Sirius host and current head of Compound Media, Anthony Cumia. The allegations include taking advantage of an intoxicated, resistant woman in Cleveland some years ago as well as molesting teenagers in the basement of his Long Island home. He goes on to claim that he even had to make a statement to Nassau County Police about the alleged NY incident and that longtime Cumia associate Keith Maresca had first hand knowledge. Cumia has had legal troubles in the past stemming from a domestic incident with his at-the-time girlfriend Dani Brand, daughter of Stress Factory owner Vinnie Brand. The incident, which occurred at Cumia’s Long Island home around the holidays, was broadcast on Periscope and led to a plea bargain in a Nassau County court. During the heights of “Opie & Anthony” the show was known to joke and create humor from extremely dark and shocking subject matter. However, in this case life has imitated art a bit too closely sometimes. The subreddit that retains the “O&A” name and old fan base has had a tumultuous relationship with Mr. Cumia as well, going to great lengths to find anything they can to embarrass or inflame him. Allegations have ranged from buying gifts to a person he believed to be a 14 year old girl to awkwardly liking vine videos from young girls with braces. Former girlfriends have also made allegations in the past to his unusual attractions. He has also generally dated women much younger, including at one point a young woman who was 17 at the time. His former co-host Gregg “Opie” Hughes even went as far as to call him “human garbage” at one point, alluding to knowing some deep, dark secrets about his former radio partner of over 20 years.
When asked by one user why he wouldn’t drop his “nuclear arsenal” as far as dirt on Cumia, Ross responded “What’s more nuclear than molesting 14 and 16 year olds in your basement?” Ross goes on to say “…Anthony allegedly date raped a girl in Cleveland. I say allegedly because I don’t know for sure. Keith [Maresca – producer for Compound Media] was the one to tell me how incredibly drunk and resistant she was. And as a matter of fact he was the one to use the word rape in the first place.”
“I’ll never understand why people get upset with me for telling all of this while they cackle and defend a legitimate pedophile.” – Danny Ross on Anthony Cumia’s fans.
In December of 2015, Cumia was involved in a domestic dispute. According to his former girlfriend, he bit her and choked her in his home.
ROTC Media reached out to this user and the very specific, vitriolic response has left very little doubt that this is the real former O&A producer. In addition to the independent confirmation, Cumia and co-host Artie Lange (formerly of The Howard Stern Show) seemed to acknowledge these posts and all but confirm this to be Ross. Even with his identity confirmed one must still take his story with a grain of salt. Ross, who was once an in-studio producer and unofficial “4th mic” on the once-popular satellite radio show also shared a close friendship with Cumia. At one point he even lived in Cumia’s luxurious home, dubbed “The Compound”- the namesake of his subscription based media company. Their relationship soured after Ross was fired from Sirius, with Ross accusing Cumia of not sticking up for him more and Cumia countering that Danny Ross was a toxic presence and generally disliked in the workplace. Despite occasional barbs sent back-and-forth via the internet, the two seemed to move on for the most part until these most recent allegations. The seriousness of these accusations shouldn’t be taken lightly. If there is any shred of truth to them, they need to be investigated. And if Mr. Ross is lying, then legal action should be taken against him.
Does this look like the face of a liar?
To be honest, it’s hard to know who is telling the truth. We at ROTC make no endorsement of the veracity of these claims. Despite all of the controversy, Anthony Cumia continues to host shows on Infowars and his Compound Media continues to thrive despite being behind a paywall. After his exit from O&A and his falling out with Cumia, Danny Ross kept a relatively low profile, save for occasional appearances on the O&A subreddit. Despite sporadically dropping an interesting tidbit of information here and there, most of his posts are just banter with fans. Although he did have a fantastic story awhile back about an “internet stalker” that unsurprisingly was followed immediately by a crowdfunding effort. No word on if they ever caught the nefarious stalker or not but my guess is that he’s out there somewhere. Maybe he’s working on that Chip Chipperson cartoon.
We have reached out to Anthony Cumia on Twitter for comment and are waiting for an official statement. The screenshots below are taken from Reddit & Twitter.
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