Anthony Cumia: The Story Of A Shock Jock, His Compound & The Skeletons Underneath
I was an “Opie and Anthony” fan. For a long time. And like any other listener, it always seemed to be a bit or a goof. Just a shock jock edgelord joking around on his radio show and saying outrageous and sometimes vile things with the sole purpose of jolting his fans and eliciting laughter from a rabid and growing fan base. Jokes about death, about handicapped people, and jokes about teenagers being sexy and “bangable”. I remember hearing Anthony Cumia make jokes about pedophilia as early as 1999 or 2000. I was an avid “Opie and Anthony” listener during their peak on the WNEW days. When discussing the Olsen Twins, jokes were made about how a picture of both Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen were hung in the offices as they awaited the day they were legal. Anthony, always the more eager of the two, would make comments, even saying “Mary Kate is the goer. Ashley is probably the prude.” As their star power grew, many of us in NY enjoyed listening to these guys push the boundaries of taste and censorship on the airwaves.
Anthony Cumia, seen here in his 2015 mugshot.
But as time went on life started imitating art a bit too much. Anthony Cumia’s life has been a wild and strange one, even by the standard of a shock jock. His obsession with young girls became a running gag that grew larger and more over-the-top as years went on and was almost daily fodder for their radio show. Eventually his on air “persona” became hard to tell apart from his hard partying lifestyle. His drinking, enthusiasm for firearms and gambling, and unconventional lifestyle all blurred the lines of reality over the years leaving many to wonder how much of what he says is “just a bit”. This has also come back to haunt him as Mr. Cumia has also found himself a victim of his own rage-filled twitter rampages. He has had two accounts permanently suspended, and even lost his cushy Sirius XM radio gig in 2013 for a racist tirade that many of his own friends found hard to defend.
Over the years, Mr. Cumia has mentioned his close relationship with people in law enforcement, bragging about his ability to get out of occasional minor infractions due to his associations. One of those connections is his close friend and confidante, as well as producer of Compound Media, Keith Maresca (aka Keith The Cop). A former law enforcement officer and all around right hand man to Cumia, he looks over most of his day-to-day affairs on and off air. In fact, he spends his days surrounded by a close knit group of close friends and cronies who rarely speak of the goings on around Anthony’s Long Island home, dubbed “The Compound”.
The Selfcuttinggirl Conundrum
In late 2012 a Twitter user by the name of “SelfCuttingGirl” began tweeting during “Opie and Anthony” broadcasts. The tweets that would come from the account were edgy and occasionally funny, especially considering the fact that it was a 14 year old girl behind the account. Since it seemed so unusual for a young girl to be tweeting such clever and uncouth things the gimmick got over quickly to the O&A fan base. The young woman, who told everyone her real name was Alyssa, began receiving occasional RT’s from Opie and Anthony. “SelfCuttingGirl” became a high profile presence in the online O&A fan community. A young, outspoken fan out there hopefully cultivating new young fans to breathe new life into your ratings and advertising demographics? What’s not to like? The problem is that “Alyssa” turned out to be a 39 year old male fan who was masquerading as a teenage girl.
This situation was enough to warrant a mention during the “Opie & Anthony” show in a segment in which hosts tensely explain the situation, albeit obviously omitting many details. In the aftermath Cumia would first deny buying any gifts for “Alyssa”. He would later delete the thread he made denying it, then admitted that he did in fact buy a Macbook and an iPad from the Amazon Wish list in question, but that he did so out of charity. At one point, he even tried to convince people that Selfcuttinggirl was his niece. When none of that worked, he wiped his ENTIRE Twitter account history. His ex girlfriend Melissa Stetten corroborated this story in a now-deleted (but still archived) blog. She goes on to say that Cumia claimed that he bought the gift for “Alyssa” because “she was a fan of the show and she’s cute”. He was also reportedly attempting to make arrangements for “her” to come stay at his Compound.
Sometime around this broadcast, the man who had orchestrated the entire catfish came out on a fan message board called Wackbag.com and admitted that for a period lasting from around late 2012 until early 2014 he used fake social media accounts to LARP as a teenage girl named Alyssa. Going by the name “@SelfCuttingGirl” on Twitter, this man pretended to be a young female fan of the “Opie and Anthony” show. “Alyssa” would often tweet things that seemed extremely funny and clever coming from a 14 year old female. He went on to discuss how Anthony eventually began following, and inevitably sending DM’s to “her”. At first it was small talk but after a few messages, according to the poster, Cumia sent his phone number to a person he believed to be a 14 year old girl. Supposedly the scam got so good that “Alyssa” could text Anthony and he would reiterate the point that was made via text. The person who catfished them admitted he was addicted to the power that came with such a scam. In addition to the exchanges via text, the scammer was eventually able to convince Anthony to buy items on an Amazon Wishlist for “Alyssa”. While researching this story, ROTC Media were able to corroborate from several sources that these events occurred as reported.
“I won’t call him a pedophile, but yes, I will call him a pedophile.” – Melissa Stetten, Ex Girlfriend (in a now-deleted article)
“I feel about screwing with Anthony cause he was a nice guy…I am sorry that it all got out of hand with him. As for the “hunter” [Hembrough]? F*** him, he keep wanted to meet ‘Alyssa’ and always wanted to talk about tits and sex. “ – BigGiantHead on Wackbag (4-4-2014)
“I remember there was a closet full of Legos at his house leftover from when [REDACTED] would come over.” – Anonymous source
“She’s got a great set of t**s and a nice ass, but she’s 13.” – Anthony Cumia discussing 13 Year Old Danielle Bregoli
During the big rebuttal post by “BigGiantHead” he initially keeps referring to having catfished a second person loosely related to Cumia. whom kept referring to as the “hunter”. Some Reddit users began speculating incorrectly that the “hunter” was Maresca, however the perpetrator of the online scam revealed the “hunter” to be Jordan Hembrough. Jordan served for three seasons as the host of Travel Channel’s “The Toy Hunter”. “BigGiantHead” makes it a point to single Hembrough out as much more proactively forward and creepy in his online behavior. He makes it clear that Mr. Hembrough knew “Alyssa” was 14 years old at the time of their exchanges. In fact, it was not Cumia who initially discovered the deception but Hembrough, according to the poster. And when Hembrough hired an investigator to investigate “Alyssa” the scam was revealed. Many accounts on Twitter that were involved in this situation have since been scrubbed, however screenshots reveal that Hembrough seemed to have a dedicated amount of contact with this person he believed to be a teenage girl. In addition to attempting to employ “Alyssa”, Hembrough is alleged to have been extremely sexually suggestive and forward in some exchanges. The person who orchestrated the event disappeared after this entire affair although he did provide many screenshots that exist to this day.
The Kurt Love Problem
At a time when radio companies around the world were struggling to stay relevant as technology advanced, “Opie and Anthony” were always experimenting with new ways of communicating organically with their audience. The use of “Pal Talk” brought many people together in a video chat service, and created new groups and connections among the audience and with the show itself. One listener who grew to prominence was “Kurt Love”. He was known to people on messages boards and Pal Talk and eventually started hanging around The Compound. By several accounts, he and Anthony shared a close enough friendship to warrant a semi-regular presence at Anthony’s Long Island Home. According to former Cumia pal and O&A producer Danny Ross, Kurt would even pick up young women to bring to The Compound for parties and to hang out in the pool.
Jeffrey Hollander or “Kurt Love”, as fans knew him was a friend of Cumia and regular at his “compound”.
There was just one major problem: Kurt Love was really Jeffrey Hollander, a level 2 registered “sexually violent offender”. He was released from a New York State prison on parole in 2006 after serving 10 years for forcibly sodomizing a 12 year old female victim in April of 1995. While at some point Cumia appears to have stopped associating with Hollander, it’s no secret that at one point he was a regular sight at parties located at The Compound. During the most recent allegations by Mr. Ross, he recalls a specific incident in which Mr. Cumia and Mr. Hollander entertained two underage females in Cumia’s home. Ross alleges that while the two girls were sitting on a sofa on each side of Hollander he aggressively grabbed the girls by their genitals over their clothes. Hollander’s presence was around 2012 and 2013, the same time the Selfcuttinggirl incident was ongoing. And while it’s possibly Cumia has no knowledge of Hollander’s sex offender status, it would be a massive oversight on his part. This is a guy who it’s alleged was picking up teenage girls to hang out at the house and according to former Cumia pal Danny Ross, plied with drugs and molested during their many “pool parties”. Ross even provided photographic proof.
Golightly, But Not Quietly
Melissa Stetten might have left Anthony Cumia’s life with a bit of a splash, but his most high profile incident had yet to come. On December 19th, 2015 Cumia’s girlfriend Dani Golightly (Danielle Brand) began broadcasting a disturbing live video on Persiscope. In the video, both Cumia and his girlfriend seem intoxicated. Golightly claims in the video that Cumia had broken her hand. Several scuffles seem to break out between the two throughout the 11 minute video, in which it appears Cumia is attempting to chase Golightly while laughing maniacally. The shocking encounter resulted in two police visits, with Cumia being arrested the following day during the second visit.
Cumia’s ex girlfriend streamed a disturbing scene from his home in 2015.
At some point in the video between the two police visits, a panicked Cumia and Golightly are seen searching desperately for Cumia’s gun. The next day Cumia was arrested and charged with charged with strangulation in the second degree, unlawful imprisonment in the second degree, assault in the third degree and criminal mischief in the third and fourth degree. In March of 2016, he took a plea bargain that resulted in misdemeanor charges however the Periscope videos live on as a chilling glimpse at the dark side of Anthony Cumia as well as proof that it’s not all smiles and karaoke at the Compound.
Old, verified Reddit posts from Golightly claim that the toxic relationship was more of an arrangement of sorts. She has claimed in the past that she enjoyed his money and luxurious lifestyle and he enjoyed having a girl who had the look he went for. Golightly has declined to comment despite our attempts to contact her directly.
The Vine Debacle
As years went on and his behavior became more erratic and unapologetic, Cumia’s relationship with the bulk of his former fan base grew rather acrimonious. The subreddit formerly dedicated to “Opie & Anthony” became dedicated with finding anything they could on the man they used to tune in to listen to daily. At the beginning of 2016 during the debacle surrounding Cumia’s domestic violence incident an eagle eyed Reddit user discovered an alarming pattern when examining Cumia’s Vine account. He had signed up for the now defunct video-based social media service and barely used it, only “liking” 81 posts and not doing much else. The problem as the user noted was that out of the 81 Vine videos Cumia liked, 70 of them belonged to the same user and that user happened to be a random underage girl with braces. 86.4% of his likes were this pre-teen girl with braces. And when this was discovered, Anthony Cumia “compounded” his issues by conspicuously deleting his entire Vine account. Illegal? No. Unsettling? Very.
When confronted about this behavior Mr. Cumia decided to have a booze-fueled meltdown as is his wont. In a now hard-to-find clip Cumia lashed out on his show, screaming, yelling, hurling obscenities and blaming everyone else. In a panicked video, he gave a desperate plea for his former fans to leave him alone. Chastising them for using their creativity and cruelty against him instead of allowing him to harness it for his own gain like the good old days, he expressed his disgust as their enjoyment during his stressful time. He yelled. He accused the internet for trying to ruin his life. He did everything except address the rumors and come up with a reasonable explanation for any of his behavior.
“Didn’t you call some Oscar winner ‘The Pedo Movie’? Strange since you finger children. Hard to cry ‘slander’ when there’s a police report.” – Danny Ross in a shot at Anthony Cumia
There is certainly nothing illegal about a man in his 50’s befriending underage girls and lavishing them with gifts and attention. It does however fall far outside realm of what could be considered normal social boundaries by most. And it certainly isn’t ethical if it’s being done with the intent of grooming young women in an attempt to be “first in line” when they are of legal age of sexual consent. Nor is it the behavior of a mentally or emotionally healthy 56 year old man. While none of the behavior being alleged is illegal, one has to take a hard look in the mirror and ask themselves: if your 14 year old daughter just received a laptop as a gift from a man old enough to be her grandfather…how would you feel? If a shock jock in his 50’s who has spent the past few years getting arrested for domestic violence and fired from his job for declaring that African Americans “aren’t people” was lurking on your preteen daughter’s Vine account, would you be concerned?
Skeletons Under The Compound
Much of the credit for this information goes to the O&A subreddit, particularly this thread created by a user called arrogantsquirrel. In addition, follow up and corroboration was sought from multiple sources. Even if you were to forget about the Selfcuttinggirl incident and Vine misadventures, there’s still a abundance of disturbing goings on surrounding Anthony Cumia. His high profile association with a sexually violent offender Jeffrey Hollander. There’s the time he bragged about a real life incident where he took his girlfriend to a pediatrician instead of a regular doctor. Or the time he took an 18 year old girl to his HS Reunion. There’s the time he bragged about bedding a 14 year old when he was 21. There’s the McKayla Maroney incident, in which Cumia was chastised publicly for his tweets describing how he would like to “break her hymen”. They even went so far as to tricking Ms. Maroney into recording liners for their show after the social media controversy. There’s the Sue Lightning controversy, in which credible accusations have been made that Anthony had a tryst with a young, transsexual porn actress named “Sue Lightning”. She too bears a certain look that Anthony is known to be fond of. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Cumia continues to deny that he and Lightning were anything more than just friends.
Danny Ross pictured at Cumia’s home (circa 2010)
With such a well-documented history of bizarre and abhorrent behavior, the most recent allegations levied against Anthony Cumia by his former associate Danny Ross should be difficult to ignore. In a recent series of posts to Reddit, Ross has claimed that Cumia admitted to molesting a 14 year old girl in the theater of his Long Island home and that he previously made a statement to the Nassau County Police Department regarding the matter. In addition to the molestation claim, Ross also mentioned an incident in Cleveland involving an extremely intoxicated woman who was taken advantage of despite her resistance. He recalls being informed of that incident by Maresca, who he claims was the person who originally described it as “rape”. And instead of launching a lawsuit against Mr. Ross, Mr. Cumia instead decided to call him to brag about bedding two of his ex girlfriends. In addition, Mr. Ross has provided a downright frightening amount of corroborating evidence. If a 14 year old girl was molested in Cumia’s home, then an investigation needs to be done. And if Mr. Ross is lying, Anthony Cumia needs to take him to court as per his “challenge”. These are very serious allegations of sexual assault we’re talking about.
Former “Opie and Anthony” producer Danny Ross has made shocking allegations regarding sexual molestation against his former pal Anthony Cumia. He claims he made a statement to Nassau County Police Department shortly after the alleged incident.
Former friend and producer Danny Ross has alleged that inappropriate contact occurred at Cumia’s home perpetrated by Jeffrey Hollander.
Years ago, one could have shrugged these accusations off as cheap parting shots made by jilted lovers or bitter ex employees. However with the #MeToo and #TimesUp movement gaining momentum, one has to wonder if Anthony Cumia has much more time left on the clock himself. After a decade of displaying increasingly erratic and disturbing behavior, even Anthony Cumia’s most ardent and vocal fans are beginning to take notice and distance themselves from him. It’s almost as if his deplorable lifestyle has been hiding in plain site for many years. Some could even dare call it an open secret of sorts. With a history of substance abuse, domestic violence, racism, anger issues and an unhealthy fixation on young girls one has to wonder how many skeletons Anthony Cumia has buried under his Compound? For now his Compound Media venture and his guest appearances on Infowars seem unaffected by all of this controversy. For now.
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