Opie and Anthony suspended for 30 days

In a statement released by XM Sattelite radio today On-Air personalities Opie and Anthony have been suspended from broadcasting their radio program effective immediately. The two came under fire last week after they aired a segment that featured a homeless person saying he wanted to have sex with Condoleeza Rice, Laura Bush and Queen Elizabeth. The two even joked about Rice being raped and punched in the face.

Here's a statement from XM:

"XM Radio deplored the comments aired on "The Opie & Anthony Show" last week. At the time, the company strongly expressed its views to Opie and Anthony, and they issued an immediate apology," the company said in the statement.

"Comments made by Opie and Anthony on yesterday's broadcast put into question whether they appreciate the seriousness of the matter. The management of XM Radio decided to suspend Opie and Anthony to make clear that our that our on-air talent must take seriously the responsibility that creative freedom requires of them," the company added.

Personally, I'm not a fan of their show, but some of you might be.  Here's the link to the full story if you want all the imfomation:

http://mediabiz.blogs.cnnmoney.com/2007/05/15/xm-suspends-opie-and-anthony/

Here's a quote from the article. The reason for the suspension might not necessarily be a free sppech issue:

The Opie and Anthony controversy could not come at a worse time for XM, which has agreed to merge with rival Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI). That deal needs to get the approval of both the Federal Communications Commission and Justice Department -  and there is a growing sense that regulatory opposition may kill the deal.  Several members of Congress have also come out saying that they are against the merger.

The fact that XM was willing to suspend Opie and Anthony is proof that offensive programming could hurt even satellite radio, a medium that does not depend on advertising dollars as free radio does. XM and Sirius do have to worry about losing subscribers if shock jocks go too far.

The suspension also demonstrates how scared the satellite radio companies are of looking like the poster children for bad behavior at a time when XM and Sirius will depend on the goodwill of the government to green-light their merger.  .

But it's really starting to look like all radio hosts, whether they work for free radio or satellite, are going to be held accountable for controversial comments. And XM is making it clear that if they have to sacrifice Opie and Anthony in order to have any hope of getting approval for the Sirius merger, they will do it.

They're entitled to freedom of speech despite how vulgar and disgusting it is.lagosboy

So then where does it stop?  Those suspensions were well deserved.  It's one thing to make jokes about politicians, but this is something entirely different.  A line needs to be drawn somewhere.  The First Ammendmant should not be abused.

This has nothing to do with shock jocks this has to do with these losers which I hate btw, talking about raping someone in this administation, what do you expect to happen with this current administation anyway?

I do think this hate against the merger is moronic. I don't see what the big deal. They claim it's a monopoly, how is it one if there is still fm and am radio and etc...? It's called XM and Sirius Radio...

I honestly think a lot of it has to do with them wanting to take down Stern like they have been doing since the begining of time it seems lol 

[QUOTE="lagosboy"]They're entitled to freedom of speech despite how vulgar and disgusting it is.JustPlainLucas

So then where does it stop? Those suspensions were well deserved. It's one thing to make jokes about politicians, but this is something entirely different. A line needs to be drawn somewhere. The First Ammendmant should not be abused.

I agree.

But I wanna hear exactly how it was said. Anyone have like a transcript or something? Cause I know stern says crazy s--- on their show but they don't say in a way that's serious or like taking a shot at someone. They do in the point of view of pretedning to be an idiot like they did with Don Imus and they said racist things pretending to be him which wasn't just talking about raping someone or making fun of someone.

So I wonder what the context of it was, did they just come out and start talking about raping these women ? If that's the case then freaking fire these losers.

This has nothing to do with shock jocks this has to do with these losers which I hate btw, talking about raping someone in this administation, what do you expect to happen with this current administation anyway?

I do think this hate against the merger is moronic. I don't see what the big deal. They claim it's a monopoly, how is it one if there is still fm and am radio and etc...? It's called XM and Sirius Radio...

I honestly think a lot of it has to do with them wanting to take down Stern like they have been doing since the begining of time it seems lol 

kcpp2b

I think it's because if they merge, they'll be only one conglomerate that controls sattelite radio with no competition.  Another is that the FCC doesn't regulate satterlite radio....yet.

[QUOTE="JustPlainLucas"]

[QUOTE="lagosboy"]They're entitled to freedom of speech despite how vulgar and disgusting it is.kcpp2b

So then where does it stop? Those suspensions were well deserved. It's one thing to make jokes about politicians, but this is something entirely different. A line needs to be drawn somewhere. The First Ammendmant should not be abused.

I agree.

But I wanna hear exactly how it was said. Anyone have like a transcript or something? Cause I know stern says crazy s--- on their show but they don't say in a way that's serious or like taking a shot at someone. They do in the point of view of pretedning to be an idiot like they did with Don Imus and they said racist things pretending to be him which wasn't just talking about raping someone or making fun of someone.

So I wonder what the context of it was, did they just come out and start talking about raping these women ? If that's the case then freaking fire these losers.

The article writer wouldn't post links, however he says you could use google to find them.

[QUOTE="kcpp2b"]

This has nothing to do with shock jocks this has to do with these losers which I hate btw, talking about raping someone in this administation, what do you expect to happen with this current administation anyway?

I do think this hate against the merger is moronic. I don't see what the big deal. They claim it's a monopoly, how is it one if there is still fm and am radio and etc...? It's called XM and Sirius Radio...

I honestly think a lot of it has to do with them wanting to take down Stern like they have been doing since the begining of time it seems lol

Hallenbeck77

I think it's because if they merge, they'll be only one conglomerate that controls sattelite radio with no competition. Another is that the FCC doesn't regulate satterlite radio....yet.

Well there's only two companies, this medium is just starting up... if there were five and it's been around for ten years and they all joined then fine but two companies? Come on

And I'm sure the FCC wants to get involved. Stern will probably retire if they do get involved and start censoring his show again. Personally I think it's about no control over what you say. Clearchannel has had that over everyone for years and people who speak against political stances for example are given the boot. Under Satelite they can't do that.

I mean Satelite radio kicks ass. It's like HBO.. it's so much better then garbage tv or crappy free fm. I mean you don't have to switch around looking for better songs, pop ups will tell you if a group you like has a song playing on one of their stations and you have have a lot of freedom to so a lot of things. Stern has never been better then he is now and Artie Lange on stern kicks freaking butt!! Haha

If the FCC starts censoring this too I'll probably stop listening to radio period cause it's pointless. FM is utter garbage. 

[QUOTE="lagosboy"]They're entitled to freedom of speech despite how vulgar and disgusting it is.JustPlainLucas

So then where does it stop? Those suspensions were well deserved. It's one thing to make jokes about politicians, but this is something entirely different. A line needs to be drawn somewhere. The First Ammendmant should not be abused.

I thought that they were certain XM channels that the same rules didn't apply to.