Twitter Permanently Suspends Anthony Cumia

Twitter has permanently suspended Anthony Cumia, the shock jock fired by SiriusXM in 2014 over a series of racist tweets. The social media platform previously suspended Cumia in 2017, though he quickly returned via a succession of accounts that were also suspended. Since 2019 he's been using the handle @CompoundBoss, which as of this morning had 30,200 followers. A Twitter spokesperson told me today that the account "has been permanently suspended for violating the Twitter rules against ban evasion."

As founder of the digital network Compound Media, Cumia was instrumental in the formation of the Proud Boys, a hate group created by Gavin McInnes on his Compound Media show The Gavin McInnes Show. (McInnes is still a frequent guest on The Anthony Cumia Show; he guest-hosted it yesterday.) He regularly used his Twitter account to share the sort of sentiments that got him fired from SiriusXM and suspended from Twitter. In the last several years alone he's published numerous tweets referring to Black people as "animals," "things," and "monsters" who are "incapable or unwilling to assimilate to a civil western society"; claimed that Black people are responsible for the majority of anti-Asian, transphobic, and anti-Semitic violence; called George Floyd a mentally ill drug addict who died of a fentanyl overdose; complained vociferously about anti-white racism and "black privilege"; expressed various sympathies for the Proud Boys; stood by the tweets he was fired for; complained about an "invasion" destroying European nations, which he says should be "for their people"; and said that "As long as the Nazis kept their guns pointed to the East, it was a good thing."

Just yesterday Cumia quote-tweeted a post by Shelby County, Tennessee Commissioner Tami Sawyer that said, "Black women are tired," commenting: "AAAAAAAAHAHAHA! Holy shit. This is a joke. Tired??? Of WHAT? Annoying the shit out of entire continents?" A few minutes later he quoted the same tweet again, commenting: "Liberals have pumped these imbeciles up to the point where they actually believe they are important to society. It’s ridiculous."

The day before that, Cumia appeared to suggest that George Soros should be assassinated. Quoting a tweet in which alt-right pundit Jack Posobiec shared the news that Soros donated $1 million to a "racial justice PAC seeking to defund the police," he commented: "There was a practice that was very popular in the 1960s when someone had a problem with a powerful persons influence over their lives. How Soros has avoided being made an example of this practice is beyond me."

The @CompoundBoss account was just one of many platforms at Cumia’s disposal. He can still reach his audience through Compound Media, its Twitter accounts (including @CompoundAmerica and @TheCumiaShow), and various comedy venues in which he remains welcome. In June, he appeared at The Stand for a recording of the podcast Legion of Skanks. In April, Stand Up NY hosted him as part of Compound Media's touring show "Comedians of the Compound." That tour has also included, or will include, stops at Vulcan Gas Company in Austin; Soul Joel's Comedy Club and Lounge in Royersford, Pennsylvania; The Plaza Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas; Funny Stop Comedy Club in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio; and Laugh It Up! Comedy Club in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Cumia has also appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience three times since his SiriusXM firing, most recently in May of this year. In their 2018 interview, Rogan said Cumia inspired him to start podcasting. "If it was not for you, this would not exist," he said. "That is a hundred percent actual fact."

Edit, 4:45pm: Cumia appears to have already returned to Twitter via the account @BoeingMax8, with the display name "Compound maintenance."

Having trouble viewing this tweet? Click here to open original tweet.Having trouble viewing this tweet? Click here to open original tweet.

Thanks for reading! This newsletter is free, but making it isn't. If you can, please help keep independent comedy journalism alive by subscribing to Humorism:

Header image via YouTube.