Opie and Anthony - Controversies

Controversies

• April Fool's Day: On April 1, 1998, while still on WAAF in Worcester, O&A announced that the mayor of Boston, Thomas Menino, had been killed in a car accident in Florida. Things became heated after Menino's daughter called the station believing the story to be true, and the duo was terminated the following week. During the early days of XM, Anthony stated that the intent of the April Fool's prank was to allow the duo to be released from their contract with WAAF. He also stated that the duo had illegal meetings with WNEW before the April Fool's prank. He prefaced these comments with "the statutes of limitations must be up on this." Despite the controversy that was started by the April Fool's Day prank, the duo was hired by WNEW-FM in New York City less than five months later.

• W.O.W.: During their WAAF years, O&A established "Whip 'em Out Wednesdays," which encouraged women to flash their breasts to anyone with a "W.O.W." sign. Consequently, it was common around Massachusetts to see cars with W.O.W. stickers, signs and even painted lettering. The campaign came to an end on WAAF in the summer of 1997, when the station forced the duo to discontinue the stunt and suspended the show for three weeks. W.O.W. has since been reintroduced to the show; W.O.W. stickers and signs are more common in O&A's biggest markets: New York and Boston. The campaign gained notoriety when a woman flashed the famous crowd fly-by camera during a broadcast of The Today Show. They are less visible in other markets, such as San Francisco, as they are more reluctant to back the W.O.W. promotion.

• Voyeur Bus: Fifteen participants in the show's "Voyeur Bus", including the driver, six dancers, and eight associates of the show, were arrested for disorderly conduct. The dancers had performed topless, fully visible through the vehicle's large transparent windows, which was driven along busy Manhattan streets. Charges against the eight associates were later dropped. New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani described the publicity stunt as "stupid."

• Homeless Shopping Spree: In late 1999, shortly before Christmas, O&A held the first "Homeless Shopping Spree", which has since become an annual event. The bit involves a dozen of New York's homeless, who are each given several hundred dollars by the show and much more by the fans, and are taken to a posh shopping mall, most notably the Mall at Short Hills in Short Hills, New Jersey. They are allowed to buy whatever they want, including warm clothes and other items they could not normally afford, while being cheered on by the thousands of listeners who show up. In the 1999 Spree, the mall reacted by closing several of the nicer stores and eventually have the twelve homeless men removed from the mall by security. Boston mayor Thomas Menino expressed outrage at the event, declaring that the Homeless Shopping Spree degraded and humiliated the contestants, and that it was immoral to hold such an event on the same day the city was to do a census count of the homeless townspeople. The event was repeated at the same mall on December 16, 2006.

• "100 Grand": Early in the team's radio career, O&A announced a contest at WAAF in which the 107th caller would receive "100 Grand". They continued this bit throughout the show, careful not to say "$100,000", only "100 Grand". The 107th caller was ecstatic, believing that he had actually won $100,000, and exclaimed that he was planning to buy a new truck with his good fortune. He became furious when Opie informed him that the prize was merely a 100 Grand candy bar, and proceeded to curse loudly on the air, famously calling the duo "a bunch of douche bags."

• T&A with O&A: Opie and Anthony held a station-promoted beach party on the shores of Angola, NY (a suburb of the city of Buffalo) on Saturday July 13, 2002; they claimed 5,000 persons were in attendance. Several female attendees appeared nude or topless, and at least one inserted vegetables into various orifices. Buffalo officials quickly dispersed the crowd, warning O&A and crew not to return, lest they endure legal action. Additionally, FCC complaints were filed despite the event not being broadcast on any medium. Furthermore, reminiscing about the event on their July 25, 2011 show, Opie claimed that shortly after the event took place, management at WNEW informed the duo off-air that police in Erie County (who received over 250 complaints from area residents) had begun the process of securing warrants for their arrest over the incident. The aftermath went unrealized, as it was overshadowed by the more serious "Sex For Sam 3" incident roughly a month later.

• The Eggnog Drinking Challenge: An annual challenge where contestants have to drink as many shots of eggnog as possible before vomiting. On December 1, 2006, during the Challenge, Pat from Moonachie drank 75 double-shots of eggnog and subsequently vomited all over prospective intern Pat Duffy's mouth. This was dubbed the "Baby Bird" by Joe Rogan and became a hit on both the O&A website as well as Break.com due to YouTube's initial refusal to carry the video.

• Condoleezza Rice, Laura Bush & Queen Elizabeth II: A homeless man (Homeless Charlie) making a guest appearance on the XM version of the show described how he would like to have sex with the United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, First Lady Laura Bush, also calling Queen Elizabeth II "horse-faced", an act which the hosts joked could only happen through force. In the wake of the Don Imus firing, there was speculation that O&A might be fired following that segment that aired on their program May 9, 2007. On their Friday show, Opie and Anthony apologized for the bit by begrudgingly saying, "We apologize to the public officials for comments that were made on our XM show on May 9. We take very seriously the responsibility that comes with our creative freedom and regret any offense that this segment has caused." On May 15, 2007, XM suspended Opie and Anthony for 30 days.

• Donald Trump made a handful of calls to the show to promote his television series The Apprentice, and it appeared that relations between the radio show and Donald Trump were positive. However, Trump was later interviewed and called Opie and Anthony "two slobs" and swore never to appear on the show again, seemingly over a press release made by O&A that stated that Trump called them. Trump interpreted that statement as implying that he was desperate for media attention. Trump was supposed to call the show on January 10, 2008, but did not. Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. has appeared many times on the show since then, and relations between the Trump family and radio show are positive again.

• Jesse Ventura: The Opie and Anthony Show hosted former Governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura on December 2, 2009. During the show, a disagreement between co-host Jim Norton and Ventura erupted into an argument regarding the September 11 attacks, of which Ventura has questioned the official account, as well as the use of the military overseas. Ventura also suggested that Norton did not believe in the Constitution, which the latter strongly denied. Twenty minutes into the debate, Ventura walked off the air and the two exchanged explicit comments towards one another. As Ventura left the studio, Norton said, "Fucking baby. Big fucking guy who doesn't like the little guy yelling."

• Weinergate Photo Release During his June 8, 2011 appearance, Andrew Breitbart showed Opie and Anthony a picture of Anthony Weiner's erect penis. A listener forwarded them a screenshot captured from their live Paltalk video feed, and Opie posted it on Twitter. Andrew Breitbart claimed to be very upset at what transpired. Opie had also taken a picture of the photo during the showing without the knowledge of Breitbart.

• Chris Kyle vs Jesse Ventura Former Navy Seal Chris Kyle appeared on the January 4, 2012 show promoting his book American Sniper. A listener called in to ask about Chris allegedly getting into a bar fight with former Governor and Underwater Demolition Team member Jesse Ventura in 2006. Opie decided to ask Kyle about the rumor, with the later saying he did punch Ventura. After telling the story, radio personality Alex Jones, who is a friend of Ventura, claimed that Kyle was a "war monger" and that the whole interview was staged. This prompted a phone call by Kyle to the January 10, 2012 show by claiming he knew people who were present that will back him up on the story. Alex Jones then called the show and there was an argument to whose story was right. Ventura himself denied Kyle's accusations and is suing Kyle for defamation.