Cumia, of ‘Opie & Anthony' Fame, Arrested on Strangulation and Assault Charges

Controversial shock jock Anthony Cumia, who rose to fame as co-host of the "Opie & Anthony" radio show, was arrested on strangulation and assault charges on Long Island, police said Sunday.

Cumia, 54, was at his Roslyn Heights home around 11 a.m. ET Saturday when he got into an argument with a 26-year-old woman that turned violent, according to Nassau County police. He was arrested Saturday morning on charges of strangulation, assault, criminal mischief and unlawful imprisonment.

“Mr. Cumia emphatically denies the allegations brought against him, and is optimistic that when the truth comes out, he will be exonerated," Cumia’s attorney, Alan Schwartz, said in a statement. "Simply put, things are not always what they appear to be, and this case is a perfect example of that.”

Cumia pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Sunday and was released without bail. An order of protection requires him to stay away from the woman.

The radio personality has been hosting his own online show since last year, after he was fired for what satellite radio company SiriusXM called a hate-filled Twitter rant.

The company fired him from the show after he expressed his outrage at a woman he said punched him in the face on a New York street. His tweets used an expletive degrading to women, and SiriusXM called them "racially charged." The woman he encountered is black.

At the time, Cumia said he used words like "animal" and "savage" to describe people who resort to violence, not people of a certain race. He said the tweets echoed the way he had spoken on the radio for years, and he refused to apologize.

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