Radio host Savage says he was attacked outside Tiburon restaurant

TIBURON — Michael Savage, the popular right-wing radio personality and fierce Donald Trump supporter, says he was assaulted by a man as he was leaving a Marin County restaurant Tuesday night.

According to Savage’s attorney, Daniel Horowitz, the man shouted something at Savage and made fun of his legal name before knocking him to the ground. Another restaurant customer, who intervened in the fracas, was punched in the face.

In a statement released Wednesday morning to the 415 Media blog, Savage said the man called out to him: “Are you Michael Weiner?” (referring to his given name). Savage said he turned to the man and said, “Go away, I don’t know who you are.”

Horowitz said it’s still not entirely clear what motivated the alleged assault, but his office is looking into whether it was a hate crime or whether it had anything to do his client’s political views and his support of Trump, both frequent subjects of his “Savage Nation” nationally syndicated radio show.

Savage has been described as the “Godfather of Trumpmania” for encouraging his 10 million listeners to vote for the real estate mogul and reality TV star. Savage’s support of Trump made headlines last month when the president said of Savage, after an hourlong dessert meeting at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida: “I wouldn’t be president without this man.”

Savage has also sparked controversy over the years with his remarks denigrating Muslims, gays, feminists and others.

A Tiburon police spokeswoman said officers arrived on the scene on Tiburon’s Main Street at about 8:25 p.m. Both men involved in the fight claimed the other started it, according to an incident log. Spokeswoman Laurie Nilsen said the two men placed each other under citizen’s arrest and were released at the scene. A follow-up police report will be sent to the District Attorney’s Office for review to see if any charges will be filed.

Horowitz suggested it’s unlikely his client was the aggressor, given that he’s 5 feet 6 inches tall and 75 years old.

Horowitz said Savage, who lives in Marin County, had finished up a quiet dinner alone at Servino Ristorante. He had a bag of leftover food in one hand and his constant companion, his toy poodle Teddy, in the other.


Outside the restaurant, the man, who stands around 6 feet 5 inches, came at Savage, “yelling insults,” Horowitz said.

After Savage told the man to “go away,” he started to turn. Horowitz said it appears that the man knocked Savage to the ground while also pushing his dog out of the way.

At that point, another customer from the restaurant intervened, and Savage’s alleged assailant punched him in the face, Horowitz said. Savage was somehow able to get back up and help the good Samaritan while also calling police.

No one fled the scene, with the involved parties staying to give their statements to officers. Nilsen said the officers were working on the report to send to prosecutors for review.

Horowitz said Savage wasn’t hurt in the fight, and it doesn’t appear anyone else was either. He said Savage may have seen his alleged assailant earlier in the bar of the restaurant.

“He called me from the scene,” Horowitz said, referring to Savage. “Truthfully, I think he was more furious than anything. He was saying he had just wanted to go out and have a nice dinner. He said, ‘This guy can’t get away with that.’ ”

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SAVAGE VIOLENTY ATTACKED OUTSIDE MARIN COUNTY RESTAURANT

Syndicated radio talker (heard here on KSFO) Michael Savage was violently confronted and physically attacked by an unknown assailant last night (Tuesday) in a Marin County restaurant.

Savage was with his dog, "Teddy", and finishing up dinner at Servino Restaurant in Tiburon, CA (north of San Francisco) when the unnamed assailant charged up to Savage and began yelling, "Hey Weiner", making fun of Savage's legal last name. The attacker then kicked the poodle out of the way so he could get to Michael and then grabbed Savage and threw him to the ground, according to an eyewitness who watched the attack along with several restaurant patrons.


Servino restaurant, scene of the crime

Savage was not seriously hurt and his dog is OK but the incident left him bloodied and shaken.

I was able to contact Savage's attorney, Dan Horowitz who told me, exclusively:

"We're going to seek felony charges against the man and we're going to investigate this as a Hate Crime because of Michael's political views."


Savage just released this statement to me:

"I WAS LEAVING SERVINOS RESTAURANT WHEN A TOTAL STRANGER FOLLOWED ME OUT OF THE RESTAURANT AND CONFRONTED ME.

HE SAID 'ARE YOU MICHAEL WEEENER"! I TURNED TO HIM AND SAID, 'GO AWAY, I DONT KNOW WHO YOU ARE"

I TURNED TO LEAVE AND HE PUSHED ME AND I FELL DOWN. HE MOVED TOWARD ME TO PUSH ME DOWN AND HE SHOVED MY 10 POUND POODLE OUT OF THE WAY TO GET TO ME. HE HAS LIED AND SAID I PUSHED HIM. THAT IS ABSURD. BOTH OF MY HANDS WERE HOLDING ONTO THINGS!

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LKellerIII said:

It was talk host Jim Eason (KGO and KSFO, now retired) who started referring to Michael Savage on-air as "The Savage Weiner." I assume Weiner is his real name. Eason disliked Savage intensely, and it wasn't politics - they're both conservative. Savage's show followed Eason's (before Eason started broadcasting from his home in So. Carolina), so they would run into each other, so he likely didn't think much of Savage as a person.

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CTListener said:

Yes, Weiner is his real surname. I assume he changed the name both to match his on-air personality and to drop the ethnic (Jewish) association with the name that might not go over well for a host taking an anti-immigrant stand. Same reason, I suppose, that Italian-American Bob Gigante, another America-first talker in New York, became all-American Bob Grant behind the mic.

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LKellerIII said:

OK - here we go off on a tangent:

Ronald Lowenstein = Ronn Owens
Gary Altman = Gary Owens
Kemal Amin Kasem - Casey Kasem
Hugh Silvis=Rick Shaw
Frederick Van Amburg=Van Amburg
Donald Steele Revert - The Real Don Steele
Terrence Crilly= Frank Terry
John Mack Flanagan=John Mack Flanagan

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boombox4 said:

I doubt he's hiding anything, as his real name is well known.

As for your question, ask nine tenths of the air personalities and jocks out there: every one I ever met (and I met a few of them) had phony names in the radio business -- even using them after they went off the air.

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boombox4 said:

I was referring to the ones I knew. Their reasons for using fake names were that they wanted to protect their privacy, and some of them didn't have real names that sounded memorable on the airwaves. Maybe they'd go with a middle name and make it their last name.

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