Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - American Royalty: Olympian Dominique Dawes on Happy and Healthy Gymnasts

Episode Date: August 20, 2021

Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay welcome four-time Olympic medalist Dominique Dawes to discuss everything from mental health in gymnastics to the time Prince made her hot cocoa before a music video shoot (8:00). Plus, OnlyFans changes its policies (35:33), Jeopardy!’s got a new and problematic host (43:12), and Amber Rose vents her relationship frustrations (56:40).  Hosts: Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay Producer: Donnie Beacham Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, yo, yo, thought warriors. What is up? Higher learning is on. It is I, Van Lathan, Jr. And it's me, Rachel Lynn Lindsay. Rachel, Lynn Lindsay. Rachel, I saw a picture of Brian from Columbia. I saw your comment.

First of all, it's Brian with the Y. Put some respect on the same. Did I do Brian with the eye? You did. I do with the eye? My bad, Brian. What's the Y? Brian, Brian, I suppose it's hell, man.

You should work out with Brian. He works out like six days a week. Maybe seven. I'm not working. with Brian. What's that going to do? It's motivation. You don't work out with people

who are already fit. You work out with people. That's so not true. That's why you have trainers. No, that's not working out with someone. That's someone training you. That's correct. You are correct.

But see, and the trainer is one thing. That's one thing. See, the trainer makes sense because the trainer gives you workouts that are based upon what it is that you can do. I used to work out with my brother Gibral, right? And my brother Gibral

Is maybe a half inch taller To me, maybe just a little bit taller to me But he just swole as hell, right? So he's like He's like, yeah, we're gonna get down We're gonna get down. Okay, we're gonna do we're gonna get on the bench We're gonna isolate this peck time.

Is that he talks? Nah, it's just how all dudes who work out a lot talk That's how they all talk We're gonna get on the bench We're gonna work out. It's peck time. Look, well, I want you do Walk over there, grab those 100 pound dumbbells

And bring them over here. It's time to pump for the pecks. I'm like, 100 pounds. I've never had a train to talk to me like that. I'm like, 100 pounds, yeah, dude. It's like, we got to lift heavy. You got to go. And I don't want to not do it, right?

Because I don't want to, because I'm, you know, I'm with him. And so he is going to feel the way. So I don't want to not do it. So I'm straining all of my ligaments and joints and muscles trying to push this shit up. And you know what? No, that's not what I need. I like to do what I like to do. Brian's gonna

Brian's gonna be having me doing handstand pushups and those fucking those fucking sit-ups where you put your leg over the bar and you hang like Batman and then you do a sit-up and he's gonna like okay now do one

just three inches isolate the lower app that's why y'all should work out because his workouts are much more simple he's with you no not with we don't work we do not work out together okay now why Why? Why don't y'all work out together?

Because I like more of a cardio workout and he doesn't do cardio. He doesn't do any cardio? No, he doesn't really do cardio at all, at all. Because he drops weight really fast and so he's trying to gain weight and put on muscle. For me, I go more cardio route because I don't have that same issue. You don't have Dr. Apps. You guys look like he had a lot of fun over there in Old Columbia, though. Yeah, you know, I didn't post while we were.

there because I wasn't really feeling well and I just like didn't want to do all that. But we did. We had a fantastic time. I'm going to post a lot more. But his cousin, the wedding was, as my sister, cousin said, that wasn't a wedding. That was a production. She said based on Brian's videos. But it was just a beautiful time.

Like I can't say that enough. Just experiencing like Brian's family and the culture and like everything that comes with that is just a beautiful. beautiful time. I had a CT scan on my abdomen earlier. Are you okay? Yeah, I was feeling my stomach was hurting yesterday, so I went to the urgent care and then I told them that I needed a CT scan. You were such a hypochondriac. You know this about yourself though, right? You know this. Most people who have a stomachache don't end up with CT scans. I just want you to know that. I did contrast and without contrast. I know what this is so intense. I had done.

I know I've had one before. Yeah. So why did you have one? Because I had a gallbladder issue. See? Now how do you know that you had a gallbladder issue? No, I legit couldn't walk. I was in excruciating pain.

I'll never forget this was college football playoff weekend. In ATL, 2018, Brian and I had just gotten together and I was like, man, he's seeing me in the hospital. I mean, I was buckled over in pain. And it turns out it was a stone, a gallstone, and it passed through. Like my liver enzymes were up. They thought they were going to have to take off my gallbladder, out my gallbladder. And my only question was, but can I go to the game tomorrow? And what did they say?

Yeah, because it passed through. And so, like, they just gave me some medicine. Passed through and I was at the game, which was a great game. It was a great game. It was a great game. So now I got a new nickname for you. Stony Lindsay. Okay.

That's unnecessary. Let's talk about your results. Stony Lindsay. We don't know yet. The scam was this morning. But you feel better. I mean, stomachache is gone.

You had gas. You know you just had gas. Well, no, it's not, see, but look, it wasn't just a stomach ache, though. I had a stomachache and then I felt weird, like a weird kind of headache almost like, like, like, like a little malaise kind of deal. And so I went and I did everything yesterday. I went to the urgent care. I went and got tested for the VIN and VIN. And then, you know, I was like, they were like, you know, the doctor at the urgent care goes, well, I'm not sure what it is.

we could just, you know, do a CT scan. I was like, yeah, schedule it tomorrow. Your insurance, man. I don't have insurance. Why not? I don't have it. I don't have it. Like, it's like when I left TMZ, I lost the insurance that I had.

And then so. Aren't you SAG? Yeah, but like I don't. SAG has fantastic insurance. I don't have insurance. No, no, no. Somebody put me on. I mean, I was paying a grip with insurance.

I can't stress to you enough how cheap and how good SAG insurance is. I got money, though. I'll send you all the links. Okay, fine. Be smart with your money then. I'm being, I am smart with it. And by the way, not having insurance is probably good for me at this particular point because if not, I would be in the doctor's office with a different thing every single day. This is the most anxiety riddled time in my life. I'll send you links. I can't tell you guys how tough life is right now. It's just nuts. It's nuts. It's, you just got to laugh. It's weird. We're living in weird times. Anyway, I'm still stuck on the insurance. Whatever.

I'll be sending you stuff tonight. You're going to see me some stuff. Okay. We got a big interview coming up later, guys. We got one Ms. Dominic Dawes on higher learning today. So interesting. What a regal lady. I know.

Living on childhood trains. What royalty? What royalty that we have on this very podcast for people? Royalty. And if you don't know, which you should, you're definitely no after this interview. She's the Olympic gold medals. I don't, you know what, I don't want to, do you feel like sometimes it's disrespectful to introduce people? I love your introductions.

Why do you think it's disrespectful? Well, what I mean is like, certain people you shouldn't have to introduce. Like, I don't want to deal with like introducing people that I feel like people should know. No, I think that's, that just comes with doing these type of shows, right? Like, not everybody knows everything you know. So I think you should tell people who she is. She's of a different generation. Maybe they don't know.

Maybe they're not into sports. Maybe they don't realize the history that was made when it comes to Dominic Dawes. So give her a proper introduction and then they can learn more. Dominique Dawes is a history making gymnastics. She was amazing from 92 to 2000. She went Olympic gold medal in the year 1996 as part of the magnificent seven as far as gymnas are concerned. And she is going to join us and talk about what's going on in her sport, what's going on her life now. And a special time she had with Kobe Bryant right on the other side of this.

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Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit trimfireradio.com. We have an amazing treat today. We are joined by Real American Royalty. Real American royalty. I'm going to say something real quick. So there are a lot of different young African-American, young black ladies for people that are coming up. watching gymnastics to identify with in the sea now. And it's amazing.

Obviously, Simone Biles, people like that. But back in my day, when we were watching it, there was one standout that the entire community and culture identified with. And she's a gold medalist and is with us today. Everybody, we welcome Dominique Dawes to hire and learning today. This is amazing.

How are you doing? Oh, I am doing very well as a wife and mother. or four. I don't sleep. And then owning a gymnastics and Ninja Academy here in Maryland. Sorry, I'm in my busted office. I would wish I could be in the gym, but the kids are out there, so I'd have to wear a mask. But I feel very blessed today.

So you say you have a Ninja Academy? Oh, gymnastics and Ninja Academy. It's pretty fun. So what is that? Gymnastics and Ninja. What's like, what's Ninja? We actually do have some combo classes of gymnastics and ninja, but it's primarily gymnastics. It's Gymnastics Academy that has the preschool gymnastics gym, a recreational gymnastics gym. And then I also have a ninja gym, which is kind of like American Ninja Warrior. Obstacle training for young kids.

They just four and up, adults even. And we even have competitions every now and then. But I started this academy last year in the middle of the global pandemic because I wanted to create a healthier culture for young girls and boys in the sport of gymnastics as well as ninja based on all of the unhealthy things that have come out about my sport. I have to tell you. I have to tell you. I have to tell you, Dominique, I'm like in awe talking to you right now because for me, I didn't do gymnastics, but it didn't matter because in 92, when you were in the Olympics, I was seven. And I went to a predominantly white school. And a lot of my friends were into gymnastics. And so just the representation for me to have to be watching the Olympics, to be surrounded with

majority white women, and to be the only one, and then to see you be the only one, and to be so outstanding on the team and have first, when it came to like, not just representation, but also getting medals, it just, like, I feel like I'm seven years old again. I'm going to stumble through this entire interview. Like, this is, it's such a treat for me. You just have no idea what you meant for me, and I'm sure you hear this all the time from other young black women, but it is such an honor to talk to you. I just have to say that. And then I'm curious, I mean, your mother of four, is your oldest seven? Seven years old, yes. Do they understand who their mother is? They're like, she's mom. Who cares about, you know, what she accomplished in her career. But,

you know, with the gymnastics gym and they're taking classes here, of course, they, you know, they hear and see what people are saying about me and how in all they are of my career. And I think my oldest is catching on. She's seven years old. My next is almost six. And then I have three and a half year old twins. And my seven year old is definitely like, mommy, why does so many, why do so many people know you? And so my husband does a better job of explaining how I was in the Olympics back in the day and mommy was on TV and, you know, little things like that. But I, you know, I kind of cringe, honestly, as a parent, having my kids in the sport that I excelled at because I don't want them to feel that outside pressure from those around them, kind of expecting that they're

going to follow in their mom's footsteps. And that's not what I want for them whatsoever. You talked about some of the unhealthy things that have been going on in gymnastics, and it has really been shocking to a lot of people to kind of see some of the stuff that was happening in the sport. Obviously, some of the abuse, more than that, like, well, not more than that, but also, I think in the last five to six, maybe ten years, we've gotten a sense of just what a rough sport it is on the ladies. the men physically, mentally, and, you know, physically, you know, physically, they're going through all these injuries. So what to you is the most unsafe part of gymnastics? When you opened up your own gym, what were you trying to protect the kids from? The biggest thing is, is it's not necessarily something that one thing I'm pinpointing that I'm protecting them from. It is about

hiring the right people. Of course, you want to make sure people are trained and they love working with kids. But the thing is, everything that came out in 2016 with regards to Larry Nassar, the Olympic doctor, and I worked with him for 10 years of my childhood. And while I was not sexually abused by him, the hundreds of survivors that have come out and, you know, shared their truth and been so bold and courageous have really opened my eyes more to the unhealthy culture of the sport of gymnastics. There's a great deal of verbal abuse, physical abuse, mental abuse and these young girls are feeling very uncomfortable and very vulnerable. And it really is a culture of fear, intimidation, and silence. And so these young girls that were then sexually abused

by Larry Nassar, a high percentage of them were in environments in which they were already being emotionally or verbally or physically abused so that when he stepped in and he saw how vulnerable they were and took advantage of them, they didn't feel a safe person maybe to speak up to. And he was the Olympic team doctor for two of my Olympic games. My final Olympic games in 2000, when I was 23 years old, I remember how kind and friendly he was and how he tried to lure young girls in, because he was the safe person. He was the person that, you know, we felt like we could trust in. Wow. I was very guarded always, always because of just the environment I was in, which was unhealthy, and that I did not let him in, but a number of my teenage did, and they ended up getting abused.

So the environment here is having the right coaches on the floor. I vet the people that I'm interviewing. You are not immediately on boarded just because you want to work here, or you've got all these great accolades in the sport of gymnastics, or you were a former Division I gymnast, or you've coached for 20 years. That does not matter to me. It really is about your character and your heart and why you want to be here. And the 20-plus staff members I have on the floor are amazing.

They love working with each and every kid no matter their ability level or even their parents, sadly, this matters in the sport, but many times their parents network of how much money the parents are going to dish out to the coaches, that's not something that's going to motivate my staff whatsoever here. You wrote an opinion piece for The Washington Post, and you talked about this and you talk about how many coaches rule through intimidation and fear. And I love that you have an academy where it's the complete opposite of that as someone who's been through that.

but you also talked about Simone Biles and you applauded her within this opinion piece and that you talked about that you know that the weight that you know the weight that is on her shoulders. And I'd like for you to talk a little bit about what you meant by that. You know, I remember prior to marching out before the 1996 Olympic Games and just feeling the pressure, the pressure from fans, the pressure from my race, the pressure from the federation in knowing that being one of the top competitors a part of that team known as the Magnificent Seven, that I needed to be on my A game for us to make history. I remember breaking down emotionally prior to marching out

in front of 50,000 people nearly at the Georgia Dome and just feeling that weight. Simone had that in addition to the social media pressure that I cannot relate to because that did not exist back then. Then, of course, she's a human being. So she's dealing with some personal issues that we may not be privy to. And again, after the Olympics, things came to light

that she was dealing with the loss of a family member. That would be tough. And then at these Olympic games, there were no fans in the stand. She didn't have her family and her friends there to lean on for support during these challenging times. And so I feel for her, but what I love most about Simone Biles

is not necessarily her athletic proudness or the amazing accolades that she's achieved in the sport. But I love how she's been so outspoken and very courageous about the need for the sport of gymnastics to change. that matters more to me than anything because she is very committed to changing the culture of the sport of gymnastics. Even one of her interviews prior to the Olympic trial, she mentioned

that it's not just about gymnastics anymore. It really is about the next generation. And she's going to be a big leader a part of that change. Yeah, she's amazing. She's amazing. There was a chorus of people who had a lot of criticism for whatever she decided to make space for herself during the Olympic Games. I already see you scoffing at them. You're an Olympian. You've been there. Look, she still got the, she showed us a little arm there too.

Look at that. Like, like, like, the, like, she's trying to make sure my interview. No,

no, she was like, she wanted to let me see. She's like, yo, she's like, yo. She still got it.

She still got it. For somebody who's been there and it's been on that stage, is there a situation to where you could have imagined yourself, maybe not being able to perform in that moment. and maybe getting to that place and going,

I can't, I don't have it today. You know, it's interesting. I'm kind of, I'm very torn about the whole situation. I completely applaud Simone for what she did. She's courageous. It takes a great deal of humility for her to speak out and say, look, I'm not ready to compete. I'm going through a mental block.

I could injure myself physically, you know, things of that nature. So for her to be in that situation, for those that were criticizing her and that, they have no clue. And more than likely probably didn't even make their JV. So I don't even listen to, you know, and I know she shouldn't, I mean, listen to the quote from like Venus Williams when she says when people wanted to criticize her, she would say, you can't do a tenth of what I'm doing. So your opinion really doesn't matter that much to me. And I feel that same way with regards to those that were criticizing Simone. So, you know, for me, it went in one near and out the other for the criticism that she received. And I hope she took it the same way because it just, you know, it just made absolutely no sense. that people didn't get her back, because no one's going to sacrifice their whole childhood,

make it to a second Olympic Games, and be the leader of the squad, and then decide to step back in a way. Now, at my 2000 Olympic trials, though, and I believe I might have added this to the Washington Post op-ed, that after the preliminary competition, I actually wanted to quit, and I did quit. And I was like, I'm done, done with this meet, I'm okay.

You know, I said goodbye to the fans. This was a fun farewell. And I was very much forced to continue to compete. And my voice wasn't, you know, something that really mattered back then. That was the culture is that you were controlled. You were forced in many ways. And it was ingrained in us at a very young age that quitters never win and winners never quit. And that kind of is a little bit of a brainwashing thing.

And I love the fact that Simone was able to listen to her inner voice and do what was right for her at this time. Why do you think it's so hard for people to give her the benefit of the doubt? Because like you heard a lot of people just like comparing it to Jordan's flu game, which is not the same thing by any means in my opinion. But people really didn't want to give, believe her. Why? Like someone who's been in her shoes before. Why do you think that that's the case?

Well, I mean, because they can't relate. She posted something on Twitter and then I think she quickly took it down because it might have been a violation of showing footage of their, you know, their training prior to the Olympics or during the Olympic games. She showed footage of her going through that mental block, which the young people today called the twisties. It did not have a name back then when I competed. It was called balking or it was called a mental block. She showed people how she was lost in the air when she was twisting and that she was concerned for her mental health and more importantly, her physical health as well. And I think she posted that because so many people didn't believe

that the great Simone Biles is human and that she can, you know, make mistakes and falter and possibly even injure herself. And I'm glad she put that out there because when I saw it, I was like, oh my goodness, those are those mental blocks that many gymnasts deal with, but we usually don't deal with the men at Olympic Games. And if it does happen in Olympics, it would be a nightmare because it's not like an on and off switch where you could be like, oh, I'm going to get over it. I'll turn the switch off. It's something that you have to work through. And that's why she chose to compete the individual event, the balance beam. And she took her twist completely out of it because there was no mental block to be afraid of.

Interesting. Interesting. So when I was maybe like in the 11th grade, I walked into my friend Walter, Gino McLaughlin's room. And the pictures up on the wall in the room, right? These are the pictures of these are the ladies of the day. All right. We're talking like 1997, 98. You got Janet Jackson up there. You got Halle Berry up there.

Nice. And then you got Dominique Dawes up there. That's hilarious. It's a true thing. And really for Gino, Dominic Dawes was power rank number one. Okay. She was number one. However, there was no social media at this time that all the brothers out there were like, yo, Dominique Dawes, she is fine.

So my question to you is, during that time, do you remember? any of the stars of the day, the hip hoppers, the actors, the athletes, did anybody shoot their shot with Dominique Dawes that you can remember? And if it's true, what was the most memorable story? No, I'm married now, and I don't remember any of the people that I have released. That's right, Dominique. Don't take the bait. Now I know, one I'd like to bring up because he's no longer with us, but, you know, I think he had like a great heart was Kobe Bryant. You know, when I lived in, and I did not date him, I did not date him. But when I lived in New York City, I lived in Manhattan, I was on Broadway.

I did the musical Greece for a while, super fun, but absolutely no talent whatsoever. My manager back then connected me with Kobe and we were conversing as almost, I guess, teenagers. I mean, almost teenagers. I was 20. And then I went out to L.A. to celebrate my 21st birthday with him. And I just remember him picking my brain about how I was able to achieve what I achieved at 15 and 19 years old. With him, it was all about the journey, the process, and trying to get knowledge, get pieces of advice so that he could accomplish what he wanted to accomplish. And, you know, when he passed away some time ago along with Gigi,

I pulled out some little videos that my husband and I had of him with our oldest daughter. He's met our second daughter as well. And it just made me, you know, just weak because the impact that he made when he was here was great. But the other impact that he was going to continue to make and leave such a lasting legacy is still with me today. Even so much so that I'll show you to continue to more of my messy office. But that article. And that image has been with me since day one prior to opening my doors here at this gymnastics academy.

We opened in the global pandemic just as motivation of the impact that I can make that he did as a person and with his Mamba Academy. And so I would say that just is one individual that has left, you know, planted a little seed in me. And there were other fun people that I got to know throughout the day. But it's, by nature, I'm very private. By nature, I'm very introverted. So I will say, even if I,

when I met celebrities, I went back to my private home life, and I love that more than anything because I did not care for for the limelight whatsoever. I got to say this, I got to say this, though. Kobe Bryant asking Dominique out to pick her brain about how to be a better, like, or as becoming friends with you,

to pick your brain about how to be a better champion is the most Kobe thing I have never heard before. I'm like, that's very Kobe. Hey, introduce me a Dominique Dawes. I want to know what makes her the best in the world. The goat, yeah. Right, that's amazing. That's a great story.

Thank you for that. But you always want to take bits and pieces from other people's lives and apply it to what you're trying to pursue and the impact you're trying to make. So I, yeah, I felt, I mean, I didn't, you know, I felt honored, honestly. That's dope. I love that, that Van tried to ask a messy question and you turned it into something so beautiful. What's messy about that? So beautiful. You have to remember.

You have to remember. Like Dominique was, she was our thing. Like, you were, like, we were. Yeah. So, like, we're just what brothers wanted to know. I wanted to be in a leotard and I didn't even do gymnastics. I just wanted to look like her. I want to ask you, and thank you for sharing that story because that's absolutely beautiful.

I want to ask you about another late grade and that is Prince. Because you were in a Prince music video. That's your back. Aliwa. Do you have a story? Do you have a story about Prince? Can you tell us what he was like? Well, it's crazy because I was in, when I heard about it,

I was in Florida doing some work for Disney. And I got a call in my hotel room. And it was a very deep voice, very deep voice. And the person had said there are the artists formerly known as Prince. And I literally hung up on the person. And then shortly thereafter, my agent at the time called me and said, did you just hang up on Prince? and I said, I just got a prank call.

I didn't talk to Prince at all, you know, whatever. At the time, his name was the artist formerly known as. And my agent was like, no, no, you actually hung up on Prince. And so I don't remember if I actually found a way to call him back or if he called back, but I know soon thereafter I was in Minnesota at Paisley Park and got an opportunity to work with him in a music video, met Mite at the time. They had just, sadly, just birth their child. And honestly, I just miss.

Oprah Winfrey in passing because that was one of his first, I guess, tell-all type interviews that he did that he shot just there. But he was just very guarded as myself, very private. I think very introvert is what I always was told. But when I met him, he was wearing a purple lace outfit in heels. And it was interesting because it looked so good on him. But if you thought, like, if my husband wore that outfit, I would be like, no, no. But friends could get away with that.

He was just like a gorgeous man. And I remember him asking me what I wanted to drink. He had a very deep voice. And I said hot cocoa. Again, I'm just this kid. I think I was 1920, maybe at the time, but a gymnast. A 20-year-old gymnast is really 14. And so walks me to his industrial kitchen.

I remember he gets Swiss Miss Hot Coco. And he's like talking to me about the music videos. He's like storing my hot cocoa. It was the, yeah, it was the weirdest thing. but it was a fun, you know, project could be a part of. Now, you're training gymnasts. You see the gymnasts, you know, like when I'm a, I follow all the sports that I've played them.

I can look at somebody and go, there's a good basketball player. I can look at somebody and go, like, even as kids, I look at my nephews and I scout him. Yep. I'm like, look, he's got weird ankles. Nah, baseball. Then I go, I go, oh, look at his shoulders. that's a football player.

And I go, well, one of my nephews, he's gangly. He's like a gazelle. I'm like, that's a hooper. Now, for you, can, I got two questions. The first question is, can you look at someone and tell that they would make a good gymnast? Yeah, I can see the it factor the minute they walk through the doors. Now there has to be a number of other things that come to play. You know, they can't be very injury prone.

They have to be mentally tough. You can train some people to be mentally strong, but for many kids, kids, they either have it or they don't. I've seen the most talented athletes. They're great in training. And then in the competition, they just can't keep it together. But the overall it factor, I can see almost the minute they walk through the doors. Though at this facility, I'm not about that. That's the thing. And I think that's what's wrong about the sport of gymnastics is that they will look for that it factor. And then that kid is their ticket. That kid is who they're pushing to compete. We don't even have a competitive team. I wanted to be about kids having a happy.

healthy experience. And what I've sold parents on is our children only have one childhood. And we need to make it a healthy one and a balanced one. And so while I know that I'll develop a competitive team in time, they're not going to train the 36 plus hours a week that I did in the gym. They're not going to live with their coaches. They're not going to be yelled at. There's not going to be fear. You're not going to be kicked out. We're not going to have kids hiding in the bathroom for four or five hours. And the coaches ignoring their emotional help and yelling at them to come back into the gym to work. That was my whole childhood.

It's going to be a much more balanced and healthy environment where I will be capping hours because I want them playing other sports. I want them learning a musical instrument. I want them having friends that don't wear leotards. And honestly, for the majority of the days of the week, I want them home having dinner with their families. That's at the end of the day what is most important

and is so valuable with my gym environment. If people are looking for something different, And if they want to develop the next Olympic champion, I'll send them down the street. But as I said in one of the docu-series that I was the executive producer of, it was a docu-series called Golden. And I was the executive producer along with LeBron James and Maver Carter, even someone such as myself that has made history and made it to three Olympic games, I do say it's not worth the cost.

Now, I did not come from a healthy upbringing and a very broken family. And there was a great deal of abuse that I saw. So I didn't have that healthy outlet to be like, you know what? This is unhealthy. Let me go home. You know, and I'll have, you know,

my parents will nurture and protect and do what hopefully parents do. If I had that, you wouldn't be talking to me today. I wouldn't be a three-time Olympian and I wouldn't have made history. And that's what I try to kind of communicate to my parents and the families here

is that I want the family to be the priority. And second part of the question, is there a celebrity that you see that you look at and you go, that person would make a good gymnast? Is there, Is there anyone like, because, you know, Kevin Hart's small. Maybe he could flip through the air.

Because that's the only qualification. Yeah, it's only have to be small. However, like, there are bigger gymnasts. My best friend is like 5-9 and she got a full ride. So it is possible if you're a little taller. A celebrity. That you look at and go, that person might be able to cut a couple of flips, hit a backwards free. Well, I'd be like, Prince would have been a good gymnast.

Prince would have been a fucking amazing gym. this. Yeah, because he was all limber. You know, he would do the splits. And also, good athlete. Remember, we heard the basketball stories. Yeah, good athletes. Prince, Prince, rest in peace, Prince.

Yeah, Prince would have made it. That's a great answer. Wow, Dominique,'s on top of her game. Dominic, last question I will ask you. You talked about changes that you have made in your own academy. But as a whole, with you having the academy, with your children being involved in the sport, what changes do you think that need to be made in the school? sport of gymnastics to afford athletes, better opportunities, maybe some that you didn't have,

and then just to have the courage to make decisions such as Simone Bilesmaid. You know, I would, the message that I always send out there is to the parents. People always say, what advice would I give to a kid or what should USA gymnastics do because they're maybe not making the changes that they should be making? My advice really is to the parents. Open your eyes. Open your ears. These coaches in these gym environments are not hiding the abuse from you.

You are watching your children cry hours on end. Your child has a great deal of anxiety. They can't smile. They're not really having fun. They don't have a very balanced childhood in life outside of the sport of gymnastics. It really is almost common sense. I have this wonderful guy that's come into my life. He's doing a very cool sculpture of me in my hometown, Silver Spring, Maryland.

And he reached out to myself and my husband. I was like, I really want to do this. you know, I believe your story will, you know, leave a lasting legacy and inspire other kids to dream big, things like that. And he said, one thing that strikes me is the fact that when he brought his child to a gym, he's from New Jersey, he said he brought his child to a gymnastics gym. He watched practice. He said, I only had to watch practice for minutes to know that this was an unhealthy environment for his kid. And he quickly yanked her from the sport of gymnastics. Wow. He said it was obvious the way that the coaches were treating the kids, the stress, the pressure, the environment, that he was like, I care more about my child's soul than them getting on top of a podium.

So it really is about parents not biting the apple and looking at the Olympic rings or a potential college scholarship and really looking at these people that are coaching their kids. If they have no interest in giving you the time of day, if your kid is constantly crying, you know, constantly injured, then it's probably not the best environment. And there are healthy gyms out there. People just don't know about them because they're not producing Olympians. Wow.

Wow. Amazing. It was such a pleasure to talk to you today, Dominique. You know, my, Gino's going to watch this. And the only thing I have to see. She waved at you, Gina. She waved at you. I told you, I told.

She's 25 years older, not the same. Well, we're all. older. We're all older, but we really appreciate you joining us today on higher learning. And I learned a lot. I actually learned a lot. So thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your time, guys. I appreciate again, Rachel, me and my husband are the hugest fan of yours. And you were again, phenomenal, phenomenal, just witty, wise. It made the smartest decisions ever. How's married, married life? It's so good. Thank you so much for saying. It's so good. we're celebrating two years of marriage on the 24th.

So thank you. Hang in there. Very life is hard. All right. Bye, bye, Dominie. Thank you.

Bye, Dominic. Thank you so much. Bye. This episode is brought to by WeatherTech. Everyone knows winter is the MVP and making a mess. You don't need weather tech floor liners in the summer unless you hit the beach or go camping. Then you'd want a cargo liner or a road trip goes sideways.

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I love her. She's everything, everything I hope she would be. Amazing. Now, look, there's a bit of news here that we have to get to. And a lot of people are going to wonder why we're starting to show with this. But I think it's something that we need to start to show

but there's been a landmark decision that's happened in the world of the internet. That's what we're starting this show with. I just want to apologize to Dominic Dawes, if she's listening, continues to listen to the podcast, that that is what, that's the first topic we're starting with. You got to give people different stuff. No, what you want. We were already, this topic.

Yeah, got to give people what they different stuff, Rachel. This topic that you're about to introduce, people are already anticipating your reaction in response to this. this. Go ahead, man. Go ahead. It is the end of an era as OnlyFans will begin to block sexually explicit videos starting in October. The company will prohibit users from posting any sexually explicit conduct starting in October. Creators will still be able to post new photos and videos provided that they're consistent with OnlyFans policy. The company said Thursday, the changes are needed.

because of mounting pressure from banking partners and payment providers, according to the company. OnlyFans said this, in order to ensure the long-term sustainability of our platform and the continue to host, and the continue, that's making sense, and the continue to host an inclusive community of creators and fans, we must evolve our content guidelines.

OnlyFans has 130 million users. It's crazy. Crazy. And they handled more than $2 billion. dollars in sales last year. It's on pace of more than double that this year. And they keep 20% of the $2 billion. So that's how much Onlyfans is making.

So if they make $4 billion this year, they're going to keep 20% of that $2 billion. So listen, this is what I did. So obviously I heard the news. And I hit up some people who I know who are in that industry. Okay. I would love to have them on the podcast. Yes. They all are super upset, but they saw this coming, they said.

Why? From what I hear in the only streets, it was actually the celebrities that ruined Onlyfans. Oh. Because they weren't doing these things. Who wasn't doing what things? I'm asking, were the celebrities not participating in sexually explicit acting? activities or are they just saying because what? Okay, go ahead.

So apparently this is what happened. So the celebrities get on only fans. Right. And when the celebrities got on only fans, there were like, like chargebacks. Okay. Because like the celebrities would get on there like Bella Thorne. Right. And then Bellethorne would do all of this stuff and she would charge crazy money for it.

And then when people would get the, when they would get the content, because like the content comes out and it goes, hey, this is a video that I'm I'm posting for X amount of money you can see the video you can unlock the video right and there used to be no limit to the amount of money that you could unlock a video for right they capped it at 100 after Bella Thorne because people got on there and if Bella Thorne said hey I never looked at her page but people said hey I want to see Bella Thorne do whatever for 350 bucks and then they unlock the video and they see it and she's not doing whatever they expected her to do it. They called her bank and disputed and then there's a chargeback.

And so that's... Oh, wow. Right. And so that's why Bell-Othorn got OnlyFans shut down for a little while because a bunch of chargebacks, right? So after the celebrities came on, from what I understand from some people, they say that they ruined the way Onlyfans was doing their business and they started pushing the regular, the everyday creators around to cater to the celebrities. The everyday creators are more likely to do more stuff

So this was like going to be an inevitability for only fans. And now there's a lot of ladies out there and fellows too that are sex workers that had a safe place to do their sex work. And now they're going to have to find another platform. What do you think? I think it's really unfair because what made only fans popular are these people, the very, what they're trying to take away. I mean, what differentiated it from other social media. because it's considered social media, right? Yes.

What differentiated it from other social media platforms is that there was this sexual nature to it and it was this free space and a safe place where you could do certain things and sexual acts. And I think it's unfair that they're now going to take that away. And I actually think that the platform is going to suffer if they take this away. Because I think this is what made it stand out

versus other platforms. It's what made people gravitate to it because they could get something that they couldn't get before. Now, granted, they have not defined yet what sexually explicit means. I guess that will come in the upcoming months when they implement this in October.

They have said, though, that you can still be nude. You can post nude photos. You can post nude videos, but you can't do anything that's sexually explicit, which really means any type of sexual act or stimulation. So. Yeah. I mean, Van, I am not a user of OnlyFans.

Probably not, aren't you? But you, no, I'm just saying I'm going somewhere with this. But you are, so you are the affected party in this. Will you unsubscribe to OnlyFans now? Because you're not getting what you signed up for. I did a long time ago, actually. Okay. Yeah, Only fans had to go.

But I will say this, though. How do I say, Goodbye to Only fans I wrote a whole song I did a whole song I see them bringing this

I see them taking this back I see them taking this back They're gonna go somewhere They're only fans Had predecessors There are people Oh school me tell me People aren't gonna remember places like

Connect pal Wow That was You never heard of it in my life You never heard of Connect pal Connect pal Connect pal must be Connect pal

I wonder Here's the thing If Connect pal is still around Then Connect pal might might come back

because Connect pal was like the predecessor to Only fans You know And but Only fans has a better A better

A better fucking like A better user interface And stuff like Oh Connect Pal is still around America's Look at this Connect pal

America's content Marketplace. Connect, create a subscription business in less than 60 seconds. Connect, pal. All right. That's enough. That's enough of all of this.

Look, that might be actually a sign that the pandemic is coming to an end, the fact that OnlyFans, because OnlyFans was one of those things. It was popular before the pandemic, but it was also, it was buoyed a lot by the pandemic. Oh, I'm sure.

I just feel bad for the people who are like, who've been depending on this and, you know, they've made a living off of it and are now going to be out of work because people want to, it's because it all comes down to money at the end of the day. It's true.

And you don't have the support of the banks. You don't have support, period. But a lot of people out there are now going to have to look for a new way or maybe change their content. Who knows? Okay. So remember how you were against LeVar Burton

becoming the host of Jeopardy? I take it back. Go ahead. Yeah. And I wasn't against it. I just didn't like the way he was advocating for himself. But go ahead. See?

But this is what happens. I take it back. Don't you put this on. me. This is what happens. This is what happens. Rachel Lynn Lindsay came on here. We talked about LaVar Burton. She had some things to say now the new host, they didn't go with LaVar Bird by the way. They went with the guy named Mike Richards. And guess what? He's apparently trashed. So new Jeopardy host Mike Richards is under insensitive, under fire for insistive comments. Sexist, anti-Semitic and racist comments that he made on a podcast have recently resurfaced. Okay. He

was also a defendant in the discrimination complaint during his time as the executive producer of the prices, right? But he made some comments on a podcast called the Random Show, Random, D-U-M-B, which he hosted from 2013 to 2014. Now, let me tell you why I knew these comments were going to be wild even before I looked. Podcasting is huge now. It's 2021.

Podcasting is huge now. Twitter is huge now. In 2013, 2014, the people that were doing podcasts and the people that were on Twitter had much smaller audiences and they were going fucking nuts. Like, it was a lot of the podcasts that I listened to because I didn't really get into podcasts really tough to maybe like a year after that. But if you go back and you listen to some of those early from some of these same guys, Rogan included, a lot of these guys included, they're going nuts. on these podcasts because there weren't very much corporate dollars involved yet and it wasn't like a huge thing like TV networks basically now where everyone's listening to everything that you say so I knew that there was going to be some true fuck shit that came out when I heard about

that um he he said he said these are some of the things that he said oh by the way shout out to our people over at the ringer right for doing top notch investigative work not I just want to say when I saw it, I thought that the podcast was on the ringer network. The way that, and then I was like, oh, no, they just had the inside scoop. It's the last thing we need. The exclusive, what? It's the last thing we need. I was like, oh, shit.

Rantam was on the ringer network. Hell no. It's the last thing we need. I'm going to have the fucking New York Times call me again. I don't have shit to say. Stop calling me. New York Times. So apparently when this co-host, her name was.

Beth Triffin. She discussed the problems at our apartment. He asked, Mike Richards asked, does Beth live in, like, Haiti? Doesn't it sound like that? The urine smell, the woman in the moo-moo, the stray cats. Ouch, took a shot at Haiti.

He also made, like, sexist comments about her, apparently about other people. He said a derogatory term for little people and those with intellectual disabilities calling women fat. He also made a sensitive remarks about Jewish people.

In a statement to CBS news, he says, it is humbling to confront a terribly embarrassing moment of misjudgment, thoughtlessness, and insensitivity from nearly a decade ago. Looking back, now there is no excuse, of course, for the comments I made on this podcast, and I'm deeply sorry. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, ble, I was joking. I was playing. Question to you, he is the newly minted host of Jeopardy.

Should he not be the newly minted host of Jeopardy? Ooh. The short answer is no. He shouldn't be. And I want to apologize to Levar Burd. Okay. LeVar, I stand by not liking the way you went about it. However, when I see, when I see, I don't like the desperation of it,

but when I see the fact that I didn't even know who Mike Richards was. So let's just, let's just be clear. I did not want Mike Richards to be the host. I didn't even know who he was until he was announced as the host. but the fact that this man got it, not only because he was an executive producer or whatever he is, so he gave the job to himself.

That was already disgusting enough. But now you add this on top of it. This isn't the person who should be following after Alex Trebek. I mean, my goodness, that's what makes it so disgusting. This is who y'all give the job to. And it's hard for me to believe

that maybe you didn't listen to his random podcast. It seems like not many people did. but there were a lot of rumors in the industry, and we all know this industry is small, circulating as to how he was as a showrunner and an executive producer with other shows. And at the time he had this podcast, which makes it even worse, he was running the price is right.

This man was in a position of power talking about women and Jewish people and little people and women, larger women-sized women. I mean, it's just absolutely disgusting. And when you had so many other people who wanted to job, who were qualified for this job, who fans wanted to see have this job, and then if you read the article on The Ringer, which I suggest that everybody does, you also learn that this is a man who's been dying to be in front of the camera for a long time.

This is a man who kind of set things up as an executive producer with Jeopardy to give himself a better opportunity to be in front of the camera at a baby. better time slot, not time slot, sorry, the time slots is always the same, but like at a time when more people and eyes would be watching it and kind of made excuses as to why he got to be on at this time and maybe not a Ken Jennings coming back. Because most people thought Ken Jennings was the one that Alex Trebek had dubbed as his predecessor, wait, predecessor, successor, um, to be the host of Jeopardy. So all that to say, no. I mean, yes. they should let him go.

He should not have the job anymore. They should let him go. Now, what do you think I'm going to see? What do you think I'm going to say? You're going to say no, they shouldn't. I'm going to say no, they shouldn't. But wait, wait. If it was just this podcast, right?

If it was just this podcast and he made these comments, I would say he should keep his job. But what the Ringer article shows is that this man has a history of being this way. It shows that nothing has changed. It shows that he hasn't learned his lesson. he has yeah he hasn't learned his lesson and he only apologized after getting caught you can literally backtrack this to a decades worth of stuff the man shouldn't have the job it's a disgrace it's a that's a well-taken point like to be honest with you that's a well-taken point for the for those comments that he made on a podcast alone no but if there's a history of him being a certain way in the workplace then you can't do it this is my thing and and I hate the sound like this, but, you know, just they went safe again. They went straight-laced and white again.

And it came back to bite him in the ass. But they could have just Ken Jennings. Ken Jennings is fine, but just give LeVar Burton a damn job. Give Robert Roberts the damn job. Let us have a little chocolate in our jail party. You know what I'm saying? Because we'll have a jail party. Can we have it?

But no, this is a serious situation. Well, obviously I don't think I don't like going back to people's old tweets And old things and then haranguing them and doing all that That's not my fucking thing I think that you can play that game with almost anyone Sure So like I don't I don't did that

But to your point There's a lot more here here than just that And it's a very well taken point And we have to see what they're going to do Like it's going to be difficult To have somebody in a spot where they're supposed to be Absolutely beloved because that's what Alat Trebek made that spot

a spot where you're absolutely beloved where the audience Let's think about Jeopardy. The audience comes on and they might get a catch and run with one of the stars with one of the contestants every now and again they might like them they might develop something. The thing about it is that the person that they absolutely have to love is the host.

Right. That's who they have to love. So we'll see what comes of this. Also, we'll get to see if there's a difference between outrage on Twitter and outrage in the real world because there's a chance that Jeopardy's demo is not as loud on social media about this guy as we would think that they are. And if there's any way that the production company can actually ascertain that, if they can actually come to that conclusion that it's not going to make that big of a deal, they'll probably stick with him because there's a reason why they picked him. They're going to stick with it.

He's his own boss. Yeah, but no, he doesn't have to be the guy at J. people who are like they could hold somebody can come in so let me ask you this if they decide to remove him or if he decides to remove himself which is what I think is the noble thing to do you know what like this is my show and I'm becoming a distraction at this point so I'm going to step down for the greater good of the show and it should be somebody else hosting it that's what he should do

but he's not because this is the man who's wanted to host a show as as early as 2003 according to the article but if he does remove himself Do you think LeVar Barton Oh my gosh, LeVar Burton should take it? I think LeVar Burton should play hardball. If he does remove himself, now LeVar got to double down.

LeVar got to go nuts. He's got to throw in people's faces just how beloved he is. I tell you one thing, though. I don't want to learn anything that I don't want to know about LeVar Burton. I can't fucking handle it. So my thing is,

is Levar, if you're going to go hard, if this guy steps down and you go hard, just make sure you delete your old tweets. Get rid of all of this old stuff. I can't take any more of this. Is everybody fucked up? Is everyone fucked? I mean, I don't give a fuck about this Mike Richards guy,

but everybody, everybody's oldweets.com. Oldweets.com. Let's take a break. This episode is brought to you by Prime. Obsession is in session. And this summer, Prime Originals have everything you want. Steamy romances,

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The backyard tradition now available behind the counter. Visit your local deli today. Discover the craftmanship behind every bite. Bor's Head committed to craft since 1905. We are back. Oh, I want to ask you something on in front of everybody here. There is one of our thought words out there that is super well-versed in the happenings in Afghanistan and what continues to happen in Afghanistan and about the feelings, he is Afghan himself,

and about the feelings of the Afghan people and how they feel about American involvement, some of the nation building that's going on, because he feels like there are things that were key in our coverage of Afghanistan that we actually left out. would you be opposed to having somebody on there to break it down from no i mean i think sometimes people think that we're we we i don't know if they think that we give off this this image that

we're knowledgeable about everything but we aren't and i think that there when something is big that's happening in the world that affects the very country we live in that affects people within this world that we want to talk about it i mean there's there are a lot of effects to what a lot of people are affected. A lot of countries are effective. A lot of issues are affected on what happened in Afghanistan over this last week. So I think sometimes people are wanting a more in-depth conversation

when we're maybe just touching on it and we don't go there. So if people want more or they don't feel like we covered it in a way that they were satisfied with, then yeah, bring somebody else on. Yeah, I think also that that's on us a little bit because there are certain things that I am completely like well read on and there are other things that I follow because they're geopolitical happenings in the world and these things that I make my decisions based on have to do basically with the the types of media that I am um the types of media that I am ingesting so if there's somebody else that has anything else I'm with it I'm with it especially if there's people

out there in voices that are being sort of not heard on this. If there's a group of people that have a different take on this, if there's something that we're missing, if there's something that we don't understand the context of, then of course we got to do that. And I think it's good for Thought Warriors to hold, because sometimes we get to talking

and we're like, hey, we're going to bring so-and-so-so-on to give us more information about it. And then, you know, we move on to the next podcast and sometimes we forget. So I think it's great for Thoughtwheres to say, like, hey, I'd like for y'all to go in depth about this conversation. Hey, you said you were going to bring someone on

to talk about this. side of things. It's not that we're, you know, purposely ignoring another side. Sometimes we just move on when the news moves on in conversation with the topics that we cover on this podcast. So absolutely, you know, this is something that's not going to end at the end of the week. This is something that's ongoing. So I would love to have someone else come on and talk about it. All right. Until we do that, we're going to talk about some more bullshit because we have a lot of that today. This is not really bullshit. This is actually another pal of mine going through it. old Amber Rose is upset.

She voiced her relationship frustration on the internet. She says she is tired of getting cheated on. She vented on her Instagram stories about some of the things that are going on. She says she's tired of getting cheated on and embarrassed behind the scenes. She is married to Alexander A.E. Oh, they're married? I think they are. I'm actually not sure about that.

They might just be together because they got kids. together. I think they are, but I'm not sure. In February of last year, she got the names of both of their children tattooed on her. She's got a tattoo on her forehead as well. She says that she caught him cheating with 12 different women. And she said, all 12 of y'all are bones. She says the ones I know of there's probably way more y'all can have him. They very much knew he was in a relationship with a baby. Actually, I don't think they're married. But she decided to fuck him anyway. I saw all the texting the DMs. Y'all were well aware, but y'all don't owe me any loyalty, so it's whatever. As for him, the lack of loyalty and disrespect is ridiculous, and I'm done. Mavla.

He said... Oh, he commented? Yeah. He went live on the Instagram to discuss his cheating, calling it his true nature. I know that I could stop. I could give her a solid six months and just really like deprive myself of my true nature for as long as I can take it, but I don't want to like that. What a bum. You knew that about yourself before you got with her.

And I find it hard to believe that you didn't promise her certain things. Her expectations are not off. I guarantee you you told her certain things and made her believe that y'all were going to have a certain type of relationship, a monogamous one, I would think.

And the fact that you're saying when this is truly who I am, that is so unfair to her. And can I just tell you, too, what really bothered me is that this was a debate on Twitter. I hate it that, to me, this is, it is, there's only one way to see this, in my opinion.

Amber Rose does not deserve this. Nobody does. And it is heartbreaking to see that Amber Rose has said that this isn't the first time that this has happened to her, that she's tired of it, that she's become a shell of herself, almost that she's lost herself in these relationships. And I think that's heartbreaking to hear any person say, not just woman or man. And it seems as if these relationships and these men, she's allowed to define her. And I'm happy that she's in a place where she's speaking out and she's saying that that's enough.

And I think it's disgusting that people on social media were trying to say, we're acting as if she deserved this in some sort of way, as if because she was in a slut walk, that she was now slut shaming her man for cheating on her with 12 women. It's so ridiculous. People are so ridiculous. I hate Twitter. I can't stand it. And I'm sure that that's not the opinion of most people. But I think that Amber Rose gets an unfair, like, I just think she's treated unfairly because she's accused of a lot of things by association.

Oh, Amber Rose used to be a stripper, so she must be this. Oh, Amber Rose dated this person, so she must be this. Oh, she dresses this way, so she must be this. Oh, she did a slut walk, so she must be this. I think it's so unfair to put that on her when that's not who she said she is by, any by any means. And I think she gets unfairly categorized as certain things when she's never presented herself in that way. Interesting. Key words. She's never presented herself in that way. Before you say anything else. Interesting. Okay. Well, this is what I'll say. Amber Rose is a very

sex positive woman. She doesn't make any apologies about who she is or what she does. She never has. okay she never has like she absolutely never has made any apologies about who she is what she's done what she's been through ever she actually people were throwing it in her face that I guess back in 2015 she said all men cheat all men do this all men do that blah blah blah blah whatever so she had apparently acknowledged something like this she's very open about what she thinks it means to be a sex positive woman what she thinks the word slut means the fact that she wants to take the power back from the word slut

and so a lot of people think that people think that that means that Amber Rose has to continuously enter into situations that she obviously doesn't want to be in meaning she wants a loving monogamous relationship and because she's a certain way or because she has a certain freedom that she's given herself by the way

that she should have to deal with anything except that and so that's kind of the thing on Twitter. The thing is you said you was a slut though. You said you was a slut He said you was a slut. It was just a tired argument. I'm going to be honest with you. I expected you to go.

I expected you to Zach here. I expected you to Zach here. I expected you to Zach here. I was going to zig and you were going to Zach. No. I know you I know you like to put that on me. I know you like to. Oh, you do.

Oh, you do. You do. You love to put that I'm judgmental, that I'm a prude. Now, have I ever said that? Yes. Have I ever said that? Wait, wait, wait, wait. I said that you're judgmental.

Let's go back to the. Let's go back to seven dicks. Remember that conversation? You called me prude. You said I was prudish. No, no, no, no. I said it comes off as prudish. I would never call you a prude.

You implied. Excuse me. It was implied. But look, look, seven dicks, though, if we talk about seven dicks, that was a good thing. She wants to suck seven dicks. She's sucking the seven dicks. We could go back and rehash that. It'd be one thing.

If she walked into the room, the seven men were there and they did it. She was with one man. in one room and they bust in on her. Busted in on her. To me, it's just a totally different scenario. You know, it's a totally different scenario. If she had her only fans and she was like, hey, guys, tonight, it's seven dicks.

That's what's on the plate tonight. That's different to me. You think you could vent seven dicks of NBA players on one plate? It's not going to be on one plate. It's going to take a platter. It's different to me than if she was like, tonight it's just one. And then someone burst, seven people burst in the room and we're like,

how about now? Like, I don't know. It's just a different situation. But you would say, though, yeah, but for people that are out there and saying that because a woman or because anyone is very open with their sexuality and very out there with it that they deserve to be cheated on, that's kind of weird. But look, A.E. A.E. said that he says that he did his best. He said that he did his best. And now it's kind of a thing.

Do you think that Amber will ever find love? I hope so. I hope so. I hope so. I would love to talk to her. Like, I like Amber Rose. And I just think it's totally unfair that people put certain connotations on her by maybe something from her past or like, just because you're a stripper doesn't mean that it equals

this, you know, just because you date somebody doesn't mean that it equals this. She hasn't said certain things about herself that people are saying about her. Like what? That's interesting to me. What hasn't Amber Rose said about herself? Just because she might be like dress a certain. way. She doesn't brag about or maybe write a tell-all book or maybe, you know, post certain things on social media for attention to... Wait, what? Are we talking about the same... I love Amber to death,

but are we talking about the same person? Has she written a tell-o book? I'm sorry, did I miss that? She hasn't written a tell-all book, but she certainly posts on the gram. Amber O's got only fans. No, I'm not talking about dressing a certain way, like being sex positive and dressing in a provocative way. I'm not talking about that. I'm saying like posting things to get attention or get a rise that maybe not be might not be true on social media. Right? It's different like there are girls who do that. It's different from just because she dated high profile people doesn't equate this. That's a totally different situation. She's not bragging about certain escapades. She's not writing about it. She's just living her life was like, oh, I dated this rapper. Oh, I dated this person. That's the lifestyle that

she's in. She didn't go on TV. She did go on TV and thank Wiz Khalifa for nutting in her face. Okay. That sounds sex positive to me. And they were in a public relationship. But wait, wait.

They were in a public relationship together. They have a child together. It's not like it wasn't known that she was with. They both have talked about stuff. It's not like she, people didn't know she was with Wiz Khalifa. And she's like, hey, guys, guess what?

I was with Wiz Khalifa and I like the United in my face. That's not what happened. That's totally different from somebody. saying, hey, I'm going to give a code name and I'm going to write, you know, say this about you. No, but I'm just saying. Not only one person has done that is my point.

I'm just saying, like, there's a difference is my point. I get it. I get it and I agree. I guess I look at her. I think people put her in a certain category that other people are in and she's actually not doing those things. I think there's a difference. Yeah. There are white people who bathe.

Did you just give up on all white people? I kind of did. Oh, okay. Because I even had more white people. Shout out to the white people that hit me in the DMs. There was a lovely thought warrior that hit me in the DMs. It was like, I'm white. And I didn't really bathe that much until my husband who's black told me I needed to bathe more.

That actually happened. I won't say her name, but she's nice lady. Well, shout out to him for like making a difference. Yeah, it's crazy. In a small way, but thanks for that. When you look at her, you wouldn't think that she didn't bathe. How can you look at, like, see, that's, That's judgmental to look at somebody.

That's judgmental. What the fuck you're talking about? You can look at some people and tell that they're not, come on, man. Okay. Well, then you can't look at people and be like, oh, because she looks a certain way. She definitely bates. Clearly you're wrong about that. Absolutely.

And that's what I'm learning. But the reality is there are certain people that you can look at them until like right, right away. You know Gary Bucy? You think he, Gary Bucy has days where he just goes fucking. I'm not doing that to Gary. I've actually run. I've actually been around. He found him before it.

He didn't smell. By the way, just because you don't bathe, that doesn't mean that you smell. That's true, too. That's true, too. There's a lot of levels. Now, I can ask you a question. Seriously. And it's for everybody out there.

Because of the pandemic, are you bathing less? Because there's a lot of people who bathe. Okay, this is a good question. This is a good question. There's a lot of people who bathe. These are celebrities that's talking about they just don't bathe. But because of the pandemic, are you bathing? I will say this, there are days now that I've caught myself like brushing my teeth for like the first time at like 12.30 in the day.

During the pandemic 100%. Yeah, you just wake up. Wake up late. Take your time. And sometimes in the pandemic, if I didn't leave the house, I didn't take a bath. Here we go. I didn't. I might have skipped a day.

How many days do you think you skipped in a row? not more than one I just couldn't do it yeah well see another thing about me is oh my god I can not imagine skipping two days of baby it's like I'll be playing with Bozeman and stuff I'm not gonna take a bath

like Bozeman come over Bozeman my best friend my road dog my number one guy he comes over he jumps up he's big now he jumps up when he jumps up up Bose can Joezman can gozman can jump up and put his paws like all my

shoulders right he jumps up in the middle. Postman's a grown man. Yeah, Bozeman's grown. He jumped up and so when he does that, I hug him. Hey, buddy, how you doing? It's dad. You know, give you a hug.

And you don't think I'm going to go take a bath? The fucking dog is running all over the place. I have to stop Bozeman from doing such disgusting things. Oh, it's a big pile of shit. Let me go rolling it. No, Bozeman. No, Bobeman, never. No, Bozman, Bozman's going for it.

Bozeman's like, dead, Berg. Let's go put my nose in it. Hoseman, stop with the dead bird. You see this dead bird on every walk. We know copper not doing that. No, he's very different. He's very stuck up. He is.

Anyway, Drew Barremor says that she bays her children. She says she bays her daughters. On the weekdays. On the weekdays. On the weekdays. I'm like, you're at school all day. But when they were, I'm like bathed every night. On Saturday, Sunday, she's a little more relaxed with the hygiene routine.

That kind of makes a little sense. But on the weekends, it's like you're in the salty ocean. Who cares? You're fine. I guess I'm a five day or week. speaker with a possible six day. That's all we can expect from the whites right now. She's the she's the she's the she's the she's the grand wizard.

Stop. Don't do that to her. Cut that out. All right. Look, what else we got here? We got more stuff. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Oh, real quick, I want to shout out. My unexpected ally of the week. I'll talk about him, talk about him later, but it's a really good one this week. All right. Let's go ahead. Mailback time. Donnie, I've been told to not be as mean to you during mailback. So just, you know, whatever, Donnie. I appreciate you. I love you. Let's go to Mailback. Let's do it. Mailback time. Time to read your letters and then we'll reply to them. Oh, it's mailback time. Write us with your queries and we'll chime. And all right St. A. I think I said that right. If your co-host was a color on the rainbow, what color would they be? Come on, guys. You don't want to pick a color for me?

Red. I was going to pick red for you. Red. You're red. It's like, ugh. That's like, red is what you see when you see Chris Harrison's face. I can't wait until he's on dancing with the stars. Do you think that's happening? Maybe. Maybe. Oh, Chris.

I think that's super cruel. Like, ABC says you can't host this show, but you can come on this show and dance. That's so cruel. Like, Chris Harris is just, he needs to take a break. He's just going to say something stupid again. He's out there dancing. No, he's not. He's like, Chris, what kind of dance are you doing?

We're out here doing a sort of a salsa-side jazz jitterbug rumby. It's actually a run, but it's actually a dance that a lot of the darkies from down south used to do in the olden days. So yeah. And then everybody was like, he's going to get himself in trouble. Stay off with Chris. Take a break, Chris. All right, next question.

From Jade Sola, what is your favorite candle scent? Hers is apple cinnamon. Okay, mine's sandalwood. I like vanilla. Basic. Damn. If I had said that, there would have been five jokes that follow. but mine is sandalwood.

You don't need that scent. Your bed is scented vanilla. You don't need that. You know, I have a lot of people who wrote me and were like, I didn't realize Brian was Colombian after I posted my post the other day. And I'm like, come on, guys. Do you not follow me? Where have you been?

Yeah, that's a defining characteristic of old bri guy. Where have you guys been? Yeah, slow as hell. Yeah. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.

All right. From Helen is saying she says, I just found out that I'm pregnant. Any name ideas still don't know the gender. Let me tell you, you don't want my names, okay? I like real earthy names. Like what? Like rain and river and, you know, I like Sky and Dakota and these are names that I like that Brian is saying complete, is saying no too. So you don't want my names.

list of names. I also am a fan of colors gray, blue. Blue. Yeah. I like I like I like I like guy names for girls. That's what I that's what I was about to say. I was about to say if it's a girl name her Christopher. What's the next one Johnny? I think stuff like that is cute. If it's a girl name name name name name name Christopher. I'm telling him to do that. Christopher layton for a little girl Chris, Chrissy for short. Christopher. Fuck these gender roles. They don't make any sense anyway.

Chris fucking Lathan. Christopher. Last question. God damn. A little Christopher, I'm going to kiss your cheeks. From at Miss Coena. This is a good one. Tacos or burritos. Burritos and it's not close.

Tacos are criminally overrated. Wow. Like a burrito is a nice little meal. It's wrapped up. You got a little rice. You got some beans. You got some cheese. You got some meat.

You got a little tortilla. Okay. A burrito is something special. A taco is a folded half a sandwich. Don't dig it. Never have. And I'm not into it. I personally don't like tacos really that much or burritos.

Tortillas make me nauseous. Especially flour. So if I'm going to. go, if I'm going to go with one, it's going to be corn and I would go with a taco, but I can't tell you the last time I've eaten a taco. It might have been like 25 years ago. Really? Yeah, like I'll have maybe a plate, you know, so there's tortilla. I'll eat it with tortilla chips, corn. Right. But I don't, I don't do tacos. I don't do that Taco Tuesday stuff. I don't do burritos. No, I'm good. You don't care. Why don't you? Why don't you do it? Tortillas make me

nauseous. Yeah. It's interesting being from Texas and that being. the thing. That's a stereotype. What's a, it's a stereotype that I'm from Texas, so I got to like tacos. It's a stereotype. The next thing you're going to say, too, is I wear cowboy hats, boots, and now, now hold on for a second there, little lady. If I was to say that and that was a thing, that's definitely a thing from Texas, right? It's a thing, but we don't, we don't all do it. I remember the first time I went to New York,

somebody asked me if we ride around on horses instead of cars. And it's like, what world do y'all live in? Can I be honest with you? Yeah, you say that. But at the same time, the first time I ever saw you on TMZ, you were riding a horse down the middle of a damn dry. In Beverly Hills. So what are you talking about? Like you were playing into it.

You guys, you can see what Rachel just said. See, this is what I'm talking about. Rachel just said that go on TMZ right now, do TMZ Rachel Lindsay. And you'll see Rachel riding down. It is the thing. I come from a family of trail rides. But actually that happens in Louisiana. That happens to Louisiana, not Texas.

It does. It's our family in Louisiana that has a big annual trail ride every year. It actually just happened first week in August. Had to miss it. But not everybody from Texas does those things. That's my point. That's fine. You have an unexpected ally of the week?

Thank you for no back. You haven't unexpected out of the week? It was somebody D.L. Hughley posted a Justin Canoe. Canu. A dad in Williamson County speaking about critical race theory. It's a really interesting speech. I think it's Williamson County, Tennessee. Yes, that's correct.

Go check it out. Interesting to hear his perspective. So mine is Larry David. Oh, we did. Yes, go ahead. Very good one. Larry David saw Alan. Alan Dershowitz

and Alan Dershowitz who was a lawyer for Trump that used to be friends Alan Dershowitz who was a lawyer for Trump obviously got Claudevon Bulo off was part of OJ's team

Alan Jershowitz very famed lawyer saw him in a grocery store in New York and berated him for the fact that he worked with President Trump so for me personally

I'm fucking with that and I'll tell you why And I'll tell you why. They used to be friends. If this was a guy that he just saw some place and it was like whatever, that's one thing. But the fact that they used to be friends and he's disappointed in his friend and he took the time to tell him, even though his friend's a big public person, I'm with that. Larry David is who he says he is and he means what he says. Shout out Larry David for doing your thing, bro.

Let me ask you this. As a fan of curb your enthusiasm, you are, I am as well. Did you really think that the way the episodes play out and the way we see Larry David navigate each episode and his life in that mirrored real life? Yes. Interesting. I mean, I guess I thought it was loosely based off of him, but then after hearing this story, it was like Larry David. It's the real guy. This is really who he is.

It's the real guy. It was a real guy. All right. That is it for us. Take your thing, kept off, but do not stop learning. A big thank you to Dominique Dawes

for joining us today on higher learning. Also thank you to Trudy Joseph, our social producer, and Donnie Beecham, our producer today. Thank you guys both for helping us bring this podcast to life. I am Van Lathen, Jr. And I'm Rachel and Lindsay.

Catch you guys. Bye, guys.