Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - Donald Trump’s Second Indictment and Marquis “Mookie” Cook on Playing LeBron

Episode Date: June 9, 2023

Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay discuss televangelist Pat Robertson’s death (9:16), Stephen A. Smith’s criticism of President Joe Biden (18:25), and Kelis’s new boyfriend (38:04). Plus, news breaks of Donald Trump’s federal indictment (1:04:55). Then, basketball prospect and star of Peacock TV’s ‘Shooting Stars’ Marquis “Mookie” Cook joins to talk playing LeBron James in his first role (1:12:22), and Zion Williamson’s business gets put out on front street (1:23:03). Hosts: Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay Guest: Marquis “Mookie” Cook Producers: Donnie Beacham Jr. and Ashleigh Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, thought warriors. What is up? Heron is Ivan Lakey. And it's me, Rachel and Lindsay. Rachel, rum buckets. You're excited about it. Are you serious? I saw what one look like.

No, now I'm terrified. I saw what it looked like. I don't know why I wasn't thinking rum in an actual bucket. And when I saw it, it made me nervous. Like, that's a hangover. That will not get us to everyday people the next day. But here's the thing. You don't have to drink that many because we're also going to have apps.

Apps and apps. It's only one. What I mean it's only one? You can just drink one of them. You're not going to get a hangover from one of them. I could have multiple rum buckets. I don't know. You're not going to get a hangover from one rum bucket.

It's the sugar. So, like, I don't really drink sugar. Okay. Sugar-free Red Bull. Right. That's what gives you the headache. Okay. It's not, first of all, because this is what I'm talking about,

when I'm talking about somebody shitting on your parade. This is what I'm talking about. No, I'm there. I'm coming. What you got on? Like, is this, you, is that safe to wear Los Angeles? What is it? You flagged up?

It's purple. Okay, so for all y'all who aren't watching, I'm wearing an oversized shirt with patches of different colored bandanas on it. But like, I feel like I'm safe. That's not like blue-blue. That's like a serrillion. See, that's a misnomer. I would love to ask, no, where's our guy? Glasses?

That's not. I almost said Moses. I want to ask glasses what he thinks about this because purple but then yellow. I got yellow, black. Now, I'm not going to lie, in the bottom, I don't really wear this out like this in LA. In the bottom is a red. It's red. So I want to tell you something.

It's actually a misnomer that the colors for every set are red and blue. because the blood and cripsets themselves, first of all, there are other games, but the blood and cripsets themselves, the colors that they rep vary a lot based upon the set itself. So you might get some guys from some cripsets that have purple bandanas.

As a matter of fact, there is a crib set that uses the purple bandana. Some of them might wear orange bandanas. Some of them, the color. color, blue is like a, like a all a color across the board, but they'll rock different bandanas based upon different colors based upon what's set they're actually from and not the overall branding of Crip.

So nobody's safe. No. That's actually terrifying. Now I'm like, well, I've only been, I've only been the serious XM today. So I'm just going to lay low with the shirt. I bought it in Texas. So maybe that says a lot. So if you are wearing purple, then Grape Street, the cribs from out of Watts, they, that's what they wear.

They wear grape street, they wear purple. So it just depends. And by the way, that's why it doesn't matter the color. It matters you got to know where you at. Rachel, it's about time that you tapped in to some hood captains around the city. I'm going to introduce you to some people. I'm not about- Why don't even know hood captains?

Because you need to know where you at. It would help for you to know where you're at, the different neighborhoods, especially if you're going to be working in the community, you want to make sure that, you know, get pressed like a nail. All right. So, like, you know, it's good.

It's good. All right. All right, fine. Yeah, yeah. Whatever. You know what I'm saying? It's about whatever. Whatever.

All right, look. We got a pack show today. Pack show. Lots of stuff going on. Okay. Before are we getting to the show, I have a gripe. I've heard it through the grapevine

that there's a possibility that Brian might not be attending Rum Putt's Saturdays at Applebees. Okay. Not because he doesn't want to be there. Apparently, he has scheduled something else, but it depends on the time.

He wants to be there. Okay. So I have something to, I have something to say. Okay. I am starting to get the feeling that Brian is not fucking. Okay. That's a huge leap. Excuse me.

There's been a recent run of Dr. Abs. It's not look, not come, you know it's true. Of Dr. Abbs not coming to certain events, family events. Brian and I played basketball. And ever since we played basketball, Brian has been incognito. Not coming around.

What is he not showing up to? Okay, he didn't come to my birthday. He didn't come to your birthday. You're right. What else? Give me something else. And this is another thing that he's not coming to. So I'm putting it on the blueprint right now that Brian needs to shape up.

Or I'm going to refollow. I like you talking about my man like this. Okay, there you go. See, you know what? I'm actually doing this to bring you guys together so that everyone can see. So that everyone can see. So that everyone. And so that everyone can see that there's a united front.

Because I'll go back and follow that Twitter account again. That's what I'm. See, you're part of the problem. You're probably behind the account. Just type it away. Would that be funny? What wild shit can I say today? No, it would not, actually.

It would not. Rachel, I kind of miss them. I blocked them and I haven't seen any tweets in a long time. I kind of miss them. I haven't even blocked them. It would be so funny because it would be like, yeah, you guys are talking about Donald Trump on CNN. Donald Trump talks about Melania all the time.

Rachel, on the other hand, never talks about Brian. And it's a bunch of bullshit. The leaps would be so far. And I, you know, but I blocked them. So not and not around. All right. Pack show. Appreciate it.

So we're going to go ahead and get started. Look at this. Marquise. Mookie Cook. He is in the new film Shooting Stars, which is about the life of LeBron James and his group of friends from Akron St. Vincent, St. Mary's there in Ohio. I watched it. Decidedly not trash. What?

What kind of intro was that? I didn't have high expectations. I thought it was a good movie. You guys should probably watch it. It's one of the better biopics kind of situations that has been made recently. So I'm looking forward to talking to Marquis, but we got a lot of stuff to get into it. We're going to start on the other side of this break. The playoffs are here, and you can predict the action all the way to the finals with Fandul

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Tap this ad to learn more about trimfaya, including important safety information. Yeah, we're aware of what's going down in Atlanta, something big, Cop City, the stop Cop City movement. We are going to have Melina Abdullah on the podcast next week. That's going to happen Monday to talk about it, to talk about what Cop City is, why it's a threat to the community there in Atlanta, to the environment there in parts of suburban Atlanta. And there's really been guys almost a battle down there in Atlanta to stop the Cop City Police Training Center. People have died. People have died like protesting this.

We're going to get to that. The city council of Atlanta just voted to 60% of the vote to move on with it. which has a lot of people talk. So Monday, we're going to talk to Melina Abdullah about that. Before we get into the show, did you hear that Pat Robertson died? I saw that. It's not, I'm not laughing because somebody died.

But I, well, you know, you know how I go. I feel nothing. That is not, I'm not taking lightly that somebody lost their life, but it's no lie. if you know, even the smallest thing about Pat, he was a terror and a menace. And he terrorized a lot of groups and offended people. He said racist things.

He said homophobic things, transphobic, Islamophobic. The list goes, the misogynist, the molysses, the mollus goes on and on and on. And, you know, say what you. want about him, there's no way to separate all of that from who he is because he spent a lifetime dedicated to perpetuating those type of thoughts on the 700 Club and beyond and had a whole congregation that took that mindset and put it out in the world. So, you know, a loss is a loss. And yeah, I feel sorry for his family, but I'm not celebrating anybody's death. But to me, what he meant personally, nothing.

Yeah. So the interesting thing about Pat Robertson and his ilk, and I know very well that ilk during the 80s when televangelism was at its, in my opinion, height. You know, you had Reagan and the moral majority and the evangelical Christian takeover during that decade where they were basically like rappers. And what I mean by that is you had competing,

narratives from all over the place. Now the March 2 that crescendo started way before then started with guys on the radio way back in the day but when you get to the 80s you had Swagger Jim Baker, Pat Robertson I'm missing guys. Billy Graham was still around you know what I mean? You had just all these different guys competing for it. It's changed a little bit now in terms of I think with social media and with the internet everyone has

a little bit more autonomy to tailor who they listen to based upon what they're into. It's not just the guy that's coming on TV. It's, I want to hear this, so I can go here, I want to hear this, I can go here. So that makes the religious leaders of today normally a little less aggressive about who they exclude during their messaging because they're in competition with a lot more people because anybody that can stream a YouTube can build an online congregation. Back then, they,

the Pat Robertsons and these other guys, they had America really by the throat because politicians, I mean, this goes back, Jerry Falwell, all of these guys, politicians, listen to these guys. And these gentlemen and their words were not just being spoken to congregations.

They were actually both directly and in de facto ways making policy. They were making American policy. The religious right and the evangelical right is partly, if not wholly, responsible for Dobbs and what we just saw. So, I mean, look, the death of Pat Robinson, his greatest hits, you know, blamed 9-11,

said God that did, God did that because of abortion. It said that Hurricane Katrina, something that I had people that were close to me that died in it, was God's punishment to America's abortion policy. Talked about Africa, talked about Haiti, said that Haitians sold their souls to the devil in order to free themselves from French slavery. It's a bunch of crazy, crazy shit. Now, I'll tell you this.

I don't want to get religious, but I'll say this. these guys are getting older as far as the guys that existed in eras gone by of the evangelicals, the rocks of the evangelicals, they're getting older, they're getting on, right? And there's an opportunity that modern Christianity or modern religion period isn't taken

to make itself an inclusive, palatable, instrument of togetherness, hope, joy, and love. and there is an opportunity there to really talk to a lot of people in this country and in this world who don't feel connected, who feel alone, and who don't have direction or guidance or togetherness. The thing that I always loved about being a part of a church home was the togetherness that you felt. Like if it was a really good one, when someone got in trouble, or when the community needed something, or something like that.

Like, oh, that's gone. And there's an opportunity. What do you mean it's gone? To me, the evangelicals have done such a number on the perception of religion and Christianity that a lot of people that might need,

even if they don't need their souls saved per se, but they just might need someone to turn to, to talk to, to give them a type of, type of ear that you might be able to get from someone who really cared about you, they're scared of it because they look like a bunch of goddamn lunatics and I'll just be honest with you. And there were always people that played to the fringes, but you, go ahead. Oh, no, I was saying that I, I mean, I agree with you as far as the perception's

concerned, but I think that coupled with the way it's been politicized and the way the far right has latched on to it and mixed the two together hurts that. perception and even more. I wouldn't say that there's not a community. I think that there is, there's still a community there, but I think it's more about politics. I think it's marred by scandal, you know, Hill's some. And I think that, among others, and I think that the people, the people who do have huge platforms like a Joel Osteen don't get involved with any of that. So the Community is really just, it's not as connected, if that makes sense. So when you talk about community, and I'll just, I don't want to spend too much time on this,

but I think it's interesting. When you talk about community, yeah, you talk about Joel Olstein, that was a guy that didn't open his church when people were flooded out. That right there, okay? You see stuff like that? people are looking to these to leaders like this not to be perfect not to be perfect

they have never been perfect everybody every guy that I just mentioned fell a lot of them it was over that ass okay like all of those guys fell so no one's looking for anyone to be perfect right you know what I mean I am the

grand the great grandson my momo job of preachers and you know perfection was far from what those guys did. But they are asking them to be present. Not perfect, but present. Present in the lives of the people that need them. And the worst billboard for Christianity is Kenneth Copeland on a jet or Joel Olstein not opening up his church for people who don't have.

So that's the thing when I say the community seems like it's eroding. that happens with fame and all and that stuff. So there's an opportunity to care about people and love people the way that you say that you're supposed to do it. I saw Mike Pence up there last night talking about what he would say to a trans kid.

His answer was, I tell him I love you, but you can't be who you are. That don't work. That's not what you can't do that. Then you don't love him. What are you saying? Yeah. Right.

You know what I mean? Imagine you telling your dad. Imagine the judge telling you, Rachel, I love you as long as you don't do the Bachelorette. But she probably said. Like, how would you feel? I mean, I wouldn't feel the way I feel now. Just put it that way. But yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, you won't love me. Okay. Rachel. Stephen A. Smith. I mean. Our friend. Friend of the show, Stephen. Smith, should we say. We had him on here, had a great conversation with him. He was on Fox News.

Hannity, his friend Hannity, who's right more than Black America gives him credit for. And he said that he would rather vote for Chris Christie than any Democrat in the 2024 field, saying that the left's support of President Biden is embarrassing. Donnie, give me the sound. I think he's a cognitive message. I'm not going to say he's a cognitive. I'm not going to going there. What I can say to you is that I think there's an abundance of people who could do better. And I hate the fact that in the year 20, 23, that we have a bunch of liberal candidates out there that thinking he's the guy. And I'm like, what the hell is wrong with you? For being straightforward, blunt, truthful, and honest. And you can't say, you can't say the, you can't speak the obvious

that Joe Biden's a cognitive mess. Of course he's a cognitive mess. I'm not going to label, excuse me, I'm not going to label it that way. Sean, what I'm going to tell you is this. I'm looking at him and I don't like what I see. I'm not impressed with what I've seen. I've been very concerned with what I've seen. And the fact that he's going to be 82 years of age at election time, if he would have won an election and he'd be in a White House until he's 86 years old. I think in the year 2023, it is utterly embarrassing that the liberal side has him as their best candidate.

What does it say about you when that is the best candidate that you, You can give the left. That is ridiculous. That's not a knock against Joe Biden. It's an indictment against the Democratic Party. Rachel, what you got? I mean, am I surprised that Stephen A. Smith went on Fox News or on Sean Hannity, his friend show. No.

I think what does surprise me or I'm still trying to wrap my mind around is why he continues to do it and why he's continuing to put himself in these political spaces and spew out things like this without backing any of it up, right? There's no specificity as to why he feels like Biden should not be the Democratic nominee or, you know, running for a president representing Democrats other than his age. If you didn't know, listen, I mean, his voice is recognizable. But if you close your eyes and you were reading this, let's just say that. No voice, no, no picture. You wouldn't be able to distinguish his thoughts versus a far right person's thoughts.

And it's dangerous because Stephen A. Smith isn't explaining why he has an issue with Biden. He's just putting out these talking points that we've seen so many others on the far right do. Why do you have an issue with Biden outside of his age? Why do you believe that Chris Christie is better? What policies are you specifically pointing to that make you say this guy is not who I want representing us? And I think the answer is because he's not well-versed in it and he's just saying something to say it. Sean Hannity would not have invited him on this show if he didn't know what Stephen A. Smith's opinions were going to be and that they were also going to be something that aligned with Sean Hannity's.

I think what bothers me is something Sean Hannity said when he was talking and he said, Stephen A. Smith, and you can hear the joy in his voice. And if you watch it, you can see the pure joy as well on his face. He is giddy over Stephen A. Smith coming on and saying this. He's being used, Stephen A, almost as a puppet as a mouthpiece for the far right. And it's what Hannity said was that Stephen A. Smith, you're known for being opinionated. He says things that others maybe are too afraid to say. But the other thing that Stephen A has built his platform off, which we haven't. seen over the last few years as much, is that he established himself as a black voice in a majority white spaces. And he established himself as someone who stood up and took up for black athletes or black causes, whatever they may be. And when you align yourself with Sean Hannity, who's done so many anti-black things on his show, you got to start questioning Stephen A, like, what's up? And where do you stand now? Because the Stephen we knew from the beginning

seems to not be the same one that we've seen in these spaces over the last few years. And it's dangerous. So look, you know, I think the point that you're making about specifics is just spot on.

That's an amazing point. That's an amazing point because you want to get into the weeds of why you like Chris Christie. Stephen A has said before that he voted for Joe Biden in the first election. He said that.

So I guess my question to him would have, if this were a show where there was any real desire to get to the bottom of what his thoughts were, or did you not think that he would run for a second term? Right. But did you not think that if he won that he would bring it back? Or does what you see from, or is what you're seeing from Joe Biden right now, giving you pause about his ability to go four more years. So is there something that that turned you off about President Biden during his first term? Because you knew that the guy was old when you voted for him in 2020. And you said that you did that.

There's a couple of other things here that are interesting. Number one, he's also made sure to denigrate Kamala Harris in this. in this entire. He's also made sure to say, hey, just to let you know, the person that shares the administration with Joe Biden, she's not ready for prime time yet either. So she's not fit either.

She hasn't done enough. She's not ready either. And also, I want to make sure that when people say that, they're in the history of America that I can remember, hasn't really been a vice president that was in the term

when they were the vice president was president material there were guys that went on to be president, right? There were guys that ran after. But that was a lot of times after their national profile had been raised by being in an administration.

Obviously, you have George W. Bush, you have Richard Nixon. you have guys that have been vice president more in the past that go on to become president but that's after a national audience has gotten used to them a little bit. To become the president, you have to lay out

a plan for America and then you have to go out and execute that. So saying that she's not ready to be president, she's not any more ready or any less ready than any other vice president in the history of America. Not that I can see.

I mean, there might be some guys out there that you can point to was Dan Quill ready to be vice president. Was ready to be president? Was Gerald Ford ready to be president? You know what I mean? Was Al Gore ready to be president? Obviously not, right? You know, was Joe Biden ready to be president in 16? You know what I'm saying? Is Pitts ready to be president? Was he ready to be president in 18? So I don't see anything from her that says she's either ready or not ready. she would be the president if something happens to the president.

Now, also, I want to make sure that, you know, because I give Joe Biden a lot of shit on here, and, you know, I'm not a Democrat. I'm a liberal, but I'm not Democrat. But the Biden administration has had some good news lately. The jobs report was an unequivocal win for the Biden administration, 13 million jobs

since he took office. That's more jobs in a 28-month span than any president is created in a four-year term. Now, obviously, people getting back to work from COVID is a part of that. But still, though, the administration is starting to catch a little steam in terms of things that a lot of Americans would care about. You know, obviously, I have my, my, my, my gripes with Biden and Harris. And I'm going to continue to have those gripes until I see results about the things that I, voted for and

supported them for. But that jobs report, which wasn't just service sector jobs, was a lot of government jobs, a lot of high-paying jobs in the healthcare industry. That was a big deal for them. There's a clip.

I want everybody to watch it of Maria Bartoromo on Fox reporting that jobs report. And she was doing it like through the most clinched draw ever. She's like, oh, President Biden is going to have to take a victory lap.

And so, you know, I'm just pointing to that as something that's tangible that would work for most American people, right? Yeah. I'm not holding the water of the Biden administration, and I still have major problems with what's going on. But I would say this to Stephen A, to your point, there doesn't seem to be any intentionality here. And this ain't sports, okay? So if you're going to get on a show and you're going to talk about LeBron James' legacy, whether or not he has the clutch gene, who's the best player in the NFL is, you don't have to be intentional.

You don't. In my opinion, if you're going to speak to issues, and nobody's person, obviously I've had moments on this podcast and in my professional career where I haven't been up to the task and talking about a specific issue happens. But if you're going to talk about issues like this and become something that then ends up and say something, shall say that then ends up

reverberating. Our people are here. Stephen A. said this, so maybe you should vote this way. Stephen A. Smith, the same guy that you that you look at on first take or on no mercy. He says this. So maybe you should vote this way.

Well, that affects people's lives in the way that sports doesn't. So to your point about what is that you're saying in qualifying it, you, there has to be more to what he's doing. There has to be an intentionality to it. There has to be a point. Just saying Biden looks feeble.

The Democrats should bring somebody else. I'm voting for Chris Christie. Like, you're essentially campaigning for Donald Trump because Chris Christie's not going to win. And neither is Mike Pence. And neither is Nikki Haley. Is neither any of those people. Something really drastic would have to change for those people to win. And if you eliminate Joe Biden and,

and say that, then you're saying, well, you know, President Trump is pretty much your guy. That's an unfair thing for Stephen A to have to juggle when he's given his opinion, but it's what we all do. Yeah, I'll even say more to that. By him focusing just on the age of Joe Biden, as if that seems to be the only reason he feels like Joe Biden is not equipped to be the president again for the next four years, you're also essentially putting your name, voting for or campaigning for people who were younger. there's an argument to be made that, oh, well, DeSantis is only 44. That's who you're saying he's got time. Because Trump's 76, you're almost rooting for DeSantis, too,

if that's your only argument. And something that you said about sports, about being intentional. It's interesting because if somebody came on first take and said, I think LeBron is better than Jordan. And that's, and just, I think LeBron's better than Jordan because, you know, basketball has changed over the last 20 years, just like that. Just something random.

Stephen A would never let that sit. He would say, well, tell me why. And he would start spewing out all these statistics and certain facts to prove his point. He does that very well in the sports sector. So why then would you step into the arena of politics and just say something without any type of facts or statistics or even a point? opinions to back it up. What he does in the sports world, he's not doing it when he steps into the political arena.

And that's what I find interesting as well to the rest of it. All right. So look, I just got to ask you a question, just straight out. You know, we know that Stephen A. Smith has a conservative streak in his body. We know that he does. It's an obvious. Yeah. Right.

These appearances on Fox News, you know, what he's doing right now. Once again, anybody that's listening to my voice right now, You don't want to vote for Joe Biden? I don't give a fuck. I really don't. I think that some of you, all right, that are paying attention

are going to have to make a decision about whether or not you want to turn the country back over to Trump and his people. And that's a fucked up decision and it's kind of indicative the position we're in right now as Americans. But, you know, that's fine.

Is Stephen A. Smith half stepping? Is he is, I'm not going to get to any of the buzzwords that people use. It's Stephen A. Smith, does he want to come out and just say, well, to hell with Joe Biden? Hasn't he already? I mean, no, because he said Joe Biden is old and I don't understand what's going on with it, right? And he said he wouldn't vote for him. I know.

But what I'm saying is, this is, I've heard Stephen A. Smith talk about Donald Trump before. but the criticism that he just levied at Joe Biden is more pointed than any criticism I've heard him levied Donald Trump he said he didn't vote for Donald Trump but he did say he when he spoke about Donald Trump as a matter of fact Donnie can you give us Stephen A. Smith talking about Donald Trump I knew Trump Yeah you used to talk to him you ever talked to him

I used I used no I don't I used I knew Trump before he ran for the presidency I thoroughly enjoyed talking to him him. He was a huge sports fan. He used to throw a lot of events at his casinos and stuff like that. And I genuinely liked him. I didn't know who this guy

was running for president. I think he's changed, but I will tell you this. I think when people call him racist and stuff like that, I've never thought of Trump that way. He's not against black people. He's against all things not named Trump. There's a difference.

So, okay. So I want you to consider that. Okay. And consider the way things are stating when people state it. Okay. I myself have been accused of this on this podcast, and I have to take responsibility for it. All right.

If right now we're talking about, say, Chris Brown. And before I get to my criticism of Chris, whatever that might be, I talk about all the amazing things that he's done. what a great person he's been to me and all of that stuff. And then I get to, but look, I have to be honest. That's called me couching the criticism of what I am saying about this person. And in that case, even though Stephen A. Smith said that Donald Trump has changed,

he didn't use any of those amazing adjectives that he has in his back pocket to describe how he's changed or what he's changed into. he just said he's changed and that he's all about Donald Trump. I personally think that the criticism he leveled against Joe Biden, okay, is way more pointed, twice as pointed as what he just leveled at Donald Trump, who he really spoke glowingly up. And so Rachel, he did. For the majority of that, he talked about the fact that he liked Trump

and all of that stuff. I don't buy this. I don't buy that he's going to vote for Chris Christie. I don't buy that this is coming from a criticism of Joe Biden because of who Joe Biden is now. I think there's affection from Stephen A. Smith to Donald Trump. And that the end game is to weaken Joe Biden. So the only other possible candidate right now that can win. shuffles back into the White House.

And even if Stephen A. Smith, is it thinking that intentionally in the recesses of his mind? Hannity knows it to be true, which is the reason why he was on that show to say what he just said. Am I crazy? Half crazy. I think I'm not going to go as far to say that he's a Donald Trump supporter. I think that the way that that conversation happened in regards to Donald Trump

is different from the conversation he was having with Sean Hannity. which required a more pointed answer. I mean, he came on there to bash Joe Biden specifically. That is why Sean Hannity had him, not necessarily in support of Trump, but he came on there to specifically talk bad about Joe Biden. That was his whole purpose for coming, whether he knew it or not.

That's why Sean Hannity had him come on there. I'm curious as to how, if asked, okay, Chris Christie doesn't win, you know, doesn't have a fighting chance, in the primary, and it's between DeSantis and Trump, you've already stated that you're not voting for Joe Biden. You know, if you're voting in the primary, I mean, he's independent, but whatever, if you're voting in the primary, who would you choose? If you had to choose between the two, who would you choose? And then if it comes down to that, Biden or this person, who would you

choose? I'm curious as to see if his answer would be the same. He didn't speak, he did say his personal experience with Trump has been positive, him being before he was the president, which we know that prior to being the president, he did a lot of things that were offensive, even if they weren't publicized to the way that they are now. But I can't say that that clip that we just played shows me that he's in support of Trump. It just doesn't. I'm not going to make that leap yet. But I'm not going to put it past him either.

If he continues on the track that we've seen thus far, he will vote for Trump. but he may never tell us that. I think he'd say he, I think he'll say he's not voting before he says he votes for Trump. All right. So some news just broke and I'm going to throw it into the show right now.

Okay, so Calise has a new name. Rachel, don't look it up. Dink. Calice has a new man. Okay. I'm going to give you five guesses. Oh, he's famous? He's famous.

And you can ask me, questions. Okay. You can ask me questions, right? Okay. Let's play, let's play let's play seven questions. You get seven questions to ask me. Oh, that's a lot. Okay. You get seven questions to ask me to try to guess who Calisa's new man is.

Okay. Seven questions. Here we go. And he's famous. He's famous. What is his career? Like what career is he in? Music, sports, acting. He is an actor, a comedic actor. Is he black or white?

He is white. I wasn't expecting that. A comedic actor. Is he above 40 or below? He is above 40. Is he more famous as a comedian or an actor. He was never a comedian. He is a comedic actor from my understanding. Oh, God. How many questions have I? That's five. Is it five? I think it's- Donnie. I'll give you four. I'll give you four. I'll give you four. I'll give you four. Give you one more. Okay. What is one movie that he's been in? Rushmore. What? Rushmore. That's not fair. Now, you know, I don't know what that movie is. You, you know, you know.

No, I don't know. So I'm to ask again, what is another movie that he's been in? Charlie's Angels. No. No. No. It's Bill Murray. Bill Murray.

No. Police 43 is dating Bill Murray, 72. They struck up a romance. No. She performed in South London last weekend. And then he was, the romance, the rumors sparked, shall I say, after he popped up at a performance of hers in South London, he was also spotted, supported her at some other performances. They were seen together at the same hotel and had been getting close for a while after first meeting in the U.S. They met up in the States.

They got the people in the industry talking. They've hit it off. And apparently they were both going through something. They met one another. they hung out. They're having a lot of fun. Despite the age gap, they reached out to both reps.

No one has reached back yet. Calice and Bill Murray. I fucking love it. It's the most random. Because I'm like, and how would they meet? Were they introduced? I mean, you already said it,

but it's like, I wouldn't think they would have anything in common, but apparently they do. I fucking love it. Wow. I fucking love it. I really hesitated to say Bill Murray. Bill Murray.

Bill Murray. Collise and Bill Murray doing the fucking thing. I love it. I love it. Good for them. Who's reporting it? It's pay six. Okay. This episode is brought to you by Sweet Green.

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All right, Rachel, there was a verdict that came out from a case that I wasn't really following, to be honest with you, not really. And people were asking why we weren't covering it here. We talked a little bit about it yesterday. You actually have been covering, like, What's going on with, I mean, Travis Rudolph ex-L Florida State NFL player was found not guilt. I'm up on the case now.

But you've been following it for a while. You've been talking about it. Well, it got brought to my attention in a group chat with friends because I guess the trial was streaming. And people were reacting to how outrageous Travis Rudolph's ex-girlfriend was on the stand, how she showed no remorse, how she wouldn't answer questions straight. forward. And so I'm like, well, what is going on here? So if you don't know, as, I almost called you, Brian, as Van said, Travis Rwoff football player, New York Giants, Florida State, he was recently found not guilty. Now, here's what happened. He was charged with one count of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder. So he was dating this woman named Dominique Jones.

she alleged that they got into a fight and he hit her. So she called her brother and his friends and said, hey, actually she said him a text message. She said, hey, shoot his shit up, referring to Travis Rudolph. They go over to his house at midnight. Four men, midnight, go over to his house. There's an argument that happens. I guess there's a fight.

There's a tussle that happens outside of the home. Rudolph, Travis Rudolph runs back inside, grabs a gun, starts shooting. He fired 39 shots at the men in their car. And one of them died. The other three got away. They charged him with the first degree murder and three counts of attempted murder. It came out later. There was a video, ring, nest, whatever.

And it showed that Travis Rudolph never put his hands on Dominic Jones. She was actually the one hitting him. And he wrapped his arms around her to get him. her to stop. So when she was on trial, she was saying things like, defense attorney's like, hey, you texted him, you texted your brother and said shoot his shit up. What did you think was going to happen? And she's like, I meant for them to shoot everything but him. Like, just cold, cold-blooded. This woman's lying up. So a lot of people are calling for her to now be put on trial because, or charged, then put on trial because they would, those men would not have gone over there.

if she hadn't lied and said she was hit and then that they need to shoot a shit up. I'm not condoning them going over there. I'm just saying they went based on a lie. So I got caught up on everything that happened with this case. Mm-hmm. This is as bad as it gets. I'll be real with you.

Now, apparently, you know, like you said, the argument started off from couple stuff. She was upset. She had hit him. He testified. that she had hit him before, that she was prone to striking him when she got upset,

but he never really thought anything of it just because typically if a woman hits on you, then it's like, whatever, not a big deal, whatever she got upset. It's like she hits on you, whatever. But the fact that somebody died. Right. In this situation,

because she lied and said that she was the victim of something, then she went and had somebody come over to the house on. He said they got out and when he came out to try to see what was up, he just got swung on. Then they started swinging. He left his gun in his crib. Right. And he went back and ran and got the gun after he saw them pointing guns.

And then he let off a bunch of shots until the threat was put down and he killed somebody. this woman needs to be thrown under the jail. Yeah. I am unaware of any kind of law that's on the books right now to prosecute her. I'm wondering if you could tell me. But like her, her getting super pissed. First of all, she assaulted him, number one. And then after assaulting him, like, subjecting him to domestic violence,

she didn't call somebody who, in my opinion, came over there to kill him because they came over there sparked off a physical altercation and then grabbed guns. Like, there's nothing else for him to think. Because of her actions, somebody got killed. And this guy could have gone to jail for life. Right. Over this.

And they'd refuse to throw it out on the standard standard ground law, which you would think. that if this dude was white and his attackers were black, they would have clearly used stand your ground to, it seems like a clear cut case of stand your ground, especially when you have a text message from her saying

go over there and shoot his shit up. There's nothing that can happen to her. Her name is Dominique Jones, like you said. She needs to go to jail. I don't know what the charge would be, but I think there's an argument that her text message and the words that she used were, like, that was a weapon, right?

Like, based, and I'm not, I'm not saying, listen, like, those words shoot his shit up. There's got to be something that gets her charged for that. It's wild that somebody lost their life. But I will also say this, the stand your ground thing is really interesting because, and problematic, because the reason that so many people get off under this law is because it is so, general. You just have to believe that your life is in some type of imminent danger and that you have to use force to defend yourself because whatever is happening, you feel like you might lose your life. You feel like there's a threat. So to me, even if there was no gun, right? Because

it's Travis saying that there was a gun. The three men who survived said they never had a gun. So even if that's an issue, four men coming to my house in the middle of the night and attacking me, which I, which can be, which is proven, to me, that's imminent, I'm in, that's imminent danger, right? Like, I'm in fear of my life and you're allowed to use force, even deadly force, if you feel that. That's the law. So to me, this should have been thrown out before it even went to trial. And the fact that it wasn't, I do believe. was tied to race. If three black men came to a white man's house and did that, and that white man shot them, I really believe in the state of Florida, or under most stand your ground laws, he would have gotten off.

Now, I will say this. I feel like a lot of people that were calling us out about discussing this, it wasn't a lot of people. It was a couple people that are like, why haven't you guys talked about the Travis Rudolph case? I think that there was, there's some thought that maybe we wouldn't talk about this because the woman who happens to be,

a black lady clearly lied in this situation to me. Why wouldn't you talk about that? I think there's, there was some thought that there was an agenda. That, oh, oh, so I believe black women can get away with murder. I believe black women can do no wrong. That's why people thought we weren't talking about it. No, this woman is extremely problematic.

Her words got that man killed. No, she's a criminal. She needs to go to jail. She knew what she was doing. Like she wanted to hurt Travis. She wanted them to hurt him. Shoot his shit up. Put him in danger.

She's got to be charged for something. Hopefully that she will be. Because a man lost his life and somebody should be punished for that. And it should be hurt. It could have been two people that lost their lives. One lost their life, their soul up into pearly gates. The other one could have gone to jail forever. So, man, and when you watch the, when you watch the testimony there and I watch

Travis Rudolph testify, to me, it was clear that he was telling the truth. It was clear that he was telling the truth. It didn't look like he was being deceptive to me at all. It wasn't like a Kyle Rittenhouse type of situation. I do want to say this. I want to say that, like, you know, you guys, to me, this situation. being what it is, right? Is this situation being what it is?

Okay? And what I mean to say about that is that we'll talk about this. Using every single case to demonstrate or to talk about or to initiate this man versus woman,

particularly black man versus black woman divide that exists, it's just not productive or helpful at all. This is a black woman, I think she's a piece of shit. I really do. I really do.

But there are all kinds of people that are fucked up individuals. And when we talk about things like abuse, when we talk about things about sexual assault, when I talk about them, I'm talking about things based on not just anecdotal experiences that I have. I use plenty of anecdotal experiences to make arguments. on this podcast, right?

But when I'm talking about issues that are that series, talking about through the lens of what can be statistically observed and what information has been compiled on. And there's never one situation or two situations or even three situations that undo the studies that have gone on to enforce and reinforce the problems that might exist between men and women domestically or in terms of sexual abuse or harassment or anything like that.

So there is not ever going to be a time where I'm going to ignore something like this as putrid and fucked up like this in support of a narrative for any. And I've seen people do that on the other side. And how about the fact, how about we deal with the fact that this got caught before somebody's life was ruined? If you want to say that if you want to, if you, excuse me, I'm talking about Travis Rudolph. If you want to use this as, as an example of your bitch's be lying theory, be my guest. But I'm going to be a little bit smarter about things than that. Right. Glendale, there was a war, a battle.

In Glendale. Three people were arrested Tuesday at protests held outside the meeting of the Glendale Unified. District Board were pro and anti-LGB demonstrators face off over how schools teach gender and sexuality. Law enforcement declared an unlawful assembly after fighting broke out outside the building. The situation temporarily disrupted the meeting which was about an hour into. They're having public

comments and things got out of hand. There was an agenda item calling for recognition of Pride Month, which board members unanimously approved late in the evening. Protesters clashed and people were chanting outside, leave our kids alone. Last week, protesters violently clashed at a North Hollywood elementary school over Pride-themed assembled. This is going, this fight, this identity wrestling match in America, seems like it's going to the mattresses, Rachel.

your thoughts. It's not going to stop. And I think that like when you look at exactly what the school district's trying to accomplish here, right, there's a statistic that shows that 25% of high school age students identify as LGBTQ plus. So the school is trying to be inclusive and make everyone who feels a fourth of their students feel seen and heard. and that they're supported and that they're valued. All right. Why should anybody have a problem with that? Because statistics also show that those youth that identify in that way are at a higher risk of experiencing homelessness, of being bullied, attempting or dying of suicide or struggle with mental health issues.

So what the school district, because L.A. Unified voted in this past through, but what Glendell was doing was piggybacking on that and voting to acknowledge the month of June as Pride Month. We have so many months that acknowledge people and their accomplishments and their history. And the month of June does that for the LGBTQ plus community. So they wanted to do that. And there's also talk about inserting it in the curriculum, which if a fourth of your population of students, more so just like having, Vanier's making a face. You're making a face because I'm making the, not making the face.

because you talk that's that's what people are talking about talking about his kids around you talk about inserting something in see what I'm saying you're trying to you that's what I'm talking about with the agenda man no that's the agenda man no that's the agenda Rachel that's the agenda right there like we try to talk about kids in elementary schools and you talk about inserting something into a curriculum Donnie what is a curriculum what you what's getting inserted that's the agenda stop sexualizing our kids Rachel leave my kids alone Rachel you know what they probably would take issue with what I said and assert the same argument that you just did. But yeah, like the whole basis of this is to feel included.

And I cannot imagine being a child and seeing that my school is trying to, a school board is trying to step up and support me for who I stand for, for who I am, how I identify. And then to look and see people beating the shit out of each other, fighting against you just for being you. I can't even imagine what that does to a child mentally. And the fact that the police chief came out and said that it was a problem on both sides

is even more problematic to me. Police chief and Glendale. This isn't a both sides thing. They're very fine people on both sides. Those people that came, those proud boys that came, they came to antagonize and to fight. That is not what. the people who were peacefully there to support this initiative were doing.

They were attacked. I have news for Americans. I have news from you guys. Your kids are gay. They're gay. Yeah. Okay. Now, not all of them are gay, but some of them are gay.

And you can fight about it all you want. You can stop people from talking. about it, all you want. Nothing is going to change the fact that there are gay and trans children in America. Nothing. Not one thing.

Now, you can change whether or not they feel comfortable being who they are. You can do that. And you can have people living lives of quiet, desperation, and solitude, torturing them for the one ride they have on this earth, not allowing them to be who they are.

But even a lot of those people are still going to find a way to express themselves sexually by what's really inside of their heart. Or they're going to find a way to express what they really feel like gender-wise. It's going to happen. The choice that's being made right now to oppress people

thought and expression over what they are and who they are, it's not going to work. You're not going to de-gay somebody who is gay anymore than you can gay up a straight person. The choice that you're choosing, the choice that you're making right now

isn't between gay and straight. It's actually between life and death. It's actually between suicide. and having a great high school experience. It's actually between living at home with supportive and loving parents and running away.

That's the decision and the choice that you're making. This fight is the most ridiculous fight of any fight that we have. We're having a fight over who people actually are. Exactly. Look, this is an anecdote that I'm sure you've all heard before. there are more left-handed people now in society than they ever have to, right?

Rachel, why do you think they're more left-handed people? I think there always have been left-handed people, but back in the day, they used to, like, train you or be upset if you were left-handed. I saw it happen to my own family. Dang, ding! Guess what? My co-host is a genius. Obviously, when you more than you. remove the stigma from something, people feel okay expressing it. If you guys are trying to fight enough to where certain men aren't going to want to lay

down and lick other men or certain women aren't going to want to have scissor time with other ladies, I'm telling you right now it's not going to work. What we should have is a society that is based on respecting each other. And I just respecting because that's the baseline. Celebrating who we are without threat or injury to us. I'm looking at all of this stuff in Florida, in Texas. You can't un-gay somebody who's gay. I remember the first time I saw a brass strap in the seventh grade.

I'm on the bus. and I look down I go over to read something and get something from Ryan and I look at girl's shoulder and there's a bra strap you know what my mind's in?

What? There's some titties under there. And I thought to myself I remember this moment so crystallily clear. I thought to myself damn she's got breasts. Like she has breasts for real.

Like before that breasts were a concept it was something that you saw on TV. right? And I thought she's got breasts, which means she has a butt and you could actually at some point have sex with her. And for a whole summer, I thought of nothing else. That's where your mind went? Yeah. That's the way our minds work. So you guys don't even know. My mind did all that in a half second. My mind did all in a half second. My mind did that in a half second. Like a half second. My mind went all the way. Like I went from seeing her brawstrapped to her and me having a family. My mind went to like my mind went to that in half second. Whole summer, my life.

had changed. There's nothing that you could do to talk me out of them. And that's happening all over the world right now. And I'm telling you right now, all you're doing is executing your children and your neighbor's children and your neighbor's neighbor children. You're putting them to death and you're kicking them out of the house onto the streets is what you're doing. You're out there fighting like a bunch of fucking idiots over who somebody actually is. I'm sick of it. For what? It's over. Motherfuck is a game. Get over. We have breaking news, but before we get to it, I want to shout out an organization that is really all about supporting youth who identify and are a part of the LGBTQ plus community. It's called Camp Lightbulb. You can read more about it on camplightbulb.org, but it invites youth from 14 to 18 to come to a summer camp.

And you can come from all over the world. They have from Europe, United States. They all come to either Los Angeles. province town, New York City. You can get up to 100% financial aid to go. And it's this amazing organization that, you know, is a place, as Van said, where you can be celebrated. It's filled with fun, pride.

You can have friends because a lot of times these kids are lonely. I do some work sometimes with Camp Lightbulb. And I was talking to a mother one time who was expressing how her, how troubling it was for her son at one school and how an administrator said to her, listen, you're probably going to have to homeschool him. And instead she was able to move him around. He gets to be moved around to a couple of schools before he found his people, his place, before he felt included, before he realized he wasn't alone.

Well, at Camp Lightbulb, you can find a myriad of people like this. You can find your people. So camplightbulb.org, go there, tell somebody about it, you know, so we can make our youth feel loved and seen and included. And I'm telling you guys right now, support organizations and places like that. Pay attention not just to whether or not your elected officials tolerate the LBGTP. They can't just tolerate them. You don't want to be just tolerated.

You want to be celebrated. All right. Everybody have a fantastic pride month and stop killing your kids. Rachel, what's the breaking news? All right, breaking news. This is being reported from Caitlin Collins. Donald Trump just took to truth social. And he is saying that his attorneys have been informed that he has been indicted.

Now, you've been following this on the news, print, whatever. We knew this was looming. We knew that this was coming. There's been a lot of things that have been coming out in regards to it. So this is what Donald Trump tweeted. Exactly tweeted. What do you call it? Truth?

What do you call it when he puts it on social? He truth. Truth. He truthed. I don't know. I'm not sure. He said, the corrupt Biden administration has informed my attorneys that I have been indicted seemingly over the boxes hoax, even though Joe Biden had 1,850 boxes at the University

of Delaware, additional boxes in Chinatown, D.C., and even more boxes at the University of Pennsylvania, and documents shrewd all over his garage floor where he parks his Corvette, and which is, quote, secured by only a garage door that is paper thin and open much of the bar. the time. He said that he went on to say that he's been summoned to appear at the federal courthouse in Miami on Tuesday at 3 p.m. What's funny is I love, so what I love about that is the description of the garage door. What if it had been a better garage door? You know what I'm saying? It's a paper thin garage door. He would still say. What if it had been a garage door that's like more fortified? You know, I don't know. I don't know. I don't have a garage. So maybe

In Louisiana, everybody turns their garage into an extra room that we could, like, drink backers in and play spades in, like, motherfuckers don't keep their garages. So I just, when I, I always get caught up on the dumb shit when I'm reading Trump shit. I just like, look, a paper thin garage, like, I just wonder if it had been like a steel garage or some kind of special garage if it would have been different. Whatever. Okay. So I guess the question is, and this is very fresh, very new.

the question is what does this really mean and if Trump is indicted does it hurt him politically CNN sources saying that he's indicted with seven counts I think that an indictment was expected the question is the timing of the indictment and what it means for the election I don't think that

anything will happen that precludes Trump from running he's not going to be tried and convicted before and I don't know if anybody cares. But I think right now, if you're Pence, Scott, Haley, and Christy, your PACs have to be working overtime right now to try to, Desantis as well, excuse me, that's the main one,

to try to injure Donald Trump. How do you feel, Rachel? I mean, Donald Trump has been indicted. This is the second. I mean, at this point, we're kind of becoming number. to it, right? We know that there are these three separate things, Georgia, Florida, New York. We know that they say the New York one is the weakest case. We know with the boxes and also with what went down in Georgia, with him trying to sway, change the votes, all of that. We know

those are the stronger cases. So, I mean, to be expected, we knew it was coming. I don't know if I thought it was going to come this quickly. But yeah, I think it's just something we have to see what happens. It's like you said, what I don't know is if things can be expedited because of who he is and what he is on a path to. I'd be very curious to talk to someone. Can they expedite all of this because they don't want him to run in the primary and then possibly get the, represent the Republican party in the national election? I don't know. But I would be curious to talk to someone if that can happen. So, of course, this is Trump's violation of the Espionage Act, which prohibits gathering, transmitting, or losing any information respecting national defense.

Violating U.S. Criminal Code known as Section 793. So violating the Espionate Act, Code 793. Look, here's the thing. I'm looking to get more. information on what the potential penalty for these charges could be. I'm assuming that all of that information will come out. Of course, you guys remember, 100 documents bearing classified markings in a set of 15 documents

that the Trump administration had. And we're asked for and refused to give back. So everyone remembers, obviously there's been a string of document situations that have gone on. Pence had some. He talked about it in his disastrous town hall that they did with CNN on Wednesday night.

It's terrible. This is idiot. But in the situation with Trump here, there was an effort from the DOJ to get these documents back because they were of specific importance. And Donald Trump resisted. Like he didn't want to give this stuff up. There's a little bit more intentionality and choreography

in Donald Trump's, his want and need to obstruct justice here than it was in the other two guys. I'm not, when we were talking about Biden and Pence and even they talked about Barack Obama. I'm in some stuff that was found in his library. I don't know why presidents would have classified documents that would end up at their residences.

I think that either there's mistakes going on or guys don't want to know what certain cigars with. I don't know what's going on. But what I would say is that in this particular case, there is a set of facts that point to Trump and his people acting criminally in this instance, knowing that the government wanted specific things from them and them ducking and dodging to not try to give those things back.

So we'll see how this stuff works. And like what that private call that we still don't really, know exactly what was said on that call, that recorded call about Donald Trump talking about these classified documents. But I mean, this is going to be all that you hear about over the next couple of days. So we'll double down on our coverage of it on Monday, try to get somebody in here to give us an expert opinion of what this means for not only Trump, but for the election. This is literally just happening as we are doing the podcast. And it's almost as big a news as Kalees bumping bodies with Bill Murray.

It's amazing. Okay. You have one more topic, but before we get to that topic, I want to throw to this interview right here with Mookie Cook, who plays LeBron James in a brand new Peacock movie shooting stars. It's a good little movie. Guys go check it out. Look, he's got a big decision of making his life.

Am I hooping or am I in Hollywood? This is next. This episode is brought to by Weather Tech. Everyone knows Winter is the MVP in making a massive. 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, ketchup goes rogue, ice cream drips. Yeah, you'd be pretty happy about those weather tech seat protectors. So just to be clear as the mud, you're inevitably going to step into the summer. You don't need weather tech unless

you plan on doing summer. Visit weathertech.com today. This episode is brought to you by Spectrum business fast, reliable internet means everything for your business. And even this podcast, that's why I trust Spectrum business to keep companies of all sizes connected with internet, advanced Wi-Fi, phone, TV, mobile services, plus 24-7 U.S.-based support. Millions of business owners already trust Spectrum business. So visit Spectrum.com slash business to learn more. Restrictions apply. Services not available in all areas. Okay, so the movie is shooting stars. It's a a young LeBron James and his group of friends over at Akron St. Vincent St. Mary's High School, they took over the state

and then LeBron went on to take over the world. We have Marquis Mookie Cook who plays a young LeBron joining us today on higher learning. Mookie, how are you doing, bro? I'm doing good. How are you? I'm doing good, man. Okay, first question. You got to play LeBron. You're playing LeBron. You're playing LeBron in this movie. The first thing

that you do when someone tells you, you're going to be playing LeBron James. How do you prepare to play the king? Man, honestly, I don't think there's really much you can do, man. Besides the best effort into it, man, it's LeBron James. You know,

just that, you know, we watched a lot of film. We watched more to the game. And especially just being around other great actors helped out. This is your first film. Congratulations. You would never know. You're quite the natural, I have to say.

How did this come about for you? Did you ever see yourself acting? How did they choose you? Lead us up to how you got to play LeBron? Nah, to be honest, I never even thought about acting ever. So they had this dude named Jay Hip, like right-hand man to the director, Chris Robinson. He had him go out and watch Y. YBL basketball.

At the time, I was playing with Oakland soldiers. And then I came across to me and was like just watching my game. And he was like, man, I kind of see it. I can see the LeBroning. And then I got a couple months after that, I got called to go audition in L.A. And then it pretty much went from there. The rest is history. I'm going to ask, I want to ask one more question about the movie.

Okay. for you, what was the hardest thing to get used to in terms being on set as an actor? As a new actor, you're in a movie, a lot of people have done before. What was the hardest thing to get used to? Definitely was just, you know, staying into character. You know what I mean? A lot of times, you know, I was just wanting to, you know, I had to remember. Like, I got to always just stay in the character because that helps, you know, just fill in the scenes and it looks more authentic.

that was definitely the biggest thing. And probably not getting stuck in line reads. I had multiple times of just getting stuck in line reads, honestly just saying it the same way. Chris Robinson is great acting director, man, great director overall, man. And he definitely helped me out with just my acting, like, truthfully. Like, he helped me with lines and make it sound more natural and stuff like that. I got to tell you, I wasn't familiar with, like, LeBron James and, his friends growing up.

Like we hear about Maverick Carter and the Rich Paul, but I wasn't familiar with this friend group at all until I watched this movie. So I found it really interesting. For you playing LeBron, and I'm sure I don't know if LeBron was on set, you could speak to that, or even like the friends from the friend group were,

but what is it that, because people got strong opinions about LeBron. What is it that you learned about LeBron that maybe you didn't know as you were stepping into this role? Definitely was, I learned, you know what I mean? He had to grow up at a young age. Grop at a young age, but I thought that helped him mold him to who he is now. You can see that he's real independent.

And he just has a very mature mindset of young age because not a lot of shit, probably myself, having all that clout, having all that publicity at such a young age. And also still having a single mother, you know what I mean, still having to honestly pave your own way. and you see like he's done it to the full extent like has surpassed what other people think that he was going to do and I think that overall, you know,

you need a support group and you see that in the movie, you know what I mean? He has a brotherhood. He has people that's going to hold him accountable regardless of the highs and the lows are going to hold him accountable. And, you know, they always viewed him as just LeBron. They didn't let all that other outside noise

get into their circle. And when you see that when they did, it caused conflict. But they honestly, you see that if they truly loved each other, they learned from it. And they got over all that. You know what I mean? They started to see that we all have our own lanes. We all have our own different things. And they grew from that, you know.

Mm-hmm. So, Mookiee, I got to ask you something, bro. You're a hoopie. Oh, gosh. You're headed to Oregon. You're headed to Oregon. right number four overall player by 247. So this is not a hooper.

This is an elite hooper. Headed over to the PAC 12. I don't know if you heard, but LeBron James Jr. is headed to USC. You guys are going to be conference rivals. What are the chances that is Oregon versus SC is you against brawny

and you look over at him and be like, yo man, I'm your dad. No light of. I think I played with him before. I played in seventh,

eighth grade, freshman year too. So I think he would truly just laugh. Like that wouldn't even bother to just start laughing because we already know before all this.

That's funny. That's funny. Let me ask you this, since we're talking of basketball, you're from Portland, right? Yes, ma'am. Okay. Oh, ma'am.

You're from Portland. When you go to the NBA, we're speaking all that into existence, would you rather play on a team with Damien Lillard or LeBron James? Dang, why do you put me in this position? You're going to rep the hometown? Or what?

Dang, I know Dame, man. I know Dame. I think, like, anybody going to say LeBron? Like, it's LeBron James. What? You're going to set me up for lives? You're going to set me up for lives. You're going to three?

I just got to sit in the corner and wait for the ball to come to me, man. Like, yeah. So let me ask you this. You have now a legitimate movie career, bro. That's like really exciting, man. You have a legitimate movie career. You know, I'm familiar with this story because there was a documentary

that came out in these guys. I feel like it was like 11 or 12 years ago. And so I watched that And it was an amazing doc. I feel like the story of LeBron and his friends growing up is a great story, which is why I keeps getting told. But for you personally, now, Marquis Cook, you're basically now a movie star.

And you're also this very legit basketball prospect. Do you want to do more acting? do you see yourself acting while you're pursuing your basketball future? And is there ever a time that you think you might have to choose between the two? I think, yeah, definitely. I see myself acting still, definitely, yes. If it doesn't conflict with none of my basketball like this movie did, then of course, yes. And, yeah, if I'm being honest, I got to choose basketball.

basketball. That's always my first love. Like, you know what I mean? It just, it's just a great opportunity that, you know, this door opens for me and I was blessed to be able to, you know, act. And now, I guess I was okay at it, you know what I mean? So from the public eye, you know what I mean? I can, I can continue to do it. But, um, not yeah, basketball, first and foremost, basketball always my first love, basketball will always be first. But if, if I can do another role and get another role, man, that would be always be a blessing, you know what I mean? Why not be able to do both? I keep two doors open. Absolutely.

You know what I want to see for you? I want to see you. You co-starred with Caleb in this. I want to see you in Stranger Things. Would you do that? Oh, hell yeah. I'll be wrong. Yeah, yeah.

That'll be dope. We're going to manifest that. Yeah, yeah. There ain't no rule to say they can't have two black brothers on that show. Get two of us on there. Why now? In the friend group? Yeah, in the friend group, y'all could be in the upside down.

All right, man, look. The movie is shooting stars. It's on Peacock. Brother, you're succeeding, man. I'm like, you're doing your thing, young man. It's amazing to see you a top five prospect who also has a starring role in a movie. It's like a Ray Allen situation all over again, brother.

Happy for you, man. And good luck. year at Oregon. Thank you for joining us on Higher Learning Day, brother. My man, appreciate you so much. Appreciate you all. I like Mookiee, man. He got to use my line up.

He is going to use it. He loves it. Just grow up to a boom, bang on him. That's funny. I'm your father, bro. I'm your dad. That's funny. All right.

So, something happened on Twitter yesterday. And it involves a basketball player. Down there, my neck of the woods. I'm from Baton Rouge, but the state reps the Pelicans heart. A whole new generation of Pelicans fans. When I was coming up, people had to pick other teams because we had no team. But now, all of my nephews, my nieces, everybody down there, Pelicans fans.

Franchise pairs are, Zion Williamson. It's exciting. He jumps real high. Very physical players. Physical. Get to the basket. Finish.

When he's on the court, he's one of the best. But he hasn't been on the court as of late. Where Zion has apparently been, is in the bedroom. Zion and his girlfriend, Akima, announced that they were expecting a bedroom. baby. I think this was Tuesday. And no sooner that this happened, did adult film star Mariah Mills go on a tweet storm, alleging that she had a relationship with Zion Williamson, and that she was

shocked and appalled, blindsided by the gender revealed that Zion posted on social media. She tweeted the following things. Donnie, me and Rachel are going to trade off reading the tweets that Mariah Mills posted to Zion Williamson and I want you to lay some dramatic music under this. Okay? I'm going to start. That's a kick out of this. Number one.

Better pray I'm not pregnant too because I'm definitely late. I feel like you need to. I feel like you need to put more. more into that. You need it a little bit more because she's upset. She's mad. She's mad. Okay. She's been messing with Zion thinking she the only woman in his life.

And not only is she not, there's a baby, too. She's upset. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Okay, cool. Better pray I'm not pregnant, too, because I'm definitely late, Zion Williamson. I was with you last week in New Orleans.

I can't believe you. you have me doing this. I was with you last week in New Orleans and you couldn't tell me you had a random thought pregnant after all I've done for you, Zion. I let you fuck me so many times

without a condom and this is what you do to me? A hood rat that does CPN? You put my day, oh, you put my life in danger fucking all these holes raw. Five is wild.

I'll continue. I'll do it. I'll read you. Rachel, you got to read five. Rachel, you got to read five. Okay. I'll read five. I let you spit in my mouth last week when we fucked.

You could have told me you had another whore pregnant. How is that going to work with us both moving to New Orleans? You'd think I wouldn't have found out Zion? All right. So look, jokes. obviously it's a ridiculous situation. By the way, to let you know, Mariah Mills was on Ghetto Gaggers. I was not familiar with Mariah Mills until this moment.

I knew who she was. So look, okay. So, you know, off of this one thing, all of these people started having conversations. Is Zion being irresponsible? you know, she leaked text messages or Snapchat messages. Oh, she did. She did.

With Zion saying that he was going to pay her monthly to have her come to New Orleans and all of that stuff. Listen, I am in no place to criticize or chastise Zion rules. I've been caught up before. It's happened. And you try to do better. and you try to learn. If there is a lesson from this situation, Rachel, what is that lesson?

I'm asking you, the pristine princess. No, that's not me. The princess of Oak Cliff, if there is anything beyond jokes that we can take from the Zion Williams situation, because I really try to look for some higher learning message that we can glean from it.

What is that message? I mean, I guess the message is for Zion. You got to be loyal and faithful or else you're going to see yourself caught up in a situation. You got these two women, well, not two women, because the other one isn't saying anything like this. This woman putting all your business out there,

fighting publicly with you, and then at the same time, you're trying to prepare to bring a child into the, this world, a daughter at that, I believe. So I guess the lesson here is you got to be loyal and faithful and treat women with respect because you can't be playing with women and their emotions because this is the kind of thing that happens. And I don't know the ends and outs of Mariah's relationship with Zion, but obviously she's hurt. What do you think that there's a chance here that Zion thought that because he

was paying her, then because he intimates that he was paying her, that their business arrangement meant that there wasn't as much of an emotional connection. Like if you, so this is what I'm thinking. If you're paying somebody X amount of thousands of dollars per month to be a companion of yours, would you think that they would get mad? if you popped up and you had a girlfriend or something like that, if you're essentially paying her

as a sex worker for her company. I guess that's the question. Do you think there's any chance? It depends. Was he? Because like, I know girls who get paid to go, you know, either hang out

or be someone's company, but it's not necessarily, I didn't see the messages. I didn't see the messages that were put out there. Let's talk about your crew. You know. I didn't say they were my crew. I said I didn't know.

Hey, don't shame. Don't shame sex workers. But the payment isn't all, the payment wasn't that they were sex workers. The payment was more of like, and that's what I don't know. Was he giving her like, was he paying for flights and hotel

or the fact that, you know, like she had to take off the job and was maybe like, here, here's some money while you're doing that. Because I think that's totally different of like, hey, I want you to spend time with me. Oh, I got to work. That's okay.

Like, I'm going to take care of you. I just want to see you and spend time with you. what your company. There's an emotional tie to that as opposed to like you know what it is. You know June 9th, I need you to meet me here. So it says this. I'll pay you for your services. It says when you move

how much do you expect me to pay you a month? But I'm super excited because he like I want you to fly. I want to fly you remember I'm at for four days. You sex is fuck. He said when you move, how much do you expect me to play you? I want to per month, I want you to have you around.

He was like, love you in these jeans. And I'm going to face time you it a little bit so we can talk about you moving. He wanted to move her. And then he wanted to pay her. He said he was going to pay her per month. Like how much would I have to pay you a month?

So I'm not, I'm just, I'm asking. I could take that either way. Because if she's moved, if she's uprooting her life to be with him, she might be losing money. So it's like, well, I'm going to give you an allowance, which guys do that. for women that are there significant others, right?

I'm going to give you money because you're uprooting your whole life to be here with me. I can see it both ways. I can see it both ways. But he was moving her. So, I mean, I would expect some money as well. Sounds like he was giving her an allowance.

You would expect money to move? If I'm moving for you, I want moving. Just like if I was moving for a job, I would expect for them to give me moving expenses. Tell you what? But here's the question. He's moving her. On Saturday so we could talk.

Wait, he's moving her. This is where you asked the right questions. Maybe she didn't want to know everything. You're moving me. Am I moving in with you? How am I living? I don't know. I'm just asking.

That's what I would ask for. She went hard, man. And I'm not in any way. I have absolutely zero dog in a fight. Like, she, she went hard. She seemed to be very, she was upset about what happened. She's embarrassed.

She probably was telling people I'm moving to New Orleans to be with my man, Zion. She's embarrassed. Yeah, well, there you go. I mean, look, she, she, but she did mess up the bag. You feel like she messed up the bag?

Well, he was clearly going to move. He knew he was, he had a girlfriend and he was getting her and that she was pregnant. They just announced it. He's been known. He was still trying to move her to New Orleans and fly her out to hang out with him four times a week. So let me tell you why I don't think she messed up the back.

Because there's something that everybody has to remember. And I was on real ones with Logan Murdoch a little earlier. I talked about this. Fame used to be the currency. Excuse me, proximity to fame used to be the currency. It used to be a time where if you were famous, people being around you, that was their payment. I'm sure there was money that changed hands. NBA players did not just start like an adult film stars.

Guys did not just start dating ladies that they meet in the club. It's been happening for whatever. Male and female. Mm-hmm. You know what I mean? But now, though, Mariah Mills is famous to a lot of people that she wasn't famous to before. So there's always a Trump card of somebody,

being able to take a step forward in their career because I'll tell you what's happening now. You know, they're going to be Zion Williamson porn parodies with her in it and with some guy coming in like he's Zion Williamson. There's going to be, there's opportunity for her, not unlike some other ladies that we've seen

talk about people who they've been with and it worked out for them. So the money that he was giving her, I'm sure it was probably substantial, but she might get notoriety in her career in a way that she didn't have before by talking about the fact that she's with her. Now that brings to me,

and that to me is one of the things that, you know, for sex workers out there, this is part of the reason sometimes why people judge because it seems as if the discretion and all of that other stuff. But it doesn't seem like that was a situation. I don't even want to talk about that because it seems like there was something more to it here.

And that might not be what she wants. Maybe she wanted the relationship and to have that one-on-one, you know, partnership with someone as opposed to like now being able to going back to what she was doing. Maybe she wanted to do something else. So I don't know. Right.

Melbat. Mel-back time. Time to read your life. letters and then we'll reply to them. Oh, it's mailback time. Write us with your queries and we'll chime in. All right. First question comes from Princess Tiff 84.

What's the first or most memorable time that you cried from happiness? Oh, God. I don't know. cried from happiness. I'm sure I have. I just can't remember crying for joy. I don't think I've ever cried

from joy before. I've been like moved. One time Bozhen was feeling sick and for a couple of days he was down and then I was worried about him. And then Collegu was walking him and he saw me and he turned around and he ran towards me.

And I'm like, oh, he's feeling better because I was really worried. And that made me all emotional, but I didn't cry. I don't know if I've ever cried from joy before. Maybe that's still yet to come. Maybe that's something I haven't, a threshold that haven't crossed in my life yet. Thank you for Princess Tiff 84 for reminding me that I have a joyless existence. I appreciate you. I can't think of one either.

I wonder how many people, I mean, Donnie, have you cried for joy, Ashley? I know I have, but I can't think of it either. Like, if I'm, the crying from sadness, like, that's more burned into my memory than the happiness for some reason. Like I don't remember. Human beings, pro-evolutionary to sort of prioritize things that went wrong than things that have gone right. Ashley, you're going to say, have you cried from joy before? I have. I do it more often than I'd like to admit.

I'm not going to want to. Don't roll your eyes. That's beautiful, Ashley. I'm an emotional person. I'm sorry. She's jealous. It's like somebody that stays high. Of course, she's happy all the time.

All she does is smoke dope. It's a dope. Smoke the dope. Smoke the dope. That's amazing. That's amazing. So you cry when you're happy a lot. Yeah, yeah, I do.

like, I mean, I just watched a video recently and this guy was on stage. She was performing. And he was having like a questionnaire. People just come and ask him questions after he performed. This girl comes up and says like, she remembers him when she was a baby. Well, remembers him.

Her mom would tell her stories. And she had like this heart deficiency when she was a child. And they had no money to help her. And this guy read about it in the paper. and went to visit her at her hospital and gave them all the money to save her life. And so she went to him 25 years later to be like, you saved my life.

Doesn't count. And I thought that was so sweet. It doesn't count. No, that's, you're crying at a sweet moment. Yeah, you're crying. Yeah, you're crying. No, no. Doesn't count?

Joy. No, that's not crying. Joy? No, see, I knew you was on some bullshit. That, I have seen things and been moved to tears. But I don't think that counts. I don't think that counts.

I don't think that counts as crying because you're happy. I'm going to give you an example of somebody crying for joy. We all remember that moment in why did I get married? When Jill Scott comes back and she's with her girls and she left her other husband and she's got a new man. And that was a real cry. They came back out later and said that that was real. She was really like it was a moment. So she's with Janet and Tasha and all the people.

And she's just crying. because she's so happy. Like she's talking about what's been done in life. She's like, oh. And I just, everybody remembers that moment. That is somebody crying for joy. Okay. If you cry watching that moment, Ashley,

which is what you're talking about, that's not the same thing. First of all, not everyone in this moment, but I'll tell you, I'll tell you this, that an easier one, Ashley, is just like crying when you win a Super Bowl or when you win an Oscar. All right.

That's so easy. Rachel, Rachel went to why did I get married? And I was like, everybody knows that for why did I get married? It's like easy example. Just crying. Oh, I did. I cried when we won the Oscar. That's what I just said.

You did that. Yeah, that's your answer. I cry when we won an Oscar. I cried. Cried out of sheer happiness. Overcome with joy. I cried when we won an Oscar. There you go.

All right. Cool. We got to that. That was a good question. Princess Tip, Princess Tip, I love it. All right. One more or two more. Okay. I don't know what to name this is the name of the person.

They say, they're asking Rachel, can we get Rachel's arm workout routine? Double question marks. I'm really going to disappoint y'all. It's hereditary. My mom has these arms and she's 67. Like, it's hereditary. I do work out my arms occasionally. What about my arms, baby?

I do have a natural... My arms are coming into the chat, baby. I have a natural... I don't have muscle, but I have a natural, like... Yeah. Sorry. But I do yoga. But, like, it's getting a little sloppy right now.

So typically my go-to is yoga. I am. I'm getting a little soft. I'm soft right now. Yoga has been great because I wasn't able to do pushups before I started doing yoga. Yoga helped me be able to do push-ups. So yoga, I do free weights to as well. And this week, I just started Solid Core, which was amazing.

It was a full-body workout on a mega-reformer. And it's like abs, arms, legs. I mean, you can take a class that's specific. I did the beginner class, but it was amazing. So I'm going to go back and do that. So yes, most of it is hereditary, but I do do things to maintain. Thank you.

Yeah. Rachel and Kalika come from the tribe of, we were born this way. And it's tough. It's tough. It's tough for us living over here in Smeglitude City. It's tough.

All right. That's it. That's enough. That's a lot of podcasts for you guys. Thank you to Mookie Cook for coming on to the show. Thank you for all of the fuckery. That's massive we even get to. They wave CP3, live golf and the PGA tour merge.

I need to see that they waives CP3. Well, they told them if they were going to wave them. But now they might re-sign, sign them back, whatever. Lionel Messi came to the MLS. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That golf thing, though, really has people riled up. The golf thing is so interesting. It's so interesting.

And I have a take about the Saudis and the WNBA that I'm going to get off on Monday. Jamel Hill, if you're listening to me, I told you I would get this take off today. We ran out of time. Monday. I'm going to talk about the Saudis and the WNBA. Don't miss it. All right. Take your thinking caps off, but do not stop learning.

I am Van Lakey Jr. And I'm Rachel and Lindsay. Bye, guys.