Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - Is Khloe Kardashian a Victim Or Just Reaping What She Sows?

Episode Date: April 9, 2021

Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay discuss Khloe Kardashian’s “natural” picture that got accidentally posted (20:00), Regé-Jean Page not getting a role in 'Krypton' because he’s Black (37:00), Hubert Davis’s weird press conference after being hired as UNC head basketball coach (49:00), and California potentially reopening on June 15 (1:00:00), before answering some mailbag questions (1:07:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, yo, yo, thought warriors. What is up? It is I, Van Lathen. And it's me, Rachel Lindsay. It's time for higher learning. We were just talking about Mohair. Mohair. Down in Baton Rouge on Burbank, man.

Mohair. You know, it's crazy. I think Moher moved. I feel like Moher used to be on Gardier. And by the way, you guys have no idea what we're talking about. Yeah, can you give him a little background on what Mohair is? Mohair is a salon that existed. in the area that I grew up in in Baton Rouge.

And for some reason, we were talking about because one of our producers Trudy, she got brand new hair did. And I was like, fresh press. Fresh press. When the girls would get their hair did, I would sing the Moherr song for them when they got on the bus

because Mohair was where they went. And then I looked up Moherr, Moher is still open. That is so amazing that Moher is still open after all of these years. Moherrhaer was open. when I was in middle school. Next time you go back home, you should visit.

You should tell them about the song. Maybe now that they've grown, they've gotten bigger. Maybe they're in the mood to advertise. Maybe, you know what I'm saying? Like, you can help them out a little bit. Mohair. I got my hair cut at Mohair one time. Oh, they cut hair too.

Okay, so it's... They would have a barber in there sometimes. But then what happened was the barbers that were in Mohair, they then left Mo Hair and started their own barbershop and I can't remember what the name of the barbershop was.

Mo Cuts. It wasn't Mo Cuts because they were branched. They had branched off. It was something. It was Orlando and all of those guys are over there cutting hair. And I remember

just going by there and my dad would be in there and my dad would be in there. And my dad would be in there. getting this haircut, didn't even tell me he was going to get his haircut. I'm running around here, looking crazy on top of my head, my dad's in there with a fresh lineup. That's how they do you. That's how your

problem's doing. What did you get your hair done as a kid? We didn't have a name. Our place didn't have a name. We went to somebody's house. Her name was Ms. Sandra. We go in there. We get our hair pressed. To this day, I still feel like I have bad memories from Ms. Sanders because I'm tenderheaded. You know what I mean? So she would take that hot comb. She'd heat it up on that stove. I'd have to lay my head, like a little bit in her lap. She would press my hair,

flip it to the other. I would scream. I would cry. And then as soon as I was done, I was looking cute. My mom says that I screamed and cried to an embarrassing age. But the day a boy came in the shop, I'd never cried again. Wow. That's all it took. Wow. That's very interesting. That's extremely interesting. You didn't want to, you wanted to maintain the sexy while you were At a young age. At a young age. So is the reason, are there religious reasons

why you didn't go to a shop where you went to somebody's house? Was this a thing? Was it unclean? Why did that have to be a religious thing? It was convenient. I don't know. I think, I don't know how my mom knew her

or family or whatever, but it was like, hey, Ms. Sandra does hair. Are we going to go to Ms. Sandra's? I guess it was for a good price. My mom used to do my sister's hair. And it was, I would watch it. And it was interesting because sometimes, you know, my sister's hair defeated a mini comb. I'm not going to have this conversation with you.

I'm not going to let you do your sister like this. I'm not. I can't even imagine what it was like to be in the household with you as a kid, to be riding the bus with you. Move on. Be doing Ebony's hair. All you see is comb needles. Pio, beo, beo, pew.

No, no. Ebony, if you ever want to come on the podcast and refuse this story, we are more than willing to have you. I'm not going to let him do you like this. I haven't even had the pleasure to meet, Ebony. I'm not going to let you do Ebony like that. Let me tell you something about, let me tell you something about Ebony Lathen. There is not a more genuine, loving, talented.

When I say talented, my big sister. is talented, beautiful, loving, talented, empathetic, real person that you'll ever meet is my sister, Ebony, just an amazing human being. You better make up for that story you just told. And she is like Floyd Mayweather when it comes to these combs, undefeated. She's like undefeated. She got locks now, and that's not because she tried to grow the locks,

It's just because her hair just went. Stop, stop. We're not going to do this. We're not. We're not. Love her to death. Love it or death. Love it or death.

My hair's all fucked up too. Look, like, it's not all fucked up. Call yourself out. Don't call out, Ebony. My mother has a beauty. Wait, it looks like you got a haircut. Nah, I just brushed that shit. You brushed it back.

You brushed it back. Yeah, brushed it back. Yeah, brushed it back. My mother has beautiful, by the way. All hair is beautiful, by the way. All hair is beautiful. Thank you. Let's start there. Some hairs easier on combs than others.

That's it. All hair is beautiful, though. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Tramphia offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start. Tramphia is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks, followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks. If your doctor decides that you can self-injecture, Trimphia. Proper training is required. Tramphia is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with moderately to severely active

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See terms at bandwold.com slash predict slash bonus dash offer dash herms. What have been up to this week, Rach. What's been going on? I've had a really busy week. Work is picking up. I feel like I had last week off. I've just been working, working, working interviews, interviews, interviews. Which I have a question for you.

So, you know, I'm in the middle of the Falcon in the Winter Storm. I've been interviewing that cast. Soldier. You know that's not the name of the show. Soldier, Soldier, Soldier. No, no, no, no. I keep saying the winter storm. Get on with it.

So I'm interviewing these people. I have no idea what I'm talking about. You realize the Falcon and the Winter Storm is a completely different show. It's a show about a bird. No, it's no. Think about the name. The Falcon and the Winter Storm.

That's a show about a bird in bad weather. That's what it's about. A cold bird trying to survive in bad weather. I thought like, because Anthony Mackey's the Falcon, I just thought the Winter Storm was referring to the other white lead. Why would he be the winter storm? That's racist as hell. Winter Soldier.

Winter Soldier. I thought it was like a, like a superhero name. Like Storm, okay? I'm not far-fetched. That's not far-fetched. Storm is a superhero name. Winter Storm, I thought they were trying to maybe differentiate. Don't do me.

There's logic behind it. I got you. Got you. Anyways, I had to interview with David Brule, Daniel Brule. Ooh, Van Zima. And Emily Van Camp. Yes. And so,

as I'm talking to them, I've no idea what I'm talking about, but it all sounds very interesting. I ask myself, because you're in, you're deep in the MCU. If I was going to start with something in the MCU, beginner, beginner here, where would I start? Because I'm starting to get interested in it. The original Iron Man is the movie to start. You just start with the first film. Wait, like Robert Downey Jr. That's how quickly it started.

I mean, I guess the comic books before, but that's the first. first time we saw something on... No, you're done as far as the comic books are concerned. There's too much story. No, I would never start with the comic books. I'm just surprised that the first movie was Iron Man. I've seen Ironman. That was the first one. Yes, the first one in the MCU.

Okay, so what's next? I've seen that. That's not the first movie chronologically in the MCU wouldn't be that. You know, that's interesting. Because maybe Thor takes place. No, no, it would be Captain America, the First Avenger. Captain America, the First Avenger would be the first movie if you went chronologically in the... you should make like a guide for me. No.

No. To, like. All right. See, I tried. I'm trying to take an interest in the things that you're, that you're interested in. You won't help me out.

The reality is that these things happened on the, like, you know what you're asking me? You're treating me like, uh, white people treat black people like, give me a book to read. Give me a book to read.

Don't, don't you dare compare it to say it's not even close. What, fan, like, call me a, I didn't ask you. I didn't ask you. to give me 400 years of history. No, I didn't ask for that.

Put me on speaker and tell all my friends why blackface is wrong again. It's not even the best. Click, click. You know what? Fine. I take it back. I'll just stay in the place that I am. Stay.

Ain't nobody ask you to come over. I've just been a little interested because I've been interviewing these people and it's just so popular and I want to see what the hype is. Stay. We will be watching Black Widow in theaters and you can watch Why Did I Get Married too? That already came out. Stop. Or whatever. Like whatever you want to watch.

Shout out to Tyler Perry, by the way. I love his films. Anyways, I interviewed them. I interviewed John Stamos for a new TV series that they have. I saw he got a new TV show. It's actually, for me, it was, I was interested in it because it's about him. He's like this failed college coach. He goes back to coach a high school team, all girls team.

So it was, that was it. Next. I interviewed Sasha Baron Cohen. Oh, that's an interesting one right there. very, very interesting talk about the similarities between the role that he played as Abby Hoffman versus Borat. Who else did I talk to? Ionla, fix my life. Iyanla Van Zan, fixed my life.

I thought her name was Ilyana. So I thought it was Ayyana. Ayana, yeah. It is Iyanla, apparently. She didn't grow up with it being that. She's just that now that she got some cloud. Okay, well, whatever it is. Her seat, Fix My Life.

if this is the last season. She changed it. Oh, so the last season? Last season. But how can that be the last season as if they're not more lives to fix? She said she feels like the show has, like it's done all of its can.

I think she's just kind of like, it's at the end of the road. She's not going to stop doing what she's doing, but the show is over. You know what I would like to do? I would like to do the opposite show. I could be the host. Mess, mess.

F up your life? Van, fuck my life. That's a great show. Like people who have it all going for them, they got high credit scores. And I just come over and be like, man, how are you going to fuck up my life today? Yo, give me your credit card.

Come on. That sounds too easy. It's fun. And the only person who benefits from that is you. But let's see, is your life stable enough to give me 24 hours to fuck your life? Let's explore this a bit. Because there would have to be boundaries, right?

You'd have to have a limit. Okay. because you just said, give me your credit card and let me fuck up your life. Right. There are going to be boundaries, right? You can only spend a certain amount of money. You can only buy a certain amount of cars, one house, whatever it may be, this amount of clothing. This is a great idea.

I'd be honest with you because you can't, most of these things, you can only do so much damage. Like I couldn't spend. So like max out credit cards. Yeah, I couldn't spend all of somebody's money in one day. It depends how much money they have. If they got a, even if they have 500,000 bucks, I can't spend all of that one day. That's a lot of money. I know.

Maybe if I took it to Vegas. I don't know, man. Think about it. Maybe people are crazy enough to let you do that. Van Lathen. Fuck my life. I'll do it. Of course you would.

You don't lose anything. You lose nothing. Matter of fact, you gain a check for a new TV show. Meanwhile, you just messed up these people's, like, So you just walk away. Some people need some pain in their lives, man. They do. Some people need some pain in their lives.

I'm happy for people. If you could pick one celebrity's life to fuck up, who would it be? The Rock. Wow, you didn't even think about that. We've been thinking about this for a while. Easy. The Rock.

Is there a reason? First of all, there just doesn't seem to be anybody more stable than the Rock. I think the Rock is Teflon. Like the Rock, it would be a challenge to fuck up the rock's life, right? You know what I mean? He might do that if he goes

into politics, like he's saying. He might do that. I'm interested in about this. Real quick, as an aside, number one, I do think it's the rock. I think the rock is so stable. His image is so ironclad. You know what I mean? It would have been Will Smith, but

he's had some turmoil recently. But it's the rock. What do you think about 46% of Americans saying that they would support the rock running for president? I say I'm not surprised by that when I see that Donald Trump made it into the presidency. Dwayne Johnson does not have the history. You know what I mean?

The experience when it comes to politics, I have no idea what his knowledge is. He seems to be very vocal and involved. But I think that people are so pushed to the points where they don't want to do what's traditional, where they don't want to see the same-all, same-all, that I'm not surprised at 46% of the country, I don't know who they were polling, is interested in seeing the rock as the president. Not at all.

That's how Donald Trump got into office. People wanted somebody who wasn't, quote, a politician, right? And that what they kept saying. He's not your typical politician. He's different. He's not like the rest. Are you surprised? I'm not surprised.

I think it's eventually going to be the downfall of American society. Notariety culture, fame culture, pop culture, means that people want more, they want what's familiar more than they want what's... Right? Yeah, they want... Look, I don't know whether or not it's wrong or right,

Barack being the president. Barack might make a fantastic president, but I can tell you that on average, most Hollywood celebrities probably wouldn't because it just takes a tremendous dedication to your country and a tremendous understanding and devotion to the human experience

to be a good leader of that many people with that much, you know, to have that much power. And we saw what somebody who's selfish or self-involved, their self-interested can do when they are the president. Right? We saw that. And by definition, being a Hollywood celebrity means that you're normally that way.

Because everything in your life is about you. Every situation in your life is you, how were you going? Who are you going to talk to? You know, it's very rare that you that you do something that's not surrounding your brand. And the rock, the overwhelming evidence is that the rock is a really, really decent guy.

But, you know, it can't be about, it can't be popularity over practice. Right. I'd rather see him start on a local level than just jump to straight, wanting to be the president. At the same time, it's America.

You know? And America's supposed to be a country where citizens can go out there and run for president and, you know, be a part of the political process. Obviously, he's a different type of citizen being that he has a good billion dollars. But yeah, it's America. So there you go. Sounds like he's got fans vote. Nope. Wanna fuck his life up.

He's got my vote for the band. Fucks your life up. show. Man, I come in with some sunglasses on. This time fuck your shit up. Man, this could really be a show. How was your week?

It was cool. Let me see. What's happened this week? I saw you got an award. You got an award. Oh, yeah. The African-American Film Critics Association gave two distant strangers best live action short film. Boom.

And thank you. Thank you to everybody at Afka and to Gil. This podcast comes out tomorrow. What also happens tomorrow? The premiere on Friday, on Netflix of two distant strangers, watch it

in a world where a young man keeps living the same day over and over and over again. Will he get home to his dog produced by six feet under from executive producers

Kevin Durant Van Lathen Sean P. D.D.D. Combs. Jesse Williams. Nick May. Lawrence Bender and Mike Conley from the twisted mind of Trayvon Free

with expert direction from Martin Desmond Roe. Also Samir Hernandez involved two distant strangers. Be distant, but Don't be a stranger. There it is.

Trailer voice van. TVV. That was good, man. That was good. I can do a trailer for you right now. No, I didn't ask. I'll do a trailer for you right now. I don't want to hear it.

How about this? I didn't give you, I didn't consent to this. I didn't give permission for this. How about, how about this? I'm going to take a vote right now. No. Y'all don't turn on me. No, no, no.

Not them amongst the thought warriors right now. Oh, we already know. about whether or not they want me to do a trailer for you. You guys listen to the podcast. Do you want me to do a trailer for Rachel? You know what the answer was? They just said yes. So now I have to do the trailer for Rachel.

Man, who's hearing things now? It is. This is a trailer for Rachel right here. In a world with a Bachelor went through its day-to-day, everyday operations without any care for people of color. One hero emerged. Dun dun dun range. From the minds that brought you Bachelor in Paradise of the Bachelorette and Game of Roses.

We bring you a harrowing adventure into the heart of culture, arranged marriages and suspense starring Rachel Lindsay. Don, doong, doon, don't. Brian and Chris Harrison. Ban to-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun. What was my music then? Because you came in with the doom coming. This summer, big ranch, the place where roses die.

I'm not bad at it. Let's take a break. This episode is brought to you by WeatherTech. Everyone knows winter is the MVP and making a mess. You don't need WeatherTech 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. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Tramphia offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start. Tramphia is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks. followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks. If your doctor decides that you can self-inject Tramphia, proper training is required. Tramphia is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with moderately to severely active Crohn's

disease and adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis. Serious allergic reactions, increased risk of infections or lower ability to fight them, and liver problems may occur. Before treatment, get checked for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or need to be a disease. a vaccine. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Tramfaya today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit Tramphiara.com. All right. Chloe Kardashian, I want to let you know that there was a little bit of smoke that Rachel gave me over this topic. I didn't really want to do this. And Rachel, I was like, you could do the heavy lifting on this topic because I could care less. And Rachel went. Yeah, whatever. SMH, all those comments. topics that we do.

I don't really care about those either. And what I looked into the story a little bit more, it's actually pretty fascinating. So there was a picture of Chloe Kardashian that got leaked, I guess. The picture got leaked? Right.

Somebody uploaded it by accident. Accident. Accidental upload. Just to say on its face, very tough to do. I just, I just, on its face. I guess they thought it was okay to post.

Oh, that's the accident. Yeah, they thought it was okay. And she did not give permission for that picture to be public. So the picture was unedited. I'm looking at the picture right now. It looks just fine. Just fine. The picture was unedited.

And I guess that sent the Kardashian brass into a tailspin about trying to punish the guilty parties, trying to get the picture wiped away from everywhere. And it made Chloe Kardashian open up a little bit more about her body image issues and what she goes through as a woman in public eye that has to deal with these issues. She actually said in response to this entire thing,

she said, it's almost unbearable trying to live up to the impossible standards that the public has set for her. She said me. I'm saying her. She posted this statement about how she deals with her body image issues. And she also posted another video proving that what was sent out was an unedited video. Okay.

You felt very, very strongly about this particular topic. What's your take? Well, just to give more background, you didn't really care to talk about it. And I think that you were looking at this more from a Kardashian. narrative, which I understand, not my go-to conversation either. And I was saying it's a bigger picture of social media, of body images, images, and just the effects that it has on particularly women to live up to unrealistic standards. And what I find most interesting at the time that we had this conversation through text, Chloe had yet to respond. And what I find, and she since

has responded in a very long message on social media. And what I find interesting is, She's making herself a victim almost in a world and culture that the Kardashians are responsible for. If not the creators of it, they definitely are responsible for perpetuating this type of cult, this school of thought, this practice. And now you're being... What school of thought is that? Well, just the fact that there's, like they talk about, oh, there's just so pressure to be perfect and perfect. But it's like, you guys, you've built an entire empire on perfection. You continue to edit your pictures and Photoshop them. You've been called out on that multiple times. And not only you started this, and then all these influencers have picked up on this type of practice. And it's multiplied and multiplied. And now you have countless influencers who are populating social media feeds with this image to get this Kardashian effect. When the reality is people are trying to emulate something and chasing a goal that they can't even achieve themselves. It's a goal that

doesn't really exist. The Kardashians edit themselves to look so fake and so plastic, they might as well be animated figures. That's how I feel. I mean, it's, and as you and I talk about this, we understand that they're edited, they're Photoshop. They don't necessarily look that way, but it might not be common sense for the women that are their very audience who are so impressionable. For these fans that laud and praise them, they may not get it to the level that we do. And then it makes these young women try to go after something that they can never have, making us have these desirable or making us desire these unrealistic standards. And I think that it makes people feel bad and self-conscious about their own bodies. And like mental health professionals have

talked about this, how having, they have concerns of normalizing these unattainable standards. And that's what I feel like the Kardashians create. And I think the thing, what was upsetting to me is this could have been such a powerful moment for Chloe, right? This could have been a moment But the picture, she looked great. It's the most normal we've seen her look. She didn't have the tan. She didn't have like the chiseled features. She didn't have the smoothness going.

She looked normal. And I thought she looked beautiful. And I just feel like you can't call yourself a victim and say that you felt you looked beautiful in that picture. But then go on social media and strip, not really strip, but you know, like, show herself. Did you see this? No. She showed herself on social media with just, she was like in her underwear. She was covering up her breast and she was like jumping up and down, showing her body. Then she was doing an IG live and she was like, this is not a photoshopped video. And it's like,

if you were, if you felt you looked beautiful in that, then why are you now doing all of this on social media to prove to people what you really look like when that was you? You know what I'm saying? Why are you giving us this this unfodoshopped video when we just saw an unfodoshopped picture of you? It's honestly very, very sad that they feel the need to constantly prove themselves to all these

people that they don't know. But I just, I think what was upsetting is the idea that she's trying to be a victim for a world that she created when she could have taken this as a moment to really be an example to embrace your body and to love your body for what it is. I mean, Chloe,

Chloe is a beautiful person. I mean, we saw the video. So I don't know. It was just upsetting. I think it was a bigger conversation about body image and the pressure that women have to look and be a certain way. So, do you think it's fair

to blame the Kardashians for America being stuck on an unattainable beauty standard? I think that they play a part in it. I'm not going to say that they have the entire blame, but absolutely, I think that they play a part in people having these unrealistic goals and expectations of what

they're supposed to look like. And this Chloe situation proves it. This woman went to bat. Like, I'm not to bat, but this woman went, as you said, a tailspin, her legal team trying to pull down a photo because it didn't fit what their expectation of beauty is. The action of what that legal team took to get this ripped down from all of social shows that that doesn't

fit their image of beauty. Because if it did, you wouldn't have a problem with it. So I guess my only problem with it is that if it wasn't them, it would be somebody else. In the 90s, that standard of beauty was largely

set by like the Victoria's Secret Angels. It was the age of the supermodel, right? And it was Heidi Klum and Tara Banks, Cindy Crawford and all of those people, right? All of those ladies were, it was a whole era, guys. It was a whole era, Kathy Ireland, and all of those people was the entire era of that. Now, I was just a little guy running around at that point,

And so I don't really have as much knowledge on how that beauty standard affected women, but I certainly saw it, right? The, you know, the catalogs came to the house, the Sports Illustrated stuff. It was huge. It was a big deal. It was a huge gigantic deal. And Kardashians are no Kardashians. If the standard of American beauty remains some version of perfection,

There'll be somebody else to come along and brand it and make a lot of money from it. That's fine. But right now, this is who's doing it. But I don't, I don't, and I'm really interested in what the audience is going to think about this. I think that Chloe scrambled because it's part of her brand to look a certain way. To look perfect. Right. Well, yeah, it'll look as good as she possibly can.

So I guess the question is, does where, I guess what I'm asking, and I'm asking it sincerely. Yeah. is that there's an unattainable beauty standard that women have to adhere to, that people have to adhere to. Nah, fuck that. That women have to adhere to, right? On TV, the King of Queens is married to Leah Remedy. Mm-hmm.

And I'm like, yo, you know what I mean? Like, there's like a statement there. I got you. And by the way, that's not me saying anything about Kevin James. It's just saying this stuff means more for women than it does for men. I think everybody says that. I just think that, I don't know if it's fair

to make them the, it's definitely not fair for her to cry about, I don't believe you want to say that. It's definitely not fair for her to, she definitely makes a living off of this, right? It's almost like LeBron James having a bad game.

Like your brand as LeBron James is having a good game. Of course you're going to react poorly to the criticism when you have bad game. Of course she's going to react poorly to the criticism when she's off her game. But to me, I don't know if, I don't think they created the standard of American beauty that I think patriarchy did, right? Well, in the example that you just gave about, or you just gave about criticism of if LeBron James has a bad game, that's the thing. Chloe Kardashian didn't get criticism for the unfodoshopped picture she posted. People loved it. They were

praising her for saying you look so great. She had a flat stomach. She was curvy. People were like, wow, it's so good to see you looking like normal, like yourself. That's some expectation that Chloe has placed on her. That's her own insecurities coming out because they have built, they have built an entire brand off of looking a certain way. That's why they're all morphing literally into having the same body for the most part. That is their standard of beauty. That's what they've created their millions, now billions on. And I'm not, and I'm, so I'm not giving them the sole blame, but I'm saying, yeah, there is a level of responsibility. Girls, young girls are wanting to look like Kim Kardashian. Well, Kim Kardashian did some things to achieve that look. Kim Kardashian doesn't always look like that.

she has her team fix up her photos. And so there is this unrealistic standard of beauty that people are trying to achieve that they're never going to get because it's not real. And I think that that's the bigger conversation that was coming out of this because we saw for the first time, and I don't even know how long, Chloe looked like Chloe. Yeah. Well, I mean, my thing with that is that that's definitely true.

Their brand is to sell you enhancements. They sell you the body shape or stuff. They sell you the makeup. They sell you all of those things so you can look like them. Like them. Look whatever they think is better or whatever like that. I don't have any problem with any of that. I guess what I'm saying is that that's always existed.

Correct. And so I guess my thing is, and I'll ask a question directly, whose responsibility is it to change the beauty. standard. That's a good question. I mean, when you go back into the 90s, it was this, you bring up the models, but it was the pressure to be thin, right? To be thin. And you had a lot of women who were trying to do what they could to look like a supermodel and be, have their body look like that. Somewhere along the line, it changed to having that curvy, Kim Kardashian. But not just Kim, though, Kim, Beyonce, all of that stuff.

It came into a deal. But let's be honest. A black woman isn't going to lead what the standard of beauty is. They definitely won't. But what I'll say is really, and to me, the rise of hip hop culture, also being mainstream culture, has a lot to do with this because all throughout the 2000s, when hip hop was becoming pop, the women were in those videos were Kitoi Johnson and Buffy the Body and Summer Walker and Esther Baxter. So women have been looking like that. Who became the look, who made it popular? Who made it mainstream? They made it mainstream because they were the mainstream people,

but what I'm saying is the beauty standard itself, there's a lot of reasons why it changed. I'm not saying that there's a, the Kardashians really, to be honest with you, were trying to look more like those girls. I know. That's my point. These white folks know who Buffy the body is. I know. Well, they might not know her by name, but they definitely watch. No, but my point is, is when it became, when it crossed over, when it became popularized, when it became mainstream to where it was dipping into another audience, it was the Kardashians that took it there.

My point, I guess what I'm saying is, I don't think that there's, I have necessarily a problem with who's making money off the beauty standard, right? I don't know. I don't either. I have a problem with the fact that there is a beauty standard, period. I do too. But that beauty standard, I mean, I guess what I said before is my best question, and I don't want to belabor to point too much. But whose responsibility is it to set a realistic beauty standard?

Who is it? Because certainly the photographers at Sports Illustrated in the 90s, the guys who were picking the, Victoria's Secret Models Anna Wintour who was putting people on the cover of Vogue. Certainly, I don't think

that that's a priority for people like that. I think what they care about is, I think they care about what it is that people want to be because that's what they want to sell. So I guess who's responsible is it, whose responsibility is it

to like change that? Well, I just want to be clear. I don't have a problem with the fact that they make this is how they make money. My issue was don't, have that be your brand and then cry when people hold you to the standard of your brand or be a victim when people hold you to what you to what you created but i i when you say when you say whose responsibility is it when you have a platform and you have the opportunity to influence people

this was a prime example especially when body positivity is a trend now it is a thing to embrace your body and your curves and what's natural i mean look at what lizo is doing And people support and they uplift that. So this was an example, especially with all the support that Chloe was getting for the original picture. This was an opportunity for her to play into that. And she didn't. So when you say whose responsibility, it's people who have influential power to do that. Interesting.

I'll tell you what, I've got body positivity. I'm positive. I need to lose some weight. Where are you on your goals? Don't worry about it. Oh. More of your support. I'm losing weight every day.

Losing weight every day. All right. Very interesting story. So much racism coming out of Warner Brothers. It's crazy. Jeff Johns, one of the brass over there, Warner Brothers,

that controls the DC universe. If you guys don't know what the DC universe is, that is the universe where Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman, Brainiac, Sinestro, Green Lantern,

Dead Man, Robin Nightwing Doomsday Lex Luther All right Dark side High Father

Joker Joker Harley Quinn Penguin Poison Ivy Get to the story We get it You know

The D.C. You know the D.C. Universe. Hawkman, Hawk girl, Lobo. What is D.C. stand for? Detective Comics. Really? Yeah, so Superman

was, Superman debuted in action comics, number one, action comics, right? And Batman debuted in detective comics, number one, because Batman is the detective, you know, whatever. And I guess after a while the action comics kind of stopped,

and it became DC. DC Comics. Okay. So there's a guy named Ray Fisher. Ray Fisher played Cyborg in Zach Snyder's Justice League and in the Josh Whitten cut of Justice League. He has alleged about wholesale racism on the set and in the culture of things going on over at DC and Warner Brothers.

He's talked about this a lot. Now, if you watch the 2017, version of Justice League, his character cyborg barely in the movie. Doesn't have a lot to do. They took Zach Snyder away and they gutted his character. He has a problem with Josh Wheaton. He has a problem

with all of these people, right? Not just because of that, but because of the way that they they comported themselves, things that they said to him his accusations are best read through his voice. He's a very powerful speaker. You can, very powerful writer, a very powerful person, go there and get him, but he's saying that things are unfair

there. And it's It did D.C. no favors that when Zach Snyder was restored and got to make his version of the movie, that Cyborg was in it a lot more. That made me some of the problems that Ray Fisher was saying that he had with the people over there. It lent some credence to the fact that they might have been true. Anyway.

So throughout this entire time, he had done an interview with the Hollywood reporter, I think it was. Ray Fisher did. It's a great interview. He uncovered a piece of evidence. He made an accusation. He said that he's a guy's name Rijé Jean. Regéjean.

Regéjean. Regé Jean. The guy, Ray Gejohn, Page that you know is the hot man from Bridgeton, that he was going to be cast in a show called Krypton that was about Superman's home planet at Superman's grandfather. But that Jeff John said, you couldn't make Superman's grandfather black, didn't want to cast this guy because he was black. Now, you have that situation, and then you have this guy go on to become the hottest actor on television, one of the biggest actors on TV. And it makes you think that he didn't get a chance to become that a couple of years prior

because he was black. Now, the character of Superman is white. All right? The character that's the way he's always been portrayed is white. but he comes from a fictional planet in a fictional universe with a bunch of other make-believe shit. So a lot of people

who are looking at this and they're asking if these same old games are being played in Hollywood even today. I guess I'm not trying to be controversial and let's all know that I don't understand the whole DC universe thing.

But this isn't like this is an adaptation right? This isn't like when they did the live version of the Little Mermaid, and we've already seen Ariel's story, and we know where she comes from, we know what she looks like, and then they redid this live version of it, and they had one of the Bailey sisters. I can't remember which name is Hallie. They had Hallie play her. That's different. It was an adaptation. I understand that. I guess I'm kind of like, I understand because of everything that Ray Fisher has brought to light. that people are making this assumption or believing that this is actually the same case with reggae Jean. But if Henry Cavill played Superman and he's white

and Russell Crowe played his father who's white, where are we going to get a black grandfather from? It just doesn't make sense to me. I get that it's a fictional, I get it's fictional. I didn't think of it that way until you said it, but I'm still like,

okay, so Russell Crow's supposed to be biracial? I just, I just, if we're talking about a storyline, I can see why his granddaddy is white. If you're asking to play like a different character, I don't know. It just, to me, I was like, I mean, I mean, look,

kind of makes sense to me. Well, look, What Jeff John said, what Jeff John said was that I don't think of Superman as having a black grandfather. I think of Superman, Superman's grandfather looking like a young Henry Caval. And that's kind of what he wanted to do. Crypton was on the air. It was a decent watch. It did not stand the test of time.

The show was gone. Look, I hear you. I do. I think it's probably bullshit. It might be. Well, I think, when I say bullshit, I mean, it's not as big of a deal. It's not as big of a deal.

This is the frustrating part about it. It's only a big deal because they said no, because he's black. If they had cast this guy, right, who went on to become a television star, if they had cast him, people would have been like, for one second would have been like,

how does Superman have a black grandfather? And that would have actually added intrigue to the show. The fact that Superman had a black grandfather. Or, by the way, this is Krypton. This is a fictional planet in a fictional universe and a fictional galaxy. We don't know how race works there. We're not on Earth.

We're not on Earth. Okay. They also wanted to apparently bring a bisexual character into the gay or bisexual character to the show. And Jeff Johns wasn't cool with that either. But I guess there's just a million ways to explain it and one way to not explain it, which is we don't want it because he's black. Is that what he actually said? No, no. What he said was that he didn't see, all of these are allegations, right?

This is all what he said was. He didn't see Superman's grandfather as being black. He sees Superman's grandfather. Like I said, it's been a young Henry Cabo, which I guess makes a lot of sense. I don't think that viewers will be turned off because Superman had a black grandfather.

I really don't. I really don't think that that's going to matter. In Krypton, which is the show, about characters who we are all much less familiar with. Right? There are some people there that keep popping up, but we're all much less familiar with them anyway. So that's the kind of shit to me,

where you start getting it. Wacking. Go crazy. Get, get, like. Maybe he's not as creative as yet. Like, beginning wacky, go crazy. Jeff Johns is one of the finest comic book. No, I just mean like thinking outside of the, like, apparently,

allegedly he didn't want a gay or bisexual person either within it. So I, yeah. I mean, when I hear you say it that way, I'm like, yeah, I guess you could make up whatever you wanted to. That does make a lot of sense. But when I first read the story, I was like, I mean, Yeah, so, I mean, I guess I, I, huh.

Let me ask you this. If we didn't know all the stuff that Ray Fisher had said, right, which Ray Fisher has gone into detail about his experience. And there have actually been like Gal Gadot has said some things that have been, that she's felt a certain way with lines that were that they wanted her to read. and derogatory comments that were made against Patty Jenkins, the director in Wonder Woman of Wonder Woman. So if we didn't know any of that and you just heard this,

would it have the same, give you the same feeling? Or is it because it's coupled with all the other stuff we know? It's probably because it's coupled with all the other stuff that we know. But I do think what I'm waiting for is a time when people don't take shit and make shit worse. It's just not that big of a deal. It only becomes a big deal when you stand right there and say, no, Superman can't have a black grandfather. Well, of course he can.

Superman ain't real. And this is hard coming from me because I believed he was real for such a long time. Superman ain't real. Superman can have whatever we say he can have. If right now I want to write a comic called Superman. darkness coming where Clark Kent wakes up by way this is a good idea

just popped up in my head where Clark Kent wakes up one day and looks at his left hand and realizes that he's turning black and what did you call it Darkness is coming? Superman, darkness coming and over the next

X amount of days Superman just continuously for some reason turns into a black man right? And he has to deal with the fact that he is now not just he's overnight black. He is the world's foremost hero. He's this, he's that. I could write that. And then you'd have to react. People would think that he was pretending to be Superman. That's the thing.

It would be a whole thing. It would be a whole thing. You're not Superman. Superman is white. And it would turn the entire archetype of Superman on his is. I could do that. Would Lois Lane still be into him? We don't know. Right. Maybe she would be more. into him. Like we have absolutely zero clue because the beauty of comic books and the beauty of all of these stories

is that you can do whatever you want, right? Now, is there something connected to Superman being a white guy, Batman being a white guy and all of those things? Of course there is, right? Those characters in their specific circumstances sometimes are written specifically white. But this is a character that we

can do whatever we can do whatever we like. Good point. And the only thing that kind of stops us is the way we're looking at things on our earthly plane. I want to have Ray Fisher on because what Ray Fisher is talking about is very important. And I'm going to tell you guys this. Ray Fisher's been saying this for a very, very long time. Because of the Snyder cut, he's been getting more oxygen and more notoriety for it. But he is maintaining this for a very long time.

It's very important that we talk about these working conditions and these environments and stuff like that. Let's take a break. This episode is brought to you by Two Good and Company coffee creamers. How do you take your coffee? Piping hot, ice, strong, frothy. But if you love rich, creamy goodness and delicious flavor in every sip, try Two Good and Company Creamers. They're made with farm fresh cream and real milk.

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which includes gas, bloating, rumbling, and abdominal discomfort. All right. Just a fascinating piece of audio. It's video too, but it's audio as well. Huber Davis is a former player, Rachel dropped ahead at North Carolina who just accomplished something amazing. He just, Roy Williams, the coach of North Carolina,

who took over. I think there was a guy in between Roy Williams and Dean Smith. What was the guy's name? Matt something. Look that up. Who was the guy that took over for Dean Smith Smith after Dean Smith retired? definitely was a guy, maybe a couple of guys.

But I remember there was a guy that took over for Dean Smith. It might have been a couple of guys, but eventually, Dean Smith was a legendary coach in North Carolina. Roy Williams was a legendary coach at Kansas. He left Kansas to take the North Carolina job. And one of his ex-players, Hubert Davis, is now going to become the head coach at North Carolina. Huge deal.

Congratulations to Hubert Davis. Huber Davis is... Heber Davis is black. All right. He becomes the first black coach in the history of North Carolina, which is one of the most legendary, if not the most legendary.

History of North Carolina basketball, I should say. It's important. He's not the first black coach in the history of the school. Oh, North Carolina basketball. North Carolina basketball. No Carolina basketball.

Who was the coach in between Dean Smith? There were two. It was Bill Guthridge and Matt Doherty. Matt Doherty was the guy I was thinking about. Bill Guthrie was the guy I took over right there. Bill Guthridge and then Matt Doherty. Anyhow, so there was a press conference introducing Huber Davis, who we all remember from his time in the NBA,

and his time in college basketball. And this was what Huber Davis had to say during his press conference that really got all over the black Twitter sphere up in arms. It is significant, Steve, it is significant that I'm African-American and I'm the head coach here. I'm very proud to be African-American. but I'm also very proud that my wife is white and I'm very proud that my three beautiful, unbelievable kids

are a combination of both of us. Oh, okay. Rachel. Rachel, now here's the thing, Rachel. Okay, here's the thing. Let's just get it on out there. Okay. Let's just talk about it, Rachel.

Don't get defensive. That's what I was going to say. Like you... This is, this, y'all, you don't understand, it's on a personal level. Obviously at this point, we all know that my husband is not black. Hold on for a second. Let me, let me say, put you like this.

Rachel's married to a white man. Yes, but Colombian. Okay. I just like to add that. He is a Latino. He's got a little flavor in there. Okay, cool. Okay.

Just give him a little flavor, a little spice. When I see comments or, or hear comments like this. This is the kind of stuff that makes people in interracial relationships always feel like they got to be on the defense. You know what I'm saying? It's stupid comments like this

because it becomes representative of how all people in interracial relationships are. Because I think it's human nature that we constantly deem groups of people as monolithic, especially when you're unfamiliar with those groups. So it's like, oh, this black person does this, So this black person does this, this Asian person, does this, this Asian person things like this. If this interracial couple or man in a relationship things like this, then they all probably feel that way.

And I am here to tell you that that is not the case. I hate, I cringed when I saw it. I thought, oh my God, I would never, I would never say this. And first of all, you called him black. Let's give the man his respect. He don't want to be called that black. The question dealt with him being a black man and the first black head coach at UNC. and he responded back saying that he was African-American.

Didn't even... Twice. Twice. Didn't want to be called black. I just... Listen, he was asked a question about it being historic. He did not answer the question. His response was unnecessary. Nobody asked for that.

It was weird. The fact that he had to articulate his pride of being with a white wife and the fact that he has mixed children it's just all unnecessary. It's so wrong. It was almost like he was so uncomfortable to talk about the fact that he was black.

He just had to let people also know. But just so y'all know, I also got a white wife and I got mixed kids. Just the need for him to let everybody know. By the way, I'm very proud of Huber Davis. I'm happy for him. I'm happy for his, I'm happy that he's a great family man and all of those stuff. And he should be proud of his wife and his kids.

Having said that, I think it's pretty obvious that Heber Davis is a white man's niggins. I think, I think, I mean, just to be honest with you. Like, I think, look, I think it's, I think it's pretty obvious that Hewbert Davis is a white man's nigger. I mean, because he was, the reason why I say that, and that's, and I, I think he's comfortable there and I'm happy for him, right? He's very comfortable. But, and I'm not, I don't mean, I hate to do this, but I just got to be honest here. So that's not what we were talking about. There's a very specific, he's allowed to talk about whatever he wants to talk about, right?

he's allowed to talk about whatever he wants to talk about. Somebody asked Huber Davis, hey, Huber Davis, is it going to be cold out today? Huber Davis is allowed to say, just let you know my wife is white. He's allowed. People are allowed to ask Huber Davis, hey, man, we got a piece of coming. What you want, a piece of, Huber? Hubert is allowed to say, I don't know, let me call my white wife. and ask her what she wants on the pizza.

Hey, Hubert. Hubert, we're thinking about going to Disneyland. That's great. My wife is Caucasian. The end. He's allowed to do that. The question is why? Why do Hubert Davis feel the need at that particular point in the press conference

to let people know, yeah, I'm black, but I'm also a little white. And this is not in any way to say that he should be hiding or anything like that. There's a lot of people who do that, by the way, that hide white fiancés, white husbands, white wives because whatever it is.

Shut up, right? I did it. I knew it. There's a lot of people who do that. And that is, in it of itself, that is a commentary on how far we've lost our way as well. If you're in love, you're in love, love who you want to love, marry who you want to be married and be proud of that.

But you want to take the oxygen out of the significance of your accomplishment as a black man to let people know that African American, excuse me, that you're safe or that you're familiar or that it's okay because I'm black, but I got a white wife and I got mixed kids. And I'm proud of them too. And just to let y'all know, this was almost a 40-minute press conference. And this was the last thing he sent. It's almost like he couldn't leave without letting y'all know. He's got a white wife and mixed kids.

And look, once again, he's in love and he married, who I'm sure is a great lady and has great kids. But that's telling to me. Yes. It's almost as if he was like he was trying, too hard to please everybody. It's like he felt like he had to say it to not be too black. That's the thing.

It's almost as if he, almost as if he like, all lives mattered it. Do you understand what I'm saying? A little bit, right. Like we all, like, just so y'all know, I'm not just black. I'm connected to my white folks in the room too.

It's like he was trying to prove himself. It's like the, the reality, it's like you don't have to do all that. You're going out of your way to be palatable. to be safe, to be accepted, where people are, they're celebrating you for what you've accomplished as you. That is a sad state of affairs.

It's just a sad. I hope. I don't know what I hope. I think I know what I, good luck, North Carolina. Good luck, Huber Davis. I just want to see Huber Davis use this in more of the places. I want to see people say, hey, Hubert Davis, you know, Duke was really getting to the lane a lot.

until you guys changed to the zone. You guys changed to the zone and you were able to keep Duke out shooting on the perimeter. I want Hugh Rubeybis to come back and be like, yeah, my wife is white. Listen, stop. Let's hear you know.

He did that. Listen. I don't know what you're talking about. Stop trying to make white people feel comfortable. I'm proud that my wife is white. Stop. Hubert Davis to drive through. Deep rooted.

Deeply rooted. Stop. Deeply prudy. KFC. Take your order? Yeah. So I can. bringing home to my white wife.

All right, June 15th. Boo-boo! Yo, when I do my pew-p-poo, that is a shout-out to the ringerverse. My homeboy, Charles Holmes, ringerverse, we're the midnight boys. Poo-poo! Falcon and Winter Soldier, every Friday on the ringerverse. And Tuesday, over on the ringerverse, Mallory Rubin has her deep dive show with all of your deep dives and your mailback

questions. having a lot of fun. We're being nerds. We don't care. We're the midnight boys. Okay. Now, this time I'm talking about Pugh-Pew because it's going down this summer. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

Uh-huh. California is reopened. June 15th. Uh, Rachel, Rachel, June 15th, California opens all the way up. That's what Governor Newsom said. He says, we are on track and we are the COVID numbers in California look better every single day.

June 15th, it looks like California will be ready to open up. Obviously, I don't think people will stop wearing masks. I don't think that these are going to go. There's a mask mandate still. That's a mask mandate. So I don't think these are going to go 100% back to normal, but California will be open. Basically open up.

June 15th, Rachel, your thoughts? I'm a little nervous. I don't know about you, but I just, we haven't been in big crowds around a lot of people. in a really long time, I'm a little, I feel like I'm a little, be a little socially awkward to be in those type of settings. I mean,

also let's remember, they said, as long as there are enough vaccines and numbers don't go up, that that date will stay the same. So let's, I fear that people are going to get too excited anticipating the coming of June 15th, that they're just going to go ahead and just do their thing even before.

I don't know. I mean, I guess it, I have yet to really experience what L.A. is. I haven't had the traffic. I haven't, you know, there's been no events. I haven't been on the scene. Even my job at Extra is very different because we're here.

We have office hours as opposed to being in the field, which is how things will be for me. So I'm a little excited because I'm going to get to experience what this city really is about slowly, but surely as things get back to normal. And then, honestly, I'm excited because that means we'll be doing this podcast in person for the first time ever. You never done an in-person podcast. Gang members, two gang members. Yeah, so here's the deal. I posted this and I thought it would be, I thought people would have a lot more of a positive reaction to it.

I understand that there are still people who are concerned about opening it up, right? I guess my question, two people who think this is too soon is very simple. And I feel free to answer the question. What's not too soon? people told talk to me very smart people by the way told me about how long the Spanish flu lasted lasted two years

and there were I think four waves of the Spanish flu I don't know quote me on that but that's what people were saying I haven't verified that so then I guess the question is we stay inside

until mid-2020. Is that what people were telling you? They weren't saying anything. They weren't saying what to do. They were saying, well, like, what we can't do, which is open up. The governors, so what the governor was talking about, and look, I understand. I get that.

What the governor was talking about was, you know, California will be opening up the vaccinations. I think next week to everyone who wants the vaccination. There's a lot of people who are already vaccinated. that's two months to get a large percentage of the state vaccinated. The vaccinations plus people who have had COVID might get us to some form of herd. So I'll just be honest. I've been vaccinated and stuff like that.

So I'm ready to get back outside, of course, but I want everyone to be safe. It's not about me. But I've got to be real, man. this has been so hard for me. Man, you guys, man, I'm struggling. Like, it's like, this is, I know I laugh about it a lot. But this has been difficult, man.

This has been really, really hard. Like, the hardest times of my life and I've been through some shit. Just all of this, it's like every fucking day is something, man. every fucking day keeping track or who died fucking DMX it's like every fucking day is something

and I might I just want to I don't know man well then this is a beautiful thing for you because you can see for the first time maybe even ever since the pandemic you can see not saying that all our problems are wiped away

but there is something to look towards right there's a date when things will change when things open up a little bit more. So I think, so like for anybody else who feels like you do, who's really been struggling and going through it, then this is a positive. And it means it's progress.

And it means we're moving towards like a better place. So I think that that's, I'm interested, because when you were talking about people who were saying that they were scared or they know, it's too soon, are these people who are not going to get vaccinated? Is it coming from vaccinated people? It was just people saying, look, not everybody can even get vaccinated right now.

The vaccine is supposed to be rolled out to some communities that need it. And I understand it. I don't want even one person to get sick and pass away because of COVID. I really don't. Right. I'm just wondering, like, at some point,

I'm sorry, like. I don't think you should feel bad. Yeah, it's just like, I'm like. I don't. It's got to open up eventually. And we're listening. I don't know how to be responsible about it. You know what?

This is another time we're going to reach out to somebody. Anybody who disagrees with opening up California on June 15th and has data to support. I'm not saying, come on here and prove it. I'm saying, talk to me. Yeah, I totally agree with that. But at the same time, we've got vaccines that are going to be available to anybody who can get them.

I can't announce this yet, but there's something that's coming in a couple of weeks where somebody is going to be providing transportation to people to get these who can't, who maybe can't get to these places. There's going to be free transportation that's provided to these people to get vaccines. There are things put in place for people to get the vaccine, to create this herd immunity. And so I don't think that it's irresponsible to be excited about June 15th coming for California when people are doing things to protect themselves against this virus.

Okay. I'm with it. I'm with it. So I, I, I'm with it. So, I, I, I'm cautiously optimistic and quietly hopeful. But I don't want anybody to get sick and I want everybody to take COVID seriously because it's real. All right. All right. Let's go.

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 in. All right. Come on, Jackson. From Kyle Foschet,

what are your three go-to toppings on an ice cream Sunday? Oh, come on now. I don't eat ice cream. You don't eat ice cream? For real? But let's just say, yeah, let's just say I had a sorbet, fine. No dairy.

No dairy. Okay, so chocolate. But it has to be chocolate, right? That's the Sunday. So I'm just going to do random toppings. No, you could have a Sunday with, like, whipped cream as far. Sprinkles and whatever and caramel. You don't need to be chocolate.

So then it's chocolate. Okay. It's caramel. And it's ch-cha-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-chicek bites. Give me some cheesecake bites. And Daddy going to put on some weight. Okay. Sprinkles, gummy bears, and...

I hate gummy bears on it. The gummy bears be so hard when they put on that sugar. They are hard, but I like to, like... You like to, like... No. I like gummy bears normally not an ice cream. Because they're so hard. They become ice cubes.

They're like bricks. Yeah, it's like I hate it. I love it. The crunch. Oh, there's a place. There's a place of the crunch. Like, crunch. Who's like, I like, I like my gummy bears.

Crunchy. They get hard. Be careful, Rachel. I know. I stop. Be careful. Be careful. Be careful.

There's this place on the corner of, of Hollywood and LeBreya called Canaloupe. Canaloupe frozen yo? Fantasia. And we should go there because it's really good. And they got all those little things on there.

They got the yogurts for you and they got all the toppings and stuff like that. I saw Leonardo Caprio in there one time. He was super cool. He was just in there randomly. He was getting some frozen yogurt. Him and Barr, Raphaelie. They were in there.

I said, what's up? What's up? Leo? He was like, what's popping? Van. What's the next question? What's the next question? Okay.

Sharp left turn. From Emily Mott. What's the best piece of advice you've ever received? Or if you can't think of one, just one that you've really stuck with you for a long time. Yeah, I can't think of. Oh, what's the best piece of advice I've ever received?

What a good question. It was from my mom. And, like, when I was going into, I think I've told this before, when I was getting moved into the program that I was in, she realized that a lot of my classmates were going to be white, right? And she was

like, most of the, because they give you the demographics, they break down, okay, you're in a gifted program now, so most your class is going to be white. And my mother, I don't know if she'll remember saying this, but I remember it stuck out to me. Maybe it wasn't before. It was at some point. I remember she took me

and she was like, I want you to remember something. I want you to remember to always believe in who you are and what came before you. And she was like, you can never forget that. You can never lose sight of that. She goes, your lips are full for a reason. Like your nose is wide for a reason. She was like, like, don't cower.

Like, go inside of a place and be you. Like I don't want any version of my son coming back in here that's not fully my son. Like you're beautiful. Even if they don't think you're beautiful. Like you're beautiful. And I remember very, I remember saying people would say, uh, van is whatever, van, whatever. And I would be like, whatever. My mom thinks I'm handsome.

And I carried that like all the way through me with my life. Like my mom, she's like, my mom would look at me and she'd be like, boy, boy, you are so handsome. You look just like your daddy. And after a while, I know it's not so much. advice, but I guess the advice was always like be unrelenting in who you are because that's how she was. But she just never let me even in times where I didn't feel the best about myself, she never let me

get lost in the fact that I was supposed to be somebody else. She like really drove home that I was on purpose. That's so important to learn that at such a young age. Do you know what I mean? Because especially living out here and I guess what's coming to mind for me is something my mother always says, and she still says it to me to this day. Your parents are very good at checking you, keeping you humble, bringing you down when they think maybe like things are getting to you in a certain way.

And my mom always says know who you are and know whose you are. Right. And so that always sticks with me because, and that's something she said to me when I went on the bachelor, bachelorette, because I was going to be disconnected from the world. And I didn't have my parents, you know, family friends to lean on in that situation. And it was like, trust yourself, trust your gut, know who you are.

Don't let other people define you. But then also know whose you are. She's coming from a biblical perspective with that. But then also just like you don't need to prove yourself and attach yourself or belong to something else. So anyways, yeah. My mom's going to love hearing that on the podcast, by the way. She's great.

She's great. Cinnamon Toe's Crunch. Next question, Jackson? Sure. This one's from Stephanie Phelps. Who would you, who would play you in a movie about your life? I think we should do this two ways where you can pick someone for yourself and then pick someone for the other person. Like Van's going to say who he thinks should play himself.

Then Rachel can say who she thinks should play Van. So Rachel, Tika Sumpter will play Rachel. Really? I really like that. Yeah, Tika Sompter. Tika Sumpter plays Rachel. The story. For the trailer I did.

Big Rache. Big Rache. I like Tika. I never thought about Tika. Tika Sumpter. Tika Sumpter is Rachel Lindsay. God, who would I say for you? Tika Sumpter.

For me... This is a great question, by the way. Yeah. For me, I feel like you've thought about this. I have Winston Duke. No, no, absolutely not. Hell yeah.

That's not who I was going to say. My man, Winston Duke. Winston Duke, Winston Duke, he's being. He's bigger than me, but he's... I know exactly who Winston Duke is. I think Winston Duke is Van Lathen. You know, Winston Duke is. Oh, my gosh.

There is somebody, and I cannot think of who it is. This is going to bother me. So you know how the movie goes? You know how my movie goes? My movie starts at the Kanye moment. That's where... That's the beginning. That's the first scene in the movie.

And then the whole movie is centered around. So this is my movie. This is the movie of my life right now. The movie starts at the Kanye moment. So this is what happened at the Kanye moment. So after the Kanye moment, I thought I was in a whole shitload of trouble, right? Okay.

I didn't really know. So I left the office and I went on a walk and I called Charlemagne. And me and him had this long, like, hour and a half conversation. So the movie starts with the Kanye moment. And then when I get outside and I call Charlemagne, I start talking to him about different points in my life, different things that happen into my life, right? And his conversation brings us into,

different scenes in my life. And by the time I've walked all the way back around, I feel good about going back into the office. I go back into the office. I look down at my phone, see it going crazy. And then that's the end of the movie. That's the biopic. And higher learning is not in your movie.

Huh? High learning is not in your movie, huh? It ends with the Kanye moment? It's over? No. Well, that would be, it's like, Yeah, I mean, my biopic is not yet written. He said, yeah.

My life is not yet written, but if I was going to do it, I would do it in a structure like that. Because I think life-to-death biopics are stupid. You can't put somebody's whole life into, like, that thing. They almost always, they don't work. But if you take a flashpoint, a flashpoint incident place in their life, and you weave a narrative around it, I think those. Those work better. I like it.

The structure is good. I'm looking at Winston Duke. It's still a no for me. Okay, for myself, I would have picked, I would have picked, I guess Robin Givens would be too old. Oh, she'd have been perfect, but yeah, she can't do it now, by the way. Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, Diana, maybe.

Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. Jesus Christ. Look on Vance face. Oh, my God. If you can be Winston Duke,

Rihanna can play me. Man, I love Winston to death. You know damn well. Winston better looking at me. You went to the... And Rihanna's better looking than me. But you shot for the... I'm not saying,

I just say I was talented like Rihanna or anything like that. I've just picked Rihanna. A girl can dream. Oh, look, hey, look, it's all, it's all, it's all, it's all good. Oh, remember that NC Hammer shit? Hey, remember that? Hey, it's all good. Remember that?

Okay, I have your person. It would be Jarrell Jerome. Oh, I love him, great actor. He's not big enough. Well, okay. He's not big enough. He can get bigger. Angles can make you look bigger.

It's too hard to find somebody that's... It's too hard to find somebody who's tall as you. Winston Duke taller. I'm not going to pick Winston Duke just because he's tall. Jarrell Jarel Jerome. That was a good one. That's it. And you're right.

He's a fantastic actor. You know what's crazy? I just got a DM. And the DM is from this lady. She is her her... Her... Her... her Instagram handle is

A wife and mommy of two. It says, this is at 356. So I don't know if we were talking about this before. She says, start listening to the podcast about a month ago. And the person that will play you in a bio should be Trevor Jackson from Grownish. That's a no. Trevor is in a different world of handsome than me.

Like, it doesn't even make any sense. Trevor tall. Well, that did you tell her thank you? I'm going to tell her thank you in a second. First of all, thank you. Thank you, Mommy of two. but Trevor is Trevor is one of the real good looking people.

He's like in that same Renee Jay Page group. All right. That's enough. Ray Gaye John. Ray Gaye John. I was like, who is Renee J. Page? Renee J. Page.

Hey, that dude is doing his thing. That dude is doing his thing. Yeah. Recent report, it just got reported that there has been no change in DMX's condition. His, there hasn't been any change.

It's not getting any better. So, it seems as if the family is starting to weigh their options a little bit. We don't have any more information than that right now. This is Thursday at 432 Pacific Time.

I expect that there'll be some announcement made tomorrow. Maybe not, but... It's like most things in life, all you can really do is pray. So prayers to his family, prayers to DMX. You have an unexpected ally of the week? I don't.

What I want to say is that there was another, as we're sitting here, you're giving the same time, there was another mass shooting just hours after Joe Biden signed executive orders on gun control. In Texas, Brian, Texas, they've now said that one person has been killed, several others injured, just want to send out prayers. thoughts to the family that's been affected by this. I don't know if they've captured the suspect or not, but this is just getting ridiculous.

Every week we're talking about a fucking mass shooting. Yeah, I send out prayers too. I would really like to send out some solutions at some point. I don't know what to do. It's hours after an executive order. Hours. Somebody goes to the streets and starts shooting random people. It's sick that this has become our norm.

It's, it is a disease. they need to get a hold of it. They need to fix it. I don't know what to do. I don't have the answers. But I hate as we sit here today, we're talking to you about another mass shooting. Somebody lost their life in a senseless way.

Very upsetting. Okay. Look, take things off. Do not stop learning. Love each other. Take breaks. Do all the things you need to do. I am Van Lathen.

I'm Rachel Lindsay. We out.