Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - Nate Robinson Gets Knocked Out. Plus, Kelly McCreary of 'Grey's Anatomy.'

Episode Date: December 1, 2020

Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay discuss the boxing match between Jake Paul and Nate Robinson (1:00) and a recent viral video from True Kitchen and Kocktails in Dallas (22:00). Then Kelly McCreary of 'Grey’s Anatomy' joins the show (39:00), and they recap 'The Bachelorette’ (1:05:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, yo, yo, thought warriors. What is up? It is I, Van Lathen. It's me, Rachel Lindsay. Yes, we are here. Higher learning is on. Rachel. Van.

How was your weekend? My weekend was good. I can't even tell you the last time I took days off. So it was Thanksgiving, which was small, chill, obviously couldn't travel. My sister's still here. So I was able to do it with her and one other friend. And it was good. We had a good time.

And I just, I really enjoyed getting things together, like finding my peace of mind, having days off, doing nothing. I mean, I almost forgot to wake up this morning and go to work. Because I've been off for like five days. It's a beautiful thing. Yeah. What about you? Cool and chilling. Chilling.

Did you know about one in three people with plaques psoriasis may also develop psoriatic arthritis, which causes joint pain, stiffness, and swelling? Does this sound like? you. Listen to what it sounds like to be a million miles away. Trimfaya, Gucalcumab, taken by injection, is a prescription medicine for adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, who may benefit from taking injections or pills or phototherapy, and for adults with active psoriotic arthritis. Serious allergic reactions and increased risk of infections and liver problems may occur. Before a treatment, your doctor should check you

for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or if you need a vaccine. Imagine being a million miles away. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Trimfaya. Tap this ad to learn more about Trimfaya, including important safety information. The playoffs are here,

and you can predict the action all the way to the finals with Fandul Predicts. Predict the spread, total points, and even the game winner. Sign up and get a $25 bonus. Offered by Fandul Prediction Markets LLC, a registered futures commission merchant. 18 plus.

Bonus is non-withdrawable and expires seven days after receipt. Trading derivatives involve significant risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Manage your activity with our consumer protection tool. Restrictions apply. See terms at bandwold.com slash predict slash bonus dash offer dash herms.

Dealing, coping, watching. I went, shout out to Sterling. Shout to my man Sterling. Stilo Brim. I went to his house on Saturday night and watched the fight. Man. He had a little thing, not too many people.

Okay. You know how, hey. Nice and distance. You want to clarify on this podcast. Not too many people. Nice and distanced. Okay. He's very prosperous.

He's got a nice crib. We went out there, played a little pool. And watched the fight. And yeah, listen. It was, here's a thing.

Here's a thing. Okay. Now, there's been a lot of discussion about whether or not we're being too hard on Nate Robertson. Yes. Now, if you guys didn't know what happened this past Saturday, there was a Triller boxing event, Triller carried it. And there were several fights. Some of them, you know, real professional boxing fights, a couple of real professional boxing fights. It was.

Badu Jack fought. Batu Jack is a former, not a heavy way, the former, I think, 168 champ or 175 champ. I don't know. But did he keep getting robbed? But didn't he fight a school teacher? he fought a dude that yeah he fought a guy look you you got to take fights like that sometimes when you when you kind of get back into it now he gets busy if you know the history on that fighter he gets busy but he's been robbed a couple of times man a couple of times um i'm pretty sure it's 168 it might

it might be 175 that he fights at though uh anyway um oh he fights at both 175 uh and 168 which way class is 168. Do you know? For $10,000. What's the name of the weight class for 168 pounds? All right. It's above welterweight. It's above welter weight. You're on the way, it's like literally it's above welter weight. So 168. Middle way? You're so close. Midway? Midway? Midway? Midway? No, you're so, it's super middleweight. Oh, come on. It's true. 140 is light middle weight. 147 is light.

well to, excuse me, 140 is light well to weight. 147 is, it's welterweight, 154, it's light middle weight, then there's middleweight, 160, then 168. I was so close. So close, and then 175 is light, heavyweight, and then we go on up. Anyway, so you fought a real guy.

Now, of course, the main two fights that everybody wanted to see. It's Nate Robinson versus Jake Paul. Okay. And then, of course, the main event, real main event, the big main event, Mike Tyson versus Roy George, Jr. You were looking forward to Jake Paul

versus Nate Robinson? Okay, I wasn't. Why? I just, I was like, really? It's a much more interesting fight. Well, it is now, but coming in, I thought, what am I about to watch?

Like, it didn't, it didn't feel like boxing. Why do you feel that way? Because one was fighting for the very first time who's come from a double-digit NBA career is known in other circles and has nothing to do with boxing. The other one is a big mouth, loudmouth YouTuber who, as you saw with his interview with Jim Gray, was promoting his 17 other projects and Jim Gray had to reel it back and say, but are you going to take this thing seriously? So to me, it was more of entertainment than it was to actually watch the sport of

boxing. I mean, even Jim Gray looked like, I can't believe my career has come to this that I'm sitting here. That was a look on his face the entire time. He was interviewed. you're in Jake Paul. So for me, I was like, this isn't really the sport of boxing. I'm ready for the main event.

That's how I thought. I'm glad you said that. I was wrong. I was wrong. No, I'm glad you, I'm glad you said that. And I'll tell you why I'm glad. Because I want people to know something.

Okay. Jake Paul is a real boxing. Okay. Okay. Okay. Why? Okay. I train in the Valley.

You've already lost me. That you lost me with I train. Okay. What are you going to say? I've seen him? He spars in there all the time. And by the way, when Jake Paul spars in there, he doesn't spar guys in the gym.

They bring in pros for Jake to fight. Like Jake Paul boxes six times a week. He's being trained by BJ Flores, who is an ex-UFC guy. They are taking boxing seriously. Jake Paul is in there working. I go in there. we all spar.

We all get in the ring when we end the gym. Oh, so you've seen Jake Paul's hands? Yeah. He sparred with him? No, I've never spar with him. I've never spar with him. I've never spar with him.

I've watched him spar a bunch of times. And by the way, I've never seen him take an L in there. As a matter of fact, just before this, they put a guy in with Jake that was a heavyweight. That was a heavyweight

that had come down to 175. And Jake worked him. Now, I'm not saying he's the best, but I'm saying he's been boxing for three years in a very serious manner. This isn't, this is, I'm not saying that he hasn't trained, right? Because Nate Robinson was training six days a week, two times a day. That's what it came out.

But only for like six weeks. It takes you four months to learn how to say it. Was it really? Only six weeks. But that's going to my point. It's not necessarily a knock against Jake, even though I'm clearly not a fan. It's more of, I know he's only done two fights. It's more of the fact that they matched him up with Nate Robinson.

So how am I supposed to take a Jake Paul seriously? If I'm coming into this sport watching this, how am I supposed to take Jake Paul seriously when you put him up against somebody who's been there who's been training for six weeks? To me, it's just a form of entertainment more than I am about focusing on a sport. Do you see what I'm saying?

That's where I guess I'm coming in. You're right. But I tell people even then, I'm like this is, first of all, it's not a mistake. Nate Roberts is going to make like a million dollars. So it's not a mistake. He took the fight for the reason he wanted to take the fight.

He's going to make a back. good on Nate, that's the way that it goes. Okay? What I was saying was that, and I've been saying this for months, and I said it like under Nate's thing, in Nate's comments, I'm like, Nate is in some trouble. Because, listen, people don't get it about boxing.

And I didn't get it when I first started doing it. I thought, hey, big strong guy, I'm going to be able to go in there and do that. No way. Like, you get inside of that ring, and if you don't know how to breathe and you're not composed, and you don't know how to stand and you don't have the balance,

anybody will get picked apart. And so when they put him in there, I was like, yo, that's going to be wild. I was telling people that night, I'm like, Nate is going to get, and Nate is a fantastic athlete. If Nate had been boxing all of his life, and Nate will probably be the fucking

wealthy weight chair of the world. But no, he's a fantastic athlete, but he hasn't. And it's just not a sport. like his athleticism in boxing just doesn't have his athleticism in the NBA just doesn't have anything to do with boxing. Absolutely. I think that that's clear as day. One plus one does not equal to here.

I think that's the way to see it just because. And I guess, and the reason I guess I'm shocked that it was six weeks is because if you saw. Six weeks, eight weeks, whatever it was, whatever you decide to take the five. I thought it was at least a year. That's why I'm shocked. No. Because he's been talking saying, oh, you know, they found old tweets of him saying, you know, just give me a couple of years in

ring and basically I can see anybody. So I thought he'd been training for this or just just to transition at least into boxing. Maybe not this match, but to transition into being a boxer. So I was floored when I found otherwise. And now it all makes sense. From the moment the bell rang to the first move that he had in the ring, it all makes sense now. Right. He, look, what he was saying about if you give me a couple of years to train, I might be able

do something. He's he might be right. I got in there and at first it was literally, I thought that's what we were getting. I got in there and at first it was just about stamina, trying to lose weight and all of that stuff like that. But then when you even, when you start hitting the speed bag, you start working a heavy bag, you start learning how to put punches together. And when you start sparring, you're in a situation to where if you make a mistake, you feel pain. And so it like in something like that, you got to be, you got to have ring time. So the fact that he got slept, and by the way, I don't know if you guys, if you had been hiding under a rock,

but Jake sent Nate Paul night, night. And he sent him night, night off an adjustment. Because when the fight started, if you go back and watch the fight, Jake thought that he was going to fight a traditional boxing fight because that's what he's been doing. Nah, he couldn't get his jab going because Nate would just rush him. And so what he ends up starting to do is forget about the jab. When he rushes in, I'm a timer.

and get him with the right and he cracks with the right hand he took him out. Did you think, remember the first hit that knocked Nate down? He was saying he hit him in the back of his head. Did you think,

and when they replayed it, he really did hit him in the back of his head. That is that, that's an illegal hit. Yes or no? I don't quite understand the rules. What should have happened?

It's illegal to hit somebody in the back of the head, but also though, the way that that happened is he kept running in and with, like, with his head first. Yeah. And a right hook came out.

Yeah. And so the shot got him behind the ear, which is one of the best, one of the worst places or best or worst, you know, you ought to get hit. Question. Do you think that the,

the attention and criticism that Nate Robinson is getting on social media, is warranted? Or do you agree with people like Glenn Big Baby Davis, who is like, I better not see any of y'all in these streets

if y'all don't stop making fun of Nick. And Floyd, and Floyd, who took up for him too, who had a very nice message. So I look at it both ways. Okay. Okay. First of all, did you know that Glenn Davis is my cousin? I can see it. Yeah, he's my cousin.

I can see it. He's from Baton Rouge? Yeah. On your mama's side or your daddy side? My dad's side. Because I tell you to say it. He's my first cousin on my daddy side. Your first cousin on my dad's side.

Okay. Glenn Davis from U. High, then went to LSU, Baton Rouge through and through. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, bad news throwing through. Okay, so I see it both ways. Okay. Two ways.

Because I've been in the ring, if you got in the ring, if you get inside the ring and you actually fight, it just takes so much nuts. It just, you know, or it just takes so much to actually go in there and do it. You see guys that come around and they mess around in the gym and they bang around, they hit the heavy bag, they jump rope. But then when it comes time to put some gear on and actually getting there to do it, they don't want to do it.

Okay. So I've been Nate Robinson before. Yeah. When Phil first foot put me in against Carlos, and we were actually sparring. Carlos did not take it easy on me. And he was just, and he was,

who was whooping my ass and I was trying to survive. I sparred a guy who fought Luis Ortiz. I, I sparred a 6'8, 275-pound Romanian guy, right? So if you're willing to get in there, you got all of love and respect for me. And I got to say that about Nate Robinson, right?

Okay. At the same time, you're going to get these jokes. Right. As soon as we knew he was okay. Yeah, as soon as we knew, I mean, before we knew he was okay. No, I need to see him get off. I mean, obviously, but obviously if we found out he wasn't okay, then the jokes would stop. But in the immediate aftermath, you think that people waited to see him up on the street?

No, they didn't. No, of course not. It was only five minutes, Max. I just needed to see him sit up because he was. out for a second. Did you see how quickly the doctors ran in? I've never seen the medical staff run in so quickly. They've got to be fast. You're dealing. I'm serious. Seconds turn into hours in that situation. And by the way, it's rare in a fight that someone gets slept like that. You see guys knocked out in their way. That was like a Mani Pachia. I remember when Juan Manuel

Marquez hit Manny and put Manny and Ms. Rodney was like, oh shit. How much, since you do, you know, you have experience boxing, how much money would it take for you to get in the ring? Like, would you have done it for a million? On national TV? Fight J-Paul? Yeah. Okay.

I fight Jay Paul for $1 million. Okay. I fight his brother for $1 million. Yeah, I fight him. Yeah, no problem. I'm not fighting Mike Tyson. And I'm not fucking fighting Royal Jones Jr. Because they just, it's a little bit too wildly.

It's a little bit too much muscle memory. But for a million dollars, I think... fight somebody on my same level. Those guys are better boxes than me, no doubt about it, but like, because they just box way more than I do. They box every day. Yeah. But, um, but yeah, I fight somebody on my level for a million dollars if that was the thing. I'm not fighting one of those.

I'm not fighting Mike or Roy. I don't think I would fight for a million. You wouldn't. I've never, I've never put gloves on. I've never been in like, I need to eat at least see what I even feel like. So for one million dollars, you wouldn't fight Hannaby? that's different. She'll know how to box either.

So you'll fight her for a million. That's just a fight. You asked me to fight? You heard what my dad said. It started young. Right. You asked me to fight? Sure.

So for a million dollars, you will fight Hannah B. Why not? Trying to go viral? I'm not trying to go viral. She gets a million. I get a million. You get a million?

You get a million? This is actually a good idea. A million for charity? No, you haven't seen them do that. You haven't seen people do that. They do these matches with like some reality TV stars where they have, they match them up.

And you will fight her for a million bucks. That's probably, that makes sense. A million would be good. Now here's the thing, though. What if you fight her and she walk your ass? How are you going to come back, man? That's, that's tough.

A rematch. You have no choice but to get back in the ring. I guess you do. If she beat me twice, you'll never see me again. Yeah, you're out. I'll take my second meal and I'll be out. See, and here's the thing, and that's the situation with Nate.

This is why all of these fights have to be interracial. Because when you, there's nothing, there's nothing better. That's the thing about boxing. There's nothing better than a good old interracial slut fest, you know? Put them in there with somebody and put someone on a line. Put some cultural points on the line. But I will say this, I'm not going to stop. Well, it's over now, but I was never not going to get those jokes to Ney Robinson.

but I have all the respect in the world for Ney Robinson. Because there's one thing to get in there in some sweaty gym in Woodland Hills somewhere and fight. But to get in there with them fucking lights on you, with everybody watching you under them lights, that's different, man. I don't know if respect is the word that I would say. I have a lot of respect. a lot of respect for it took a lot of balls to go and do that a lot of balls

sure it did now what did you think of the main event I mean coming off the hills of that it's like we could I'm immediately on Twitter and you know I'm not a big person on Twitter I'm like I got to hear what people are saying about Snoop I got to see all the memes for Nate you know nobody really I didn't really care about Jake Paul I just wanted to see that so now I'm trying to get my mind ready for Roy, Mike Tyson. I thought Roy came out limping.

Did you catch that? To me, he didn't look like he was into the fight from the moment he stepped out. One, he didn't even come out to his own song, which I was extremely disappointed by. Two, he had a limb. Three, he looked tired by the time he walked from the walkway all the way up into the ring.

That's not how Tyson looked. Tyson was ready. Tyson had shorts on. He was ready. to go. He looked good. Best shape you've seen him in a long time. I personally thought he held back in the fight. Oh, of course he did. They looked like they had

talked it out before. They knew what they were going to do. And you know, they did it. They made money. They created what maybe the first of many. Legends, what is it? Legends only League. League of Legends don't, something like that. And it was good.

It was great to watch it. It was great. And for Roy Jones Jr., it was a bucket list thing to say he fought Tyson. But I wanted to get the fight going for a long time. I wanted more from Mike. You wanted more from Mike? You wanted more? I don't know if I wanted a knockout,

but I definitely didn't want to see a draw, which it wasn't. He was only throwing his power shots to the body. I know. They planned it. It was very, it was very staged. Right. He was only throwing power shots to the body. But I still.

That I respect. I feel. There was like a no knockout thing. There was a no knockout. Yeah, I respected because he didn't want to embarrass Roy Jones, Jr. That's how I felt. Yeah, well, or, you know, look, there's a different situation now. There's some talk about Evander Holyfield jumping in it now and let Mike and Evander go again.

I'll pay to watch that. I think Mike's got his hands full with Evander Holyfield. Who wouldn't pay to watch that? Yeah. By the way, this is something that we can do. Oscar Delahoya is talking about getting back into it, man. Let's let the Legends have a little fun. Legends only league.

That's what they're Legends only league. That's what they're doing. Legends only. Let's let the legends have a little fun. All right. I'm glad Nate's feeling okay. But these jokes got to fly. Glenn, I love you.

Glenn, I love you. What Glenn said was a little different. We should talk about that real quick. What Glenn said was that he felt like Nate Robinson shouldn't have had to do what he had to do. He felt like it was a money grab for Nate Robinson. He called out a couple of people.

LeBron James says, give Nate a job. Why should Nate have to do this after playing all of those years in the NBA? Why aren't there any opportunities? It's just not. going to fall on very many favorable ears. And I see what my cousin is talking about and is making sense. That's his man.

And also, I think we think that these athletes plan to leave for a little while in their set for life, don't have to worry about nothing else. But it's just crazy to kind of be in that situation. I think Nate made $24, $25 million in the NBA, especially at, you know, that doesn't mean he has $25 million. He obviously doesn't. Sure. But to make that argument now,

or what people are going through, that, you know what I mean? I mean, most of this country's out of work, they go in there and get their headbeat in for $4 million. Right. I mean, here's a thing. Somebody had to say it, right? So I respect Glenn for coming out and saying it.

Everything he said was true. Now, he didn't have to be like, I'd better not catch any of y'all. It's like, okay, it's a little too far. But your point, I heard it, and you were right. But when I'm looking at Simba, push Nate Robinson in the back wake up like

he's Mufasa. I'm laughing. It's funny. It's funny. I don't know what to tell you. It's funny. It's fucking funny. And to be expected, come on now. If the worst case, they knew he was going to get these jokes. The jokes are going to fly. Nate Robinson is okay. Nate Robinson will be back.

Nate Robinson will do he made a million bucks. You're not going to get away from these jokes. The jokes is part of the love. He should redo the picture of him on the ground. but lying in a million dollars. And that should be it. And that should be it. No caption is necessary.

Right. All right. We're going to take a quick break. This episode is brought to you by Sweet Green. The day doesn't ask for permission. Lunch window? Gone before you saw it coming. You deserve a break that actually satisfies.

Sweet Green's new wraps have got you. Real ingredients? Zero shortcuts. Everything you love in one hand. Think green goddess chicken. Garlic aoli. Crumbled bacon, corn salsa, 40 grams of protein, made to keep up with whatever comes next. New sweetgreen wraps hit different. Order now at order.com.

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, Rage. Dallas is on fire. I miss my city. Dallas is on fire. I miss it. Got the whole internet in a complete fucking civil war.

you guys did not hear a guy named Kevin Kinney who is the owner of True Food Kitchen or True Kitchen, shall I say, True Kitchen and cocktails down there in Dallas were viral today. After a video of him storming out on the floor of True Kitchen and telling women to have more respect for themselves

and be twirking in this restaurant, apparently the DJ for some reason played throw that ass in the circle, which is a rallying cry to throw that ass in the circle. Rachel loves it. Who's because it's from our area? It's either Arkansas or Texas. Right.

As soon as the beat drops. They throw that ass in the circle. Yeah, see, look at Rachel, going for it. And so, and so they, apparently women were turking, he was upset about it. I didn't know that was the song. I was a song. That was a song. That was a story.

I changed my whole stance. You changed his stance? There's a video of him. Initially the video of him, chat-sized women came out, where she told him. told them that he made True Food Kitchen for black people to have a classy place to come and not for you to twerk get the fuck out of his restaurant if you want to twerk

take that shit to other places. So he said that but then the story got thicker and thicker over the day. Because it looked like to me he just went too hard on him. But then there was video that came out later on. There's no sound to the video.

Allegedly, if him walking over to them and asking them before to stop twerking. He also claimed, or you can see it in another video that these women were standing on his furniture and twerking. And this caused a big rift out there because

there are some people out there that are like, he's preaching respectability politics and shaming black women and cursing that black women. And there's another group that says they have no goddamn reason shaking that ass up in a restaurant like that on his furniture. He's right. Rachel,

which group do you fall in me? I got to fall in the middle. Now, this is before I knew what song was playing, which if you from the area, there is something, it's like back that ass up, right? As soon as you hear the first five seconds, something happens, you black out, you see red, and you just start shaking. And if you aren't familiar with the song, it's by Ronnie Lil, Mother, F. It's so good. It's a good song. I missed a a wedding because of this song.

Oh, what happened? I was in Cabo. We were day drinking. The song started playing. It's the last thing I remember. I missed a wedding. I made it to the reception. It was a good time.

Anyways, you feel me if you know that song. Do yourself a favor and download it. Okay, so here's the problem. The underlying message is true. What Kevin was trying to say is right. The problem is, is how he said it. It is your place of establishment. How can you not?

I get it. You told them once. You told them twice. They didn't listen. At this point, just kicked them out of the restaurant. Why did you, it was almost like a male pride thing, right? You felt, you felt personally disrespected. It had nothing to do with your establishment.

It had nothing to do with the music or even them. You personally felt disrespected as a male. So you felt the need and you, and people saw you being disrespectful, right? Or disrespected. You're going over here

telling these women to stop and they continue to twerk. And it seems like it escalated. They were either twerking harder. You know, like they went from the floor, from the chair to the, you know,

to the couch. So he had to let everybody know he was beating his chest and let everyone know this is my restaurant and just took it too far. And I mean, could have pretty much

ended his, entire restaurant, like, establishment. Fins are too divided. Like, it looked like that at first. But now it's going to be a lot of people out there because there were so many people on there that agree with what he was saying, they're going to make a point to go to true food kitchen or true kitchen and cocktails. Man, this was Mel Pride at his finest.

It truly was. So which parts of it do you agree with it? Well, I agree with the fact that he's like, listen, this is not this type of establishment. It's not the, it's not a club, right? It's not day parting. It's not for you to stand up on my furniture and tor. and twerk. I get that.

If that's the type of, you should be able to play ratchet music and people can eat and you understand it's not a club. Like,

I understand that. There's no dance floor. But I don't agree with the fact that he then started cursing, then started basically did what a lot

like you see black people do in our own culture. It's us versus them. You put yourself above them and you look down on them. these are people who paid to come into your restaurant to eat your food, listen to your music, and they're supporting your business. There was no need for him to talk like that in front of all those customers.

It's just because he generalized it, right? He didn't just put it on them. He started talking about everybody in the restaurant. He started generalizing black people. It became, he took it too far. But the original message, I didn't have a problem with. This isn't this type of place. He says, you can go to prime, you can go to pink.

And those are two, and those are totally different places. Totally different places. Okay. He's right. Okay, so here's the thing. There's also a video of him. It's funny. Somebody just sent me a video of him

dancing on the tables at True Kitchen and Cocktails. Put it, let me see. Is it after hours? Okay. What did I tell you? Mel Pride. Mel Pride. Dancing on tables.

You see him right there? He's dancing on tables at True Kitchen and Cocktails. Somebody handed him some Don Julio and now he's going to drink it. He's dancing on tables at true kitchen contest. Mel, pride, at his final.

But you know what the reality was? The reality was this. It was never about how he wants things conducted in his establishment. Not to me. I don't know the guy. He seems to be a guy who's an entrepreneur. He came out later and said there's a way he wants things

to go in his restaurant, blah, blah, blah. And then there are also other rules in the restaurant. There's no flip-flops rule, especially no fuzzy flip-flops. There's no athletic. No, no, no, no-pothy flip-flops. no fuzzy ones, especially fuzzings. No fuzziness. Okay. So, you're not playing with you.

So, look, I get that. Like, if you try to go match those here in Beverly Hills. Those are the TMZ video we had one time of Juju Smith-Schuster, who was a ride receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers, trying to go and mash those. And he has white pencil. And they just won't let you in. Now, we're shooting this.

right? And Ju-Ju-Smith-Schuster actually takes pants from our camera guy. They switch pants, which is disgusting. But our camera guy gives Juju-Smith-Schuster his pants, and he goes into Mastroes. And our camera guy is wearing J-Ju-Smith's warm-ups. So restaurants have the right to dictate the decorum inside of their establishments. Okay. They definitely do. Okay. Here's the thing.

Number one, twerking doesn't make your establishment any less classy. That's the first thing. The war on twerking has to stop. All right? It's a day party. It's a DJ.

It's not a day party. It's a restaurant. It's a brunch. They're having brunch. That's a brunch. That's totally different from a day party. That's cool.

This is my thing. There's something about the way that that came off and the way that chastised black women specifically. the language that he uses, that he used, to me, that speaks to something deeper within him, especially after we have video of him dancing on the tables at his own place, right?

Right. So there's something about that that's like, if you want to do low-cast ghetto shit, go do low-cast ghetto shit somewhere else. Right. I just want black people to understand. And the more interesting part of this is what happened on the internet. because what happened on the internet was we should be able to have fun and be like this or whatever.

And the other side of it was actually there's a way to conduct yourself and it's embarrassing and this ghetto and all of that stuff like that. So I just wonder what point in time are black people going to realize that decency is not going to save them. Okay?

So trying to stand up straight, right? And because I've been in restaurants out here in L.A. Where some young pop stars have gone out there and gotten wild, going crazy. And you know what the people in those restaurants do? They let them do their thing. You know what I'm saying? I've been in places where I've seen whole tables of white. If the guy comes over and says, chill out, then chill out or don't chill out and leave.

But it doesn't become a cultural thing. I made this for black people so we could have some place nice to come. So a place can't be nice if ass is moving in there. Like, it always gets to me when we, when we say, what we think, oh, you wouldn't go and shake your ass and Ruth Chris, Ruth Chris ain't family.

That's crazy that of all the steakhouses, they was bringing up in Dallas. It was acting like Ruth's Chris and some six-star dining thing. I like Ruth Chris. Which is crazy. There's a bunch of, there's a bunch. Right.

But Ruth's Chris, they probably don't. They're not going to play throw that ass in a circle when Roos Chris, Ruth Chris ain't family. They don't have a DJ. Right. They don't have a DJ. These steakhouses don't have DJs.

So any, so what I'm saying is, is that there's something deeper there that we need to kind of talk about. There's, there's, no, no, Maestro's has a DJ on the second floor here in Beverly.

Nick and Sam's does in Dallas, too, which is a staple steakhouse. By the way, in Maestro's, at Maestro's inside of there on the second floor where they have the DJ, I've seen women in there dancing. Normally prostitutes.

Did you say dance floor? Sam and Nick and Sam's. Did you say, did you say dance? No, there's no dance floor. But I've seen women in there dancing. Is it a bar area where the DJs? There's a bar area right there. So I've seen women at the bar area dancing. You know, they're working. I mean, but I've seen them in their dancing. So like, what I'm, what I'm saying is like the reality of it is, even in the tone, when you're coming out and you're speaking to those women like that.

Yeah. And you're admonishing them and making it out to seem as if they're a lot of, class for wanting to celebrate, for wanting to do like that, there's something there. And that there is two things. Number one, that's a very easy male patriarchy bullshit thing, number one.

And number two, there's some respectability in there, some you niggas need to act better. And I think that it's high time we realize that no matter how well we act, the opinions upon about us and about our culture

are not going to change from the outside looking in. So we can talk about go someplace and act like this. Nah, that's not the way that it works. Yeah. And so for me, for me, looking at the video and by the way, context does matter. He did walk over there

before and try to talk to them. But then if they don't do it, kick him out. It was a pride thing. It was clearly a pride thing. He felt disrespect. That's why I say, listen, if he doesn't want twerking in his restaurant, there's nothing wrong with that. And if they continue to do it, just move them out the same way you would if someone had on fuzzy flip-flops, right? You would escort them out. If they took off their

heels and pulled out their flip-flops out their purse, you would tell them to leave. It violates dress code. Okay, well, this violates the behavior in the restaurant. It's not a club, or maybe it's not a club until certain an hour. That's how it all should have been handled. kicking them out would have been the same effect that he had rather than sitting there and cursing them out. Like, you're the one who came down to a level. You're over here talking about these women.

You actually took it there. You became the classless one when you decided to curse people out in the middle of your restaurant and you're calling yourself an entrepreneur, which you are, and the owner of the restaurant. But instead, you took it down a level. The first rule of all of that

is always treat black women with respect. If that would have been twerking and no twerking, if it doesn't have to be you or my sister. I was mad that he spoke to those ladies like that. Absolutely. I was that he was, you don't speak to black ladies like that. Like, I was mad that he spoke to those ladies like that. You know, cursing them and telling them to get the fuck out and go to them.

You don't speak to black ladies like that. And if you, and if you value black ladies, it wouldn't be in your character to speak to them like that. And if you want to come over there, if you want to make them leave, make them leave. circa 1998, me, Ryan Davenport, and Jabrill Jackson went to Club Upscale on Nicholson Drive in Baton Rouge. Club Upscale

was called Club Upskill simply because of the fact that to get inside of Club Upscale, you had to have your shirt tucked in to your jeans. That's what made it up. That was it. That's it.

You had to have as your shirt took you. You know, there was a dress code there. Dress code, you know, keeps things, little bit more cautious so we don't get too wild. My boy, Jibril kind of swore. All right? So he didn't want it. Like, he, Jibrill always liked to have it out.

He wants you to see the meat. All right? He wants you to see the guns. We're going to club upscale. Jibril takes a shirt off. Manager comes over, says, hey, bro, you got to put your shirt back on. Jibrill puts the shirt back on momentarily. Manager comes over since one more time.

Hey, bro. Seriously. I don't own the place I manage it. Either you got to put your shirt on, man, or you got to leave the restaurant. Or you got to leave upscale. Andrew Brailcott, not problem, bro. No problem.

You won't see me wear that off the game. Put the shirt on, keeps your shirt on all the time, right? We laughed. Now, if that guy comes over the second time and says, you know what? I'm sick of you niggas coming in here with your shirt off like a bunch of thuds. This ain't that type of place.

It ain't the type of place. If you want that, go to dreams. if you want that, go cross the river, go to rags if you want that. I'm not talking about, I'm not like, I'm sick of y'all.

Y'all come in here, y'all need to act better. I need to do this. This ain't that type of place. I would have felt played. At that point, I would have felt played to like,

nigga, who the fuck you think you're talking to? Sure. Like, I, even though he had to tell him to I would have fell played. Yeah. And so if you can't play me,

you can't play my sisters. So just don't speak to them that way. Yeah. It was wrong. Even if you want to be a jerk about it and kick them out, kick them out. He was fully within his right to do that. Yeah. Look.

Yeah. The man played himself. He could handle it. This wouldn't even be a topic, but he handled them wrong. Yeah, we have a very special guest from a very special show. And I say this in a completely serious way. I remember, like, I've almost grown up with Grey's Anatomy. I remember the show when the first episode was coming on

and my home boy Ian, his then-girlfriend, was like, we got to watch this show. So we watched the show. Let me tell you guys how long Grey's Anatomy's been on. They were girlfriend and boyfriend then. They have since gotten married and been divorced. Gray's anatomy. Not funny.

Outlasted their relationship. That's a true story. I'm not even joking about that. that. That's a true story. Gray's Anatomy, outlasts their relationship from Grace's Anatomy, we have, I always want to call people about their character names, Kelly McCreary on High Learning Today. Now, when I say that about Grazenatomy and that the show has been on for 750 years, like, what does that make you feel? Do you feel like I have the ultimate job security because the show has been on for so long? It's going to go for so long? Or do you feel like, damn,

it's coming to an end soon? Like, how do you? feel when you hear that? Job security, where? You know we'd be killing people all the time. You know, it's funny. Look, I joined the show in, I did a couple of episodes at the end of season 10, but I became a serious regular in season 11.

And I, myself, everybody on my team was like, it would probably be a couple of years, you know, this show will be done by that. I mean, what show? No one expected it to go this long. Sure. So I don't know. It's definitely not a sense of job security,

but it's definitely like, just because you never know in this business, as you know, I'm sure. We're all just freelancers out here. But it's wild. Like, it is wild that has gone on so long. I'm certainly never expecting that. Yeah.

I have started binging Grey's Anatomy during quarantine. like most people do. You know, you find your show and you get hooked. And when I tell you I'm hooked, is there a name for people? Like in Bachelor Nation, it's called Bachelor Nation, if you watch The Bachelorette or your Batchies. Is there a Graze Anatomy name? Is there an Army name or is it Gray's Army? I'm not quite sure what we call us.

You know, I don't know if there is. You know, they give us what they call ship names. You know, when they ship your, you and your, you and your, one of the first character on the show. But I don't know if we have a name for that. Let's call him Grabies. Okay, rabies. Great.

I'm a gravy. Van's a Grabe. So for us, Grabies, I'm curious with you, for you, what has it been like working with Shonda Rimes? And then also because I'm new

and I've been binging it, the fact that you've been working on a show that shows so much diversity and in a successful way. Yeah. Well, okay. So I'll answer. I have the first question first about working with Shonda.

The thing about working with Shonda is it's like, so I think it was my first or maybe my second year on the show. She published her kind of a memoir called The Year of Yes. And she describes in that book how saying yes to everything, but, you know, like almost every offer that came her way, every invitation expanded her life. And when you think about what she did before she started saying yes, you know, the potential for growth and expansion and, you know, clarifying your idea of yourself,

growing more and more confident in your capability and your ability to take over the world, you know, that has been something to behold. And I have really tried in my small way to be influenced by her in that way. And then to your other question, hold on, what was it? Oh, yeah, diversity. Yeah, I mean, look, Van, I similarly watched the show when it first aired.

I think I was like, that was like my first or second year out of college. And, you know, we'd gather around the TV because that's what you did back then. Because we didn't have the, we did have, what was the, what was the, what was the, Um, Tebow. Tebow. Tebow. Yeah. Um, but, you know, and I remember sort of being floored by the sort of nonchalance of with which folks were mingling.

You know, it wasn't a black show. It wasn't, you know, a mainstream, a gay white show. Um, and, and there was this badass Asian woman character. And then, you know, season three, you get the bisexual. Season four, you get the, it's just like, so talk about normalizing things. It's a space where everything just came in normal. Every identity was able to exist as completely normal in this world. And it was mind-blowing.

I mean, I guess it's kind of sad that it was mind-blowing, but it was like, it was mind-blowing, it was revolutionary, it has changed TV. And so, you know, that we've been able to. to keep creating space ongoingly, 17 years in, you know, it feels in a lot of ways like we're doing a service, honestly, because the fact is that these spaces were limited to so many for so long,

and there are all kinds of people who need and deserve to have their stories put on. So that's what we're here to be. You know, I have a name for the Great's Anatomy fans, sickos. Okay. I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why they're sickos. All right. Number one is because, you know, this is in the hospital and people are sick and stuff like that.

And number two is because whenever I walk in on Kalika and she's watching this show, something terrible is happening. Oh, yeah. When I say something terrible, I mean, it's like the doctors are standing around and it's like, listen, I don't know if you've ever heard this is a rare occurrence. This kid has an ear grown in the middle of their heart. The only person that can save them is Derek Shepard. But of course, he's dead. What? I need you to go on this one.

Not there yet. Could you please stop with the spoilers? I'm sorry. Newsflash. You're kind of late with that one. Yeah, news flash. Like, news flash. Yeah, he's dead. Like, he died. By the way, it was a big deal, not just on the show. I don't want to hear any more from you sick.

Period. All right. He killed him. It was a whole back and forth. He wanted to race with his family. His wife didn't want him to race. Okay, anyway. That was in real life.

Anyway. So my question is, does it get, does it get, because I would wonder, does it get like, is it weighty for you guys to have to deal with like, I don't know, sick kids and all of these different things? And they're coming up with new and different, like, sort of like phenomenon, medical phenomena on the show all the time. I'm like, is that ever a drag? Is the subject matter of the show being so weighty? Does I ever pull you down? Maybe you didn't want to learn about. multicellular myelomas or something like that.

Like it's sometimes a little depressing. Yeah. I mean, just get me down. You know, I'll say this. At the end of every season, I do feel like I'm like

calming out of deep water for air. I'm like, ooh, that was a lot. And, but at the same time, while we're shooting it, you know, three table read.

Let me put it this way. Every table read ends in tears. Okay. We're all sort of like, oh my God, this is so sad. This is so moving. But I also think that something about the weight of this show is written being kind of like, you know, there are lessons to be learned from these terrible situations. These situations cause people to have to grow. And then more than that, not just because we don't want to just use these like sick characters and tragic stories just for like as vehicles for our characters, even though sometimes they are,

knowing that our depiction of these real life circumstances that do cause pain and suffering for people actually enables the people for whom the pain and suffering has been caused to feel seen, feel like they're not alone, feel like somebody knows what they're going through, feel like, you know, and now more people understand if they've got mental illness, you know, what it is that, you know,

how they've experienced the world. You know, knowing that we're doing that kind of thing, kind of, that takes the weight off, certainly, you know. And, and, you know, look, the good drama is high stakes life or death drama. I'm an actor. I like to play in that world. You know, it is, that's where the good stories are.

That's where the good humanity. is. So that and make it in a phrase. That's sort of really good. Oh my gosh, right? So into that. Oh, God, I was going to ask you a question about that. But I'm trying to stay on, I'm trying to stay on track. Because I do want to talk about things that you're doing outside of Grace Anatomy because it's really, really impressive. You're from Milwaukee. I used to live in Milwaukee for three years. Yeah, girl. I went to Marquette. I went to Marquette law school. Oh, right.

Yes. Three years. I'm a Milwaukeean. They adopted me in. I was in the Milwaukee streets. That's another podcast. What about the Milwaukee streets? I know very little about them because I left when I was 17.

I was never like an adult in Milwaukee. So you didn't spend time on Water Street? No. You know what? No. What's happening here? That's where all the good pubs and stuff are, we don't call them pubs. Rurries.

breweries in Milwaukee are, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, it goes up. There's like between Water Street, I can't, baby Jefferson, between all of that is where it goes down. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a, again. Do you have a question?

Or you're trying to join her sorority. Like, you guys are, like, as you guys are becoming best friends here, I ain't never been to Milwaukee. And that's why I wanted to bring it up. I know, Giannis, Janis, I'm in the Coupo. That's it. That's all I know about Milwaukee. Shout out to Milwaukee.

Not even from, you're not even from there. I know, but there. But there. But there. But there's very, not a very few, but, you know, it's rare that you get to talk with someone who understands Milwaukee. That's why I wanted to point that out. Anyways, back to back to the time. How you're using your platform and the things that you're doing are so inspirational.

And I specifically want to talk about the Wednesday morning podcast. It was a scripted podcast that you did. And I know that it was centered around voting, but I just want to know what was the inspiration behind doing that. I know you worked on that with your husband. and then will we see more things like that from you guys? Yeah. So Wednesday morning was conceived by my husband and his writing partner. My husband Pete Chapman is writing partner, Candace Sanchez-McFarland.

It was conceived in the beginning of quarantine. It was actually, now, I wish he was here to get this right. But basically, right before production shut down, he's a director. TV director. And right before production shut down, he was in a meeting where everybody's phones were going off. Alerts, alerts, alerts, alerts, alerts. Like, you know, and everything was catastrophic.

It was like, Trump this, COVID that, you know, this, everything. And we had been, he and I together had been trying to cook up an idea for some way to tell the stories of these varying perspectives that are all coming to a head right now. little did we know there would be a pandemic and a racial reckoning and shit would really, really hit the fan. But like, before all of that, we wanted, because we're both politically minded, politically involved, we try to stay engaged or try to create art that helps people understand one another a little bit better. And so that was sort of where it was born. And it was born from this like this sort of panic mode of receiving information, sending out information. And what would that be like on the day after the election in this country should an autocratic authoritarian style leader be reelected?

So that was that's kind of a long-winded version of it. we have stories to tell, yes, so we'll be doing more. It was meant to be a short film, but because of COVID, you know, we just weren't sure how we would be able to,

there were, you can scrap a short film together pretty, not easily, but like, we did. We did. We did. We did.

And, and, but with COVID, the shooting protocols were going to make things challenging. So we adapted it into a narrative podcast. And that was really, really fun. And it also changed the way we told the story.

You know, it's not visual. You have to, like, describe things differently. You have to illustrate these characters and these experiences in a different way. So, yeah, so we had a great time doing that. So we'll do more. Great. Now, you've been very, very outspoken with your support of President Trump. And I just wanted to...

What? No, I have it right here. It's right here on my sheet. It's right here. I got it right here. It's right here. It's right here on my fact sheet. No. No, seriously, so, no, Milwaukee, Wisconsin ended up becoming a very, very pivotal place in the election. Okay? Now, you being from there, do you ever take it personally when the president insinuates that all these illegal votes are coming out of cities like Milwaukee that, you know, where people got out heavily black counties and voted for Joe Biden that in some way he thinks

that all the election corruption in America exists in Milwaukee, Atlanta, Detroit, and Philly. Like all of those people, being that you're politically minded, like being from an area

where people really turned out to vote, thanks to people like Stacey Abrams, what do you make of all of that part of it? Not to get too political, but just to ask you because it's your backyard. Oh, man. The answer to this question, like most questions these days, is white supremacy and systemic racism.

So I feel like, you know, and what I mean by that is I'm no more offended by it because I'm from Milwaukee than I think any black person in this country should be offended by it being from anywhere. There is a long history. of disenfranchising us from the vote in this country. And it's always taken forms that are, you know, creative, you know, from like these literacy tests at the polls and poll taxes, all kinds of things from back in the Jim Crow era to now. they're just finding new ways of delegitimizing our participation in the electoral process.

That is woven into the fabric of this country. Like, let's be 100 about that. So, yeah, I mean, I take it personally. I find it deeply frustrating. And sometimes it feels like we're just like running on the same damn hands. hamster wheel. You know, I mean, solving the same problems over and over and over again. But I do feel, look, you mentioned Stacey Abrams.

If she can be optimistic, then I certainly can find some silver lining and some sense of personal and community empowerment to keep us going because, you know, we have to. Yeah. You're right? Yeah. Yeah. One of the things I want to ask you, something else that you've been doing, is the table reads. And we've seen you do these classic shows like Golden Girls, 2-27, different worlds.

So I have to ask you, what's next? And is there like a dream show you're wanting to do a table read of? That's such a great question. You know, those were set up to end before the election. I don't know if we're going to be. do anything. It was a really fun and, I think, kind of brilliant strategy for increasing voter engagement by inviting people into something that they would find fun and then just checking in to see, like, have you registered to vote? Have you done your census? And that kind of strategizing

can be done about all kinds of things ongoingly, you know, not just national elections and national events like the census. So, so, you know, can it be translated? You know, it really could. What I would love to do, I mean, there are so many shows I would love to do, but I think it would be fun to do sex in the city. I think it would be fun. Yeah. You know, I think it would be so fun to do like, I don't, I don't know, I was about to say something that I feel like I shouldn't.

The Cosby show. Yeah. You're about to say the Cosby show. Sister, I know. No, sister. We grew up on it. Sister, it's okay. Listen, I know, look, you're amongst friends.

Last week on Twitter, somebody asked me, they said, Van, give me your top five sitcoms. I named four shows, and then the parenthesis I had redacted. And the reason why I redacted it was because I didn't feel like I know. I know it's okay. It's okay. It's a weird thing. And now you can't detract from it.

but it's the way that it goes it's tough it's tough but now no look it let me be 100% clear here like that is it's it's a weird thing that happens in the mind which by the way I don't have with a lot of other artists who um have done horrible things yeah sure a lot of other people it's very easy for me to just be like, okay, I'm done with Woody Allen. Yeah. Yeah. But there is, I do think there is something for me personally different about just the experience of, like you said, Rachel having grown up with it and I'm able to do this

weird mental fracture between, you know, the character and the show and the man. And I'm not, I don't know if that's right or wrong. I really don't. It's very, it's very much. a mess. And I, and I, I have weirdly, like, avoided the show quite a bit, you know, when it comes on and I don't like talking about it. It's sad. I know. It's sad. It's to find out that, you know, that person was a monster and did so, so much terrible harm. And you know what else it is? What else, what else it does to you put you in a weird position because what you're going through

by not being able to love your favorite show as a kid doesn't even compare to what those women went through, right? So you're sitting here thinking, man, it sucks that I can't watch a car. Then something snaps and you go, that you can't watch a fucking show. Yeah. I'm a man, I'll survive.

Yeah, we'll be okay without it. But some people are scarred and forever change and they can't get it back. Yeah. It's just, it's what? you know, this is life. My mom was telling me, she's like, you know, but my mother said we had my mother on the podcast,

when my mother told me, like, when that first came out, I was super disappointed. She was like, oh, it's not going to be the last time. She was like, as you continue to go for it in life, a lot of these people that you loved, you're going to learn more stuff about them, and you're going to have to make some decisions. So shout out to mom for not trying to give me

an easy bed to land in. One last question for you. This is the most controversial question. I'm going to ask you in this entire situation. Controversial. I just want myself into. You'll be fine. You'll be fine.

You'll be fine. But this is the controversy. It's very controversial. It's a tough question. Who is? Forget about who you know. Forget about who you're friends with. Forget about who's the nicest person or who you've met at a party or something.

Who is based on looks alone, the best looking guy in the history of Gray's Anatomy? looks alone. Oof. Looks alone. I'm talking about roll out Jesse, roll out McSemey, roll out McDreamy,

roll out the brother that's the chief because he's got an older sort of smoldering sexuality. Richard. I don't know his real name. He's got a sexual,

I saw him in Craigsworth time. Shout out. He showed love. Like he got like a sort of TV dad now. Your TV dad. Yeah, yeah. He got a thing to him too.

It's a lot of guys. Oh my gosh. Your TV dad now. I'm knowing, I'm really understanding what's happening here. Yeah, you know, she's married his sister. You didn't know that? She's married his sister because married his mom like a little bit of El Chocolate. Married his mom like the El Chocolate.

Okay. So, yeah, that's Married a sister. You're welcome. Well, you don't watch the. I'm in season three. This is basic shit, though. That is season three. Please, they'll do be like this.

Okay. What's the answer to the question? I'm done after this man. Do the rest of the show yourself. Best looking guy, history of Graves Anatomy. It's time for Kelly McCreary to go viral. God. This is so weird.

But you know how you make it not weird? You just start off by saying, hey, they're all fantastic looking. They're all fantastic looking. You know what? Here's one. I got one. got one for you. Denzel Washington.

He directed this episode. She got you. She got you. She got you. Kelly. Kelly, I'm so glad you're messing around politics. You got a future in politics, Kelly. Are you that you got a future in politics. I'm telling you right there. That was, that was good.

I didn't even see that one coming. I was like, I got her. We got a moment. She's going to say something. And, you know, we're going to get it. Because you can say, say, Jesse. And then that's on, whatever. It's boring answer. Shout out to Jesse. But like, but you really took it.

I like that. That's good. Kelly, Marquette, Milwaukee. All right. We are so thrilled that you took this time with us today. Yes. We're chatting with you guys. Hey, congratulations on your awesome podcast at, you know, great quarantine project.

Oh, yeah. Thank you. Right. Yeah. Yeah. We started during quarantine. Thank you so much. It's great.

I enjoy it. Thank you for having me. No problem. Thank you for coming out. Well, not coming out. You didn't come out. You zoom from right there. By the way, before we leave, as far as backgrounds go,

you're the leader in the clubhouse. Yeah. It's not even clubhouse. Yeah. For sure. The red, the red, the red. Overset, something red in every room. Yeah.

Yeah. No, no. No problem. All right. That is enough with kids. Kelly McCrear, you guys watch Gray's Anatomy. It's every Thursday night, right? That's right.

It's every Thursday night. And bring your tissues. Bring your tissues. Because the last time, I don't know if Rachel on the last time, she was on the beach. And then she kind of like, she's in between, like in the gloaming. She's in the in-between situation. We don't know if she's okay or whatever. Anyway, all right.

Bye to Kevin McCree. We're going to pick right back up. We're going to take a break. Come back. More higher learning. This episode is brought to you by WeatherTech. Everyone knows winter is the MVP and making a mess. You don't need weather tech floor liners in the summer unless you hit the beach or go camping.

Then you'd want a cargo liner or a road trip goes sideways, 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. Did you know about one and three people with plaques psoriasis may also develop psoriotic arthritis, which causes joint pain, stiffness, and swelling? Does this sound like you?

Listen to what it sounds like to be a million miles away. Trimfaya, guselcomab, taken by injection, is a prescription medicine for adults with moderate to severe plaques psoriasis, who may benefit from taking injections or pills or phototherapy, and for adults with active psoriotic arthritis. Serious allergic reactions and increased risk of infections and liver problems may occur. Before a treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or if you need a vaccine. Imagine being a million miles away.

Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Trim Faya. Tap this ad to learn more about Trimfaya, including important safety information. Somebody just hit me up with something. Wow. Yo, Van, I'm a first time Bachelor at Watcher and I just started watching

because of you guys' this podcast. Yo, I gotta ask, the Tasia Joint is doing a lot of kissing with most of the guys that anyone ever catch Mono on the show. And also, I never met one black person

who's ever caught Mono. Have you? This is from Scotty Pimpin, boss Wilson, 132 on Twitter. Scottie Pippen is That's a great name. He asked me.

Has anyone ever, two questions for Rachel. Has anyone ever caught Mano on the show? Caught Mano on the show. And have you ever known a Negro to catch Mano? To my knowledge, no. No one's ever caught it. You get thoroughly tested for these things prior to coming on to the show. Right.

And I know I've never met anybody black that's caught Mano. Do they tell you, I've never known anyone black to caught Mano too. Did they tell you on the show, which are some estimates, on the show acceptable and then some aren't? No, no, no, no. So any STD and you're done. Yeah, because there are several people who are, you hear that were, you don't know them personally,

but it's like, man, we had great candidates, but they didn't pass the STD test. Yeah, it happens a lot, apparently, a lot. More than getting eliminated for psych, more than a criminal background, the biggest thing is the STD test. And that makes a lot of sense, because, you know, people got STDs.

I mean, we act like it's some kind of, we act like it's some sort of scarlet letter, but people got STDs, man. They got Herb Dog. They got gonorrhea. They got siff-siff. They have these things. And it's not like it's the dirty people that have it either.

People got that hurt. People got HIF. People got gone, gone, gone, gone, got gong, gun, gone. People got it. They have these things. You know what I mean? they have Hipp of I call it hip-of

the HPV you know what I'm saying like they people have these things and we act like it that's the next thing we talk about a lot of things but they shame people a lot

for having been in the situation where absolutely where they what they call a little hip-of you know what I'm saying everybody got hippo what is it like 80% it's a high number

Because men usually don't show any symptoms. And so y'all just transmit it, carry it, just infecting people left and right. What should we do about that? Well, there's a vaccination for it if you're... For HIPAA. But what should we do? Like for kids, like starting young.

But if we know that somebody doesn't have HIPAA, shouldn't we elevate them to the top of society if 80% people got it? We can. You want to start? I mean, not like... Are you going to be okay if you fall in the 80%? No, that's cool. It's not bothering me now.

So, I mean, you know, it's like, if I have it, if somebody came and told me I had it now, I'd be like, it's not big a deal. But it would be a problem with whoever you're intimate with. But no, because if they got it too, right? But that's a problem. Like in women, it can cause cancer. In women, it can have long-term effects. It can be dormant for so long. So then why doesn't everybody take the hip of vaccine? Well, it's kind of new. Oh, it just came out.

Not like new, but like in the last. 10 years or so. Maybe even less than that. Okay. Thank you, Jackson. Oh, Jackson. I got the hip-up vaccine? I got the vaccine.

I'm just saying I'm young enough where I got the vaccine. Oh, wow. I don't have the disease. I have the vaccine. Okay, you got to be, you got to clarify on this. You just rolled in and said,

I got it. I got it. I got the vaccine. I got the vaccine. Jackson, first of all, it's a safe space. We don't shame anybody based upon diagnosis here.

And the reality is, I think that's very brave of you to come out. in the situation where we're talking about how people definitely need to be more open with people who have STIs, STDs. Definitely, it's not a scholar of letter. You shouldn't shame them. You should make fun of them.

I agree with it. And so for you to come out, Jackson, and actually- I have the vaccine for HPV. Jackson, how old are you? I'm 24. And you got it at probably what age? I don't know when I was like a teenager, probably. I don't know.

Yeah. So what were you doing? So how did you, do you know who you got it from? Okay, I'm going against my own shit. Seriously, listen, anybody out there that has a medical condition or something like that is really, really okay. If you're a still person, you're not dirty, you're not anything like that. It's cool.

Seriously. Now, very important to say. Okay, so obviously it's time. We have Parents Day on the podcast. By the way, thank you for introducing to your parents. Oh, I know. All right, listen. Yeah, they did.

They did. Tell you, like, look, everybody count the curse words. Somebody count the curse words. Man, you've been good. You know, you've been good. I've been doing better. Mr. Lindsay, he got through. Has he been in your head?

He has. Like, I was watching the Broncos Saints game yesterday. And it would be like, Lindsay with the ball. And every time I look at him and see him your dad. That's my first cousin. Is that true? You know Philip was my first cousin? Philip Lindsay's your first cousin?

No, I just thought I thought. I'm a daddy side. Like, you know, because big baby was, you know. Oh, same shit. But it's spelled the same way. It is. And I'm like,

I looked over every time I was seeing him. Lindsay, I'm like, oh, shit. I'm okay. I'm standing up straight. Judge. But no, because we did parents

on Thursday, we didn't get a chance to do a batch recap. We did not get a chance to do it. Yes. And I watched the episode. All right. This was one that has crossover topics

with higher learning. It does. Why? Why are you saying that? Well, because of the sit down between Ivan and Tasia. So a lot of people wanted to know what band's thoughts were. Okay. A couple of thoughts. Number one, I thought it was... I warned you that this was happening. I said, I'm very interested. I thought it was touching that they bore their feelings like that. I'm glad to see that Ivan became a sactivist.

Let's what we used to call these guys back in college. guys that were activists so they could get girls in a sack activist. I fully was aware of what you put together there. Yeah, he's a sacktivist. He's a sacktivist. He's out there like, girl, we got to say the whales. The meeting is in my

dorm room. 9.30. It's just me and you. We're still trying to build the club. Look, here's the thing. If you guys really want to know how I feel, I don't like that type of shit. To me,

I understood it. I get it. That was kind of some weak-ass shit, though, man. And why? And why then? No, no, no. And why? Why to me is because it was,

I didn't feel, I couldn't connect to the feelings. It seemed like it was, it seemed foreign. Them together seemed the way white paper felt about the whole thing. They said they felt sad and not mad. I couldn't relate to it.

There was a lot of talk about, you know, where I come from and being mixed. And there wasn't any power behind it. I didn't feel like there was anything that was, I didn't feel like either one of them. By the way, this is just me completely. I'm sure that they both feel deeply about the situation. They obviously did. They cried and shit. But that situation wasn't, it was alien to me.

It wasn't the way a lot of my friends and people who were around me felt about that. We were activating. We were ready to go. We were ready to get it. We were ready to go out there and do whatever we had to do. And I didn't get that from them. It was kind of like some soft TV bullshit a little bit. But that's just my opinion of it.

And it's, we have to be honest on the podcast, but I did not connect with the moment at all. So this is why I was really, waiting for you to watch this episode and to hear your take on it because a lot of times in Bastro Nation the fans give contestants a hand clap for mediocrity. Right. Like it's so mind

blowing because they did the basic minimum. It's so mind blowing that George Floyd's name was mentioned on primetime TV. You know, kudos to Batson to the franchise for even having a conversation because we know years ago that would never even happen.

I personally thought Ivan carried the conversation. He did. And I felt like Ivan was the one who was talking. I appreciated him saying I used to think this way and seeing my brother go through something else. I think of it different. I thought him crying was kind of showing his being upset and frustration. I think I was more, you know, you don't know this from Bastor Nation, but it's the lead

who carries the show, right? It's your show. You're in control. And it was a little disappointing to me that as the lead, Tisha wasn't leading that conversation. And even when she had the opportunity to lead, she didn't. So I think that's why to me it was a little disappointing. It was a little watered down. Plus being shocked by the fact that he was called the N-word, being shocked that he was biracial with Filipino and black.

I'm just like, I honestly wish they would have edit those things out to make her look a little bit better. because I thought it didn't do her any type of benefit. And it's interesting to hear white people in Batchar Nation talk about it versus black people talk about it because black people will say that there was no depth to that conversation and they didn't get anything from it. As where white people were applauding it as if, you know, it was Angela Davis and, you know, Stokely Carmichael having a conversation.

I mean, look, they don't even know who those people are. White people. But shout out to the white people. But I hear you all typing on Wikipedia right now. But no, look, look, it's very difficult to be critical with people when they're in a vulnerable moment. It's something that doesn't sit right with me. And I do get that it was a vulnerable moment. I can imagine what it would be like being in the bubble.

Because remember, we were able in that moment to express ourselves. We went to protests. We went out and we did things. Do you know when the bubble started? that conversation happened in August. Okay, so we had already been through things. Yes, that, so like, let me give you some context there.

That conversation happened in August. The switch happened at the end of July. I think Tasha's season started the first week of August. So that conversation happened mid. So Ivan had been in the bubble longer. So Ivan had been in that bubble since mid-July. That still meant you had, The only thing he probably had not heard about

was what happened in Kenosha. That might have been the only thing he didn't know. See, that's kind of like a fuck the whole thing. That's like that. There's a little different. Oh, man. You know what? I'm going to, I'm going to move forward in love.

I think that even though I personally felt the moment was bullshit, I could see how it probably meant a lot to them. having there connecting like that, biracial, we're sitting down, you know, you know, Ivan's using it to his advantage

which is grotesque in a way. But, but, uh, but, I actually liked Ivan in this, but. Ivan, I thought he was a square up

until this point, so that's why he impressed me. It wasn't my favorite moment. By the way, not my favorite episode. I should say real quick. My, that seems to keep happening a lot lately.

My thoughts on Bennett haven't changed. Not at all. They just won't. They, they, Won't change. Somebody sent me a picture of Bennett standing in front of a fucking outcast mural.

They won't change. My thoughts on Bennett, I've never been more wrong about anything than I was wrong about Bennett when I looked at the whole cast and something like that. My thoughts on Bennett haven't changed. They're not going to change.

Benet's fucking man. And you guys have to deal with it. It's Bennett's world and we're living in Bennett's world. Mm-hmm. Okay? Bennett should be the next bachelor. He should.

I couldn't agree with you more. Bennett should be the next Batchelor. Ben it to win it. Okay. Other than that, having problems connecting with the show. I'm not going to lie. Why? Why? No, come on. Give me more. Why? Did not warn you if this. You did. Your friend tried to tell you this day was going to come. I'm not going to lie, guys. I kind of miss Chippendale. Chippendale kept it fresh. Chippendale were like, you know, Chippendale were like, Chippendale. Now, Chippendell are corny as hell. And people keep sending me clips of Chippendale doing different

corny things and it's true. I really want to start a different, a whole Instagram page called Chippendale and just put their corny moments on there because they're the worst. They're the couple that, you know, you don't invite to the dinner party because it's like, we can't do them again this week.

But no, yeah, it is getting to the point. Look, I'm not off of the show, but also about that show, that is two hours long. That's a lot of batch, bro. That's a lot of batch. I don't understand why they don't just make an hour. They can have like twice as long of a season.

Like this last one was two hours long. My God. It's a lot. I could go watch Tango and Cash and still have some left over. You know what I mean? It's a lot. It's a commitment. It's a commitment.

Yeah. All right, look, you know what, guys, it's been a great episode. Thank you so many of you people that have reached out, you know, talk to me personally about my mom, about my little health hiccup and all of that stuff like that. But more than anything, shout out to the people who hit me up all the time and tell me how much the podcast helps them during this time. I am so handcuffed right now to this despair that we're in. This moment, it sucks so bad. Like, it's just so bad. I'm not cut off of this.

I'm not cut off of all of this at the same time. If I'd have known this would it come out, how would your life be different right now? If you'd have known that this was coming, all of this. What would you have been doing? Honestly, Van, it's better that I didn't know it was coming. Because I didn't know, I'm very type A. I always say if I had known that this was coming, I would have told you I won't survive

this, nothing. But because it just happened and we had to adjust in the moment, it was almost like a survival thing as opposed to planning for it coming. I don't know if I ever would have been able to mentally prepare for this. Because here's a thing, I would have planned and then I still wouldn't have been ready for what's to come. Think about where we are right now. Okay.

We were locked down. We're in a place in, in Los Angeles. Los Angeles County that we were back in March and April. Everyone around us is moving around, going to gyms, going out, can go to restaurants. And we can't. We're on lockdown and on a holiday weekend. I mean, you look around and there's truly nothing that you can do other than go outside for a walk.

We're back where we were before. If I had planned for this, I would have said, oh, we'll be in this for two months and things will start opening up. People will get better. people will start to, you know, pay attention to what the scientists and the doctors are saying. They will realize that hospitals are overwhelmed, that we're sick, that we're mentally suffering, that like we can't stay in this place forever, and everybody will do their part for the sake of humanity. That's what I would have thought.

Never in my wildest dreams is what I think that we're here at the end of the year. And we are in a worse position than we were in March when we didn't know anything about this virus. And here we are on the verge of, we're shut down in L.L. and they're waiting to see what's going to happen with the fallout for Thanksgiving. And I know a club in Dallas that just opened up that was packed. I'm watching people like Regine throw a huge birthday party

where all these people are celebrating. Like they just don't care. So I could have never mentally prepared for this. And if I had and we would still be in this place now knowing that I prepared for it, I would have lost my shit. I look. Well said.

I don't know. I think mentally, for me, I would have rather known. Because if I knew that it was coming, I wouldn't have, mentally I've overreacted. And now I don't know how to do anything but overreact. And so now every little thing, like, I'm just so turned up with anxiety.

Like, if you jump out at me, I'll jump. You know what I mean? It's like my body's in traction, it feels like, almost is weird. So mentally, mentally, I would have prepared differently. I'll tell you what, though. I think the lesson that has to come out of it is I have to now prepare myself in the future for instances like this, right? Just have enough coping techniques and self-care that I can go through. in order to get through things.

I think that's a big time lesson that I've learned, you know what I mean? But this is whack. Like, it's tough. And for everybody out there, man, I feel you.

Stay safe, stay happy, and try to, that's why you think I'm not going to joke on Nate Robinson. Think about if Nate Robinson and get knocked the fuck out was the worst problem we had. You can't tell me not to joke about that.

That's a 2019 issue. Like, that's a, that's a 2018 issue. That's a 2016 issue. Oh, how bad are you joking? No, I'm going to take every fucking laugh I can get. Every laugh I can get. I'm a take it. So, Nate.

He said he did it for the culture. And he did. And he did. All right, y'all. We will see y'all again Friday. We up out of here taking things, caps off, but do not stop learning. I am Van Lathen. I am Rachel Lindsay.

Peace.