Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - Paul Pierce Gets Fired From ESPN, Plus Ego Nwodim on Being Black on 'SNL'

Episode Date: April 6, 2021

Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay discuss Paul Pierce’s viral video on Friday night and reported firing from ESPN (9:00), MLB moving their 2021 All-Star Game out of Atlanta (21:00), and Charles Barkley���s recent comments about race (29:00). Then they welcome Ego Nwodim to discuss her career in comedy (42:00) and check in with Yodit Tewolde for the latest on the Derek Chauvin trial (1:11:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, yo, yo, thought warriors. What's up, Thought Warriors? It is I. Van Lathan, you don't like that voice. You know what? It's the face with the voice. It's the face. It's the face that takes it.

Can we gift that? Can we gift that face to them? Oh, Daddy. Have I ever told you how I would use the voice? I think so. I would use it during sports. Like somebody. No.

You did not. I would. I would. Somebody would be at the free throw line. I'd be down there on the block. And I'd be like, you know, make this free throw, daddy. Daddy, stroke this free throw.

And everybody would be laughing. And it would be like, I mean, concentrate. Oh, make it. Do it. Do it. And it's like, it's just funny. Or like when we were playing Marvel versus Capcom 2, we had a tournament and somebody gets in a long combo that I don't like.

Maybe they've, I mean, you know, other guys will come over to, so we were in Baton Rouge, so the guys from New Orleans will come up and play against us and the guys from Houston will come up and play against us. And they were, if they were getting off like a long combo that was like fucking up, one of our boys, like Dakota or Charles or Kevin or somebody like that, I would be like, oh, oh, work them, daddy, work them.

Like everybody would laugh and they would break that concentration. Oh, father, father. That's Stop. Rachel. How was your weekend? My weekend was good. You know, Brian has arrived.

He is here now. He's officially a Los Angeles resident. So that was fantastic. So, yeah, I mean, it was just good to have him here. We went on long walks, pulled a page out of your book, you know, getting to know the new neighborhood. Easter

kicked it. I cooked. You know, those days are far and few between. But yeah, like, it was nice to have him here. It was all good until the middle of the night. Yeah. And then things took a turn for the worst. Earthquake shook me.

You shook me. Oh, nah, long. Earthquake. We had an earthquake. We had a substantial earthquake this morning. Around 4 o'clock in the morning? It was 4.45. when I looked at my clock. But see, here's the thing.

That was Brian's first earthquake ever. For me, I've been in an earthquake. So Brian thought somebody was running down the hall. And so he woke up and he shot up. So I couldn't go to sleep after that because then he started asking me all these questions. Should we go outside? Well, how do you prepare?

And I was like, I don't know. You're supposed to have like an earthquake kid or something like that. I don't know those kind of things. Come on, Brian. Come on, man. Are you supposed to run outside? But, like, you got to understand.

He knows hurricanes. This is his first one. Right? We would freak out over a hurricane. I wouldn't freak out over a tornado. Like, that's, that's how, where we come from. Shit. The tornado, the tornado is the, I would know how to duck and cover.

I would know how to duck and cover. I'm scared of tornado. The hurricanes, look, I'm not going to say the hurricanes aren't a big deal because obviously I lived through one of the single most devastating weather events that's ever hit the United States. But I will say this. The real failure in that hurricane. even then was a societal failure

because there should have been something put in place to make sure that people could stay safe because you know that the hurricane is coming, right? Right. The tornado is like, hey, just let you guys know there's a tornado watch and then all of a sudden, no more house.

So the tornado is like super scary to me. It's scary. It is scary, but the thing is what tornadoes is when you grow up in tornado alley, you see tornado watch a lot on your television screens and nothing happened. So you become desensitized to it. I'm not saying that they're not scary.

I'm not saying they're not devastating. It's just you see it a lot. Earthquake? The ground is moving. That's unheard of. So, you know, we're going to have to study up on a what to do with the earthquake. I mean, eventually there'll be an earthquake that will devastate Southern California to a... Oh, that's something to look forward to.

Just the way you said it. Well, eventually, there'll be an earthquake. I know. I know. But haven't they been saying that for a while? They've been saying it for a while. That doesn't make it any less true. they've also been saying for a while

that eventually the sun will supernova and consume the earth it's just not in a while that's going to happen pretty soon but eventually that's going to happen eventually the sun will supernova consume the entire earth I think I understand your anxiety do you not even know me

of course that's how I think I'm I was walking this morning and a truck was coming and the truck passed by and I was like what if the truck would have jumped a curb what I have had time to get out of the way I can't live like that I can't live like that

oh my gosh poor van so you didn't go back to sleep after the earthquake because I know I didn't hell no I tried I put on the calm app listen to the white lady I wonder if they could if there's some like

you know what I need I need like there needs to be an Auntie app Oh you should create this like an Auntie app like because when you I look Don't get me wrong.

I love the Headspace guy. I think, I'm not going to lie. I feel like the Headspace guy is one of my closest friends. How often do you listen to it when you go to sleep? Every day. Every day I listen to the Headspace guy? I never listen to it. Close your eyes.

Sit upright. It's time for you to take some time out of your day for yourself. Just make sure that you're in the space that you want to be. you can feel yourself sinking into your seat and then before you know it it's like this is great

and so like don't have to do that voice again that's how he sounds well you sound creepy but that's how he sounds but like it would be dope if they had like an unty one like come over here baby

come over here you so wound up baby you just like your uncle come over here and sit down Bless your heart. Rock back and forth. Just rock back and forth and let Auntie rub your back.

If you haven't felt the warmth of a 60-year-old black woman who loves you, God damn. Like of a, just of a woman that's seen so much and like has an answer and even knows how to distract you from yourself for a second.

Yeah. might rock you back and forth and like, it's like, or my mom would sing that song, Redeemed, come on. Judas was eating this last past over. Judas was, it's like, it's like,

my mom is singing that song and I'm like, oh my God, I feel okay. It's gonna be okay. Headspace and I have that. Well, maybe it's coming. Maybe on the update. So Brian is there. Did you, and you guys,

you guys had a fun time? You guys been enjoying each other's company? It's great time. Okay, now the real work begins. We've been together. Okay, it's not like we just, we just, we just spent all the quarantine together. The real work begins. Okay.

How's your weekend? What did you do? Do you celebrate Easter? I chill. I chilled. Yeah. I thought I was going to have some sweets yesterday for Easter. But then Kalika reminded me, you're just not going to hate yourself after you eat the sweet.

So why are you doing it? It's a good woman. So the reality is that I just chilled. eat too much, you know, still trying to shave off the pizounds, you know. I'm literally two pounds away from my haircut. I was going to say, take your hat off. So we know how you're doing, buy your hairline. It's peeking out a little bit.

Yeah, yeah, we're struggling. Wu-Tang. That's so crazy that my hairline looks like that. I don't know why. It's so crazy because, like, I got that little deal, Woutain. It's like a cloud in the front. Yeah. Yeah.

All right, well, look, I'm glad you're doing well. Let's go ahead and take a break, getting to the damn show. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Trimphia offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start. Trimphia 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 trumphia, proper training. is required. Tremfaya 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 a vaccine. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Tramfaya today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit Tramphiara Radio.com. 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 vanduil.com slash predict slash bonus dash offer dash terms. All right. Paul Pierce. Now in case you guys don't know, this is interesting now, I really want to talk about

this. So in case you guys don't know, I do. I want to lead the show with this. Well, that's what I think I'm more shocked by. I'm very curious just to what you're going to say, that you want to lead the show with Paul Pierce. I want to lead the show with Paul Pierce because it's a lot of, it's a sports heavy show today,

a lot of sports topics. We're not going to spend too much time on this. Paul Pierce, in case you guys don't know, he was a basketball player, ex-basketball player, champion for the Celtics. One time he scammed the whole sports world. He acted like he was hurt. Oh, yeah.

Don't do this. Don't do this. That's what happened, Jackson. Don't do this. By the way, I had gone to the Staples Center, me and Kalika, had gone to the Staples Center to watch this game. And we had gone to the stable center to watch this game because there was this thing where they like, you could watch the game on the big Jumbotron.

Because they were playing in Boston. This was like the 2008 finals, nine finals or something like that. And it looked like he got hurt. And I never forget this. When it looked like he got hurt, they were wheeling them off the court. There were people there that were clapping. I looked at Kalika. I said, we're going to lose.

I was like, we're going to lose. I said, God don't reward that type. I said, we're going to lose. The Lakers will lose this game. And I was actually telling people, hey, man, that dude from right here in Englewood, stop clapping for this man to be hurt. That dude wasn't hurt at all.

He got off, he came off the wheelchair. It was like fucking tiny Tim. He tortured the Lakers for the rest of that game and that whole series, man. Didn't he have to go to the bathroom or something like that? No, he was hurt. He wasn't hurt. He wasn't hurt.

wasn't hurt. Had nothing to do with the bathroom. He wasn't hurt. The man came back on the floor and played like fucking Larry Bird, Jackson. He wasn't hurt. It was no hurt. It was a ruse to get his teammates fired up, whatever. So he's a future Hall of Famer. One of the best Celtics ever.

He was on his Instagram drunk and lit with strippers. He also, by what we should say right now, works for ESPN, if I am correct. He was drunk and lit with strippers. Ass everywhere. And when I say strippers, I don't mean the ones you see on Instagram

that go around the country. I mean strippers that are local. Yeah, they definitely are local. Yeah, but not to diss them. I'm talking about these are working ladies. Yeah. All right. So it's not like, hey, Malaya Michelle's in town.

I got to go see her. Nah, this is Keisha. This is Jody. This is, you know what I mean? Shout out to Keisha and Jody, not this and him, but he was there. And everywhere, everywhere, ass, he's drinking. He is completely smacked and it went viral. Everybody had an opinion.

Kyle Kuzma said he was a sicko. Like all types of people were just getting on. He went viral for this. And a lot of people were saying that this was in poor taste that Paul Pierce was doing this. I think he's like 43 or 44 years old that this was in poor taste. I'm having problems seeing what's wrong with this. Well, for one, he's married. What does that mean?

So it seems disrespect. Listen, my husband can go to the strip club, that's fine. Okay. But like the fact that you're bringing them to your home and then you're like publicizing that you've got strippers all around you and then encouraging other women in the comments to come there saying they're haters

and you should come here too and make this money. I just seem very, disrespectful to the fact that he's married. I think that's the number one thing people had with it. It's the fact that it looked like he was disrespecting the fact that he's married. Now, can we play the common sense game real quick? Can we play the common sense game? So Paul Pierce was married.

Okay. Yes. And this is happening in his house. And he is putting this on Instagram. By playing this game, wouldn't you say that the chances are remote that Paul Pierce was wife did not know about the activity that was happening in his house? She didn't know. How do we know she didn't know?

Well, we don't know. I would assume she didn't know. And I would assume, because I would assume, I was, I was just assume she didn't know. Maybe she did. But why would we assume, so you think that Paul Pierce is going to go have a stripper party at his crib, put all of this stuff on online, for the entire world and have his wife not know. Did you see Paul Pierce?

Do you think Paul Pierce was in his right mind at that moment? Yeah, you don't get that shramacked. You can't get that shmacked. He was lit. He said, we've been to turkeys. Not we've been to Turkey. He said we've been to turkeys. The band was not okay.

Listen, if he was, if he did that on purpose and wasn't his right mind, you got to be some kind of stupid. to go on IG Live and do this. Nobody asked for this. Nobody asked for Paul Pierce to open the door and show us what goes on inside of your home.

We didn't ask, Paul. We didn't ask, but we certainly are appreciative, Paul. You sick bastard you. Paul looked like, you sick bastard you. Do you think Paul Pierce is in trouble with Disney?

Disney owns. He hasn't apologized. He hasn't apologized or said anything, right? There's nothing to apologize for. Well, it depends what the situation is. Maybe he had a personal apology to his wife later. But he woke up to the next day and was like, good morning. Yeah, because great day.

So let me ask you this. Let me ask you this. I just think for a Disney, for a Disney affiliated network, right? Disney owns ESPN. You have a woman who you're on the jump. It is a woman-led show with Rachel Nichols. It's just a bad look. It's just a bad look.

What you do Easter weekend, Paul? Well, Google it. So it's a bad look. So it's somehow, I'm really being serious. It's somehow disrespectful to women or to Rachel Nichols. For Paul Pierce to patronize shippers or high. That those women asked to be filmed, right? One girl was all up in the camera.

She wasn't dancing. The one who was massaging, the one who was massaging his shoulders. She wasn't dancing. The one who was from Turkey. She was a dancer. Sir. But she wasn't dancing. The one who was from Istanbul was not dancing either.

Turkeys. The one from Istanbul was not dancing either. The girl who was on the floor working, do we know that she consented to be filmed? Does she consent to be filmed? Does she consent to show up and dance? So that's what I'm saying. Like, they were throwing tokens on her. Her ass was out.

She didn't even know she was on camera. Well, okay. Number one, if in fact he taped somebody that didn't know they were on camera. That's wrong. That's what it looked like. I'm going to be honest with you. Having, having, having, have frequent the establishments. All strippers are not made the same.

They're not. They're not. They're not. They're not made the same. Don't do that. Oh, excuse me. You couldn't be more right. They are like snowflakes.

Each one delicate and precious and special in their own way. You couldn't be more right. But I'm telling you right now. I'm telling you right now. So right now, we are, I'm asking you. asking this. Okay. I'm asking this. Okay, so I'll say this. If in fact he was taping people without them knowing, that's wrong. But let's say this. Let's say Paul Pierce is having fun turning up at his crib with a bunch of dancers. He put it on Instagram. Is that a reason to fire Paul

Pierce? Is that a reason for Paul Pierce? Did Paul Pierce did anything to get in trouble with his job? I don't know. Does that fall under the moral conduct policy? I don't know. That's a Disney question. I can't answer that. But it's definitely not representative of Disney. You know what I'm saying? So, okay, okay, okay, all right. It's not like somebody else could have the same takes Paul Pierce has on the jump.

You know what I mean? They could bring it somebody else. You just, boy, Rach, Rach, you are a hard one. You know what I mean? You just see they can get somebody else for Paul Pierce. Okay. I have breaking news. Breaking news.

Yeah. from Ryan Glass Spiegel. So I assume this is true, but I guess it hasn't been confirmed by ESPN yet. Source ESPN parted ways with Paul Pierce effective immediately. Immediately. Oh, my God. You knew this was going to happen to take Disney. ESPN.

That's weak. They are not. Listen. That's wake. They've got so many people that. Paul Pierce was probably at the end of his contract. They were probably looking for a reason to get rid of him. Rachel Nichols probably was like,

I am not affiliating myself. Can I be real, though? That really is weak. You know what? That also makes it look like... It's very weak. Number one, it makes it seem like patronizing sex workers or having a lot of fun with sex workers

is wrong or bad or untoward. I'm telling you, man, it's part of this shame cycle that America has involving... He's involving sex. Nobody's saying he can't do those things. But he just can't talk about them or shown. No, the thing is is he put it on. He was clearly not in his right mind.

Did he disrespect any of those women? Yes, because I don't think that woman on the ground consented to being filmed. We don't know. We don't know. But maybe they do. Maybe they do know that. We don't know. I'm sure they had a conversation with him.

We have no idea. I'm just saying if they wanted to be filmed, fine. but we don't know that for that young lady because she was working hard. She was working. She was definitely working. Yeah, she was definitely working. She was down that flap jacket.

Let me tell you something. Man, free Paul Pierce, man. Free Paul Pierce. I'm going to be honest with you, man. Free Paul Pierce. Let me ask you this. If Stephen A. Smith had posted the same video, do you think he would have been fired?

Hell no. They would have made a show. I don't think so either. I don't think so either. No, would he have been fired? Hell no, they wouldn't have fired Stephen A. Smith. They'd have made a, actually, they would have made a spin-off show for him. Yeah. Stephen A's World, live from Magic City.

Live from Magic City is Stephen A's World. Stephen A got every job on ESPN. It's not about shame. It's Paul Pierce. That's the, they could get rid of them. Look, really, to be honest with you, ESPN, Disney is behind the times here. strip club culture is a part of American culture right now. It's a part of American culture. For better or for worse, it's probably, I'm telling you right now, do you know how many, of the brass at ESPN right now, the guys who just made that decision,

the people who just made that decision. Do you know how much of these guys, hypocrites, probably have multiple only fans accounts, probably patronage dancers, probably do all of this stuff. And they'd say they keep it in private. That's what they would say. It's time to de-shame these things.

I'm actually surprised they fired him. He should have been suspended. Maybe, but you know what? I will say this. Maybe it's the inebriated. but even that he's not driving he's not he's at his crib he was encouraging other women

who were like upset by what they were saying girl you know you a hater get on over here and make this money man giving somebody opportunity economically all right all right I'll take a break this episode is brought to by weather tech

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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 trumphia, 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 a vaccine.

Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Tramphia today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit Trimfair Radio.com. So, and more serious sports news. Major League Baseball has announced that it will be moving the 2021 All-Star Game from Atlanta, Georgia, over the Georgia voting law. This is the statement. Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box. In 2020, MLB became the first professional sports lead to join the non-partisan partisan civic alliance to help build a future in which everyone participates in shape in the United States.

We probably use our platform to encourage baseball fans and communities throughout our country to perform their civic duty and actively participate in the voting process. Fair access to voting continues to have our games under wavering support. This move was supported by President Obama, LeBron, a bunch of other people. It was roundly criticized over on the right. Brian Kemp was upset about it. The governor of Texas, good old Abbott, has now said he is not going to throw out the first page. at a major league baseball game. The term canceled culture trended on Twitter

as conservatives were up in arms about the fact that they moved this baseball game because they didn't support the politics of the state of Georgia or at least some people from the state of Georgia. Your thoughts on this. What do you think? Loved it. Loved every part of it.

I find it interesting that MLB decided to do this seeing how the NFL and the NBA were criticized when they made stances against. Well, I mean, it wasn't against voting, but still things that affected the black community. Black Lives Matter. MLB, we really didn't see that much from them the same way we did from NFL and NBA. So I think it's fantastic that the MLB is taking a stance. I think that they are basically setting an example of how other corporations and organizations

should consider pulling their business out of the state of Georgia or any other state that decides to enact these type of votes. I think it's important for them to do this too because they're basically saying look, votes matter, voting matters. We should be encouraging people to vote, not make it harder for them to vote. And I think it also emphasizes the fact that Republicans are running with this false narrative that there's this problem with the current voting system when there isn't. You can't make up and create real laws to fight an imaginary problem. And I think that's the point that they're making.

So I think, number one, obviously I support Major League Baseball, but I don't think they're doing it for the reasons that they said that they're doing it. Why do you? This is a business move. This is an absolute business move. Major League Baseball is still going to have their All-Star game. Yes.

They're just not going to have it in Atlanta. Okay. Have they announced where they're going to do the All-Star game? Not that I've seen. They're still looking. The only thing they've said is it's not going to be Los Angeles because that's the 2022 All-Star game. They're not going to move that up.

Okay. So something. Some place will get a fantastic all-star game. It's not a big deal from an economic standpoint for them to move the game. I'm sure there were some wills that were in motion and some promotion that was happening, but it's not going to be really any skin off their teeth to skin off their teeth. That's actually not the way to use that. Skin of the teeth is what something's close.

It's not going to be any skin off their necks. It's not going to be any skin off their necks to move the game. Okay? What this does do, though, is it attracts Black people and other people to the sport of baseball in much the same way that NASCAR supported Bubba Wallace, and it made people look at NASCAR in a different way. When all of this stuff happened back in the summer with George Floyd, when all of these things happened with George Floyd, all the sports were kneeling, right?

Baseball, you didn't see as much kneeling. You saw some kneeling because they don't have any. black guys. So the Major League Baseball was once, in many ways the sport is incredibly important in the civil rights movement in America. Jackie Robinson

when he broke the color line in Major League baseball accomplished something that a lot of people thought would never happen. He didn't just it wasn't a political assimilation. It wasn't

even a social one. It was a cultural one. It was somebody coming on to a field and into people's homes and into their ears when they listen to the games on a radio. You know what I mean? So it was a real watershed moment in the integration of America. After that, you saw a boon of amazing black talent come through Major League Baseball. The names are too plentiful for me to mention, right? From Willie Mays.

Right. You know what I mean? Bob Gibson. Whoever you want to throw, whoever you want to throw out there. you know, Frank Robinson, amazing baseball plays. Reggie Jackson all the way up, and then it stopped.

And Major League Baseball has not really found a way to make inroads with the black community or with younger people since then. We've seen an influx of players from overseas. We've also seen the game move away from some of the places to where young black boys play it, right? So my thing is, what I looked at this, I thought it was a very savvy move on their part.

Now, if people believe that Major League Baseball baseball is on their side, maybe, at least in the playoffs, they might give the game an extra couple of looks. Remember, after what happened with NASCAR, what did you see? You saw rappers going to NASCAR events. You saw, I can tell you right now, you're looking at the Major League Baseball, man. Shit, future might perform at the All-Star game now. It might be future fucking Roddy Rich. They might really lean into this. I think that it was a win-win for them. I mean, they're going to get some... I don't. They're going to get some grief on the right, but very few of the people, very few

of the people that were into the Braves and into the Cardinals and into the Mets and into the Yankees and into Tampa Bay and into all of those teams are not going to watch baseball because they did this. See, I actually think it's not a win-win. I think it's a risk because their audience is mainly white and conservative. And the move that you made is neither one of those. And so I think that you're alienating yourself and you're latching yourself on just now your name is being affiliated with cancel culture, which is never a good thing because now, because people politicize that. So it's like you have to, you have to choose, are you this or you this? And I think by them taking the stance, they put themselves in the realms of the NFL and the NBA. That was heavily criticized.

People said that they didn't, they just wanted to watch sports. They didn't want to see their league affiliated with those things and that were considered controversial. So I don't think that it doesn't necessarily guarantees. I didn't look at it and say I'm watching baseball after this. I'm not thinking that it guarantees it, but it does

paint the sport in a different light. That it does. The NFL did take a momentary bump after Colin Kaepernick. But I think that was a two-fold. I think that was both people who weren't watching because Colin Kaepernick wasn't playing. And then there was also people who weren't watching

because other players were kneeling. So that was kind of like a perfect storm. In this situation right here, I really don't think that people will now look at Major League Baseball, that they will look at Major League Baseball and not want to watch it because they move their All-Star game. Number one, this issue is at least overtly less tinged with race than some of these other things that we're talking about.

It depends how they roll out the All-Star game, right? Will there be conversations about Black Lives Matter, about what's happening in Georgia, what's happening in Texas, you know, Florida's gearing up their own bills to start doing other thing. Other Republican states are going to be doing the same thing. It just depends.

Will it just be a move or will it be a bigger statement? We'll see. We'll see. We'll see. I thought it was savvy, though. Okay. A lot of sports-related topics here. Right?

A lot of sports-related topics here. But this one is a little bit different. Okay. Charles Barkley had some thoughts on the state of race relations in America while he was calling a Final Four game on Saturday. I'm going to now play what Charles Barkley had to say. It's about a minute long, maybe a little longer.

Jackson, you want to cue that up and let the people ride with that. Listen to what Charles Barkley had to say. He ended up going viral and was trending on Twitter because of this. Check this out. Man, I think most white people and black people are great people. I really believe that in my heart But I think our system is set up Where our politicians, whether they're Republicans or Democrats,

are designed to make us not like each other So they can keep their grasp of money and power Rachel? That's Paul Pierce. That's Paul Pierce would have been a lot more fun That's Charles Barkley on the state At least if it was Paul Pierce, he would have been drunk, whatever. We could have excused this was somebody who was

really thinking he was saying something. So Charles Barkley put that out there and it was lauded by everyone. Of course, all the usual suspects, Megan Kelly. A lot of people, but a lot of people everywhere, to be honest with you. I don't want to minimize it and say that it was just people on the right, which, by the way,

we bang on people on the right a lot. There's nothing wrong with me. The conservative, I enjoy conservative thought. I enjoy sparring with conservatives. But a take like that, sort of a milk toast taste, take is kind of the thing that's right up there, Allie. he was everywhere for this.

What do you think? I think at first glance, or at first listening to it, people thought that Charles said something that was really profound. But if you really listen to what he said, I feel like it was simple and it was a whole lot of nothing. And if anything, it was problematic more than it was helpful. Talking about black or white people being great was completely irrelevant. to what he was saying. It was

completely immaterial. I mean, he shifts the blame for holding people accountable for their behaviors rather than taking responsibility for their own explicit or implicit racism. That take doesn't acknowledge the history perceived

of blacks in this country, perceived bias, stereotypes, systemic racism. You can't just blame all the issues that black people have in this country on politicians. And I feel like it gives them an out, like I said, for not holding people responsible for those actions. And I think I did not see everybody praising Charles Barkley about this.

It did seem to come more from the conservative viewpoint. And I think the reason it did is because that's what they want to hear. They want to blame it on something else rather than people taking responsibility for the reason that we have racism, the reason we're at odds in this country. It's not a political thing. So basically you're saying, so if the politicians stop doing that, then we're automatically going to be this better society. That's not the case. That's not going to happen. All of this isn't going to end if politicians just stop doing what they're doing. Maybe there's, maybe politicians contribute to it, sure. But to blame what the divide is, the divide between black and white in this country is just on politicians is so problematic. But I also laughed when I heard it too because it's like Charles Barkley has proven time and time again. again, he is not the voice to listen to when it comes to talk about issues of race.

He's always blaming everybody but white people. I'm not saying you just have to blame white people. I'm just saying it's always black people need to do better. Black people need to do this. Like four years ago, he's made some very problematic comments, almost as if, you know, black people would have better education if they, I wrote it down somewhere. He talks about black people being educated. He talked about economic game.

He blamed it on us. We're the reason that we don't have. have these things, as if black people are just inherently lazy, or he talks about, he blames it on black on black crime. Charles Barkley is extremely problematic, and he does more harm for our community with his takes than he does for good. And to me, this was just another one of those takes that was extremely problematic. I couldn't believe so many people couldn't see the issue with this. So what year that slaves first arrive here in America? 1619.

Right. 1619. Some people say, some people say it was long before 1619 as early as the 1500s. Okay. So in 16, let's say that it's 1619, though. Let's let the historians do their historical shit. And me and you will agree on 1619. What didn't exist in 1619?

The government, American government. America. So there was no America in 1619. Right. Didn't exist. So here's the thing. Racism in America. is older than America.

So the two political parties that Charles Barkley says are single-handedly responsible for shaping, forming, and exacerbating American racism didn't even exist when American racism was birthed. Okay, so even on that

up and down A plus B equals C logic, they can't be all responsible for it because it predated them. It predated the system of government we have. It predated. the parties by a long time. The parties, as we know them now, and it, well, it predated the parties, period,

by years. It predated the parties that we know, as we know them by now, by hundreds of years, right? So it's a very surface level, fuzzy, and palatable sentiment that, hey, it's not you. It's not your neighbor. it's guys who are nefarious and want money and power that are making you guys hate each other, putting you at cross purposes. Now, I'm not saying that that's not true.

Okay? I'm saying that it's weak. So anybody who understands politics knows that as we are currently constituting, as we are, politicians lean into identity politics in order to gain power, to keep power, to do all those things. Both sides do that.

Both sides lean into identity to make people have enemies and to make people have allies. That's the truth. That's not why American racism exists, though. It's not. The reason why American racism exists is because there was an intentional effort to slaughter millions of Native Americans,

to slaughter and and degrade and enslave hundreds of millions of of African Americans and to marginalize and oppress anybody in the country

that wasn't a stray white male. That system came from a system of unchecked capitalism and morphed into a way to maintain the caste system that that's slavery then invented. And that stuff was done on purpose and the slavery was done on purpose. I said this before. The only way that American racism will be reconciled

is to have a full-throated and vigorous effort to go into the systems that have been created by those systems and reform them. When I say reform them, I mean, take some of them and demolish them and reform them. I'm not talking about reform. I mean demolish and then reform.

Right. Build new ones. And we're not going to be able to do that if we're distracted by the low vibration surface level, bogeyman complex that Charles Barkley seems to have.

I don't think he meant any harm by saying what he said. It's just simply a very weak way to look at the situation that we're in. Politicians in America, politicians in America, right? Politics in America. Two guys arguing, right?

They didn't kill George Floyd. Correct. they didn't kill, they didn't, they didn't kill George Floyd. They didn't. Like they didn't, like all of these things that we're seeing, those things, they didn't, they didn't do that. Not the guys themselves. The system did it. So what I would say to Charles Barkley is I would say, if you're telling me that the guys in charge are not doing enough to dismantle the system of American racism and oppression that's already existed, I'm with you.

Yes. If you're telling me, though, that it is because of them that this system exists, you are simply historically wrong. And everybody in America, everybody, everyone, all the people in power in America in order to get to the next part of this are going to have to be able to look in the mirror and acknowledge their part in racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia and all of those things. Correct, which is why I

I know you said that you feel like Charles wasn't trying to, that would you say wasn't trying to be harmful in what he said? He's wrong. He thinks he's right. I think he knows exactly what he's doing. I think he constantly says things that please a certain group and put another group down, the very group that looks just like him.

I have a, I really believe he knows exactly what he's doing. when you make comments black people and white people are great people. You're giving people who are racist a cop out to not own up to their behavior. You're giving them an excuse. Well, what I'm saying is that is actually, I mean, of course that's true.

Of course there are people on each side of this that are being weaponized and demonized by forces above them. Of course, that's true. But it just doesn't begin. It's like eating the chocolate chip. It's like eating a chocolate chip and saying that you ate the whole cookie.

like you, you know what I mean? And so it's like you, you, it just, it doesn't even matter. Like, it's not a thing. Right. You know what I mean? I just feel like he knows what he's doing when he says that. Like, he's, he's purposeful in his comments. I don't think, like, he really thought he was saying something.

And it always seems to be detrimental to the black community. Every time he opens his mouth to speak on race, it does us, I was very disappointed by his comments. I mean, not surprised, not surprised, but it was just like, here we go again. Like, stop giving him a platform to talk about race. I wouldn't say that I was disappointed. I was like, huh, well, there's, you know. It's like, I was like, I wasn't saying that I was disappointed. I mean, number one, I can't be disappointed, like, being disappointed in Charles Barkley for saying something like that is like being disappointed.

You know what I mean? Disappointed that that, that Ernie turned up and asked him that question. Like, stop giving him a platform to be a person to speak up. Ernie on that same shit, though. But whatever. I just don't give Charles. Well, he didn't say it. He directed the question to Charles.

I'm not saying that he's not on that. It's just like, stop giving him the opportunity to have a discussion or to lead a discussion when it comes to these type of things. Right. Right. We'll see. We'll see. Look, you guys, a lot of heavy lifting goes into dealing with these things.

It's not easy. It's hard. It's difficult. It takes a lot of self-reflection. It's going to take a lot of heavy lifting. It's going to take a lot of people. It's going to be hands across America. It's going to take everybody being involved.

It's going to take some people being more empowered. And it's going to take some people being more accountable. Okay. If you want to blame all your problems on Washington, you can blame all your problems on Washington. But those problems created Washington. So what are you doing now? Anyway.

Come on on the podcast, Chuck. I'd love to talk to you about it. Love to talk to you. Love to have them on. Love to talk to you about it. Love to talk to you about it, Chuck. This episode is brought to you by Borris Head. What if we told you the taste of deep fried turkey is now available at your local deli?

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Your next obsession is waiting. Watch only on Prime. This is a big deal for the podcast. I gotta say, it's a big deal. I'll tell you why. We have like comedy royalty in the house. Yep.

It's true. You know, it's true. Like, when you're, if you're on SNL, you are comedy royalty. No? But let me introduce it. We have Ego Walham on the podcast today. SNL cast member, give it up for her right there.

Thank you. Comedy royalty. So you don't believe that you're comedy royalty. No, well, okay. Well, no. Because I have so many comedians that I look up to, and I look at them as like comedy royalty. And they probably look at me as like baby, baby comedy.

like, or maybe like, or like, like elementary. I don't know. But anyway, I'm great. You know what? Let me stop. Thank you. Go ahead. Take a compliment.

I receive it. There's a whole group of people looking up towards you. Yes. Thank you. Thank you so much, Rachel. You know what? I received the compliment and thank you for it. And I received that, that praise.

Yes. Yes. So comedy royalty. Oh, my gosh. I just noticed my cup. Do you see that? It's our pleasure. I did not do that on purpose.

I swear. Rachel, I got me honest with you. Rachel, Rachel is, she's drinking out of a cup that says it's a pleasure to serve ego. Rachel, I got me honest with you. That's corny that you did that because you knew she was coming on. That's corny. Wait, Rachel, did you do it on purpose? No.

No, I did. I'm not that corny nor that smart. I did not do it on purpose. I've been doing this podcast. We haven't, we ain't seen no other. cups with human characteristics on it and names and stuff like that. I'm going to send you one. Personality disorder.

Please do. I actually do kind of love that mug. I'm not going to, I'm not going to like. And I get tagged in a lot of like ego is the enemy stuff on Twitter and I respect it. And I'm like, okay, guys, we know that job. I have not seen it's a pleasure to serve ego. I love that. I love that.

Thank you. Let's start there. Do people misprime? announce your name a lot? Yes, Van. So when you just did that intro, you're like, we've got comedy royalty here. We got comedy royalty. I was like, he's about to say, well, I didn't know what you were about to say. I always just brace myself because I feel like anything could come out of people's mouths at any time. Despite the fact, I am on a show that says my name every week, you know, a lot of TV shows, the credits are rolling. You have to read it. You have to,

you have to interpret things the way you might. But they say my name every week, and still some people will be, people pronounce my name, all kinds of ways. Still. Yeah, yeah. So Van did it right is what you're saying. Van did it right. No, Van did it right. And I was like, okay, so you held it down.

I appreciate you. I appreciate you. I appreciate you. Yeah, I was helping them out. That's what we were arguing over before we got on. Just to let you have a little family business. Okay, thank you for letting me know. You hand it, leave it to Rachel, leave it to the black woman to save us and make us all look good.

Yes. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. I have been, I feel like, you know, Nigerian people will be like she lets people say her name wrong. But so my name, here's the thing, my name with a Nigerian accent would sound like, Ego Wodim. I don't expect a person who is born in America to be able to say that. So the way they would is Ego Wodom. Now, even my friends from home in Baltimore, they don't say, like, that's,

That's not, they don't pronounce the A, they don't even pronounce the letter A that way. Like, so they would, they say my name. They call me ego because ego would never come out. They couldn't do that. That's not, they wouldn't speak like that. Yes, they wouldn't ever, yeah, they wouldn't say that. So I'm like, yeah, as long as we're not calling me ego or I go and things of that nature, we're, I'm like, cool, cool.

I go is delicious. I'll go. Lago my Ago. Yeah. So it's a whole thing. So I appreciate it. I'm glad you got it right. I really appreciate it.

It sets a good tone. Because when I get on things that people don't say my name right, I'm like, well, now what the hell am I doing here? Exactly. You don't even know my name. What the hell? So appreciate that, guys. Yeah.

All right. So I, I guess my first question is, SNL. What the hell is that like? I thought you know, what the hell is that? A comedy program, which, by the way, I do feel I often want to remind people. I feel like sometimes when I see comments about the show, I'm like, y'all remember, it's a comedy show, right? It's not a weekly talk show where we, in earnest, talk about the week's happenings.

It is what it's like working there is exhausting and challenging. Very, very fun. It's fun, too. It's a lot of fun if you make it so. But it is exhausting. We stay up crazy hours. We work crazy hours. I describe it as like being in residency for comedy and because my family wanted me to be a doctor, which is the immigrant story.

But I say to help them conceptualize it, I'm like, it is like being in residency for comedy. So the hours are crazy. We don't sleep too much. It's intense. But yeah, that's in short. But if you want to know, like, real tea, you got to get specific and ask me specifics. Rachel? Listen, you, well, now I'm trying to think of a specific thing.

Let me come back to you on that with the team. But you did mention that you were pre-med. Yes. Yeah, I think you said pre-med before. Then you moved to comedy. How did that transition happen? Is comedy something you always knew you wanted to do? And how did your parents take it?

Okay. Okay, so I am first generation Nigerian American, born in Baltimore. My mom born in Nigeria, same as my dad, was raised by my mom. It feels like par for the course that your family, especially a Nigerian American, I could say, expects you to be a doctor. They're like, that is stable income. It is a respectable career. So I remember being young and being like, I'm going to be a doctor because that's just all I knew. That is achieving adult success.

It's like, I'm going to be a doctor. But around, I was a ballerina for 10 years from like 7 to 17, and I loved performing so much. I always wanted to skip all the training that happened so that I could perform, but you can only skip so much and still be eligible to perform. So I did the training. I did it all. But I really loved the performances. And around like 12, like somewhere between, I had to be like 12, 11 or 12, I was like, I want to be an actor. So a big fan of the Disney Channel.

and at that time it cost extra to have the Disney channel. So I would watch Disney at Friends houses because we wasn't paying extra at my house. We had basic cable. Yeah, remember when Disney was extra? It's a special package. That's how they segregate Disney. That is.

That's how they keep us off the Mickey Mouse Club. That's what I'm saying. I'm on some real shit right now. It was a separate package. And my mama would be like, I ain't got no money for Mickey Mouse. Right. That's why they could get away

with all white boys singing Joe to see and the one black guy was singing background. I watched it. I was just watching. I was just watching. I've seen that video too many times and I feel like I was just watching it like three weeks ago. And I was like, what is, I was like, this is, why is this? Was it going viral again last week?

But I was like, this is wrong. This is really, really wrong. Cry for you. Y'all don't know nothing about Jodacy. Yeah. And the young black man is back there singing background on a joke. That is messed up. I feel like someone has to do like a documentary about Mickey Mouse.

House Club, because I feel like that would be... That's a really great idea. You want to produce it with me? Yeah. But here's the thing, though. We're not going to do that. Okay. I mean, the reality is that

we're not going to stop them checks from them mouse people from coming our way. Mouse getteers. You might want to be in the MCU one day. And they're going to be like, Oh, no, she did that documentary. You know what?

We were going to cast you a storm. But remember that fucking. documentary that you did, get out of here. Okay, you're right, you're right. We're not going to do it. Rachel, we'll have to shove our idea. Let's shove our idea.

Until I'm beyond the age that Disney would include me in a movie and then we could do the documentary. So my family, I've only overknown, like, be a doctor. I decided I want to be an actor when I was like 11 or 12 watching TV and being like, I want to do that. But I didn't know how to get involved in that said thing. And so I basically was like I have to get to Los Angeles where the acting happens. I was like, that's where it happens.

And so I made it a point to be able to get into college in L.A. That was like my whole goal. And so I remember that year. Like I was always very good in school, but I was always like also very okay with like getting a B because I'm like, this doesn't really matter. And so when I decided I needed to have like a bulletproof application to get into. USC. I was like, okay, I'm going to go ahead and get straight A's this, this quarter. And I did. Interesting. What are you a brewing? Is this, is this isn't, wait, why are you looking like that? Wait, what is, you decided that you needed to get into USC. As opposed to. No, I'm just saying,

who did you call to make, to help make this happen? Oh, you know, no, my mom did not pay. Should we alert, the FBI Operation Boston Blues over here? I did not. You see what she just said? You see what she just Like, I was just, I was, I was, I was, I was dealing with even, my guy. All of a sudden, I decided I don't want to get in the SC and boom, I was in the SC. Mind you, this is the same girl who told you we couldn't afford Disney Channel. We definitely weren't paying anybody to get me into USC. I was like, you got to get straight A's this quarter. So I got straight A's and I took the SATs and those were cool.

And so I was like, I got into USC. And my deal with my family was basically like, let me. me go to college across the country. So I was born and raised in Baltimore. And I was like, let me go to college across the country where we know no one, because you know I want to act. I want to do this thing. I will major in biology and be pre-med because pre-med's not a major, whatever. So you have to pick a thing. So I was like, I will major in biology. I'll be on the pre-med track, but you have to let me go across the country, take out these student loans and pursue this thing. And so they did as that was like the one, because we didn't know anybody.

We did, I mean, it was, my whole family lived in Maryland, New Jersey, Nigeria, and England. That's where all my family is. So there's no one west, even remotely west. So that was scary from my single mom. So I was like, I'll major in this thing. You know, I'm on the straight and narrow as you would have it. And I got out to L.A. like I planned. But then being a biology major, I was all, there is no free time.

There was no free time. I had no free time to do anything else but be a biology. major. And then so my senior year of college, I was finished on my bio requirements. And then I interned at a talent agency. I went and looked up an internship, applied for that. And then I took on two minors in college because I thought college had to be four years, which we need to tell people. I did not need to pay for that extra year of school. Like, I'm still kind of mad about it. Like, college doesn't have to be four years. If you finish the thing, you could go. But I then basically started taking acting classes. Those classes were drama. And then one day, I had like agents and

managers being like, you need to get improv on because improv was very hot around 2010, 2010, 2011. It was a huge deal. It was like, you got to have improv on your resume. You got to have improv. And I didn't want to do it because I felt like it was another thing agents and managers who can't help you were telling young talent to do just to keep you busy and make you feel like you were doing something. And I'm a little bit of a rebellious soul. So I was like, I'm not doing that. You have everything you need. I'm in class. I'm not doing this extra thing. Enough people told me that I was like, you know what? I'm going to take this fucking improv class. Am I allowed to cuss? I'm going to take this improv. Okay, cool. I'm going to take this fucking

improv class and everyone can get off my back. Then I took the improv class and my ass fell in love. Like, immediately was like, I'm home. This is it. UCB. UCB. Oh, yeah. The Crips. The Crips. Yeah. The CBCB. No, I think y'all are the bloods. I think y'all are Let me just, I got to decide. I think the groundings are the crips. Wait, I need to, I want, let me decide because this is the first time it's been posed to me like this. And as a person who's passionate about hip hop, I want to figure out like, I think, what? I think we're the bloods.

Okay, yeah, we're the bloods. You probably are the bloods. We're the bloods. We're the bloods. Right, right. UCB. A lot of my friends had gone to that. You were right.

Improred was all arranged around that time. But then it was also a thing to where. Rich, you weren't out here, but like around that time, there was some talk that they were getting ready to bring in a living color back. I feel like I'd heard that, yeah. Yet the whole town was trying to figure out how to get their real together. Everybody wanted to be a part of that. I want to ask you about a sketch that came out on the show yesterday

that some people were talking about. You know, it came out on Saturday, the vaccination sketch. Rachel, did you see the, did you see the, Did you see the vaccination sketch? What's your question, Van? So my question is, my question is this. So I watched the vaccination sketch. It was funny.

Okay. It was funny. But I did feel a little weird about it. Okay. It felt like an inside conversation that we was having with everybody. Have you heard anything about people's reactions to the sketch? Yes. And what do you think?

So anyway, just so people know, there was a game show sketch where it was Daniel Kuluya, who's been on hire, who's been on hire, who's been on hire, Larry, Daniel Kaluuya. And he was, it was, it was funny. So the schedule was,

will you take the vaccine? That's like the name of the game show. And that was the only question that he asked this panel of all black people. And he kept giving the money and saying all this stuff like that. And the question is, will you take it? And then every time they would say no, right?

And it's kind of lampooning vaccine hesitancy in the black community. Some people didn't like the sketch. Some people thought it was fucked up. What do you think? Some people, some people. Some people, yeah. So one thing I'll say is I understand that. I understand how that can be.

So I feel like for every sketch we write, there are people who are upset. Sure. And I don't say that in any political. I mean, truly, somebody's going to be mad about everything. sketch. And you could think it's the most, you know, benign thing. Yeah.

On that same show, Lil Nize X gave a lap dance to Jesus, I think. Uh-huh. And as a Christian woman, I was mad. I mean, but I'm a Christian.

I was like, glad they don't have me in that. I was like, I'm glad I'm not in that one. They didn't ask me to be in that one. But I do feel like, um, I understand that frustration.

At the same time, um, it's a comedy show. So you said it was funny. To which I go, okay, so then the comedy program did the comedy. I go, the comedy program did the comedy. I think sometimes this is not in response to that particular sketch. It's something I've been thinking about lately.

I had this conversation with my sister yesterday. I wasn't even necessarily about that sketch. But I was saying that we want representation in these white spaces, right? And so we ask for that. we deserve that. And part of that, part of that, I think there's a transition period where I think people still think of this as like a white show or that the audience is white, right? But we are, the show itself is trying to evolve and the show itself is trying to be more

representative and that means hiring writers who are not straight white men and hiring cast members who are not straight white men, right? And so there's this period. I think we are in where people still see it as like this show that is largely viewed by white people, but you bring in these people of color or LGBTIQIA people, and they are, they are honoring their own comedic voices. So when I do so, I'm a black woman who is proud to be black. I am a Nigerian woman who is proud to be Nigerian, and I'm going to bring my, my comedic voice is solely based on my experience. I have no shade. I'm not, I'm not here to

throw my people under a bus, but my comedic voice is based on my perspective. in my experience in this world. And so that's what you have. You see that on the show. That we all know some, we all know someone who doesn't want to take the vaccine for valid reasons, right? And so we found the humor in that, I feel. You said it was funny. And I go, okay, so we found the humor in this reality. Yeah. It's definitely funny. So I understand people being offended by it, but I go, this is people writing from their own perspective. And it was written by black people. And so I get that. It maybe you want it to be an inside conversation, but then even being in a largely white space as a comedian,

even doing improv, when I was doing improv, and the motto at UCB is don't think. I would try to explain to people. I was on my first main stage team at the show, and there's eight people on an improv, on a house improv team, and I was the only person of color, period, like seven straight white people and myself.

And that was incredibly challenging. And I'm a person who's incredibly confident and secured myself and secured my talent. And that was really challenging because the motto is don't think, which sounds really fun. And that is the way some of the best comedy is produced in improv. But as a black person, I have to go, I do have to think. Because I have to think, will this white audience get this? Will my white teammates up here be able to support me in whatever move I make, whatever I make the next line? Will they understand this reference I make?

and that's simply something they don't have to think about. They don't have to deal with. Absolutely. Yeah. So when we are brought into these spaces that, yeah, maybe are historically predominantly white, I feel we should be allowed. I do feel we should be allowed the freedom to make comedy from our perspective, just the way white people are able to make comedy based on their own experience and perspective. Fair enough. Fair enough.

I mean, that's so well said. I think maybe people had an issue because it had to deal with COVID. And then because the four people represented were each representing a different stereotype. And so, like, you know, doctors were like, oh, it's inaccurly portraying the vaccine, hesitancy in the black community. And I think for me, when I would look at it on Twitter and I looked at the comments, it was white people saying, oh, that's true. And I was like, wait a minute, what are you talking about? That's what are you laughing at? That's not funny. And you said, and you made a point that it's funny, though, right?

Like we laughed. Like we did think it was funny. Has there ever been a moment where you were like, it's funny, but that takes it too far? Do you ever come across that in your work with SNL? I have not thought that particularly, but that's not to say that hasn't happened, if I'm being honest. Because I also have sort of a bit of tunnel vision as the way I like even approach my own work because there's so much to be juggling there. I can tell you my personal life just recently. My friend's telling me a story.

That is a reality. That could happen. So my friend's telling me a story about some dude and he had his ex-girlfriend's name saved in his phone as something not nice. It's not controversial, but I don't want to say it's then he'll know it's him. Anyway, but like something not nice, right? It's nothing like hateful, but it's like, well, that's not nice if you dated this person. And we laughed at it. And then I called her like two days later and I was like, great, but you need to run from this nigger because, am I laughing?

Anyway, you need to run from this nigger because I was like, that's funny, but that's like when you really think about it as a partner abusive. So like we did laugh at it, but then that's abusive. So I don't, we live in a world where those two things can can be true. Not everything that's funny is right. And, but, but I feel, I feel as a person who's in the creative position and in that, space and has been largely even the way I've come up has been in predominantly white spaces and trying to do the thing that they all get to do with such freedom and acceptance, I do wish we would allow ourselves some more of that grace.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm going to ask, can I ask a Nigerian question? Yes. Okay. What's a Nigerian question? I'll tell you.

I'll tell you what it is. I'll tell you what it is. I started a debate. I have a lot of Nigerian friends. Shout out to Cass, John, Jehem, all of my homies. I have a lot of Nigerian friends. And I dated a Nigerian girl back in the day.

Okay. And I started a real debate on Twitter about what I'm about to ask. Okay. So I dated her. It was great. And this was, like, a lot younger. And her brother,

referred to me as a name. Oh, we talked about this. We talked about this. So y'all brought me on to talk about it again? Okay, what is she said? No, no, no, no. The brother said that I was Akata. Okay.

Right? And so I asked on, and so some of my homies said, that's not an insult, that's just a name for black Americans. And then some of my other homies was like, that's definite.

an insult. Like that's 100% an insult. Which is it? Okay. No, this is really funny. No, no, this is funny because I feel as a person, I had always known it as just a name for black Americans. That's what, genuinely, that's what I had always known it as. And then I, as I got older, I feel like my brother was in college, so I must have been early college, late high school, it was like, oh, this is an insulting thing. And I have a feeling, I don't know what the origins of it are,

what the origins of it is, but I will say that I have a feeling that many Nigerians do mean it just simply in the, this is what we call black Americans. Because even the village my mom is from, they call white people, um, De Beke. And I asked her what that meant.

And Beke is the like first white man that came to their village. And, but like, I, I didn't know that for so long. It took me asking, like, do you know this? And then sometimes you'll ask a Nigerian and be like, they'll be like, I don't know. We just say it because it's not an actual part of our language. It's not like going to be in the dictionary necessarily. It's like this slang term that's gotten passed around.

And I do think when you have something like that, it can get bastardized. So what I'll say to that is that I know it to just mean a black American. But then I learned that maybe it means something. Yeah. But that's what that's what. In college it was negative. Yeah, yeah. But that's what I'm saying.

But no, but like the etymology of it, I'm like, I don't know the history of it. Like, I can tell you what Ndebeke means and where it came from and what it means, but because I've asked my mom and she happens to know, but I don't know what the origin of Akata is, but I know it to be Black American. Yeah, yeah. Before we let you go, I want to know who your favorite impersonation to do and the favorite guest that you've worked with on the show.

Fantastic. Okay. Okay. So favorite impersonation, impression I do, I would say, is Dionne Warwick. Miss Deion, the queen. Y'all knew I was going to say that. But for real, like, she is just an absolute. I just love her.

She is amazing. I love her spirit. I'm waiting for the day. COVID is over. We can meet because I'm fascinated by her. She has such a remarkable career. And she's so fun. She is so funny.

So when you have a funny person and you get to do an impression of a person who is inherently funny and you're not trying to make some sort of like square funny, it's that much more rewarding and exciting and enjoyable to do. So she's my favorite hands down. And the way she's been receptive of my impression and knows it comes from a place of love just endears me to her even more and more. She's Dionne Warwick hands down. And your second question, you ask me something else. Favorite guests.

Favorite guests. Favorite guests that I work with. I have to say, this was also from this most recent episode, Daniel Kaluya's got to be up there. I was like, that was really. Y'all were great together. He was though. Thank you so much. That was though.

Thank you so much, Rachel. I really appreciate that. Thank you, Van. He was fantastic. And I felt so tapped in really a clear communicator and really gave everything his all throughout the week and really cared about this. Was excited to be there. And then to get to do that proud parent sketch with him, it's something I've been

wanting to do for a long time. And it's never felt like we had the right person there to do it with. And so that's not necessarily fair to say. But anyway, timing also worked out. I'm more senior now than I was in the first two years. All these things worked out to make it, make it just right. So, yeah. Daniel, which is brand new.

But yeah, Daniel, he was amazing. By way, he's also the coolest talker in the world. Talks to you. Yeah. Hey, Van, yeah. Let me tell you, Van. I'm like, whoa. I know.

Like mesmerized. He's like, he's like, hey, check this out. I'm like, oh, I'm like, this is a guy. Like, this guy is amazing. I was just, I was just, I was saying that because the first day I met him was on Tuesday before our writing night started and I wanted to pitch him this idea. And I don't always take the opportunity to meet the host on writing night because sometimes it's not necessary.

But I had heard him interview on Kimmel where he's talking about his mom not like, Kimmel's like, is your mom excited? you want a golden globe and he's like nope she's not pressed she don't care and i'm like he he gets he gets it so when i got on the zoom to meet him just so cool i was like this thing is so cool he's really cool he's really good people um i just truly all love anytime i see him he was fantastic i'm grateful i got to work with him yeah yeah yeah well ego we're gonna let you go uh all right i we're going to let you go. That's what my dad would be like, all right, son. All right. I'm going to go. You want to go. It's time for y'all got somewhere to be

and other stuff. I don't have to be. That's what we do. We're chilling right now. Listen, I love the fact that you guys are doing your thing. I think the one thing that I love about SNL is when I look at my man, Chris, when I look at you, when I look at Kenney, when I look at everybody that's on there, there seems to be not just representation, but a real creative pulse there from all of you guys. And it really is amazing to see. And everybody's so talented in completely different ways. So it really works.

And I'm very happy for you and all your success and how everything's working out for you, man. It's just the beginning. Thank you. Thank you. I really appreciate it, guys. I'm so glad I got to come on. It's so good to meet you.

In person next time, right? In person, for sure. For sure. We'll also do that. Okay. I got one of these. I'm a DM you. Please.

Yes, please do it. Okay. My home girl makes them. Van says I'm always selling something. I'm not selling. Always. QVC. I appreciate that.

Thank you guys for having me. Thank you, Van. I appreciate that. All right. Bye, bye. All right. We promise you guys that we will keep you updated on the Derek Chauvin trial. And we are going to do that now with Yodi Tewaldi from Black News Channel and from America's Most Wanted.

America's most wanted. She's on a lookout. Be careful. We just like you. We just called a fugitive. We just called a fugitive couple. Good for you, girl. I heard their names was Tyrone and Keisha Johnson.

On the run for bad checks from Richmond, Virginia. You don't be now playing the show now. We're curious criminals, all right? I'm sure. No, I'm sure. We're talking about America's Most Wanted. Normally some ghastly things happen. I'm just, I'm just messing with you.

But fill us in on starting this week, what we need to know about, proceedings in the Derek Chauvin trial? Okay, so last week was really emotional because they had bystanders come in, talk about what they witnessed and what that day meant to them moving forward. So it was really, really emotional last week. This week is going to be more technical, more expertise on the stand. But right now, the prosecution called the chief of police, obviously the person that fired

Derek Chauvin literally the next day. And so they're calling other officers that worked with him to testify that the use of force was just basically bleh. Like not, it was just not appropriate. It was wrong. It was criminal. And then they're going to bring on use of force experts. And then who they bring in after is questionable. But the defense is going to have their own use of force experts as well that are going to say opposite of what the state's saying.

But what's really powerful is that they're not paying these experts, so to speak, but they're not paying colleagues of Derek Chauvin to come in and say, I've trained with this guy, I've known him for two decades, and what he did was absolutely, like, just not okay. So that is going to be powerful because that testimony is just going to bolster the experts that they do bring in after. We saw the chief of police testify yesterday. Yeah.

It was everywhere. And what kept blasting at the bottom of the screen was that he said that Chauvin did not use reasonable force. How damaging was his testimony to the defense's case so far in the trial? I mean, this was a very likable witness. He spoke with compassion. He talked about policing with compassion. You believed every word that he said he would turn his head and look at the jurors and address them personally.

So that's always a good thing for witnesses to do. You could tell that he's been in trial and has done this a number of times. He's just really authentic. That, to me, spoke volumes in terms of can the jury believe what he's saying? because again, when prosecutors bring an expert, they're being paid. Not to say that they're tailoring their testimony to whoever's paying the bill,

but, I mean, that's kind of in back of your head. This is a person that did what he did the day after George Floyd died, fired all the officers, and then there was even a letter that was released with a number of officers denouncing what Derek Chauvin did, so a separation very early on. So very damaging to be defense,

what the defense tried to come at the chief with is, hey, how long has it been since you've actually been on patrol? How many people have you arrested lately? You know things have changed, right? So, of course, that's the angle they're going at. They're basically saying you're more of a paper pusher. You're not really out there. You don't really understand.

But this is the chief of police. He's been at pretty much every single position in the department before he's even gotten to the point that he is. So I don't think that that work, but very damaging to the defense. So there have been people out there that have been talking about what the defense's strategy in this case is, which is to prove. in some way that what happened to George Floyd was the result of drugs in his system

and not the force used by Derek Chauvin. Can you just explain to people, I guess for lack of a better word, how that works? What would the defense have to prove in this instance in order to have Derek Chauvin acquitted? Well, I'll say the lingo in terms of what the defense has to.

to prove, they don't have to prove the thing, right? The burden of proof is on the prosecution. All the way that they don't have to put a shred of evidence on. But what they are going to do is they're going to have, one, the use of force experts saying, one, the use of force that was used by Derek Chauvin was reasonable. And two, they're going to have some medical experts come on and say, the reason why George Floyd couldn't get oxygen, couldn't breathe, is because of the fentanyl and whatever other drug he might have ingested. Now, the problem with that, and that's a huge, huge issue with causation. Causation is a big thing, a big element that the prosecution has to prove.

If you can't prove that what Derek Chauvin did killed George Floyd, and it's a substantial factor, not the only factor, a substantial one, then they're going to lose their case. So what the ER doctor that came on today said, what he saw when George Floyd came to the hospital is that he died from exphyxiation, so a suffocation. right, due to the knee being applied to his neck. The defense went back and said, hold on, were you even aware that drugs were a possibility, like even in his system?

And he said, no, I didn't have that information. So that was a win for the defense, because again, they're trying to muddy the waters for the jurors and say, listen, that still could have been a contributing factor why he couldn't get oxygen to the brain, was that the drugs that he ingested, has something to do with it. The only problem with that is,

if y'all watch the video of George Floyd in the convenience store, Cup foods. He was jovial. He was in a mood. He was talking to everybody. You never would have guessed that an hour later, he would have been overdosing, right?

And so I think but for that knee to his neck, he would have been alive. So it's really hard to believe that someone in that sort of mood and exhibiting that type of behavior would have overdosed an hour later. See, it's interesting you say this because it really seems like it's going to come down to the experts. If causation is like a key element, then what we saw last week, which you already stated, was very emotional.

How much does that even come into play when it comes to the decision that the jury is going to make? Well, experts sometimes talk over people's heads. And so I think I mentioned this before. Experts tend to negate each other. They tend to cancel each other out. So what jurors are going to end up doing is going with what they see and what they hear. And what's really, like I said, an advantage for the prosecution is that not only are they bringing experts, they're also bringing on his own colleagues. They didn't have to testify. You know what I'm saying? So they're giving more of the inside explainer, so to speak, in layman terms versus the expertise that talk about their training and what they've read and articles that they've written. We're talking about officers who are in the same position as Derek Chauvin saying that's something that's not objectively what a would do. And I could speak to that because I've been a cop and I am a cop. So you've got former and

current officers speaking out against him. And then you'll have that strengthened by experts. So if the jury cancels out the experts, they could still listen to the cops. They could still listen to the police chief. They could still listen to all of those witnesses that testified last week about what they saw and all the different angles in the real-time narration that they were giving. So I think that the video at the end of the day really helps the prosecution because if the juror listen, I don't understand what you said expert and what you said expert on either side. I'm just going to go off of what I saw. That wasn't reasonable.

He didn't give medical attention. And that's what the chief said. At the end of the day, the force should have stopped when he was handcuffed, when he was on his stomach, when he was not resisting. And especially when he was saying, I can't breathe. That is something that they should have done, called EMS. And then while they're waiting for EMS, administer some sort of medical assistance. And that's something that just wasn't done. And the jurors can see that.

So are you not going to believe your eyes? Yeah, well, hopefully they will see that. Hopefully they will say that. But I know one thing, our listeners are going to be the most informed on the ends and outs of everything going on in the trial because of you, Yodi. We appreciate you coming back on. You're doing Black News channel tonight? I'm doing Black.

No, I'm actually rehearsing. I'm going on. But I am launching next week, so next Monday. Next Monday, you'll launch. and I guarantee you by next Monday 35 people will have been locked up from America's

most water. We're setting the bar high, baby. 35. Don't ignore my invite too to talk about the spaceships. I can't wait to come on there and talk about spaceships. All right, thank you so much

for making them smarter today on higher learning. We really appreciate you. Bye, guys. Bye. Okay, so there's no good way to get into this. There's somebody that's hanging on by a thread for their life. That is this incredibly important to hip-hop in the last 25, 30 years. Hip-hop, period.

A man is Earl Simmons. You know him better as D-M-X. Apparently, Earl, DMX, suffered a heart attack after a drug overdose on Saturday and is in a very bad state. he is being kept alive right now by you know artificial means breathing tubes all of the stuff there's been some talk that he is currently in a vegetative state

there was some speculation yesterday I think his lawyer had said that he was off of the life support and breathing on his own right I guess that I guess that turned out to like not be true really I don't think he was I don't think he I think that that was later like amended. They came back.

It was. As of 945 this morning, he is still on life support and there's going to be a candlelight vigil held held outside White Plains Hospital at 5 p.m. Eastern tonight. Here's the thing. This is what I'm going to say.

Number one, I pray with every fiber in my being that DMX survives this and comes back to be some version of DMX that we always knew. But I will tell you this, I hope that no matter what happens, people can look at him for the man that he has tried to be. If you start bullet pointing things, you're going to look at DMX as maybe a flawed individual. maybe it is, maybe that. But there is a goodness to him and a sincerity to him

if you've ever heard him talk that is difficult to put into words. You go to a DMX concert and he prayed at every concert. I was at, I happened to be at one

where he did the prayer and he cried. There was always a man that X wanted to be and his life was in search of that guy. I never forget. We did a TMZ thing with him. We caught him outside

of the airport and he was eating food. And our camera guy went, oh man, you're making me hungry. That food looks really good. And X went, oh, somebody, get him a fork. Like, get him a fort. Like, get him a fort.

And he stands and he's talking to the guy. He's like, no, man, I barely, I barely touched it. I barely touched it. I barely touched it. There you go, that's yours. And he's like, for real? He's like, yeah, man, that's some of the best Jamaican food and all of LA.

That's what we jammed. He's like, I tell you about all the different places I love to eat in LA. He went up and the guy didn't want to eat. He's like, man, eat, eat, eat. You got my permission to eat, man. And eat, you know. And you get celebrities at TMZ that, like,

would run, would yell, would scream. And, you know, sometimes they were right. They're having somebody stick a camera in their face. But this guy fed the guy. He fed the parasite. Yeah. So I was just floored by this, still am floored by this. And I'm just hoping beyond hope.

That's all I can say. Yeah. Yeah. No, you pretty much said it all. Just praying for a healthy and a speedy recovery. I did not know. I honestly thought as we started this podcast that he was doing better from the word from his team or attorney. I hope that's right.

I hope he is doing better. and all we can do is continue to keep them in our prayers. Yeah, very true, very true. Okay, are you ready? Oh, damn. Why did you react like that? I get nervous for the questions. I just never know what they're going to be.

I forget, and I forget that they're every Monday. You forget about Van's very serious question of the week. Yeah. Do you not like Van's very serious question of the week? No, they're always thought-provoking that we, Everyone else loves them too. I just get nervous. I'm like, oh my God, what is he going to ask me?

Because despite what you guys think, it's not something that we prepare for. You know, I have no idea what the serious question of the week is going to be. It's always a serious question. Okay. And it's always a great question. This one is not as good this week. I'm sure. I'm sure you'll do just fine.

Okay, so here's this deal. You have to live five years. As an animal. You get, so you're going to live five years as an animal. Okay. Okay. Okay. If you survive the five years after living as an animal,

you get $100 million. You have to survive five years as an animal. Now, here's the thing about this. You're going to have your human consciousness inside of this animal. Okay. Okay. You're going to be able to think like a human, do all of this stuff as the animal. But you have to survive five years as the animal.

This is in a wild. Okay. Okay. Which animal are you going to choose? Which animal? Okay. Well, obviously, it's got to be a survival of the fittest type situation because I got to survive out here in the wild for five years. Five years.

I'm going to go with the lion. I'm going to go with the lion. I'm going to go with the lion. I think it's king of the jungle. I think I could make it because I'm going to have the strength of a lion, right? I'm going to have the mind of the human. So that means I'm going to be, and it's my mind. I'm going to be skilled.

I'm going to be knowledgeable. But I'm going to have a strength of a lion. I think I could go longer than five years. Right. You think you go longer than five years? I go longer than five years. You guess what's going to happen to you? Don't tell me what's going to happen.

I just told you what's going to happen. What I was going to survive longer than five years. Is Donald Trump Jr. going to put one in your ass. Remember what happened to Cesar the Lion? But remember, I have the mentality of a human. I know they're out here hunting me. Easy. I know this.

Easy for me. Easy answer. Orca. I would be a killer well. Okay. I was going to ask you, see, when you said wild, I was going to ask you, does that mean that I can be in the water? Not that I was going to pick an orca.

I just was going to ask you. you that question. I decided to go. Are you asking me, can things be wild while they're in the water? No, I just immediately thought land. I was going to say does that include water? But, okay, an orca. Orca. All right. Apex. You know, you know what? Great White Shark? Come try to get in the

Orca's face. You know what an orca do? Fuck you, great white shark. Smack the shit out of them. Orca. I could survive. And plus, orcas are fucking dope, bro. I just want to be on land. I wouldn't want to be in the water for five years. I'm going to swim around. I'm going to swim around.

I'm going to eat chum or whatever they have. You know what I mean? You're not going to miss land? You're not going to miss land? I'm coming back to the land with the 100 million. You know what I mean? I'm coming back to the land. I'll tell you one thing, though.

I'll tell you one thing. You have some problems as the lion. No, stop telling me how I'm going to live my life as a lion. You have some issues as the lion. I think you're low-key match. You didn't pick a lion. How come nobody? How come we didn't pick a bird of some sort?

I hate birds. I despise birds. I was going to say. I was going to say bald eagle. Did we ask Jackson? Ball. Oh, oh,

she's polite up. Speaking of Jackson, speaking of Jackson, it's somebody's birthday today. Y'all go show Jackson some love. Show Jackson. Show Jackson. Happy birthday, Jackson. Happy birthday, Jackson.

Thank you guys. Jackson, that's it. Might be a quarter life crisis. Oh. Or just stirring in my soul Hold on Come on Let's do it

John John Mayor Either way I know Sometimes Come on Jackson About the outcome Y'all don't listen to John Mayor I love John Mayor

I don't know that time I just want to let you sing As a best birthday present I could have gotten right there That's why Georgia man Why Georgia Why Do you

Doon do Do you Broom do Bore do that do Do you do Okay So you know what? Nobody joins in.

Y'all lame, man. I don't know. Nobody wants to. Can't help you out. You don't know, John. Do you don't, I just have too much fun. You don't listen to John Mayer?

I didn't say that. I just am not well-versed in John Mayer. I don't know. What's your favorite John Mayer? What's your favorite John Mayer's song? Gravity, probably. Okay. Okay.

You know, you ask. Don't know what you ask. It's good. Gravity is good. All right. That's enough. We're out of here. Tell you thing,

kept off. not stop learning. Lots of loose ends to button up on Thursday. There's going to be a lot of stuff going on this week. Lots of stuff in the news. Prayers to DMX. Prayers to his family. Prayers to everyone. Put your good energy together.

Send it out to them. God can do anything. God can do anything. So I'm hoping he does this. I'm hoping God does this. Not he. I'm hoping God does this. Okay. I'm Van Leighton.

I am Rachel Lindsay. We're out.