Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - President Elon, and Healthy Arrogance With Will Packer

Episode Date: February 14, 2025

Van and Rachel discuss Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s plans for the federal government (19:28), and the potential end of New York City Mayor Eric Adams’s legal troubles (41:54). Then, a reaction to John Leguizamo’s Crip-walking claims (1:11:48), before film producer Will Packer joins the discuss his new book, ‘Who Better Than You?’ (1:19:50). Hosts: Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay Guest: Will Packer Producers: Donnie Beacham Jr. and Ashleigh Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, yo, yo, thought warriors. What is up? I learned it's on and it is I Van Lakin, Jr. And it's me, Rachel and Lynn Lindsay. Now, Rachel, I have to tell you something about... Talk to me. So I have a recliner now that I bought to be in this room. Like, it's a new chair.

That's what you're sitting in? A recliner? A recliner, yeah. Okay. Yeah. And because I like to play the video game in here. I like to play the game. That's right.

And I can be in here with the monitor and play the game as much as I like all the time, all the game, game, game, game. I didn't realize you were that much of a gamer. Okay. So are you going to set up a Twitch account and start doing all of that stuff? You think you're about to become one of those? Every time I try to do that, somebody tells me I can't do stuff like that. I support it. it'll be like I'll try to set up

because the only game I play I've tried to play other games the only game I really play is college football 25 and I can coach LSU to the championship I can take a young D tackle from Baton Rouge and get them all the way to the NFL I never

ever ever ever get tired of doing this like ever I'm on like season I'm in like 2032 right now and we've run like five Natty's in a row we won the Heisman I'm the best coach of all time but I can't see myself stopping.

Okay, I don't, it's like you're speaking a different language to me. I don't understand it. I don't think I've played video games since in 64. I don't, it's just not my world.

I don't know what any of that means. I didn't know that you could go, you could do all of that in 25. Can you, I, I'm confused. I'm happy for you though. How about that? I'm happy for you. So I look at you right now in your picture

and I'm really hoping that Jango arrives to save you. I do look like I'm in the 19th century right now. You look like Carrie Washington from Django. Okay. This is a stretch. But for those of you who are not watching, I'm in like, I don't know what to describe it. It's a beautiful hotel, but it is very much so.

The aesthetic is Victorian. about there's like a canopy over the bed textured walls, textured carpet, brick walls. I'm in Aspen. I'm in Aspen. My happy place. You're in your happy place.

I've talked about some podcasts. You know, I started skiing last year. I feel like I unlocked a new level in life. I had no idea that I was pretty decent at skiing. I didn't know about this culture. I have thoroughly enjoy it. I have so much fun. I went to the mountain yesterday.

I skied a new mountain. I went on a different level. I did my first black run. I never wanted to do that. I wanted to stick to the greens and blues, a harder level. The moment I stepped outside was like 10 degrees, I just was like, oh, this feels so good. I just love it.

It's warmer today. I really, really love it. And I want you to come out here and experience it. I think you change your mind. We don't have to go to Aspen. We could go to a different ski town. But I think you would like it more than you think. The hyper wealthy bother me.

But see, you think that that's all you see because you haven't been here. I am not hyper wealthy and I am here. I'm more interested in this. Who is this dog? This is Brewer. This is Whitney's dog. Whitney, friend of the podcast. This is her dog.

I would lift him up, but he's very comfortable sitting right here now. We have to get into all the topics of the day, but before we do, I have a Drake theory. Go ahead. Okay, so Drake is dropping. By the time this comes out, Drake will have dropped. Okay. Fancy Songs for you is party next door and Drake together. Mm-hmm.

I think Drake should do the Super Bowl next year. Why? Kendrick Lamar gave a great performance of the Super Bowl, and I loved it. Mm-hmm. I loved it. Mm-hmm. But there's no doubt about the fact that Drake is more of a Super Bowl artist than Kendra Marr. Meaning...

Yes, the audience. The audience. The audience caters to people, to artists who have some... songs that have very high visibility, very high singability. The Super Bowl halftime show is not a high concept event. It's actually a pretty low stakes event. Now, look, it's not low stakes. It's a, it's a, it's a pop event. It's a pop music event. Okay. We've had people there before. Tompity and the Heart Records did it one time. And, you know,

people were like, oh, my God, like, I don't know how many people knew those records. You know what I mean? Like, I love Tom Petty. I love the heartbreakers, but I don't think I go 10 records deep with them, you know, the records I like, I really, really like.

If Drake were to have a year where he, this album was like a success. And I think this album is going to be successful. I don't think it's going to be as successful as past Drake albums have been. If he doesn't sell 200 first week,

he's in trouble. I think he probably will. But if he doesn't, That's a really bad sign. But if you were to chill out the entire year and after this drops, then do the Super Bowl and then drop more music right along with the Super Bowl,

I think he would completely return, totally returned, because in a Drake Super Bowl medley, he's going to do so many records that so many people love, he is going to then, this is assuming that the UMG thing is over by then. He is then going to see all of those records.

It is going to be a remember me moment. Hey, remember me? Remember this? Remember me? I'm Drake. I'm that guy who, you know, used to have me in his cell phone every time you need my love. I'm Drake.

I'm this. I'm that. And there are so many different eras. of hip-hop that would be reflected. Drake, Nikki Minaj and Wayne on stage would be a thing. Then Drake, I mean, whoever, whatever friends he has left,

in the middle of his career would be on stage. Then the late stage, Drake would be, it would be a real, real big deal. And he could actually, if he wasn't with some of the other players anymore, goose his streaming numbers even more. It would be a big, huge, Remember Me Fest from Drake.

And it probably would have a lower difficulty rating, a lower threshold to be a successful Super Bowl halftime show than Kendrick Lamar's did. Kendrick Lamar was perfect in his execution. It was as good as that show could have been because he was daring enough to perform a lot of records that people weren't super duper familiar with. Whereas Drake, it's,

like he's going to give you all the popcorn and bubblegum right there. I think he should do it. Okay. Hey, we have to talk about this. But since we're here, let's do it. I'm sick. I'm Drake down. I've said that podcast. Podcasts ago.

But since we're here, we'll talk about it. One, JZ will still be in charge in the Super Bowl next year, so it won't happen. True. And two, I think what has hurt Drake and what Drake is seeking is acceptance from the culture. So for him to be, do the Super Bowl and play his hits, it's like a, well, of course that audience is going to be receptive to it and you're going to get love and praise and similar to what you're seeing right now with him

in Australia. Sold out, people are going crazy, like packed out arena, stadiums to go see him. What he's seeking is acceptance from us because those are the people who are calling him out who are questioning certain things, you know, about the persona that he's been presenting for a long time and the things that Kendrick has said that have taken some things away from him or maybe change certain people's perception of him of how he is viewed with the culture. Him doing the Super Bowl won't get that back. It's just going to be, it's just going to be performing for the same audience who would go to your show should you do an American tour. He'll still sell out arenas and stadiums.

He'll just, it just won't be, he won't get the acceptance from the same people. And I think that's what he desires. Kendra took something away from him. Super Bowl won't get that back. See, but here's the thing. That's very well said. But it is. But the only reason why I disagree is because I think that the Super Bowl would remind people that the culture accepted Drake long ago.

like long ago the culture accepted Drake Drake I hate to say this to everybody Drake is a part of the culture the culture accepted Drake it's been years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years and years there's not one person that can outs or expel anyone from a culture and not one person that can accept

anybody into a culture we've seen it tried both ways hey you want to us and we've also seen like hey you're out of here. Now, is it fair to call out some cultural inconsistencies that Drake might have or ask whether or not he has done enough or whether or not there have been some excuses made for some of the missteps and trip-ups that he's had along his journey? Sure, we can all do that. We do that with everyone. They're having that conversation right now about Snoop, right? And Snoop has been part of the coach is 1991. Yeah.

So it's a, it's a very dynamic argument as far as cultural authenticity is and everybody gets their chance there. Everybody gets their turn, should I say. Everybody gets their turn to be called out like you ain't for the culture. That happens to everyone. Everyone gets their turn at that. Everybody, right? But Drake is a part of the culture.

He's been a part of culture for a long, long time. right, the culture or whatever that actually even is. I think that people have forgotten that he's there and that they've partied with him and hung out with him and all of that stuff. And having a big deal like that would remind them, although your JZ point wins the back and forth because it's not going to happen as long as hope is controlling the Super Bowl halftime performance. Unless Drake were to publicly angle forward,

and of course he would never do that. Who do you think that, well, because somebody was telling me that, I guess, Jay-Z has a five-year contract in doing this, and next year is his last year. I don't know if that's true, but that's what someone was saying. Who do you think, if that is the case,

who do you think will be the last performer? Oh, I don't know. I think we've seen some performers that have been surprises. but we've also seen some performers that have um that you know just pop music performers you know the weekend was in there you know so i'm not sure who it would be if you're looking at trajectory like you could go hmm see it depends do you do the hot person is bad bunny

the person that you go with next year you just use you I don't know one bad buddy record, but you please everybody and you go bad bunny, you do something like that. Do you go old school? Do we give somebody a swan song?

Do we like say goodbye to a great? Do you do somebody that everybody can agree on? I guess it's mine. Which would be who? Steve, you wonder. No, no, no, no, no. After the Anita Baker thing, I've got to tell you.

I got a lot of people who were anti-Stefey. I was shocked. That's bullshit. I don't believe you. I can not tell you the number of people who's who I am telling. Why would I, why would I bake this up? These are your friends. Because let me tell you something.

They're not my friends. It was strangers. Rachel, Rachel, this cannot be, I'll say it right now. I'm pissed off. You pissed me. I'm pissed. I don't feel this way about sleeping. Change the bottom line of the thing right now.

Change the bottom line of the thing right now. bottom line, to ban is pissed. I'm pissed, Rachel. I'm sorry. I'm pissed. I don't mean to even jump. Don't start a rumor. I don't feel this way. It's got to be your first. There just cannot be. There cannot be a

strong contingent of black people who don't like Anita Baker and Stevie Wonder. That doesn't exist. I don't think that exists. If I can find the responses, Donnie, I will send them to you to post. If I can find it, I will send it to you.

We can publicly shame these people. We still have Zoli Griggs coming out on the show to talk about Prince and Michael Jackson. That's fine. Maybe it was just Prince. She said Whitney. She said Whitney. Even Whitney is fine. I love Whitney. I love Whitney.

But saying you don't like Whitney Houston and saying you don't like Stevie Wonder are two completely different fucking things. And I love Whitney Houston. Love her. I think she has the single greatest voice in the history of music. No one sounds like Whitney Houston. Luther, eh, right there, right there.

But no one sounds like Whitney Houston. Whitney Houston's voices crazy to me. But how can you not like Stevie Wonder? That makes no sense. I love Stevie. I'm just telling you what several people were saying. No, I think it has to be somebody like, and I'll give this credit to Justin Sylvester,

Missy Elliott. I think that is. Missy Elliott, huh? Think about all the people she should bring out. Yeah. Oh, you know what Jay could do? Jay. Okay.

Jay. Jay. You know what Jay could do? You know what? Hey, my old buddy, Jay. Rogopold. That's a Delta. So this is the Delta and this is the rock.

Yeah. Enough. Now, stop. Stop! Bring that pinkie in. You got to bring that pinkie in. You got to bring the pinky in? That's a huge no-no.

When you like this? So what? That's not good. Got to bring it like this. Yeah, got to bring the big in. Do you see the white woman doing it? The old white woman from the 60s? No, but I have seen the new, that K-pop group where that guy is wearing a DST 1913 custom-made leather jacket.

There you go. Multiple colors. It would be if Hove really wanted to be subversive, his last run just bring Janet out. Bring Janet out. Bring Janet out If you really want to fuck Bring Janet out But like Janet

You know Janet You know Janet Janet Magna now So Janet Chris Brown A lot of people said Chris He could do him

He could bring out himself Yeah Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Carter Do Janet and Chris Do

Janet Jackson Chris Brown I think I'll tell you something Janet came out With the MAGA Talking points and people got on Janet ads,

but they didn't do Janet like they did in Snoop. You know why? Because when Janet did it, it seemed like she didn't know what she was talking about. When Janet did it, it seemed like she was confused. It literally seemed like somebody was in the background like holding up a board of like what she needed to say. Snoop's thing was seemed to be more intentional, purposeful.

He made money all of them. of it and then doubled down on it and shamed black people while he doubled down on it. He blamed us. It was a lot. I just think there was a difference. Even when I heard Janet, I was like, Janet don't know what she's talking about. That's what it fell on. But Janet did double down

that. That's what it felt like. But the guy came out and he said, the manager or the fake manager came out and the fake manager said that Janet doesn't really believe this, whatever. Janet fired that guy. And then came back and said, no, I'm fucking

it's in them. The Randy Jackson is gone maga and he has kind of pulled Janet into that situation. But at the same time, at the same time, I'll tell you something else. Do you know what I'm about to say? No.

This is sometimes the... Don't make this up a man and woman thing. Don't you tell you. Let's go. You can't help yourself. La. La.

La. La. But it's actually not true. because they kicked Crochet Marcel's ass but they didn't. They sure did. That's actually not true.

It's not true. It's not true. They kicked crescent myself. But you couldn't help yourself. You saw a window. You saw a window. I had to take it. But they did let Janet off the hook a little bit.

We got Will Packer on the show today later on. Will Packer. Producer Extraordinary has a new book coming out. Can't wait to talk to Will about different things, Black Hollywood, some stuff that Will has said. And these are you. He's a friend of the show.

He's a friend of the show. He's a friend of the show. Yes. 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 Fandul. 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. Trimphaya, gusalcumab 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 Trimfaya. Tap this ad to learn more about Trimfaya, including important safety information. Elon Musk was with his.

son, ex-ash 812 in the Oval Office, and he spoke to the media. He defended the Department of Government Efficiency's efforts to cut spending and dismiss workers across the federal government. He insisted that Americans had voted for major change, and that is exactly what the administration was delivering. So, do you know, do you're detractors, Mr. Moskin. I have, what? Including a lot of Democrats. I have detractors?

You do, sir. I don't believe it. say that you're orchestrating a hostile takeover of government and doing it in a non-transparent way. What's your response to that criticism? Well, first of all, you couldn't ask for a stronger mandate from the public. The public voted, we have a majority of the public voting for President Trump. We won the House. We won the Senate.

the people voted for major government reform. There should be no doubt about that. That was on the campaign. The president spoke about that at every rally. The people voted for major government reform, and that's what the people are going to get. They're going to get what they voted for. And a lot of times, you know, people that don't get what they voted for,

but in this presidency, they are going to get what they voted for. And that's what democracy is all about. Well, well, well. You know what? I am going to give a little space to the voters here. I don't think that's what they voted for. I don't think that's what they voted for either. I don't think that's what they voted for.

It's really interesting to hear Elon Musk act like he knows exactly what the people want. Yes, Trump won. The people voted for Trump. But I don't think that it was because so Elon Musk could be in this position, cutting federal spending by cutting away programs that directly impact the needs of the people. That's not what they voted for. And I think it's this, the way, it's really interesting the way that he's flipping it and hanging his hat on, well, Trump won.

So the people must want every single thing that Trump is doing. And that's not necessarily the case. there's definitely a detachment here, all with the purpose, so Elon Musk could get and get all the things that he wants out of all of this, which is the underlying issue. Somehow, he's still getting everything and more that he wants, while the people are the ones who are suffering with these cutbacks. Yeah, so I think there's going to be a lot of people who realize that they actually didn't vote

for this, that they voted for the border. They voted on egg prices. They voted on things like that. And a lot of those issues were able to be mutated and weaponized. And they play political games with them. But I don't know that necessarily people voted for stopping payments coming in to farmers and stripping entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare, and things like that.

I'll think they voted for that. I do think, though, that at my most cynical, they voted for empty promises and they voted for a type of carnage and chaos that they probably should have expected from this type of administration. So I want to let them off the hook. That's nice of you. Well, yeah, I don't want to let them off the hook. Like, they have to. Oh, I thought you said you want to let them off the hook. No, no, no, no, no.

That's why I was like, that's really nice of you. No, no, no, no, no. I want to let them off the hook. I think their pain is going to be a blessing, just to be honest with you. But I don't want to look at the hook. I do think, though, that there are probably some people, not huge, huge swaths of the MAGA electorate. There are some people that see Elon Musk standing next to Donald Trump in the Oval Office

and go, huh, I think there's some people. I'm not saying that there's going to be a huge swath of people, a huge number of people. But there are some people that some of this stuff is going to throw a little cold water in their face. I do believe that. I think I've just lost faith in the fact that people are paying attention to this. You know, we're so in tune to it because we talk about this twice a week. and then amongst our circle of friends and family.

But I don't think most people saw this. I think if anything, people saw the antics of the child, more than they paid attention to the image of Elon Musk standing next to Trump in the Oval Office having a press conference. I want to believe that that's not the case. But seeing how Trump got into office, it makes me feel like people aren't paying attention to this. So almost as if people don't even understand.

understand the power that Elon Musk has been granted as somebody who, obviously, he wasn't elected. He wasn't appointed. It's an office that, yeah, replaced another office, but he's basically been given this unilateral power that Trump has granted to him with the stroke of a pen that's not being checked by any sort. It's not being checked by Congress, but is taking away power from Congress. It is being checked in the judicial system, but as Trump said, I respect it, but we will appeal these cases, these lawsuits. And so I just don't think that people are grasping what is really happening and what Elon Musk is doing and how it is being unchecked in the ramifications that are going to, that are happening and that are going to happen unless some other branch comes in. and stops it. And right now,

I don't see that happening. Well, what would have to happen? In my opinion, are a couple of different things. Number one, the constitutional crisis that we're on the precipice of, that is something

that all Americans need to pay attention to, just because it's a reminder of how many of our institutions and processes are based on norms, right? Right.

So Trump goes to do something with USAID or whatever it is. A judge says that's illegal. You have to spend the money that Congress has earmarked to be spent. You have to do the things that Congress as legislated have to be done. The judge said, this is illegal. Nationwide, it's illegal. You can't do it. By the district judge in Seattle or some of these people are at Reagan appointees, by the way,

that are making these decisions everywhere. And then, of course, Trump appeals, right? And he appeals it with the hope of it going to the Supreme Court. It would be interesting to know what the Supreme Court did. The Supreme Court hears all different types of cases. You don't know if the case's going to get there, all of that. But the question becomes, what if the judge delivers an injunction and says this is unconstitutional, and Donald Trump does it anyway?

like what is the recourse we don't know like what like what what happens then right right now what would normally happen in that situation would be that Congress would impeach Congress would go oh okay well you're not executing law and upholding the Constitution you're doing things that are blatantly unconstitutional well we'll impeach you and in the past, you would have had faith, even in some of the most divided governments, that if someone were doing things, seizing power in a king-like way, that were blatantly unconstitutional that Congress would step in and impeach or levy some penalty against the president. You just don't have that now. What you have is capture in two branches and in the judiciary at the highest

level, but obviously not in the district court level. So you don't know. One thing that the Democrats could do is if, you know, Doge or any of these other people are taking away money from people or taking away benefits from people.

They could force the Republicans to vote directly on it. They could bring these bills into Congress, like make them legislator, make them, make them directly say, hey, this money or this stuff is being voted on by us and make them vote on it. And then that might change the Trump electorate or constituency in terms of the way that they

support. But the reality is that there's really not a lot that can be done to the president. if the president decides that he's just not going to listen to what the judiciary says. I mean, who is going to enforce it, particularly in a situation like this, it's odd when you think about it when someone just goes out, no. Question, and this is, I have no idea. This is just me thinking about what you're saying. And you're like, who's going to check him? well, if Trump is saying, I'm just going to do whatever I want, right?

Which we're watching him right now. His executive orders don't mean that it's the law, but everyone's acting like it is law. Because people are just falling in line for fear of, you know, not getting some type of. Except for the judges. Except for the judges. I'm more so talking about the agencies. The agencies that are being impacted are, you know, like making these extreme decisions for fear of losing their federal funding or losing their jobs or whatever it may be. To your point, if the Supreme Court says, hey, you are not allowed

to do this, you know, legally there's precedent that shows that you do not have this, the executive power does not reach to these levels. This is congressional power. And Trump's like, I'm going to do it anyway. Well, what if the agencies are like, well, so are we. This is a question. I have no idea. What if the agencies are like, well, you fired us, but we're not going anywhere. We're going to keep, you know, who, and this is the question I don't know. This is the definition.

This is the definition of constitutional crisis. Yes, no, no, I know. They're like, well, we're going to do it anyway. Well, you know, I don't know who releases the money, but whoever releases the money is like, we hear what Trump's saying, but we're going to give the money anyway that was allocated by Congress.

If Trump puts his foot down, there are other people that could do the same thing, right? I mean, if they had the balls, like it, but this is the deal. All of this stuff, whether it works or doesn't work, whether it is a tattered, ripped apart, shredded, ripped apart, shredded apart version of freedom, whether or not it is the grand beacon of human, historical, governmental achievement. that some believe it is. It's all based on faith in an adherence to institutional norms. It's all based upon an actual belief in constitutionality, in the constitution, in how things are supposed to work in America.

And the question is what happens when you have an executive that doesn't believe in anything beyond himself, that everything comes second to how he thinks things should be go, should should go, should I say. And that's what you have. Now, you've had people that have accused people of having that. And you've seen, honestly, through executive order and through, you know, illegal action. American presidents test the waters and push the limits of what a president can do for a long time, unitary, executive theory and all that stuff. It goes all the way back to the 70s and things of that nature.

But right now, someone that blatantly says, I am aware that this particular issue is settled and solved in the Constitution, and I don't care. is this blatantly, it's something that's, you know, pretty novel, at least from my understanding. Yes, it is. Trump's, what Trump is doing coupled with the power that he is giving Elon Musk. I mean, when you really think about the power that Elon Musk has because it's not being checked by anybody and it's being, you know, big up by Trump, I mean, the fact that he's in the process of eliminating

federal agencies and programs and millions of dollars for the people and for, you know, like getting rid of employees and without any type of authorization necessarily to, like, congressional authorization to do so is wild. He's saying it, he's doing it, and it's happening. That's crazy. This man isn't even from here. He has no government experience. And this is the person who has the power to do this. It's crazier to me than Trump's executive orders. The power that Elon Musk has right now. It's insane.

All under the guise that he's cutting back billions and billions of dollars with the goal of $2 trillion that he claims that he will be able to do all while getting billions of dollars for himself through Space X and Tesla. And what recently came out that apparently they're contracting with him to do $400, million dollars of unarmored Tesla trucks. Yeah. I mean,

look, the image of seeing Trump sitting down as Elon Musk's son taunted him and Elon Musk standing up and Trump looking over, it is America's been working towards that for a long

time. We're in a position now where The oligarch in chief is this big famous figure, this gigantic personality that has a huge, huge, huge presence on social media and in pop culture. You know, it's like Lex Luther to a degree. But the Koch brothers were always there.

The Allison family was always there. the people, George Soros. This is different, though. This feels different. It feels different. But what I'm telling you is that it is different.

But in the grand scheme of things, it's not. It's different. I understand exactly what you're saying. And also correction, I said unarmored. I'm in armored Tesla's. It is different in the sense that

I'm not saying that they didn't have some sort of power or control over the person that they were, you know, that they had donated millions and millions of dollars and were expecting a return on that investment. That's what Elon Musk is doing. But they also weren't a figurehead standing there and saying, I'm eliminating these federal programs. So like that, these federal agencies, I'm offering millions, I'm offering payouts to employees. to get them out of office. I'm saying, then we will replace this person, these jobs,

one person for every four person. They're like, it's so, it's, it's not the same to me. I'm not saying that there wasn't influence and they weren't getting the things that they wanted, but what we're seeing right now is unheard of. Well, look, I think it's,

like I said, I think it's a lot more flagrant. But, you know, when you had if you looked at the financial crisis, right? And you looked at how that played out. Sure. And you had Wall Street

essentially able to write the laws prior to that and then after that governed recovery that made American financial policy when you saw ex-Goldman-Sax people as Treasury Secretary high up in finance, making policy decisions that affect Americans' lives. You know, in the fallout of that, what you saw, to me, was the taxpayers pay for the inefficiency and irresponsibility of large parts. of the American financial system.

And the reason why that was was because there was regulatory capture by rich money interests that had garnered favor with politicians. And I'm not saying that this isn't different. You're right. I'm not in any way saying that this is indifferent.

This is different because this is like, you know, there's cystic acne and then there's the regular acne. The six-stick acne, it's under the skin, and it hurts. And you know that it's there, but you can't do anything about it until it comes to a head. Elon Musk is this coming to a head. You wanted to come to a hand, by the way. You want to get to a point to where you can go there and the lady at the goddamn face house or whatever can do the extraction.

You're like, you wanted to come to a head. But this isn't coming to a hand. And all I'm saying is that this has been brewing for a long time. And there have been a lot of decisions that have made it worse. Citizens United, like that dumped all of this money into politics, have made it worse. And as things have gone, as things have evolved, you've seen these money interests. And in the world of tech, these particular guys who are seen as tech gods, become very central figures.

It's not just GE now. It's not just Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley. It's not just these places now. It's actual people that encompass these gigantic entities. And people know these people. You know Warren Buffett and you know Mark Zuckerberg, and you know Bill Gates and you know Jeff Bezos, and you know all of these people.

They have so much control over your lives and your daily lives, and then they stand right next to someone, and it changes the dynamics of how politics works. But that specific framework, we've been being groomed for that for a long time, is what I'm saying. And Elon Musk, to me, is the, he's the biggest outbreak of the, of the billionaire oligarch herpes that we've had.

Cistic acne, herpes, what else you got? What else is there? You go deeper than those, you know, you got to take the little pills that they're selling on the goddamn thing.

Actually, Don, you get the audio right here. Give me audio right here. And the prices, from one and years to the next are the same. and they're Oh, you know what else I learned?

I went deep into, before we moved, I went deep into the whole PayPal Mafia PayPal Bro thing because I got COVID. I'm sick at the crib. Elon must hold PayPal. I've been doing a dig dive into

Elon must hold PayPal crew from South Africa, these goddamn apartheid boys that have taken over the fucking world. apartheid voice deep in they come from apartheid

in a real way this is why they care so much about what's happening to the white Afrikaners and everything that they care about apartheid babies a lot of them are Canadian South African apartheid babies that's what

Elon Musk is anyway Donnie All right It looks like New York's mayor and America's favorite mayor, Eric Adams, might be out of legal trouble. The Department of Justice ordered prosecutors for the Southern District of New York to dismiss all charges against the mayor, arguing that the case was interfering with his ability to aid President Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration. Now, before he celebrates, it looks like the dismissal would have to come in the form of a motion,

which would be reviewed by a judge. So it's not fully off of the books yet, but things are looking up for Mayor Eric Adams. Are they looking up, Dottie? Are they looking up? What does this mean? Let's just say the judge approves it. So now, what does this mean for Eric Adams?

He's a Trumper. Gotta be. Got to be. I didn't realize, because I feel like I haven't really been, I mean, obviously we're not in New York. I feel like I haven't been paying attention to Eric Adams since those charges came about, those federal charges, and we talked about it here. But I didn't realize that he had avoided criticizing Trump and GOP leaders during the presidential campaign.

I didn't know that he was bashing Democrats, but not talking about Republicans of what they're doing. I didn't know that he had been praising Elon Musk. I didn't know that he walked out of his way to go shake Trump's hand at a UFC fight. I didn't know that he went over there and had dinner with him outside of Mar-a-Lago. I didn't know he was at the inauguration. I didn't even see that.

So I didn't know that he had been like cozying up to Trump obviously to get what is happening now and eventually to have these charges dropped. So now he is in bed with Trump and is basically, I don't know, I don't know if he's, you know, some people are saying he's going to switch parties. I don't think he's going to do that, but he's definitely kissing the ring. Why wouldn't he switch parties?

Well, I read that the deadline is midnight Friday, that he would have to do that. So I don't know if there's enough time. But I don't think Eric Adams can win this race as a Democrat or Republican. He's so disliked in New York. I'm not sure who's running against him. I do know they don't like him there. but switching parties would be the Nell in the coffin.

Yeah. So it doesn't really matter. I mean, I talked to Anthony Scarebucci one time. I was on this show that I was on with some great people, Audi Cardi, Cardiff, Karras Fisher. I'm talking to Anthony Scarabucci one time. You know what he told me about Trump? What?

He said that, because I asked Garemucci. I wanted to know, you know, you're such a Trump enemy now and it happens to a lot of people where they become Trump enemies after. I'm like, how do you not see it? Like, I'm standing over here.

How do you not see it? And he says, Trump gets you in a room and the first thing he does is he finds out what you want. And he says, you know, if I win, you're going to get that thing.

And that seems very simple. That seems very, very, very simple. But, man, when you have a nation of people who are told over and over and over again that the dream of their country is not community, is not what's best and worse for everyone, the dream of the country is to build your own little kingdom where you have all the things that you want and you need and it doesn't matter kind of what your neighbor has

or what anybody else's has. Getting somebody what they want is a very powerful thing. And this is what Eric Adams wanted. Eric Adams will become MAGA because it's in its best interest because there's really nothing greater that governs what Eric Adams does. That's obvious from how he was acting before. right, it's obvious. So when you see somebody that has those type of holes in their character,

obviously he's going to become a trucker. I felt sorry for Oleg. Because she's been fighting the Eric Adams fight for so long and she had him on the ropes. And that niggled out. Like Ola is somewhere like she was, she made the video about Eric, and she was Eric Adams' biggest op.

She got to. She was. face down Eric Adams on the breakfast club and she was bringing the fucking pain to Eric Adams. Eric Adams and her were like Daredevil and Wilson Fisk. Do you get that reference? No. You like Daredevil to show.

Wilson Fiske is the kingpin. Okay. I don't think her fight is done yet. I don't think it's over because, One, as Donnie said, a judge has got to approve it. And two, let's just say the judge does approve it. So now these charges are dropped. People still deeply dislike this man.

And he's not going to win again as mayor. So her work is not in vain. The fight's not over. It's not over. But Trump, but even if he doesn't win his mayor now, which you're right, he probably won't. there's others. I mean, now he's in with Trump.

So he might be niggas are. Okay. But he might be... Trump doesn't have a history of doing that with black folks. Tim Scott. Tim Scott ain't in the cabinet. All that work he was doing. All like they fight hard.

They get down and dirty in the trenches for him. They aren't rewarded in the same way as white people. So what you think Trump's going to do with Eric? Eric Adams is different. Other than make him a talking head for, MAGA. Eric Adams is a more valuable asset than Tim Scott is.

Tim Scott and Byron Donald's, they got negatives. Eric Adams ain't got. Eric Adams is a little bit more. First of all, he's been elected in New York, cosmetolitan plays. He likes to go around

and like, you know, hang out, you know, Eric be messing with ladies and stuff. That's the kind of guy that Trump would like. Byron Donald's got the line and then Tim Scott got the teeth. Trump doesn't want to

Trump knows I will say this though I give Trump credit for this Trump knows which niggers to really have around see this is a problem that to me that the Democrats have the Democrats bring around black people

that black people really can't relate to a lot of black people the Democrats bring around black people that say stuff like America isn't a racist country. And, you know, the Democrats bring around black people that say stuff that don't know how to communicate to black people. They don't know how to communicate to. And then the black people that Trump gets around, they are people that we don't really agree with.

But there are people that we like, no. There are people that a lot of black people can be like, Oh, huh. Like, it's one thing to have, I don't know, I don't want to diss any of the black people that are on the left that the Democrats have had around. Well, you already just did one, so keep going. Who did I diss?

Kamala Harris. Oh, but she wasn't the only one that said that. Okay, well, then you dis multiple people. Okay, keep going on. Okay, well, because Rep Clyburn said it too. Yeah, I shouldn't say that. All right. You shouldn't say that.

We talked about, I'm just saying. You said you didn't want to diss people a lot. You already did. That's two. I'm not trying to get some. I'm just saying. So you like Tim Scott. You relate to Tim Scott?

No. You relate to Eric? No. But a lot of niggas do. A lot of people do relate to Eric Adams. Like Eric Adams looks like a black guy. You're reaching. You're very much so reaching.

I'm being for real. I can get with you saying that the Democrats have people that we can't relate to. I'll get that. But the fact that you want to say, but there are a lot of black people who relate to Tim Scott and Ireland. Well, you said the Republicans,

you said the Republicans pick people. See how you doing right now? I never see. Am I? I said Trump. Pigs people. So I actually used Byron Donald's and Tim Scott

as examples of of black Republicans who would wouldn't be around Trump. I said because Trump is good at picking black people to be around him, that he at least thinks black people. And a lot of times it's the lowest common denominator caricature of black people. But I have to be honest with you that those things are effective to some types.

It's effective to have snoop around. It's effective to let little Wayne, it's effective to do Little Wayne and have the picture with Little Wayne. It's effective to Kodak Black people. It's effective. I'm not saying that it should be. I'm just saying that Trump has been a lot of time around

in the past these particular black entertainers and black cultural figures. And so I think that the people that he has around them, I think the reason why Tim Scott is not around is because Trump knows that Tim Scott is not the type of black man that black men want to be like. Okay. Well, I mean, if this is what we're doing,

the Democrats obviously have black entertainers that are around them as well. Which ones? Meg Dostalian, Beyonce, Glorilla. Oh, is it because I'm in a limit? Give me some black males. Give me some black males. Usher. Thank you. I know they're black males. I just can't think of them off the top of my head.

All right. I'm telling you guys. And this is the whole problem that we're getting into. I'm being for real. I'm telling you guys. the reality is this is that when it was time to roll out people to talk to black men and this is all cosmetic bullshit because if you pay attention to any of the fucking issues

there is no possible way to me that any self-respecting Negro American could actually be with the right. However, I'm telling you guys, I'm telling you that if you look at it, the guys that really means something, and I'm not saying that they should, that really means something,

the Democrats had a problem getting to those guys. They had a problem getting to the people. By the way, it's not just athletes and entertainers. I'm talking about people who talk straight to people, people who don't compromise when they talk, people who don't feel like they are in any way, like capture they don't feel, corny they don't feel, whatever.

I'm telling you, the Democrats don't have a good crop of that. Okay, I'm going to name some black men that outwardly supported Kamala Harris. Okay, good. Then you tell me, John Legend.

I like him. Chris Rock. He's skipping Usher, as Donnie said. Spike Lee. I like Spike, but. Spike Lee, Tyler Perry. naming some magic Johnson Okay

All right I guess So what band said Y'all ain't Y'all don't speak to the culture Y'all ain't black enough Y'all don't count You say-

See what you're doing? This is this is what But Snoop and Kodak Black and Lil Wayne Those were the right people To make it To resonate With blacks

I'm talking about these niggas man I'm sorry sexy rad? John Legend is to me somebody that people should pay a lot more attention to when it comes to these things because John Legend is like someone who really, really is doubted. He could almost work the governor of Ohio if you ask me. But I'm talking about these niggas, man. And I'm telling you, it's like, I'm not trying to be an asshole.

I'm talking about these niggas. Democrats got to find a way to me to. to get to these niggins. Okay? And the hard part of it is we have conversations. Do you think that they make that much of a difference in the voting to where it is that necessary? I don't.

But let me tell you what I do think matters. And this is in all it is. What I think matters is a cultural momentum. Right. So let's, the thing that I see right now is the most troubling thing to me is that's most troubling thing to me is that there is almost

a latent understanding that it's cool to be maga which is odd there's like a it's like a latent idea like I watched so for example

the UFC the UFC audience is Nazis I'm being for Like, there was something that just recently happened on a podcast called The Jackson Podcast. So the podcast is with, Rampage Jackson and a guy named Bear, right? They do a podcast where they have fighters on there.

The podcast is going to have been following it for a little while. Rampage is hilarious. Bears the straight men in a podcast. they had a guy on the podcast called, I think his name is Bryce, Bryce, anyways, the UFC fighter that came out and was saying that Hitler was cool, right? That he was talking about Hitler and saying everything Hitler was doing. It was a very historical litigation, relitigation of who Adolf Hitler was or whatever. He was saying Hitler was this and this and that, but then Hitler went crazy,

but this is what Hitler was trying to do. He was doing the same thing that a lot of people seem to be doing right now, which is sane washing Hitler and who he was. All right, cool. So he comes on a podcast. Dana White addresses this. And Dana White says, you know, the guy's an idiot, the guy's this, the guy's that. But he has freedom of speech.

And the freedom of speech is very important in the UFC. So we're not going to ask him from the UFC. UFC. I've talked to a couple different UFC fires about this, black UFC fires, and they're fucking pissed off and upset. But that's the end of him or that. So the guy comes on the podcast. Look up his name.

Is it Bryce Underwood? no, Bryce Underwood is the fucking Gold Blue, yeah, Michigan. The quarterback that dissed LSU. Whatever. Look up, look up his name.

So he comes on the podcast and he's talking and Bear starts telling him why what he said was wrong. He starts trying to clean up what he said. And Bear, the host says,

no, this is what Adolf Hitler represents. this is who Adolf Hitler was. This is how many people died in the Holocaust. This is how many people died in World War II. This is how many people did this. This is how many people did that. This is what you are actually trying to say,

watch. The fucking viewers of Bryce Mitchell, the fucking viewers of the podcast got mad at Bear. They got mad at him. There were some people that were saying, oh my God, you shouldn't have platformed, Bryce.

They had already had the interview booked before. But if you go look at it, the people, the MMA fans, the UFC fans, they were mad at him for checking this guy or educating this guy on how bad Hitler is. This is where we are. There's a normalization and a cultural codification of these ideas that literally I haven't seen anything like this before. Like, I can't remember seeing something like this. And what the right knows how to do is to put people in situations, put guys out there

that you have some sort of connection to, some type of understanding to, maybe Eric Adams is overstated. I get it. But you have some sort of cultural connection to them, right? So when they say something fucking insane or crazy, or do a thing that you disagree with, all you remember are the feelings. All you remember are the, oh, well,

how could it be that bad if so and so and such and such and such? And I don't feel like what the Democrats and what the left is selling is being distilled down to people enough to where we can do the same thing. Kodak Black one time was sitting on the stage after Trump said that they eaten the cats and dogs thing. And he was trying to explain to his crowd. He was like, man, do Trump hate Haitians and all of that stuff and blah, blah, blah. And I'm thinking to myself, who in Kodak's ear right now can explain the fact that Trump uses him as a pawn? And yes, if it meant blaming Haitian people for all of the ills in Ohio, he would do that.

And I'm thinking to myself, who could even get through to him? Who could even, like, talk to him and be on the level where he would accept it coming back? Like, who is that person? And so, you know, a lot of this is just like, I haven't thought this through. And it's just, like, springing out of my mind. But I do think uncooling, like, MAGA talking points and saying whatever you want to say and not saying whatever you want to say. Saying things that are hurtful to people and propagating these terrible ideas, there has to be somebody that people relate to that says this stuff. and it ain't no suit and tie wearing fast-talking politician nigger.

It's not one of those people. It's not those people that get through to people like that. And I don't know. We played a purity test. I'm rambling. I apologize. We play the purity test on the left a lot. And we try to feel like who's good enough to deliver a message of freedom, value, and equality to people.

And then people just fall through the fucking straining. Well, maybe your mission is to find that person who could get through to Kodak Black or maybe the people who listen to him or follow what he said, whatever. Maybe that's your mission. Find the person who you think could really speak to. Because I just named seven people that you said no. And I'm not just, I understand where you're coming from.

I'm trying to put me in. No, no, no. I understand what. I understand what, I know you said you were. you thought you were rambling, but I understand what you're saying as far as certain people resonate with certain people. But maybe that's your mission. Find that person who it is.

Or who, maybe they exist and they're just too afraid to be the person to speak out. I don't know. Find them. I'll tell you what the real problem is, and I'll be honest with you. The real problem is we need to cultivate and grow more voices like that. that are, how can I put this? There are not as many people out there like that as people as one would think.

There's a lot of actual real work that has to be done amongst us as brothers, specifically black men, to be able to have conversations where we understand how a specific politic benefits us. because you start, and I mean it, there needs to be, and this is work that's going to have to happen over years, in my opinion. There has to be a real discussion of how we view the world and how everyone fits under the same tent.

Because the moment that I start talking about the fact that I think trans people need rights and visibility, then I'm the courting they're in the room, right? or the moment that I start, that I say, hey, it's not one of my goals to be a hyper rich billionaire. I don't think that there's, I don't need all of that.

Like, I don't want to be, I don't want to have a, I don't, I don't wake up, like I walk past, um, uh,

uh, uh, uh, God Cause Ya. when I was, um, when I was, um, when I was walking in New Orleans.

I walked past Shot Khan's yacht, right? He's the owner of the Jacksonville Jaguar. Man, I was on the phone. I looked at the yacht. That's the craziest shot I ever seen. I like being on the water, right? Have you ever seen the yacht before? Right?

His yacht? No. What's the craziest shot you ever been on? I haven't been on a crazy yacht. I've been on like a hundred footer yacht, but nothing like what you're described. This yacht was like a floating city. He had maybe like 20, 25 people working on it. They was watching the yacht.

They're doing the whole nine. Like, he got a pool in the back of the yacht. Just put some pictures up of this yacht and look at the yacht. It's nuts, right? And it's right off the river in New Orleans. And as many times as I've been there, I've seen big boats and all of that. I mean, just big, like, New Orleans, something's steamboats. But I looked at that yard, and I thought,

Now, if I wanted to be super duper ridiculously wealthy, it would be to have something like that boat. I love being on the water so much. But you know what hit me right away, and this is why I'm a lame minute. What hit me right away is, in my mind, I go, how many people have to be homeless for me to have that boat? Yeah.

And the answer is, if it's fucking one, I don't want it. it is one for that type of dysfunction to exist for that type of hyper fucking wealth to exist I'm doing well

right now I got a PlayStation 5 and I got a motherfucking Xbox I'm up I'm good like I'm good

like if it's even one person that has to suffer and have less so that I can fucking drive I don't want it but that's not cool though That's legitimately not cool

because the version of American capitalism that we have been taught is going to save us has to do with accumulating as much as possible as some sort of entry into American whiteness and acceptance into that.

And that's the idea that has been reinforced over decades and decades. I've got to say a lot of it through commercialization of hip-hop and other things like that. And so to come out to have these conversations to where you're trying to talk to kids who have been told to be like Mike, and being like Mike is about excellence, but being like Mike is also about having this sort of cultural dominance that everybody wants to have. When they're looking up, when there's not a lot of, I won't say no intellectualism or cultural or political education behind what we aspire to be.

because those people got their fucking heads blown off in the 60s and the 70s and they got put in jail, it's difficult to be that type of nigger and actually get through the people. It's hard because you're going to tell somebody right now if you vote for this person, they are going to take away environmental protection

in your community. There's going to be lead in your water if you vote for this person, and they're going to say they let code that black out of jail. And by the way, that's not them being dubbing it. There's not them that doesn't mean that they're stupid.

What that means is that there's a set of priorities that they have, and that set of priorities is making it out of this fucking place, right? And the way that you make it out of this place is through money and through getting to a place to where white kids in middle of America

want to buy the stuff that you're selling. And so when somebody has done that, there are no, there are a God to you now. They are the example. They are the person. Doesn't matter what their politic is. Doesn't matter how they see the world. It matters that America couldn't kill them. And so I can't come to you and ask you to get your lesson or understand.

And I would have to do it to that person. So I don't know. It's a, we went on a long tangent and I did. But it's a real issue. And it's something that has to be figured out in the next two or three years. I don't disagree with you. I don't disagree. I don't.

I don't. I get it. I get it. You're not wrong. And I think, and I'll say this, this is the last thing. I think sometimes, you know, obviously I'm not that person. You know, I think that there's, I don't. want to say I'm not connected, but like the way you broke it down and the way, it's like,

I'll just say that. I, I understand. I understand. I understand. I understand. I see what you're saying. Look, I'll just be honest with you. Like, they need to invest some money into this.

I'm not saying I need the money. I'm not saying that at all. Like I said, I'm doing fine. Look at my daddy's rope right there. But if they need to figure this out. I was surprised. I didn't see it first. Right?

Even I, the way it started off this conversation, I didn't see it like that. They had to see it first. You got to identify the problem to be able to address it. And by the way, as in with everything else on this podcast, but I definitely have COVID brain.

But with everything else in this podcast, I could be wrong. There's a disconnect. I mean, it's obvious it's past election. There's a disconnect. Now, I don't know if, and I asked you this question,

you kind of agreed, I don't know if the audience you're talking about is a big enough swayed the vote in that much of a direction, but it doesn't mean that they should be left behind either.

And it doesn't mean that we should neglect it. So your point. 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. They 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. This episode is brought to you by WeatherTech. Everyone knows winter is the MVP and making a mess. You don't need WeatherTech floor liners in the summer, unless you hit the beach or go camping. Then you'd want a cargo liner.

Or a road trip goes sideways, ketchup goes rogue, ice cream drips. Yeah, you'd be pretty happy about those weather tech seat protectors. So just to be clear as the mud, you're inevitably going to step into the summer. You don't need WeatherTech unless you plan on doing summer. Visit weathertech.com today. All right, can we do some light? Yeah. Let's talk about crib walking.

Crip walking, I feel like, has been a big part of mainstream conversation lately. Maybe the most since Drop It Like Is Hot came out decades ago. But actor John Leguizamo took his Instagram and posted a video of Cholo's Crip Walking, and he captioned it. Cripwalking comes from Chicano culture, but black peoples made it funkier and national. Is he right? is this a Mexican thing? Hey, John, John, I got to say something. Invite him to the summit.

Invite John to the summit. This is to John Leguizama. You want beef, nigger? Why are you fucking with us, bro? Like, why? Like, this is my message to John. John be on this shit. John, why are you fucking with us, bro?

John, we fuck with you, bro. Like, why are you doing this? know what we go, you know what's going to happen. What job? What's wrong with you? Does he still have this up on his Instagram? I'm looking, I'm trying to see right now. Does he still have this up on? It's still up. Yep.

It's still up. I mean, one, I don't know enough about cripp walking to give like the exact response, but I do know a simple Google search will tell you that this is so far from the truth. And I don't know. I mean, obviously, John is a person who has written letters and spoken out to represent his culture and talk about, you know, their place in Hollywood and what it means and good for him for using his platform to represent his people. But you don't have to rewrite history to do that. Like, I don't know if he's so lost in the sauce where he's like

everything needs to come back to his culture but this is such this I would love a call like what are we doing here? Are you trolling us? Are you trying to be funny? Is this a joke? Or are you dead see or his? I need a conversation with you. I'm sorry. If you're watching the video I just wiped my nose so I have to wash my heads and blow my nose disgusting. I'm sorry. Being like Elon Musk kid. Donnie cut that out when I did that.

I'm sorry. Keep in. Sorry. You should be saying. All right, it's for me to Monday, exposing me to COVID. All right, go ahead, Rachel. I'm sorry. No, no, no, no. I think we're done. We're done. We're done. We finished the, we finish the, we finish the Crip Bockey. We need, we invite John to come on this podcast because I need to know if he's trolling us or if he really believes this.

Because this was a lot. This was a reach. This was a reach. This was too much. It was like that way. Backhanded compliment to black people saying that we did make it funky. and national, but we're not the originators. You're right. And we have to talk about it because in light of the way we talked about the Super Bowl performance and what all of that meant and all of that. And then he comes in and it's like, well, actually, y'all really are taking for us.

It's just as problematic as the people being like, I don't get it. It's the worst performance. It's right up there on the same level. So John has to have his own call out, which I don't. John... You can make your point, John, without putting black culture down. You could do that. You could still represent yourself, Chicano's, you know, Latino culture,

and not have to sacrifice us in the process and tell lies. It's a lot. Well, John, in the past, it said, you know, he's not his first rodeo with, like, black person erasure. You know, they got on them before because he said Latinos built Americans. like leaving black people out of conversation and all of that stuff. I want to know, just to John, John, you want beef. Why you, John, we fuck with you, John, bro.

We've been fucking with you since the Super Mario Brother movie that we watched. Does he fuck with you? I don't know. I don't know. It doesn't feel like it. It feels like John always trying to shoot. You know, you got that person at the school that you got to ask him, like, you're all right

what's up I thought we hoop together we play basketball together I thought you know threw me a couple lobs

I thought it was good but like you're good that's what we got to ask down Laiizamo as far as as whether or not

this is true well it's not true it's not true and it's also a weird thing the Crip Walk is a thing for the Crips that has become

a cultural deal it's part of L.A. culture, but I don't really want to have an argument over whether or not the Crip Walk is black. I don't, you know, it's not like a, I don't want to have a, but if you bring it up, I have to have the argument because I got some of the people that I know around here going, hey, man, I know on the next podcast, you're going to get on John Luguzamo for disrespecting the neighborhood. I'm like, hey, bro, whoa, whoa. Also, the post that he posted was recent, and it wasn't Crip Walking. Which I guess he's saying we took it from them, or black people took it from them, but that's not it. It was not it. I want to have John.

Take it down, John. Take it down, John. Like you said at the Black and Brown Summit. That's a good call from Rage. It might not be. It might get heated because the reaches that he's making. Who else would you want there? I don't know.

I want that girl from Jane to Verre. What's her name? Why? Because she'd be popping it too. I want people that What's her name? That's not the original goal that you said that you wanted for the podcast. Gina Rodriguez.

Niggas give her heby-jeebies. Jesus. That's what she said. Niggas give me heby-jeebies. What did she say that on? On her Instagram or Twitter? When was this? Not hebi-jeebies.

She was rapping Lauren Hill. It's a Lauren Hill lyric. You got to play it. I don't even know how to spell Heby-Geebies. What the, Rachel, you never saw that? No.

Rachel, you never saw when she did that. You got, Donna, you got to play it. I got to play. She was into it. Niggas get me Hebi-Geebies. Okay, so she posted this video with her singing it on her Instagram. And she had been accused in the past of being anti-black?

Bro. It wasn't just that she was doing an interview with Blogzilla. Well, it was her, and I think it was Yarn Shahidi or somebody, and they were talking about, and Blaszilla asked her, Blahzilla said, hey, how do you feel like young black girls? respond to this and then she goes and then Gina, she, Blasila, was it Yasha? I can't remember who the young black ass?

Yes, it was. It was. And then she goes, I feel like all young women, then Blah went, yeah, but black girls. So she always, and then the hippie-jibes thing was hilarious. That's funny to me. You've never seen what she? She goes, my niggas, give me.

No. No. I'll tell you what, the more Donnie, the better. The more Donnie, the better. Donnie, send me the video. I'm going to play the audio right now. That's a very... I wasn't looking for the video.

I was looking for the past thing she said. Voodoo. I could do what you do. Believe me. Nickers give me heby-jibis. E.B. All right, Will Packers here. We can switch it up.

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. Trimphaya, gusalcumab 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 in 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 Trimphaya. Tap this ad to learn more about Trimfaya, including important safety information. 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. dot sweetgreen.com.

All right, we have a friend of the podcast on the podcast right now. The acclaimed field producer, Will Packer, is joining us. Founded Will Packer Productions and Will Packer Media. He has a new book out called Who Better Than You, The Art of Healthy Arrogance and Dreaming Big. He also recently produced one of my favorite looks of the year, the limited series Fight Night for Peacock, which launched on September 5th of last year, received nine NAACP nominations, the most watched premiere in the history of Peacock. The number one drama through its first weekend, Will,

you still put numbers on the board, man. Thank you for joining us on Higher Learning. How you doing, brother? You kidding me? I appreciate you. Thank you, man. Thank you, Rach. I appreciate the platform.

I appreciate you guys always let me come through. I feel like this is family. Yeah, I'm proud of Fight Night, Joe. Did you see it? You got a chance to check it out. I did watch it. I did watch it. I liked it a lot.

I thought of that during. I don't be honest with you, Will, I thought it was appropriately watched, right? A lot of people watched it. It was a big hit. But I thought it was maybe critically underappreciating. Do you agree? And do you have any thoughts on why? I do.

I do. Listen, I'll tell you straight up. I think that it was some incredible performances, an important story, an important American story, incredible performances by some of the biggest global stars on the planet. And I feel like if you had that exact same situation and you had a all-white cast and an all-white story that it would be differently, it would be received differently. Now, I'm not somebody that complains about the critics, okay? Because I am somebody that believes the critics have got every right to say, I love this, I don't like this.

They said they loved this. Like we were, you know, certified, fresh on Rot Tomatoes, which is, you know, obviously the most known critical aggregator. And so we got great critical responses. I would have loved to see us get more awards love through some of the other award shows. I am not at all, though, unhappy with the NAACP love, right? Because I'm somebody that believes I like who likes me. And I love the fact that NACP, who says,

We are going to highlight people of color, have said, this is one of the best shows of the year. That means just as much to me as anybody else. However, I do feel like you got a show, you got Sam Jackson, Kevin Hart, you got Terence Howard, Don Chito, Taraji, and some amazing newcomers. I'm extremely biased.

But I definitely feel like I wish it had gotten more critical love and critical acclaim based on the performances and based on the level and the caliber of cast. But it was an all-black cast. very, very black story. It was steeped in African American culture, deep in Atlanta in the South, unapologetic about it. Like, if you haven't seen Fight Night, go check it out because it definitely has got something to say. It's talking and talking, walking that walk. But you know, hey, that's what we do is content creators. We put our stuff out there and we put it out there

to be judged and to be consumed and you have to sit and accept that. And I accept it. But yeah, I agree with you, man. I think that it should have gotten a little bit more acclaim. And maybe it will, right? Emmys are coming up. It's not over. We'll see. What? And maybe I know the answer to this, but in saying that, in knowing that it was the most watch premiere in Peacock history, which Peacock has a lot of content on it. So that's a huge deal. A lot. And knowing that it was the number one drama through its first weekend and knowing that people receives it in that way.

What is awards are important, obviously, but which one weighs more to you? knowing that it was received so well with the audiences as far as people watched it so much and it made history, or getting that recognition by awards. The people. No question. The people. I do it for the people. I do it.

You know, when you think about putting content together, especially somebody like me, I'm always thinking about my audience first. I am. That is me. I have a thing I do where I name my audience. I name a fictional member of my core demographics. for every project that I do, right? So for a girl's trip, it was a woman. Her name was Sharonda, and she lived in Detroit,

and she was a pharmacist at CVS, and she is a single mom because she divorced her dude because she called him wearing her panties. That's a whole other thing I talk about in the book, but she called him, and it wasn't just that he was wearing the panties, it was a good panties, and he stretched him out. But the point is, I get very specific. about the demographic that I create.

For right along, there's a guy named Cody, a white guy with braces who shopped at them all in Miami. I have to do that. I'm very specific. So the first thing I do is I think about who is the audience

for what I'm doing, for what I'm creating, for the content that I'm looking to explore. And I try to make sure that I'm delivering for that audience first. And then if along the way, the audience enjoys it, embraces it, and then I expand beyond that core audience,

great. If I expand beyond that core audience, and we get critical acclaim even greater. But the ultimate goal for me is always the people, always the audience. So, Rach, no question. The fact that it got consumed the way it did. A lot of people saw it and watched it. We blew the doors off that particular platform.

All of that is a win. The title of the book, Who Better Than You, The Art of Healthy, Erigance and Dreaming Big? The book is out February 18th, the day after my mom's birthday. Happy birthday, Mom. February 17th, my mom's birthday. My mom's birthday is February 18, the day the book of us. Oh, there you go. We got some good Aquarius women in our lives, brother.

There you go. What is healthy arrogance? Healthy arrogance is this trait that I have seen in some of the most successful people I've been around. So the reason I wrote the books is because I've been in the game for 30 years. And I've been around some of the biggest names in the world. And some of the most successful people, some of the most toxic people, some of the most insecure people, some of the biggest brands, some of the folks with most money. One thing that many of the most successful people have is this belief that not that they could be successful, not that they might be successful, but that they are going to be successful, that their success is predestined.

They are destined for success. Healthy arrogance, not to be confused with toxic arrogance, right? Toxic arrogance or just plain arrogance means you walk into a room and you feel like I'm better than you. right? I'm going to win because you're going to lose. You lose, I win, I'm better. Everybody look at me. And it's unsubstantiate. And Hollywood has a lot of them. That's not what I'm talking about. Healthy arrogance means when you walk into a room, number one, and we've all done this, walk to a room with a bunch of fancy, powerful people, and sometimes you may, you know, feel insecure and go, wow, what am I doing here? Do I belong in this room? Healthy arrogance, you don't question whether or not

you belong in that room. You realize not only do you belong, but the room is better because you're in it. and you have something to add, to contribute to the room. Healthy arrogance is that supreme confidence that you are destined for success and that you want the people around you to see the value in your success while also realizing their success. True leadership is getting other people around you to row in the same direction that you are. And this is something that you can work on. You can build this, whether or not you've got a big outsized personality or you're an introvert.

Confidence is a muscle. And I really believe that. And you can work that every single day getting that muscle stronger. But that's healthy air. It's feeling like not only are you destined for success, but getting the people around you to understand that your value and your success benefits them. I was just, I was going to ask you if you thought that healthy arrogance was a nature or nurture situation, which you just said it's nurture.

You feel like you can build it, which I think is really positive for people wanting to be in this industry or any other industry that they want to get into because I think a lot of times it's easy to be insecure to compare yourself to different people and so I love, love the concept of this book, which I'll go back to something that you said about target audience. You said you do that for every project that you have

for this project, for this book, who is that audience? Is there somebody that, is there a character that you named or you had in mind as you were writing this book? Yeah, I thought about three people. I thought about a young, aspiring filmmaker, right? trying to figure out how to get into the game. Obviously, that's me.

That's my industry, right? I thought about a young filmmaker. I also thought about a young male filmmaker I thought about. I thought about a woman who is in her 40s, who was ready to make a career transition, who has been doing one thing and wants to pivot, wants to do something else, something different. And then I thought about, I thought two women, two men.

So I also thought about another woman who is in a marriage that is not working. And it's trying to figure out how to live a more fulfilled life. One of the things I talk about in the book, Rachel, is how we do not, because the book is not just, I tell a lot of Hollywood stories and things that I've been through and how I feel like those skills that I've learned are transferable, but it's not just about winning in business. It's also about winning in life. And one of the things I talk about is how we often undervalue the power of a strong relationship and a good life partner

to augment everything we do in all other aspects of our life. Too often we feel like, well, you know what, I'm going to compartmentalize. My relationship is not great. I know that it's toxic. It's draining. I hate coming home.

I don't want to deal with that person. But that's okay because my business is going good. I'm going to just focus the energy on my business. And that is like having an arm that's disease. You got gang green in your arm. And you say, yeah, but I can still walk. My feet are okay. No, it's all part of the same body.

It is all draining the same energy. We don't put enough value on the energy and the circle around us and how that circle either drains or augments our energy. And oftentimes, that circle begins with that person who is the closest to you, right? And so I make it akin to, in business, I say that it's like going to war, right?

You're going to bow. You sit across the table from somebody. You've got to negotiate. You're trying to pitch your project. your business idea, get investors, sell yourself, sell your company, you're going to war. If you're going to war and you're leaving home with somebody who that morning told you how amazing you are, how great you are, you got this, go slated dragons, is totally supportive of you in every way. You're going to have a leg up when you stood across the table from somebody

who didn't hear that or perhaps heard the exact opposite. Perhaps it's coming out of a toxic situation. So that's one of the things that I talk about. That's one of the people that I was imagining in this book is somebody who might be in a relationship that's not healthy and trying to figure out why is my life not going the way that I wanted to go? Because I feel like it's all connected in terms of manifesting an amazing life. This book is for me. Something that you said. Because you're in a toxic relationship or because you wanted to be like which one?

I was. I was. I was. And I'm stepping into 40 this year. So, yes. Love it. Love it. Then absolutely.

I cannot wait. I cannot wait for you to get in there and read. read my chapter on if it's on the floor, it's the floor is money. The great GZ lyric where he talks about strip club culture. I want you to read that. It's a chapter that's about what's for you is for you and what's not is not. And we forget that and we get it twisted. If it's on the floor,

right, I don't care if you're a Magic City on a Monday night. That's the flow money. A bunch of dollars. What's that? Listen, I tell the story, man, when I was broke, I had first moved to Atlanta and I could not pay my rent. And don't ask me why I ended up in Magic City on a Monday night with my broke self, right? I'm trying to become a filmmaker and I was delivering

newspapers door to door at that time. And I went in and I'll never forget it was Magic City Monday. There was a bunch of athletes in there. Money was flying. There were hundreds, $100 bills on the floor. And I looked down and I was like, oh my God, why didn't I put tape on the bottom

of my shoe? Like I could have paid my rent but what's under my book right now. And I remember I looked down and I stepped on a $100 bill and I stepped and I just looked around just to see if anybody knew, and there was a big, huge-ass bouncer. And he looked right at me, like, I saw that. You ain't slit young blood.

Don't even try it. I looked right at him. I knew I was caught. I left the club right away. I was like, man, I ain't having fun of here, no way. All these busters with all this money. I hate this. If it ain't for you, it ain't for you.

Yeah. Pick you back on something you said earlier. You've dealt with a lot of different type of personalities and people. Why do you think people? Some people don't understand how rare they are. When you said something earlier, you said, knowing that you make any room better and you bring a perspective that nobody else has,

that you're adding to a room. I used to tell interns when I was at TMZ, I'd be like, you're the only you that's ever existed, and you're the only you that will ever exist. So if you have something to say, say it. because the things that make you are inherently rare and unique. Stop letting these people tell you you're not special. You actually are the most special thing that's ever existed.

You're a unique person. Why do you think people don't understand that about themselves? Why is it so hard to get people to step out of themselves and dream big and have the healthy areas? Because we live in a world that, encourages falsification of positives and negative. My favorite poem is Roger Kipling's if. And he has a line that says,

if you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors just the same. What he's saying is that neither triumph nor disaster are real. They're both impostors. We live in a world where people are telling us all the time, a lot of time on social media, sometimes in interpersonal interactions, how awful we are or how great we are. And we subscribe to those extremes. And so you have a lot of

people like those interns that you're talking about that feel like, okay, I am so afraid, if I post a picture right now and it doesn't immediately start getting traction and getting likes, I've got to take it down because that was flop. Oh my gosh, I'm so embarrassed. Or you post a picture And everybody is like, you know, Rachel, you might post something. You know you're having a bad hair to everybody. Girl, I love it. I love you. You look so good.

Your hair, you're, but, you know, amazing. And that's false, too. That's not real either. What we do when we're doing that is we're giving our power to other people. We're giving our power of self-confidence to other people. And so no matter who that person is, it can be somebody, it can be a Will Packer, right? You want to, you know, you have a project you want me to invest in and you bring it to me and I say, no, I'm not going to do it, right? Oh, that's Will Packer.

And he's got this, you know, these. is accolades and he's done all these things and he says no so that must be it that must be the end no that is just my perspective that is just this person that is their perspective based on their complete set of circumstances and the way that they see the world the most important voice is your own and so when people don't keep that power for themselves when they don't acknowledge what you said man which is that i am unique there's nobody else like me but in order to realize that though it is a muscle that you have to work, right? You got to tell yourself that every day. I'm a daily affirmation guy. I literally go every day. I'm in the mirror and I'm telling myself that I'm ready. I'm capable.

I have the skill set. I'm prepared. I'm telling myself that for two reasons. One, because that's the last time I'm going to hear that that day. The rest of the day, people are going to be coming at me with all kind of stuff. Nobody's going to be telling me, you got it. You're prepared. You can do it, right? I got to say that to myself. Number two is because I'm the most important voice. There's not another voice in the world that is as important as mine when it comes to my own self-determination and self-actualization. So I need to have that drumbeat of positivity versus the drumbeat of negativity in my head. And I need to get in the habit of doing that every day. That is how you continue to build that confidence muscle. You don't have to have it initially,

innately wake up with it. But you do have to challenge yourself to grow it. and to build. You should do like the, you know the apps where they have the affirmation? I feel like I need to hear your voice affirming me. Yeah, like I like it for ASMR, but I can listen to you, give me words of encouragement every single day, for sure.

On the last podcast. You got to check the audiobook race too, because I got, you know, the audio book is fun. I made it kind of like a movie, and I also call them some cameos with I got Kev Hart and Idriselba, Steve Harvey, Carmelo, Regina Hall is amazing in it. So anyway, if my voice doesn't bother you,

if you don't mind my voice, you don't mind sitting with me for a couple hours and hearing some Packerisms, then, yeah, you can get the print edition or the audio edition. I've never heard of anybody doing that with their audio book. That's really interesting. Yeah. I was inspired by Will Smith, actually.

I told him that. Like, his audio book was very, very much, it was like immersive, the way he was telling the story. So I wanted to make my audio book like a movie. So that's why I have guest cast. I have, like, Regina Hall is like a narrator. Like, the whole thing is set up like a movie. So that was something.

Yeah, I heard what Will did, and I wanted to kind of expand on that idea. Yeah. On the last podcast, we were, of course, talking about the Super Bowl and the Super Bowl performance. And we were talking about the theme within Kendrick's half-time. and perform a show about game over. And the narration that came from Samuel L. Jackson about, you know, you need to act this way. You could play the game, but you've got to act this way. Can't be this, can't be that.

With everything, your career, 30 years of experience and you've seen everything, I'm sure, how is it that you manage to stay authentic to who you are and the things that you want to do, especially like you talked about, you know, somebody coming with an idea to you, and you may not want it or I'm sure that's happened to you along the way as well and feeling like, okay, well, I have to do this to conform in order to be a part of this. How do you not fall into that?

And how do you manage as you have to stay true to who you are? Yeah, I think it's two things. It is definitely that confidence and that confident muscle that I've been talking about, but it's also knowing the art of the pivot and when to pivot, right? Because people look at me

and just think it is just success on success on success. Bro, it's been a lot of failure and a lot of challenges, right? When I graduated from college wanting to chase that dream of being a filmmaker, I couldn't get a return call anywhere. There's a thing I talk about called fortuitous knows, and that is when you get rejected, you got the choice of either crawling into a ball and going, it's over,

or you can reject the rejecter. They're hating on me. They don't know. They're just saying, you know, I ain't the right person. I'm not going to listen to him. The truth is probably somewhere in between. Can a rejection actually make you better, right?

That's what a fortuitous knows. Giving up is different than quitting. You should never give up, never give up. But you can quit a particular method or a particular way you're doing something and pivot. I've had to pivot many times in my career. So that is how I've been able to stay true, Rachel. It's not that everything I've wanted to do has been a success or that I've been able to get financing for it or that I've been supported.

I've had to pivot many times. But if you get told no and you use that, you actually listen, right? Don't let your ego get in the way of why somebody told you no, shut you down, slam a door on your face. Listen to why, right? You may never get a yes from that person, but can you make whatever your approach was better? Can you make your project, your business, your business plan, whatever it is better because of that? Take that from them.

Learn from that. make it up for a tour to know and then go on and do something else. I've done that. I did that with Beyonce. I tried to get her in my movie obsessed. I asked Beyonce five times. And she told me no, five times.

She was not going to do my movie. And every time she said, no, I would ask her why and talk to the reasons of why. And she was very gracious, but very steadfast. And she was like, these are the reasons, these are the elements or whatever,

the schedule, or whatever it was. And I would say, okay, well, let me work on that. She said, you can do it if you want, but I'm not telling you I'm doing your movie. So like, if you do it, you do it on your own. And I said, I don't know, I understand. I'm doing it because I want to do it. But each time I actually made the movie better.

And the sixth time, I'd actually removed all the reasons she was saying, no, and it was a different project, but it was a better project. She made it better. And so her saying, no, I didn't say, well, F, F, she don't know. She's talking about F her, how dare she? And I also didn't say, oh, my God, it's over, right? like I'm not going to get my movie made. And I kept working and working and working it.

Same thing happened with Stomp the R. My Stomp the R movie, which was my first number one movie, right? Chris Brown, Columbus Short, a stepping movie at HBCU. Every studio told me no. Nobody wanted to make a black college movie. But I went back to a studio

that had a successful dance movie. Sony pictures they had done You Got Served. And I actually pitched that movie as a sequel to You Got Serne. And that's how I got that movie, Greenland. It became some. stop the movie I wanted to make. But they didn't want to make a movie about black fraternities and sororities at HBCU.

But dance, that was a genre that they understood. That was much more palatable. So I couldn't just sit steadfastly, say, I'm right, you're wrong. I had to figure out a way and be amenable and adjust. And so if you get no, you get rejected, how can you turn that into a fortuitous no and then come out the other side better for it? Last question for you. Yes, sir.

me, thank you, so jealous with your time. I have another podcast here at the bring a podcast that it's called The Midnight Voice, and we did an exercise on The Midnight Voice where we recast the movie Avengers Infinity War. Have you seen Avengers Infinity War before? I have, sir. I have.

Okay, but we recast it with an all-black cast. Oh, boy. Okay. So I'm going to give you some of our casting choices. Okay. Producer extraordinaire of Will Packard. And then I want you to Tell us, tell me how you think me, Chuck, Jomey, and Steve did. Okay.

Okay. So this is the OG Avengers that we cast. For Captain America, we put Aldous Hodge. Okay. For Iron Man, we cast Jamie Fox. For Thor, we cast Aaron Pierre. Okay. For the Hulk, Flash Bruce Banner, we cast Sterling K. Brown.

Okay. For Hawkeye. Yeah. Who we cast John David Washington. And for Black Widow, we cast Nicole Biharie. Give you a couple more. Yeah. Yeah, you like that.

Yeah, you like that. I'm liking it. Because you got a mix, you got some box office draws, right? You know, you got Jamie Fox in there. You got Aaron Pierre. But then you got Nicole Bihari, right? Like, just pure talent. You know what I mean?

Sterling K. Brown can do anything. Like, you got a good mix. I see it. I like to do that when I'm doing my ensemble cast. All right, keep going. Who else? Okay. So Caleb McLaughlin as Spider-Man. So we race-swapped everything.

Oh, that's nice. So we race-swapped everything. So we had to do a white, black panther. We had to do a white-black panther. So we put Dillon O'Brien as Black Panther. David O'Yellow Woe is Dr. Strange, Kiki Palmer, as Scarlet Witch, Jay Ellis, as Vision. I'll give you three more and that's it.

I love it. I love it. Loki. Lakeith Stanfield. Yes. Nick Fury. Billy Bob Thornton. And last one.

Thanos. Tyler Perry. Will, what do you think? How do we do? I left out the Star, I left out the Guardians, but I know you got to run. But Will, how do we do? Listen, I was with you. I was with you, dog.

You had me in. You put Tyler and Stano's dog? Listen, yeah. Listen, Tyler is my guy. Tyler can do anything. Now I'm wondering what we're doing with the movie, though. Once you put T.P. As Stano, like, you got him being evil and you got him, you know what I'm saying,

being like the straight, dramatic, like, listen, Tyler can do anything. He is an incredible actor. He's underrated as an actor. I wouldn't have made of Thanos, though. I feel like you need somebody that we want to hate. You don't want to hate Tyler. You need somebody that's, like, evil that wants to crush the world. Is that what we?

Okay, who's your black Thanos? Who's your black Thanos? Who, what's the first call you made? I mean, Terry Cruz comes to mind. He's already cast. We got Terry Cruz. You didn't say, Terry Cruz? Who is he?

I know, because I left out the Guardians of the Galaxy. We got Terry Cruz as drafts. Who do you have to? Plan. Wait, Captain Mackey was who before he's Captain America? He is Falcon. Falcon. Who got his Falcon? We didn't recast Falcons. We didn't recast Falc. We didn't recast him. But any white boy to do that. Donald Glover is Star-in-Mas. I can't go to him because he's in the universe. I can't go major. You can do it, but he's in the universe. But you can't go people that are not in it at all? Is that

the thing? Yeah. Because I would go majors for Thanos. You go majors for Nanos. Okay. going to make that. That would be a good Thanos, but I'm telling you right now, I think not only could Talapiri be Thanos, I think Medea could be Thanos. Okay, see, now you just, now you sit. Now you feel like

it's a little COVID rain going on. Now you just went too far. Ray, get you got. Okay, now, I feel like the hat is too tight around the room. No, Medea is not down. I was in it. What are we doing? I was ready to go. I was in it for this serious movie. I was even going to

give you Tyler and Stan. I was even like, you know what? Tyler can do it. Now you went Medea, you lost. You lost me. Now what are we doing? Huh? I'm telling you.

Think about it. Who is our audience? Are we trying to do comedy? We're trying to do comedy. We're trying to win awards. I told you, Van, you have to have a very clear purpose. You can't know. I'm telling you.

I need to. Y'all, but out here running around the galaxy. And what did that bring you? Back to me. Back to Medea. All right. Will Fucker. Thank you for joining us on high.

I want to have the book. Always a good time. Tell people about what you need to do. Are we looking for free orders? Like, tell us where to go, go find a book. Who better than you? Who better than you? I got it.

It's there. It's ready. You can go. You can get it. I'm doing a book tour. I called in some of my friends. I got Sonny hosting in New York. Luda in Atlanta.

Regina Hall in L.A., Kevin Hart Stewart, Miami. Stephen A. Smith is doing Tampa, so I got some stops. You can go to my Instagram and check it out. The book is available now. You get it in print. Amazon, wherever you buy your books, Audible, the audiobook. It's fun. It's life lessons. It is about how you can live in more fulfilling and blockbuster life, healthy arrogance and dreaming big. You got to dream big. You got to do hard things. The more you do hard things, the easier hard things become. So I'm taking some of my, it's the master class that I haven't done that I wish that I had. And I'm sharing it with the world. So I'm telling stories that I've been told before. Thank you, family. Thank you so much, Will. Appreciate your brother.

Thank you for joining us, Ohio learning, my man. All right, later, y'all. All right, guys, we're done. No more podcast. Before we leave, I want you guys to be watching on video. Watch on YouTube. Because this video I have to show you guys. Rachel, have you seen this video?

I've seen the video. It's in Texas. It's in Texas. and there's no reason for me to put this video in the show other than, man, get this cowboy some ice. This is the funniest video I've seen in a long time. All right, Donnie, running for the people right now.

It's already a video of the ear contender. Actually, Donnie, put it up for us real quick. Put it up for us real quick. Yeah, it's a sterile. Look, look, she's got, this woman is, she's found the cowboy of her dreams. Look, the police are out there. Look at this.

Look at this guy. He's riding. He's a Yellowstone. This is junk. Is he okay? Is he okay? Do we know? We don't know.

We don't know. We hope he's okay. We don't know. We don't know. That and the cop in Boston going down the slide. You know what that was? You know what that was? Healthy arrogance.

Healthy airship. All right. Just to let you guys know, we will be uploading interviews for higher learning next week, but it is Spotify Wellness Week. So barring anything super duper crazy happening, you won't be getting brand new episodes of higher learning next week. And it's wellness week for Spotify. So a lot of our support staff and people here are not going to be working. I guess we all know there's something incredibly crazy happens. We'll be here to talk to you guys about it. Maybe I'll do an Instagram live or maybe me and Rachel would jump on something like that. We can do something like that. But other than that, we will be uploading interviews that we have, but there won't be new higher learning in its higher learning in its higher learning for next week.

So happy wellness week to everybody at Spotify at the ring. Okay. Thank you, Will Factor, for joining this day on higher learning. Thank you guys for indulging my rant. I'm sorry about COVID-Brain. thing caps off. We do not stop learning. I'm very late at June.

I'm Rachel and Lindsay. Bye, guys.