Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - Remembering Virgil Abloh, and Omicron Reactions | Higher Learning | The Ringer

Episode Date: November 30, 2021

Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay reflect on the untimely passing of designer Virgil Abloh and discuss the ensuing Twitter debate over privacy in the face of an illness (11:13). Also, Jussie Smollett’s trial begins (21:42), the AMAs spark confusion after giving Doja Cat a pair of R&B awards (47:11), and a new COVID-19 variant emerges (53:44). Hosts: Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay Producers: Trudy Joseph and Donnie Beacham Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, yo, yo, thought warriors. What is up? Higher learning is on. Zai Van Lathan. And it's me, Rachel and Lindsay. That voice is hoarse. You sound like me. Is it a horse?

What's you been doing? I haven't really been like, I haven't really been going crazy. You know, Turks. I mean, Turks and Kekos. Turks. Turk. I like that word. You ever, you've been?

You've been, I've been. I've been to Turks and Kekos. It's a good time. You enjoy it? I loved it. It's a good getaway. What did you do when you were here? What did you do?

We stayed at the Palms. My cousin runs that and the sister property short club. That's where we are. It's very nice. It was getting, was it done? They were doing something to it when we were there. Anyways, we just chilled, went to different restaurants every day. They've got this big fish fry on Thursdays.

I don't know if it's still going on when you've been out there. Um, interesting. We did like snorkeling. We went and had, um, what is it called? The conk? That's the what? Yeah. Is that it?

It's the, it's the, it's the, it's the, I had a, fresh. I had a conk fritter. Okay. Yuck. It was good. As in it was fried. It was a, it was a conk fritter. It was like really good.

It was really good. Super good. Cong fritter. Cock fritter. Yeah, I had fresh conk fronk. They picked it out in the ocean. Yeah, fresh what? You know what?

You had a fried one. So what were we doing here? What are we doing here? You went down there and had some fresh what, Rach? Whoa. Rache. My's fresh and yours is fried. Let's go.

But you had a good time. I mean, you're having a good time. You're having a good time. It's cool. It's cool. It is, it's, I got to.

a lot of working through emotional stuff to do. Okay. Okay. It's just been a like it's it's we're getting into the holidays. Mm-hmm. And it's starting to hit me kind of hard. So I want to be honest with the people. Like I'm having fun, you know, I was on a jet ski today. I was able to jet ski around.

I had like a, uh, uh, jumped in water off of a boat. Very nice, very thankful. Um, but, you know, we're going to talk about it. And I guess we might as well discuss it. It, the untimely death of Virgil Ablo really bothered me. Hmm. Uh, it, it, it was something that everybody learned like, like, you know, we're here. We, we, we, we, we, We got in Friday. Saturday happened and Sunday. I don't know. I just got a lot of,

it's, I'm not finding the words on the podcast. And I talk for a living. It's difficult. Well, you know. You knew Virgil, right? No.

I had spoken to him before. Okay. But I wouldn't say that I knew him. Can I ask you? Yes. Because I feel like a lot of people are, a lot of people, you're not alone are struggling with the untimely death.

And I'm curious for you, is it because one, it was unexpected. Two, it was, he was so young. And then three, because he was suffering in silence and we had no idea. And I think that's, I guess for all those things, I would say for me or it, but just, it's just like you never know what people are going through. And he was, and then of course it brings back Chadwick Bowesman. And it just makes you think about, I don't know, re-evaluate your life and what you're complaining about and maybe what's in front of you.

And then you just never know what the next person is struggling with or, you know, even dying. Yeah. It's, uh, so, you know, I wasn't not, I was not expecting. You know, like it, like, my dad was sick. but like he wasn't going to die you know nobody said that was going to happen so

uh like I just like when it happened when it happened I just thought about like his kids and they didn't even get as much time with their dad as I got with my dad you know and it was um me and my dad had like so much more left to do

but if you've ever been in that spot where like someone calls you and tells you somebody that that's that close to you has passed away. You just like never want that to happen to anybody ever again, right? And obviously it's going to happen. You can't stop it from happening. But it, I don't know. It's a, it's difficult.

Because when you come out to a place like Turks, right? You know, you're in the water. your jet skiing, everybody's eating, everybody's dancing. It's like a full-on celebration of life. And normally when I'm carefree, like I'm a different person. There's van and then there's like island van. Van. It's like he's different, you know?

Yeah. He's got a little rum punch in him. You know, his hips are a little looser. Oh. You know what I mean? You know, oh, he likes to get it. He's lighter. He's lighter.

He's lighter. He's not talking about all kinds of crazy. But. something's just like it's pulling at me. It's pulling. It's like a ghost, weirdly enough,

a specter. Mm-hmm. That as soon as you, like, have a free moment, your mind is going to be like, hey, this is something you never got to do with your father. And then, like,

I wasn't really thinking about it until I read that. And I thought, Jesus, man, the grief train. just adds more passengers. Like how many passengers can the grief train hold? We're just

barreling down into the unknown just like with a train of grief. And I didn't think that it would bother me as much because, you know, Thanksgiving was all getting ready to come out on the trip. And then I was going to be back

and I got to have to work and do all of this stuff. It's big time. with a lot of stuff going on, but I'm just kind of waiting. Just waiting. Like I was in the water today, and I was treading water,

you know, showing everybody with a great swimmer I am, trading water out in the ocean. And I kind of feel like that in life sometimes. I'm just waiting, waiting, trying to keep my head above water. And it's, I'm starting to get tired. Like I'm sitting like my,

It's like, it's a, yeah, yeah, I'm starting to, um, we're starting to get tired. It's like, uh, the, the water is beautiful, but it looks a little bit less beautiful than it did when we used to come people come, come out here before. Hopefully it'll pass. Um, you know, if it doesn't, then I got to figure out different ways to cope and deal and all of that. stuff but I don't know it's it's good to get together good to see everybody good to celebrate birthdays and good to hang out with everyone but it's uh it's been a little bit different this time around well I think that one that's honest and I know somebody who's listening to this now is probably going through something similar and you talking about it is making them feel like

they're not alone. I think that it's honest to feel like you're just waiting, you know, for different reasons. I think we all feel like that. But at the same time, I don't think that it ever gets, it's like that that picture that I was telling you about, you know, I just think that over time you'll just be able to deal with the feelings that you have. But I don't think it ever goes away. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's very uplifting. Thank you for that. I'm just like, you want me to let, I kind of do.

I kind of want you to be like, hey man, six weeks you're going to be back up and around man, I'm not going to lie, bro. You're going to get back on the horse. Because I'm just such a believer

in processing your feelings and connecting with nature just brings something totally in a different way out of you. And you know, you don't have all the distractions that you have when you're here. And so you're probably dealing

with things that you've been able to sweep under the rug. I'm just a believer. I'm not trying to make. make you feel any kind of way. No, of course. No, I understand. A believer of processing it.

And I just, it will get better, though. No, of course it will. I'm also such a negative person. I'm sorry, Van. I'm sorry. Why are you negative? Just people say that about me. I'm not trying to be.

I don't think that you're negative. I think that you're, I think that you're better. It absolutely will. But I also believe in like being in the moment in whatever you're feeling, allowing yourself to feel that. You know something else? It's like,

Like my friend, like, all my friends can like, everyone here, Kaleek and everybody, they can always tell when I'm like down, right? And I miss the one person who can't tell the dog. Oh. Oh. I miss the dog, man. And who will be waiting for you when you get back? Oh, what a boy.

Oh, boy. You know I'm the emergency contact for Bose. Are you? No. I just don't know. Who decided that? Oh my gosh. You know we take dogs in over here.

You know we do. Why? Who decided that? I don't know. I don't know. I think I would want Bozeman. I think I want, I'm trying to think of who,

who I want Bozeman to. We are so good with dogs here. We've already taken in somebody else's dog. Yeah, I did. But I know. But Bozeman is, he's different, though. He's like a, he's like a human slash.

dog. He's a huge dog or a hog. He's like a human slash dog. He's like a human. I haven't met copper yet. I've heard this about copper though. Yeah. He's very very much so like a human. This is what I've heard. This is what I've heard.

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We should go a little deeper into Virgil Ablo and who he was. Now, it came as a shock to everyone that Virgil Abelho passed away a couple of days ago at the age of 41. He had a very rare form of cancer. called cardiac angiosarcoma that is essentially a tumor on your heart or tumors in and around that area. It is very aggressive, very fast moving, and the prognosis is not good once you are diagnosed with it. He was diagnosed with it back in 2019, and he had all the treatment.

that you can have. He had a bunch of chemotherapy. He was enduring this privately, trying to obviously be there for his friends, his family, and his industry. He is the CEO of Off White. So if you ever saw the people wearing the people, people wearing the shoes,

they got the orange tags on them, off White was an incredibly popping brand, like super poppy. And like a super popping brand. And then he went on to do work at Louis Vuitton. He had basically influenced everyone. Virgil Ablo had influenced everyone. And, you know, Virgil Abelow was a guy that people had had some fun with him. You know, like he's being a celebrity, he wasn't without, I guess, missteps or quote unquote controversies or whatever. But everyone loved him. Everyone was inspired by him. He inspired people. not just in fashion, but in music. He had designed many different album covers, and he had dressed the whole entire industry in terms of hip-hop. And to be a black man that had the position that he did at Louis Vuitton was just,

it shouldn't be, but it was absolutely trailblazing. So it was just very sad. It's like a titan in culture, like a cultural titan. and a trailblazer passed away gone too soon. Yeah. No, I mean, very well said. I couldn't agree with you more. Not just being a black man,

but also being so young and accomplishing so much. And what I would continue to see people say is that one thing from his life that you could learn is that he believed in living it and taking advantage of every moment and every opportunity that was in front of him, not waiting for those moments to happen, but creating them.

So if you didn't know him before, you should definitely research and see all that he did and the impact that he had on the culture, even outside of the culture. I mean, even he really touched a lot of different people. Oh, culture. Yeah, culture. Yeah, period. Not just our culture. Yeah. Yeah.

But our culture is culture. We are culture. But, but yeah, Virgilabolo is a cultural tit. Just an amazing, amazing, amazing human being. So, now, it sparked a debate. It sparked a debate. Interesting to get your take on this debate. Virgil Ablo's death was shocking,

much in the same way that Chatwood Bozeman's death was. Because although there have been some pictures of Chadwick where he looked kind of thin, we did not know he was sick. He chose privacy and Virgil Abelow chose privacy. We had no idea of Virgil was sick. I don't know anyone who wasn't shocked by this. There are people that are saying it's in a way not fair as I guess would be the complaint about it

that you have people who love you, you have people who follow you and who are inspired by you. and there's no preparation. One day they wake up and you've passed away. You're already shaking your head. What are your thoughts? I mean, people talk to. I didn't even realize I was shaking my head, man. You already, I see it.

There was debates on Twitter between fighting illnesses in public and inviting them in private. There were people that were like they would have wanted to know and be prepared for Virgil's passing or for Chadwick Bowman's passing. That is so selfish. I'm sorry. Yes, I'm shaking my head. I just feel like that's such a selfish thought because it's not about you. It's about that person and how they wanted to spend the remainder of their life, how they wanted their loved ones to view them.

I don't think, and maybe you can call it a little selfish that they chose to do it in that way and not tell you, but maybe they wanted you to remember them full of life and not think of them as somebody who was sick or feel sorry for them. They wanted you to see them like you always see them. And I think you have to respect people's privacy at the end of the day. And if that's how they chose to spend their last days walking this earth, then that's absolutely they're right. And who are we to tell them you should have done this?

Or I wish you would have done this so I could prepare. Imagine what that person was going through as they were getting their affairs in order, knowing that, you know, it was the beginning of the end for them. Yeah. You niggas need to get off the internet You niggas have jumped the shark I'm just being for real I can't even believe this was a debate

Y'all jumped the shark There's I'm here in Turks There's sharks out here in this water most likely Hope to not see any No there are And y'all niggas have just jumped over the sharks You jumped the shark Come on man

We're not going to spend too much time on this because the reality is that there are people that this wasn't private to. It was private to Virgil, but it wasn't private to his family. It wasn't private to those people closest to him. It wasn't private to his inner circle of friends, his inner inner circle.

They knew. Right? So he needed to draw on them and get love from them to be strong enough to go fight the thing. And maybe to be honest with, you this should tell you guys something how toxic this entire social media culture is that people are going through this and they don't feel like they can turn to social media or any of

these other public outlets and get encouragement and get energy they know that there are going to be some people out there with crazy things to say there are going to be some people out there that are talking about whatever whatever i saw tweets they're talking about how cancer is preventable and what we have to do with our diets and all of that stuff like that. Look, man, it's never a wrong time to talk about health, but it's, it's the wrong time. What I'm saying is nobody owes you niggas, nothing. Nothing. And when I say niggas, I mean everybody, don't nobody owe y'all nothing?

I tell you all if I'm sick. I tell you guys if somebody in my life is sick, if it's helpful, if you're going to feel like you're going to get reassurance, it's fine, but come on, man. God damn. We need more board games. or like the people got to find something to do. Do people still play Connect 4? I don't know if they play Connect 4,

but there are board games out there that people do play. This is what I'm saying. Cards, something. Every time y'all about to say something that's fucking dumb is that or think piece something to death, go play some Connect 4, man. Some TikTok. Too many think pieces, not enough Connect 4.

All right, we got a lot of think pieces. but if I wanted to get a Connect 4 game right now, I couldn't get one. But I love playing Connect 4. Don't you love it? I love Connect 4. I do. Blue and red.

It's not blue. It is blue. It's blue and red. It's black and red. No, that's Checkers. What the fuck is happening here? What is going on here? I was ready to argue you down.

That it was black and red. I was thinking checkers. I was thinking checkers. Forgive me. Forgive me. There's another game out there. Definitely red though. Definitely red.

Wow. What I will say though is towards the debate, I did see something. Shout out to Justin Moore. My friend posted on social media where he said, you know, it made him really think about where we are as a community and our engagement when it comes to cancer and cancer prevention. And he's talked about how there should be a larger conversation about it because black African-American people in the U.S. have the highest cancer mortality and shorter survival rate of any racial or ethnic group. So I will say it is a conversation that we need to have to be more

aware. And maybe that's not the right time to have it, but it was an interesting post that I saw because I was like, huh, we don't maybe talk about it enough. I never knew that statistic about how that affected our community. So it is something that, you know, maybe right now is not the time to talk about it, but we should be more engaged with it if it's affecting us in that way. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe my emotions got the better of me there.

Look, let me tell you something, Rachel. No, that debate is stupid. That debate is stupid. Rich, let me vindicate you really quickly. I am seeing Connect 4 with three different colors. I'm seeing red and yellow. I'm seeing, of course, the red and blue that I'm used to playing. And I am definitely seeing.

Connect for on the cover of the box, red and black for Rach. Just loud and wrong. Thank you. I'm not crazy. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I want to go home.

I'm done. I'm done. I feel like my work is done today. Rach. Rach, guess what? What? You did it. Okay.

It's court time. Justice Spillitz. trial starts today. Okay, Rachel. Okay. If you guys remember, Justice Smolett, who is now 39, was indicted on six counts last year by Cook County, Illinois grand jury for allegedly faking the robbery and assault that had the internet on fire in 2018.

It's Jesse Smolett, okay, it's from Empire. It's an activist as well. Be honest with you Do we still say that? Full disclosure What I'm about to say? What? I know Jesse Smolett

Did you have a quote for us? I don't have a quote for you But I just want to let people know Because they always say stuff about the people that I know What are you about to say? There's only one opinion to have here What's the opinion, Rachel? Wait, wait.

Do you believe he's guilty or not guilty? I'm going to be honest. with you. I'm going to be honest with you. I'll be honest with you. I believe he's guilty. Okay. Okay.

But I will say this. I will say this. I'll tell you this. I believe he's guilty. Believe he's guilty. Just looking at everything. It's weird. I will say this though.

Jesse Smollett has maintained his innocence in this from day one. It's all he can do. Has stuck to his story from day one. has a bunch of people around him that also maintain his innocence, right? That he did not do this. He has a complete explanation for all of this. It's going to come out during the trial. And even though my gut tells me, just with the preponderance of evidence that I see,

that he's guilty, I am saying this, not only am I hoping that I am wrong, desperately hoping that I am wrong. But there is a possibility. That's why I'll ask you, Rach. Do you believe that there is a possibility that Jesse Smolett is innocent of the crimes that they are saying that he committed? Okay.

We were trying to talk this out at work today because this is like really big news. I didn't realize how big of the deal. I didn't realize it was starting this week. This is everywhere at the moment, okay? And to refresh your minds in January 2019, Jesse Smollett alleged that he was attacked by two racist white men, fill in the blanks where I missed this,

who tried to put a noose around his neck and yelled what racist things. Maga. They said maga towards him. Okay. Okay. And everybody, this caught fire. I was one of the people who posted on social media. Of course.

I posted a picture of me and Jesse together. and I was really... Oh, wow. Yeah, see. Total traitor. Well, I didn't say that I know him. Total traitor. But I definitely post and I was like, hope that you get better.

You know, this whole thing. And then it came out that two men that he worked with on Empire at one time, that he had paid them to stage this attack. I believe there was. Well, there were trainers, alleged trainers. That's what they said. Wasn't they on empire? trainers. But they were only on Empire though, if they were only on Empire, if memory serves correct,

because he was their trainers and then he got them jobs as extras on Empire. From what I remember, it's been a long time since I dove into the Justice Malette pool. But he apparently wrote them checks and I believe there's proof of these checks. So here's my thing. I was talking about this at work today and I'm trying to understand. Okay, he wrote them checks. He could easily say, oh, I was paying for training. Oh, I was paying for this. But he said that he was attacked by white men. Right. Right. Right. You knew that the men who attacked you at least weren't white. Right. They have what? They had sunglasses on at two in the morning. I'm asking. Well, well, there's, I'm not sure what the actual story is going to be, but there's going to be a story. So what if he

thought that the man that attacked him were white? But, they really weren't. Okay, so they would have had to have their eyes covered because mind y'all, it was also two in the morning that he was getting a subway. Have we confirmed that subways open at two in the morning in Chicago in that area? Subways, hold on, hold on. Subways open. Look, now I got my pin out.

Now I'm just a molest defense lawyer. Subway is open at different times all over the country. Okay. And by the way, he also maintains that he had just gotten off of a flight not too long ago. the flight landed. He got home. He was hungry. He had wanted to go to subway.

I would ask, I would ask counsel, Miss Lindsay. Okay. Have you ever gone to a place at 2 a.m. in the morning for food? And if you say no, I will remind you that you are under oath. And it wasn't too long ago. We talked about a place in Texas called Fuel City, where you would go and get food at night at 2 a.m.

Got me. Okay. But here's a thing. Here's a thing. I would never go by myself. As a woman at night, it's in the morning. I would not go by myself.

Fuel City's popping at two in the morning. Okay? It's the after party. Hey, so many motherfuckers hit me up about Fuel City. I got to chop fuel City, man. Fuel City is lit, Doc.

I'll be real with you. This is what I give my street crib back. You know, obviously, it's something that takes it away. But then when I drop a Fuel City, they'll be like, oh, okay, okay, okay, okay. Texas is fucking with you. But here's the thing.

I just can't reason why he would pay them unless even if they had on gloves, a hat, and a scarf. The surrounding parts of their eyes would have shown that they were not white. Okay? I just don't understand it. I'm very curious as to what will come out. The judge has ordered that there cannot be cameras in the courtroom, which I actually like. I think it's such a distraction when you have cameras in. So we'll be getting pieces of what's happening in trial day by day.

but I personally think he's guilty. He has been, and if you're also following the case, you know that he was charged, then they dismissed all the charges, which makes you feel like, okay, they didn't have enough evidence to move forward, but then due to public pressure, they brought in a special prosecutor who then file charges again against him, this time felony disorderly conduct. I didn't even know that was a charge. And so if he is found guilty on all six counts,

he could face up to three years in prison. I don't think that's going to happen. but you know let's say let's say for let's just say for argument's sake but his career his career is like done his career isn't done why you want to say that about just because i just don't i just think that there's so much it would be years before i think that he could come back and i think it would have to be in steps like a hallmark movie maybe a lifetime movie i think i just you might want to you might want to you might want to you might want to keep a lookout oh oh you got you got you got you got You got Intel?

You might want to keep a lookout. Look. I mean, there could be a whole lifetime story surrounding this. You know what I mean? Let's say that he did do it. He's buying Christmas gifts for someone at 2 a.m. Let's say that he did do it, right? Let's say, for argument's sake that he did do it.

Let's say he did do it. So what? That he did? Yeah, so what, right? I always felt this way, by the way. No. No. What kind of person does that?

What kind of person does that? No, no, no, no, no. It is not a so what. So hoax. Are you okay? It's a hoax. But that's not a hoax. A hoax is like dropping a water balloon on somebody from a hotel window.

A hoax is not. A hoax is not. So wait, you want, so if in fact he did do it, you want them to throw the book at Jussie Smolett? No, I didn't say the three. I said he's not going to get three years. So what I'm saying is what's the- someone hiring him again. Because I can't see it, I can't see it any other way.

When I see him, I see that he staged an attack, which was so unnecessary. I don't know what kind of person thinks to do that. Why you felt the need to do that. I just can't see him any other way. I can't. Would you, would you, would you hire Jesse Smolett for something? No. For what? Why?

Why? Why? Why? Why? Like a prank show? A prank show? That would be hilarious if they had Justice Smolett to do a prank show. Hosting the show.

But look, but why everybody else, let's say he did do it, right? Why everybody else get a second chance and not Justice Smolet? Why are you saying Justice Smolet career got to be over? I didn't say I'm down for, his people that have done worse, way worse. I just can't imagine it. I just can't, like, my, I'm more so concerned about your mental health, why you felt like that was okay to do. Right. and why you wanted to do that.

Like, is everything okay? What was the reasoning behind that if he's found guilty? If he's found guilty, if, and by the way, and by the way, when Justice Smollett beats the case, when Jesse Smolett beats the case, I want the entire culture to celebrate. Because all they want to do is throw our brothers in jail. All they want to do through our brothers in jail.

But they brought this song for himself. Mad, God, we can't argue there. Hey, can't argue there. Look, and here's the thing. And, you know, Justin might listen to this and be surprised to hear me say. Does he listen to our podcast? No.

He's listening to before. He's busy. He's busy. Like, he might listen to this and be surprised to hear me say that in my heart of hearts, I think that he's guilty. It's just that when you lay the evidence out, it doesn't look good. It doesn't look good. It doesn't.

When you, oh, that's okay. Oh, water and chocolate. It's great, though. Thank you. You always have room service every single time you're away and you pop- It's not room service. There was the housekeeping. Okay, housekeeping.

Somebody's always knocking at your door. It happens a lot, the hotels. But yeah, so, so yeah, you know, I'm hoping that he beats it. And last thing I'll say about this, people say, I want to shoot back against a narrative right now where people say, if Justice Millett did this, then you got to throw the book at Justice Millett because, oh, thank you very much. If Justice Millett did this, then you got to throw the book at Justice Millett because... You too, ma'am.

You too. Because the next time someone makes an actual complaint, the police aren't going to follow through with it because of what Justice Malette did. That's part of the problem. do you guys realize that the police can't do that? Just want to make sure everybody knows. Like if the fire department goes out

to a fire, right? And it's a false alarm. They go out to a fire. False alarm. No fire. Like someone swatted them or a kid played a joke. The fire department can't then go the next time somebody calls them. The fire department can't go. You know what? The last time we went out it was a hoax. So I don't think that we're going to go out this time because the last time

we went out for a fire, these kids were playing around and being wacky. They can't do that. The police have to stop accepting crumbs. The police, I don't care if a million people hoax the police. If the police get a criminal complaint, they have to investigate it. If I'm walking down the street and I get the and I'm the victim of a racist attack and I go to the cops and the cops say because of Justice Smolk what Justice Smolette did

they're not going to look into it bullshit the cops can't do that the cops have to go out and investigate crimes they sure do but guess what doesn't have to happen a prosecution right you're not looking at the other side of it you're not looking

but even a prosecution if a if a if a If there's not enough evidence to, if there's not enough evidence to prosecute, that's one thing. But if they say they're not prosecuting because of what Justice Smolet did. Well, they wouldn't say that. Nobody's going to say, I'm not prosecuting this because of what Jesse Smolett did. Nobody's going to say that. But you can't lie that, you can't deny that in the back of somebody's mind, if there's a very similar scenario, you might not think, you might think, oh, gosh, we've been here before.

I'm not saying that they won't follow through and there won't be law and order. but I'm just saying it does make people think, huh, like what if this happens to another famous person, right? But it really happens. Okay. It really happens. So what? If someone is the, I'm telling you.

No, everybody's going to think. You're right. You're right in the sense that yes. As black people, we expect less. I'm telling you. But I don't think they should throw the book at him. No, I know. But what I'm saying is we expect less because we expect what somebody did in Chicago, Illinois,

to be able to affect us. And look, maybe it does. But the reality is it shouldn't. Like you, that thought, that thought that, oh my God, the cops are going to stop believing us because one got, that's kind of nuts. I don't think that's that's that. I don't think you can make that much of a generalization, but you can't deny that people, if there's a very similar circumstance that people might, like the people involved

investigating or potentially prosecuting, might be like, huh, well, you know, we might want to look at this another way because there was that just a small case. I'm just saying. I'm just saying. Jason Millet, man. I can't look at him any different. I just can't. He's got to play the part.

From here on out, he's got to play that person, that character. The movie's got to be about that, that, that. But that's what that's his. That's his next role. If he's not guilty, he makes a movie about this. And there you go. Justice Millett is talented. He's going to beat the case.

He is talented. I think what I think, but I hope that I'm wrong. And the reality is, is guilty or innocent. Justice Milette has done a lot. He's an activist. He's done amazing things for AIDS awareness. He does amazing things for the culture.

We should support Justice Malay. And he still can. And he still can. And he still can. He still can. He still can. But he needs your support, Rachel. He needs your support, Rachel.

I did support him. You're trying to soup kitchen him. I did support him. I posted a picture. I wished him well. I was so upset. I was so outspoken about it. Um, guilty verdicts in the Amad Arbery trial all the way around.

Right. This happened last week. Uh, we couldn't give you a podcast on it because, you know, it was between podcasts. Sometimes news drops between podcasts. Uh, Rachel, your thoughts? I mean, obviously, I, I was at work and I was like, man, if this goes a different way, I'm going to have to excuse myself from work. I'm just, I'm not, I'm not going to be able to handle all this.

But I think, I guess I don't really have much to say. I'm, I'm happy that they, were found guilty. I think it's sad that, one, I have to be happy over that because at the end of the day, it doesn't bring back a mod, but I hope that it gives some sort of comfort

to the family. But at the flip-in, on the other end of it, I hate that I even had to hold my breath because there was a possibility that they could be found not guilty because that is the society we live in. That's the justice, justice, or legal system, I should say,

that we are a part of, like that that runs our country. And the fact that it could have happened despite there being video evidence is wild to me. And then I just kept thinking this happened in February of 2020. We didn't find out, we didn't get the video publicly until May 2020. And I just kept thinking, what if we had never perceived the video, these people probably would have gotten off? They would have gotten off. They had to be, there had to be, like, we have to have every single thing to possibly get, possibly get a guilty verdict. Doesn't even guarantee that.

And that's all I could think of. But I am happy that they were found guilty. And I hope they were in prison. Yeah, yeah. I hope they were in prison. I am obviously happy with the verdict. Of course, this is justice in a societal standpoint in a universal, cosmic standpoint, this is not justice once you take a life. There's no justice for that.

Life is gone forever. Those memories and experiences are out in the ether with God. You cannot repair or restore that. Our lives have value. In terms of societal harmony, it is justice because that's kind of what we're banking on to keep things moving forward. My thoughts and prayers are obviously with the spirit of Amad Arbery and with his family. Like I said, before, I wish we had better things to celebrate. But I tell you what, I had it gone the other way. I'm on the first thing smoking to Georgia. I said the same thing at work.

Yep. Yep. On the first thing, smoking to Georgia. Do whatever I can. All right, let's take a break. 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.

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scene. Imagine being a million miles away. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about trim fire. Tap this ad to learn more about trim fire, including important safety information. Man, Ari Lennox, the homie, arrested in Amsterdam for disturbing the public order after she said she was racially profiled by airline staffed. Authorities arrested Ari Lennox on Monday morning. and Chipole, I don't know, I don't know what it is. Come on, Dutch. Come on Dutch people. Get your words together so I can be more, you know, have more accessible words.

I love you, Dutch. As she accused airline staff of racial profiling, the military police said that she was being held in custody for disturbing public order. I watched her tweet about this this morning. She landed in the Netherlands. She said she was racially profiled. Then she was arrested. Now, if you remember, this is not the same place because that was sweeten, but this is the same area.

Area. I'm going to paint them all with a broad brush where they had Aesab Rocky over there in the bang. In the bang. They had them in the bing for like a long time, you know. God, I forgot about that. You forgot about, you know who got them out? Kanye. Kanye West,

why don't you get that man his credit so hard on this man. I just said Kanye. Get that man as credit for doing this thing, Rach. It's a different time.

Okay. My question to this is obviously Ari Lennox 10 times solid 100 out of 100 in the culture. But is there ever a time

where someone claims Rachel profiling and you don't believe them? Jesse Small. Oh my God. I'm not. I was like, is this a trick question? Because I'm going with Jesse.

It's funny that you're asking this question because that goes into exactly kind of what we were talking about before. When you have a Jesse, it makes you question other people. It's so whack. You can't do that. You can't do yourself. You can't do that. Man, that's not fair. Some people are going to lie about it.

You know what? That's like, would you do that with sexual assault? Would you say that because the girl lied in the Duke LaCross? See what I'm saying? Would you say that because the girl lied in the Duke LaCross case, which she lied, because the girl lied in the Duke LaCross case, then that means the next time somebody should be able to, hey, in the Duke LaCross case, like that she wasn't telling the truth. Of course.

It's just saying it's why we got to deal with this same shit, man. And you're like, but, no, I, listen, I, it never even crossed my mind that Ari Lennox. Wait a minute. Did I just say that this, by the way, did I just say that Sweden and the Netherlands were the same thing? No, you said area. You said same area. I don't even know if it's the same area, but go ahead, Rich. I'm sorry.

Well, it's all Scandinavian. They're Scandinavian countries. Scandinavia. Have you been over there? Have you been to Sweden? or Amsterdam. Nah, I want to go to, I want to go,

where's the Little Mermaid from? That's Denmark, right? I've been to Denmark. Copenhagen. Yeah, yeah, I forgot about that because there's a statue of her. Did you see her? There's a statue of her.

I would like to go and talk to that statue. See, this is the type of shit. Okay, flounder? Can I tell you about this? Can I tell you about this? Before we'll get back on this whole Ari Lenox thing, but can't tell you about this?

I want to talk to the statue to see if it comes to life. because look I always when I was a kid I used to always think that these guys that wrote these stories these they were writing them based on real experiences that they had you know Barry who wrote Peter Pan so maybe that was him maybe he was Peter Pan you know what I mean he wrote about his own life you know the little mermaid and then it's so she's so popping over there that they built house now she'd have legs now but no but what I'm saying is maybe I'm the voice that if I talk to her she'll come to life right then and I love that you want to go all the way to Copenhagen. For a white woman. For that? I'm sorry, man. I'm sorry, believe it.

Oh, too good. Honestly, you would have so much fun in Denmark. We went on my season. Went on the bachelor's. Very nice. Okay. I have no reason to doubt Ari Lennox is really what I was trying to get to this entire time. If she says that she was racially proficient,

filed. Did she say how? No, not necessarily. I was reading the tweets, but she was just basically saying that she was being racially profiled. Then she talked about the fact that she was actually being arrested after the subsequent accusation of el racial profilo. So, yeah, I don't know. I don't know exactly in the way that it's, I'm sure she's very transparent and very open on her socials. I'm sure we'll get the entire story pretty soon.

But it just made me wonder about, because people were talking about the racial pro. There are certain people that, if they would say that they were racially profiled, people would like not believe them or not care. You know, at this point, if Terry Cruz came out and said, hey, I've been racially profiled, we'd be like, but like, but if Ari Lennox says it, she's got so much cultural credibility that we know that. No reason about her. Yeah.

Yeah. But like Terry Cruz would know he was, would know. You know what I mean? He would never claim that. I like the way he's been out here. in the public, I have a hard time believing that. You know, like Mike Tarrico would never say he's been, he's been

racially profiled. Now you got beef with Mike Tarrico? I mean, what's the deal? I'm just saying. He doesn't think he's black. So I'm just saying people like that. That bothers you when people don't think they're black like that? It bothers me that Mike Tariko calls himself Italian and not black.

I'm going to be honest with you. He doesn't even think he's African American. Like, that's the point. Sweden to Amsterdam in a car is 16 hours. I don't know if you can say that those places are like, I think I'm fucked up on this.

I think I fucked over because the Dutch are the Dutch and then the Swedes are the Swedes. I think I fucked over. I think I fucked over the Swedes by saying it was the same thing because it's 16 hours and 45 minutes. That's like from here to like Arizona, man.

I'm not here in New Mexico. No, that's actually hit it. Okay. but that's Texas to New Mexico. Like, no, I'm saying like, I'm saying like Los Angeles to Texas. You can't really say that that's the same. That's kind of,

I'm kind of fucked over there. That would be more than 16 hours. But listen, they're both, they're Scandinavian countries. That's the North, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Finland,

and the Farrell Islands. All right, that's fine. That's Farrell, like, Ronan Farrow. Ronan Farrell, the Ronan Farrell Islands. Yeah,

we'll give you more on R.A. Linux as more comes out. But we ride with R.A. Linux. All right. We ride with you. Doja Cat won Best R&B category at the American Music Awards. The AMAs. The Cracker J. Jack and the Jack Jack Jacks is what they're known as. The AMAs.

That's what they call them. She, uh, people got pissed off about this. They said she is not R&B. She is pumped. favorite female artist and soul R&B category and people got mad at Doja part of this is because we still

haven't really gone back and reconciled the whole show and the feet I think people still got people still kind of does racial chat room showing feet does that was called it's called showing feet how can you not know about this

no let me tell you what I'm confused I know she was in the chat rooms and I know that she was allowing people to like call her certain things. But why are you saying showing feet? Clip this. Okay. Well, no, no.

Is that a term? Hey, man. Clip this. This is what I, this is what we need. Donnie, I'm not fucking around. No, don't look it up, Rachel. Rachel, don't Google it. Rachel, don't Google it.

So she, so I guess, so wait a minute, this is hilarious. So I guess that there was a. At some point in the chat room that Doja Cat put her feet up or she was letting the guys look at her feet or they were getting off to her feet or something like that. And then Norieaga just out of nowhere, shout out to Norie. Norie just said, he sent out a tweet called, she was in racial chat room showing feet. That's all the tweet said with three exclamation parts behind it. And it was just so funny. He didn't even say her name.

He didn't say nothing. Like she was in racial chat room showing feet. And so now showing feet is classically what Doja Cat's whole episode is about. And really, whatever anyone is out there tap dancing for the white man being a white man's nigger. It's basically for a lot of people talked about as showing feet. Showing feet. Okay. Showing feet.

Okay. The Doja Cat apparently was showing feet. All right. We win it. We got an outrage. Oh, clip that. Oh, if you both clip. clip my fuel city stuff.

Don't clip fuel city too. Okay. Do you have a problem with Doge Cat winning this award? Yes. I do. Oh, okay. I actually do because you got to look at everybody else that's in that category with her. And it's like, who doesn't belong?

Okay, this is who else is in the category. Her, Jasmine Sullivan, Janaya Iko, and Siza. Cizza. Okay. And then Doja Cat. Who doesn't belong in the group? And to add to that, Doja Cat was also nominated for favorite pop artist, favorite female pop artist. And her song was nominated for favorite pop song.

Doja Cat is pop. And I think it's unfair for her to be in both categories. When you look at who was nominated for pop artists, Ariana Grande, Duolipa, Olivia Rodriguez, Taylor Swift, that fits. She fits in that category. But Jasmine Sullivan is not going to be in that category. Janae Iko is not going to be in that category. Like it's not fair. And the fact that she has a chance to win in both

and then she wins an R&B when that's not really what her music is, not really fair for her to win it. The other women never stood a chance. So I understand the complaint, especially when you see what else she was nominated for. I think it should be one or the other. Okay.

Let's have a conversation. Okay. Aren't there acts that at certain times cross genres? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Would you say like Prince could be in R&B and rock and maybe even pop? Prince definitely has R&B songs for sure. Okay.

Okay. Okay. But do you think it's, you're right. But do you think it's fair? that in the same year, you're saying that that album is both, and you get to be nominated for both? Yes, I do. Okay.

Because what I'm, like, what I'm saying is you could even nominate Doja Cat and hip hop. I give her hip hop over R&B. So I guess I listen to Say So. Mm-hmm. And I hear R&B vibes on say so. You know what I mean? But it's a pop song. Okay.

So what's the, what's the line then? I'm saying? So like, Kiss Me More is totally a pop song and that's why it was nominated for that. You got Sizz on that and it's still a pop song. Can be honest with you? Two women who are nominated under R&B and it's still listed as a pop song. So here's the thing.

If you want to keep the R&B, if you want to keep R&B pure, right? Then you have to only go for the real, real, real R&B, right? Because then their acts. So wait, hold on, hold on, there are acts who blur the line of R&B and pop always have been. Usher blurs the line of R&B and pop. I would say Beyonce blurs the line of R&B and pop.

Sometimes even El Rihanna blurs the line of R&B and pop. You know what I mean? And I'm saying that when I saw this, I think Doja Cat is more in that mold. You know, she's a cat. I see Doja Cat as pop. And I think when I looked at the people who were, the women who were listed in the favorite female R&B artist category,

they are true R&B. True R&B. There's no crossover. And then the fact that when I was like, oh, well, she was nominated for pop artists. Like, let's just, like, to me, she's more pop. She sometimes touches into R&B, but she's pop. She's pop.

And the ladies need the true R&B ladies need to shine. I got you. Yeah. Yeah, point me, right? Point me. This episode is brought to you by WeatherTech. Everyone knows winter is the MVP and making a mess. You don't need weather tech floor liners in the summer unless you hit the beach or go camping.

Then you'd want a cargo liner or a road trip goes sideways, ketchup goes rogue, ice cream drips. Yeah, you'd be pretty happy about those weather tech seat protectors. So just to be clear as the mud, you're inevitably going to step into the summer. You don't need weather tech unless you plan on doing summer. Visit weathertech.com today. This episode is brought to you by Two Good and Company coffee creamers. Howdy take your coffee, piping hot, ice, strong, frothy. But if you love rich, creamy goodness and delicious flavor in every sip,

try Two Good and Company creamers. They're made with farm-fresh cream and real milk. Each serving has just three grams of sugar, 40% less than the leading coffee creamers. Two good creamers are available in sweet cream, roasted vanilla, and lavender. So which one are you trying first? find two good creamers at your local retailer in the creamer aisle. Oh, Rach, I don't know if you knew, but like while I was gone, some new shit dropped just in time for Black Friday and the new products.

The Omarion variant has dropped. Okay. That's not okay for you going to be calling in that. Better get vaccinated like you posed to be. You're going to be coughing like you posed to be. Wow. You're going to be hacking like you posed to be. Oh, don't get close to me.

or you're going to have a fever like you post that. How long have you been holding on to that? I just came to me. I just came to me. Say it away for me. Are you going to be sick like you post to be? Respirator like you post to be? Okay.

Oh my gosh. Too much. Too much. They went too far. Went too far at the end. The Omicron variant, okay, is apparently 500% more transmissible than the Delta. 500% they say it can be more transmissible than the Delta.

Joe Biden says it's not a cause for concern. He addressed the American people from the White House and he said get the coronavirus vaccine because the best protection against this new variant or any of the variants out there is the vaccine, although I have read time after time that we don't know yet the level of protection that our current vaccines will give us against this variant. Okay. It has been designated a variant of concern. It's what you should know about the homicromarine.

South Africa confirmed late last week, scientists had detected a variant with high numbers of mutations. Here's a deal. How a number of mutants? You guys, this didn't come from South Africa is that South Africa has the greatest epidemiologists, great sequencing. That's why they're finding them there. It's not necessarily coming from South Africa. So get off South Africa's nuts sacks.

All right. Several countries in killing the United States have travel bans now. The travel bans, some say are useful. Others say the travel bans are completely bullshit that they're not going to work at all. This is window dressing by the Biden administration. There's not a lot of reasons.

research right now, but people are worried about a search. Rachel, how worried are you about the varian variant? I think when I originally got worried was when I realized we were on Omicron. Okay? What happened to the letters in between Delta and Omicron? Oh, I'll tell you what happened. Anybody else asking that? Epsilon, Ada. I'll tell you what happened, Rachel. What else? What else? Mew, Lambda. What happened? How do we skip to Omicron? What happened in between? Do you know? Do you really now? I don't.

Oh, I do now. First of all, I'm going to say three words. I want to tell me what jumps out of your brain. First, Lambda, Lambda, Lambda. Who are they? I don't know. Who's Lambda Lambda Lambda? Wow, very upsetting.

Okay, so this is why this is happening. Wait, who's Lambda, Lambda, Lambda? Don't worry about it. Is this showing fee? No, it's not sure. Let me tell you. why we're on this. I'll tell you why. So when you don't get the vaccine

and the virus is running rampant through your body, you don't have any protection, this is what happens, man. Viruses replicate themselves, but they don't do it very efficiently, not very good at replicating themselves, all right? So they replicate themselves a billion times,

a billion times, they throw it out there just hoping for one of them to be able to get through the protection that your body or that the vaccine or whatever has put up, right? So what happens is these variants that you see, the longer either herd immunity or the vaccine doesn't take, you get more variants because you get more people with more virus in their body within working overtime. All right. So more people that have the virus going crazy, the more the higher the chance of a sustainable variant getting out there.

And when I say sustainable variant, I don't mean, because most of the variants are kapit, right? Most of them don't work. But if there's even one out of that billion that figures out how to get around the protection, then that variant can become dominant very quickly. I'll tell you something else that happens. They can get worse. We've been lucky, okay? We've been lucky.

Even some of the early reports about the Omicron variant say that it might be mild. It might be, the cases coming back from it are mild. It might actually be mild. Keyword is might. We don't know. I'm telling you guys, I'm telling you guys, I'm not trying to scare anybody. I'm not trying to scare you to do it something you don't want to do. But if a variant pops up, that's 5%.

That's 10%. That's even 3% more deadly than what we've been dealing with. It is going to be a fucking nightmare. like if it was so if COVID kills so if COVID kills are less than 1% of the people that come in contact with it imagine if that number was five imagine if that number was 10 now I'm not sure what the chances are that that'll happen

and I'm not sure what would have to happen to increase the letality of of the virus itself but man it's tough it's tough sledding out here Rachie Yeah, no, I mean, it's scary because it's just like as soon as, one, we're around the holidays, so there's all this travel. Two, it's like we're stepping into another year and we're thinking, okay, we're improving, things are getting better. And then you hear this, it's scary. And you still have people fighting, getting the vaccine. We're just now getting boosters.

It's like, do we need another booster to combat this new variation of the virus? It's a lot. It's a lot. It concerns me. You could put all the mites and all of that in front of it. just the fact that there is a variant that is causing enough attention to where you're having countries ban travel to me it's serious yeah it's very serious it's not window dressing it's not and it's definitely not cornbread dressing do you like that do you like cornbread dressing

my mom makes great cornbread dressing i don't like it i'm picky i'm too picky for it i don't want to hear it i have a particular i eat in a particular way i eat in a particular way this is no secret. However, I made Thanksgiving dinner this year. Talk about it. Well, it wasn't traditional. There was no turkey. There was no ham. Some hog moths? What did you mean? What did you have? I had steak, pork chops, salmon, and chicken. I made. No, no. I had all the meats except for, I waited too late. But I made my mom's for the first time, really my grandmother's sweet potato. It's really a pie, but without the crust. And it was very good.

The people were going back for seconds and thirds. I'm sure they were. I'm sure all the food was great. But, you know, you had a little dinner party and called it Thanksgiving. I'm not buying it. You know what? Turkey doesn't define the dinner. Ham doesn't define the dinner van.

It does. It does. If there's no turkey or no ham, if there's no turkey or no ham, it's a sham. There was pork. Okay. Pork. There was pork.

What kind of pork? What kind of pork? Did you have pork chops? You know I love a good pork chops. You are these goddamn pork chops. What the fuck? It's my favorite food. I love a good pork chop.

That's actually a great meal. So did other people come and bring sides? Did they bring their own sides? No, I made everything. The only side that was brought was wine. I made Brussels, rice. I didn't get time to make the dirty rice.

Macquarie cheese? I don't do cheese. So I don't have a great. My nigger. Your Thanksgiving is fucking, I'm not even trying to be a jerk about it. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it. So you don't have, wait, so you don't have no, hold on for a second.

You have. We had sweet potato. We had sweet potato. But you didn't even, see, you was about to stop yourself. You stopped yourself because you was about to say we had sweet potato pie, but then you realized you actually didn't. I made it without the crust. All I did he had to do was put it in a crust.

I made it so it was more of a casserole, which is still Thanksgiving food. I guess that counts. I guess that counts, but you're skipping. I'm going to be honest with you. Your Thanksgiving dinner was kind of showing feet. It was show, it was. Don't you dare. Don't you dare.

Now that I know what that means, don't you dare. Put me in the same category, okay? I'm in R&B. The same. I ain't in pop. I ain't a Puck. You had to R&B Thanksgiving. I get, I get, I get, I get, I get,

I'm just fucking with you. I'm just fucking with you. The mere mention of dirty rice. I'm just fucking with you. It's funny. Didn't you travel? Didn't you travel? You didn't even have that.

Didn't you travel? No Thanksgiving. There you go. You ate airplane food. I don't want to hear it. I had somebody over. Shout out to Steve from, shout out to Steve and Jomeby from the Ringiverse.

They came over and we had lobster pizza for berries. By the way, if you live in L.A., if you live in L.A. And you have not had the lobster pizza at Berries, you are a fucking fool. That's me. You're dumb. Okay, you have to have the lobster pizza from Barry's. It's very, very good.

I don't like lobster. You know, what do you? I mean, it's so hard. You know what I mean? It's so difficult sometimes, Rachel, you're such an amazing person, but there are all these roadblocks. With food. With food. There are all of these roadblocks.

You're like, your mom makes, I can look at your mom's hairstyle and tell her cornbread dressing is fucking insane. Your mom had the, I can look at the way your mom's hair was. When your mom came up on presents, go back and look at her mom. Look at her mom's hair. She does like a main cornbread dress. I'm telling you, you can look at her mom's hair and tell that that cornbread dressing is fire. And Rachel, not eating the cornbread dressing. Nuts.

It's crazy. Good news for all Texans. Matthew McConaughey has decided that he is not running for President of Texas. Oh, that's good news? Hell yeah. The fuck. You want Matthew McConaughey as the governor? No, I just want Greg Abbott gone.

I don't. I just want him gone. But now that we've got Beto running, and I think maybe that's why Matthew can say can full out. He's been entertaining the idea. People ask him. He's just been like tiptoeing around it. But now that there is a legitimate person running for the Democrats, he's like,

all right. I'm just letting y'all know I was never going to run. But I just want to have it out. Go. I love that when someone's thinking about something or flirting with it, we say they're entertaining it. That just made me think of Matthew McConaughey and like from Magic Mike. and then he's dancing for the idea.

He's entertaining the idea, you know. Or he's a stand-up comedian. He's a stand-up comedian and he's telling jokes to the idea. Like, hey, idea. Tell you something crazy happened to me on the way to set. And the idea is just sitting there like entertaining the idea. I know what it means. But it's like you're entertaining the idea.

And you're personifying the idea. You are. You are. I'm the idea. That's like something like I'm the idea. You should do a whole thing about that. People are talking to their ideas. People are talking to their ideas.

How do you entertain your idea? What do you do to it? What's entertaining? Do different ideas, the bigger the idea, do you have to do more to entertain it? I think you just think about it. I think, yes, ratio. Yeah, I hope that this starts the trend of celebrities not running. Is there a trend of them?

I mean, Kanye. Okay. All of these guys acting like they want to run. The Rock acts like you want to run. No, the Rock is not acting like he's going to run. People are putting that on him. Because I get annoyed when I even have to ask that question. Like, he's not running.

He ain't running. You know what he's doing? What? He's entertaining. The idea. And then Matthew McConaughey. And then at some point We're going to get

The real Ace in the hole Which is at some point Kim Kardashian is going to put her name on the ballot You heard it here first Wait wait wait but for what though Like what do you think her first step Into politics is going to be

Is it Congress Is it a rep? Is it a red question? Is that the very serious question? Fine it's mine What would you see? Because she's not going to jump to president Mayor

She could go for something like local there in Glendale where there's a huge Armenian population, you know, and the Kardashians are really beloved. She could try to, and, you know, she knows the community and stuff from her, you know, her upbringing or her dad and stuff like that. She's real close to the family. She could try something there. But it's an interesting question. What would she do? What would she do?

I don't think she would start local politics. See, I see city council. I see her being. City council? Yeah. I see her starting in city council. City Council City Council

Have to get a bigger Council seat You know Good one fan I'm all fire today I'm all fire today Her butt not even that big no more By the way that's called by the wayside

Kim Kardashian's butt's not thing anymore Well people just start talking about it in the same way Nah It's like it was Talking about Kim Kardashian's butt is like very 2010 in 2011. Exactly. Yeah.

But yeah, I don't like the idea of celebrities getting all involved. Scooter Brown told me that he was thinking about running for governor. Scooter might, but I don't think Scooter counts as a celebrity.

He's like a manager. Yeah, but then with the whole Taylor Swift thing, it's just kind of really brought him who he is. You're not fucking with Scooter? No, I didn't say that.

I'm just saying with the Taylor Swift thing, I think people, if you didn't know who he was before, behind the scenes, it put him on Front Street. Who do you support in that? Taylor or Scooter? Who do you support?

I'm going to support the artist. But let me ask you a question. And this is, I have no dog in the fire. I couldn't care less. I hope I support the artist too. Let's say you're the artist, right? Because this also just happened recently with Ashanti and Irv Ghani. Oh, I know.

I meant to put that on our rundown. Yeah. This happened with Ashanti and Irv Gotti. So in case you guys don't know, Ashanti was signed to Murder Inc. It's very quaint. name for a record label Murder Inc.

Is the name of the record label. Murder Inc. It's just, you know, Grand Larsonie Records. You know? Homicide. We got to stop. You guys don't want to do that.

You guys, a lot of people in the Reddit were saying I was wrong about the hip-hop thing. I was wrong. They agree with you about the hip-hop thing, but I don't know. Murder, Inc.

Well, and then when you're saying in the background, it's murder. It's murder. The real murder, Inc. They got their name. There were a bunch of Jewish gangses who killed people, whatever. But so she was with Murder Inc.

She recorded all these amazing records. The master recorders of those records were owned, at least in part, by Erf Gide, who was the producer on most of the Murder Inc. stuff. And he was the head, along with his brother Chris, of the rest. of the record label. Ashanti is re-recording these songs so that she can then own the master recording. You might be asking yourself,

why do you want to own the master recording if you got the publishing and all of that? Because with the master recording, you can control the direct money generated by the record because you need the master recording. Like if you're going to put it in the commercial, you need the master recording to be able to all of that stuff. If you remember, there was a lot of talk around this

or Michael Jackson brought the Beatles Masters, which is a movie that I want to do because the story behind him getting the Beatles Masters and how they got to the finish line on getting the Beatles Masters is absolutely bonkers. There's a reason why Michael Jackson

had to do so many shows in Australia that entire time. And it had to do with his procurement of the Beatles Masters. I digress. But after he got the Masters, you heard Beatles songs in like Nike commercials and stuff like that.

And some people were pissed off to hear Revolution in the Nike commercial and stuff. So you want to be able to control your masters because you want to know, you want to make money for where your music is going. But y'all also want to be able to control where your music is gone. Anyway, Irv is pissed. Irv is pissed because the way he looks at it, producing Ashanti, he had to, he doesn't look like, he doesn't look at it as those being Ashanti's records. Yeah. he looks at it as them being their records because he had to put the money up he had to make the beats and stuff he had to put it all together and while she wrote and sang this stuff there was a whole bunch of stuff that he had to do in order to make Ashanti who she is how do you see this if everybody's creating the art who's the art really belonged to that's tough I mean, it is tough.

I don't know if what Ashanti's doing is exactly the same as Taylor Swift. Just because I know that Taylor was like trying to buy her masters and then Scuder Braun swept in there and bought them when he purchased the record label. And it just seems like Ashanti. Yeah, like Ashanti's like, I'm going to re-record my songs and make money off of them. I mean, that's kind of what it sounds like to me. It's tough because, I mean, you bring up a really good point. It's not just about your voice on it and you're writing the music. It's about the whole production of it.

And who is the one, who is the person behind that? Isn't it the record label? So I don't know. I feel like there should be some, maybe you can own it, but then there should be some type of licensing fee or I don't know, some type of residuals that go to the other people involved with originally creating these records unless you change the song completely, right? If she wrote it and she

wrote it, it's her voice. Well, if she changes the whole beat and it's a totally different thing, then that's different, right? It's a totally different song. Yeah, yeah. It's interesting, he brought up an interesting gripe. Like you, I support the artist.

Yeah. Because most of the time, the Fat Cat producers and record label owners, all of those guys, they have a lot of artists that they have, stuff like that. The artists need their music in order to live their life. Yeah.

So I, but it's a, it's an interesting thing that he brought up. An interesting thing that Irv Gotti brought up. Jack Dorsey stepped down as Twitter CEO today. What do you think? Have any thoughts about this? No, you know, I'm not like all up in the Twitter sphere like that. Yeah, I don't give a fuck. I wish I cared.

People were talking about it a lot. It might mean some, there might be some kind of huge waves. You guys, I got blind spots. There might be some kind of huge wave that this makes where it's like super relevant, but I don't really. Well, I heard some people say that, and it might have been Candace Owens, that, you know, he disagrees with some of the regulations that are happening on Twitter. And so that's part of the reason that he stepped down. And if that's the case, then that is newsworthy. And that actually is a much bigger deal if he's not agreeing with the direction that Twitter is going.

Well, we'll hear from him if that is the case. But if Candace said it, it's probably not. Right. All right. Christmas is coming up. Christmas. Okay. The birth of Jesus.

Okay, there was a baby. All right. He was in a manger and frankincense, a mirror. This Jesus. Old Navy feels like Santa's too white. They are having a Santa boot camp to diversify the Santa market. Is that? It's a virtual boot camp designed to encourage and train individuals of color to become Santa.

As told to NBC News, Dion Santa D. Sinclair, aka. The Real Black Santa says, I'm not about politics and I'm a faith-based Santa. So I know I'm not the reason for the season and I'm happy to share that with anyone willing to listen. If I'm not your kind of Santa, that's okay. I'll keep smiling, wishing the kids. Merry Christmas. Happy holidays. Okay. This is the most racist fucking thing I've ever had in front of my life. I can't believe this. of all the things that we've had on this show, I've never been more offended by this. By diversity boot camp Santa? We don't need you to teach us how to be fucking Santa?

That's why I'm laughing. We don't this for some fucking Philip drumming ass shit. We don't need no Old Navy to teach you and teach us how to be Santa. Why would Old Navy, why would they be able to teach us how to be? Santa. If we want a black Santa, we go get our Uncle Milton, rest in peace. We put them in, we put them in the Santa suit. Bam, Santa. Tell me what you want. We been doing Santa. And here's the other thing. In a few years, they'll learn that Santa's not real. So I don't

really, I don't even really care that much. I really don't. Okay. He's real. I'm sorry, man. I'm sorry. Santa's real. As real as that. Santa's real. Santa's. As real as that. Santa's As real as Ariel, walking these streets, a Denmark. You don't know. As real as that. You don't know. His thing, I've never, I've never been to Denmark before. I could, can you rule it out?

You can't rule it out. I didn't see her. You can't rule it out. Has she aged? Do you think she's timely? Maybe. Timeless? That's a good question.

I'm not sure about that. It's flounder around as well. Sebastian? Sebastian is my guy. On that I see, typically racist. But no, I look at this and I'm like, why would Old Navy need to teach us how to be saying? They got it wrong. It's like, they got it wrong, man.

You know what we do need? This is the kind of shit I don't like. Old Navy don't need to teach. just how to be Santa, but maybe donating some Santa suits might be dope. You know, going to the hood with some Santa suits. You know what else they need the hood? Gifts. That's what I was about to say.

Forget the Santa. Like just gift gifts. Yes. Yes. You know what you do to Santa? Ho, ho. Merry Christmas. Eat some cookies.

Drop a present off. It's not that hard. Niggas don't need class for that. Not as far. I'm saying. We don't do. Who needs class for that? You think we need to learn?

You think we need class for that? Also, where is Santa in Old Navy? Is this for commercials? Is this, I've never seen a Santa in an old Navy store. What, like, I'm not even understanding what this is. Sant, Old Navy, right? It's their Santa. Where is Santa, when is Santa?

The Kringle family owns Old Navy. The who? What are you talking about? The Kringle family. Who is that? The Kringles, the billionaire family that, like, they own the Old Navy. Okay. This is why the Santa connection.

Yeah. the Kringle family. Okay, but what's the connection to Santa? Santa's name is Chris Kringle. So the Kringle family. Yeah, yeah, the Kringle family, like, the father. Okay, but the Santa's that they're training, where are these Santas going? In malls in the store?

I'm confused. I'm so confused. I can't believe you don't know this. Well, after you. Old Navy is responsible. So the Kringle family, Kringle Inc. is responsible for, like, they trained Sanders. That's how Old Navy got started.

They trained Santa's. Maybe you should, I'm sure I'm not alone. I did not know this. It is something that I'm kind of like, it's like TMZ stuff because there was a lawsuit back in the day. It was like, okay, I had no idea. Yes, I do remember his name is Chris Kringle,

but that's about as far as I get. I had no idea. So there's this family. This family, they're from Key West to the Kringle family. They started Old Navy back in the day. It was like an Army Apparel store or whatever, whatever. And they like, they started like the nationwide.

thing you ever see miracle on 34th Street pieces of it right so if you saw a miracle on 34th Street the guy who's trying to be the Santa inside of the yeah remember he's talking about Santa training like the Kringle people they put the Santas in there like

there's like a union it's a Santa Union wow but like all the black Santas they're like not in the Chris Kringle Center I'm making all of this up all of this is like made up I just made all of this I just like so none of this is true None of this is true.

I don't want to play anymore. I don't want to play. Wait, Van, none of this is true. Fuck no. Old Navy, you are absolutely right. Old Navy don't got no authority over Christmas. That's what I was thinking about. After showing feet, I'm questioning everything that I'm saying on this podcast.

I don't know anymore. I need to read that. No. Okay. But seriously. Thank you. You know, you're completely right. Because I was like, old Navy has no.

All the Navy's owned by Gap and in a banana republic. I was like, that's what I was thinking about. I was like, I'm so confused. The Kringle family. Have you been on rum this whole time on this podcast? You, like, I'm fucking right. What? We went on a boat, man.

It's just birthday. We went on a boat earlier today. I swam. So you're lit. I'm on a jet ski. You're fucking right. We did the very serious question. Kim Kardashian.

What was it again? Kim Kardashian. Okay. All right. Vance's very serious question. Actually, not Vance. Rache's very serious question for the week is, what is Kim Kardashian going to run for? She's going to run for.

Okay. What is she going to run for? We haven't even talked about her new boyfriend. Do you care? Pete Davidson? What is there to talk about? Pete Davidson. I can't even talk about it.

I don't believe it. Pete Davidson is a fucking monster out here, man. He's doing this fucking thing. Pete? Come on, Pete. Women love a funny man. Get it. Women love a funny man.

They do. Especially when he's like 6-9 or whatever. Pete's like 6-6 or something shit like that. All right. What is Kim Kardashian going to run for? What do you think she's going to run for? What is she going to do? Giving Tuesday is today.

You're listening. November 3rd is giving Tuesday. It's very important in the era of rank consumerism that we live in. That you guys take the time out to give a little. Rachel, do you have a charity that you want people to give to? Yes. Beacon Hill Preparatory Institute. I have been working with them since they're in Dallas, Texas.

I've been working with them since when I was an attorney, like before any of all of this. And I used to do after school tutoring. I used to help them prep their essays for their application for college and help them with writing. And it's a wonderful institute that is all about education and success and prep and tutoring programs and supporting programs and all of that. Anyways, give out to them. They're amazing. Yeah, shout out to Ms. Derry. Okay. By the way, I'm not going to give them no money, but I will do this.

I'm going to take the entire Beacon Hill to Fuel City. Okay. You can do that. They're right there in Dallas. We all go into Fuel City. And I am going to give them some money. I would like you guys to support financially and with your energy, the cave of Adelham. It's a transitional training academy in Detroit, Michigan for young black boys. It is headed up by a man who is like a mentor, an uncle, a genius, a scholar, just one of the most remarkable human beings on the planet.

His name is Jason Wilson. The thought of the man and the example that Mr. Wilson sets for these boys and he really sets for all of us is just too much. His name is at Jason Wilson. The school is at Cave 313 in Detroit in a place where our boys definitely need all the emotional stability, the self-defense skills, and, you know, some of that good word training, all of that stuff that he's doing up there with them. It's amazing. I don't know if you guys ever see the video of a young man. He's doing something in martial arts and he failed. and he wants to cry

and he's fighting back his tears and his coach tells him and I don't want to cry but his coach tells him go ahead and cry like cry like it's okay

it's like cry cry he also has a book out right now Jason Wilson he has two books one is called cry like a man the other one is called battle scars

I believe both of those books right now are doing very well you might have seen him on Joe Rogan but just amazing amazing

so give to the cave because we need caves in every city. All right. It's amazing. It's enough of this rum-filled podcast. It is, but we're going to take them all

to Fuel City. Fuel City is the goal. I am Van Lathen, Jr. And I'm Rachel and Lindsay. Bye, guys.