Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - Shameik Moore, Fat Joe, and Higher Learning’s Person of the Year

Episode Date: December 24, 2024

Van and Rachel kick off the last show of 2024 discussing the Matt Gaetz House Ethics report (5:19), reacting to ‘Into the Spider-Verse’ actor Shameik Moore’s questionable behavior with Spider-Man love interests (15:23), and Fat Joe’s comments on Foundational Black Americans (26:19). Then, a quick (and final) update on the Travis Hunter fiancé saga (41:18), Blake Lively’s legal action against Justin Baldoni (51:44), and NYPD corruption is brought to light (1:08:28). And finally, Van and Rachel reveal their Person of the Year (1:18:50). Hosts: Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay 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 is on and is I Van Lacey Jr. And it's me, Rachel and Lindsay. Merry Christmas, Ray! Merry Christmas. Happy holidays. This will come out, Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve. Man, Christmas snuck. I can't believe. I was supposed to leave town today. I had to push it back. I felt like this holiday season just, bam, popped up. wasn't ready for it. Not ready.

Yeah. Because we were busy all the way up into it and so that's what happens. We were busy all the way up to it. Like then it just pops up, you know what I'm saying? But I am excited to go home celebrate the holidays. When do you leave? Tomorrow. You leave tomorrow. It's good.

Big thank you to Jilil White for joining us. People really enjoyed the interview. Jolil was very transparent. We got a lot more interviews coming up. A lot more interviews coming up. Elliot Wilson is going to be joining the podcast real soon to talk about hip-hop,

the hippie-happity happening. Hippity-Hippity-Hapida-Hapida. We'll talk about the hip-hopper, hippie-hapiding with Elliot Wilson. We also ask Elliot a lot of other questions, man. Different stuff I want to talk to Elliot about. Yeah, we don't. Yeah, we also, we have the Fat Joe story in here a little bit later.

We'll get right to that as well. But look, we're going to get right into the podcast. Not very many pleasure trees are going to be had. we'll get right into it. Donnie, it's political time, brother. First of all, Donnie, let me ask you something. What are you looking forward to for the holidays, Tony? For it to be over, if I'm being honest.

What? Isn't this your first holiday with the baby? I know, I know. I know. I was telling Ashley, that complicates things because I do, I'm looking forward to him experiencing his first Christmas. But Christmas time normally, I mean, my mom passed away around this time of year, four years ago. So Christmas has been like really weird time for me.

Jenae is really big on the holiday spirit. So I try to like keep my spirits up for her. But this time around this being Junie's first Christmas makes it complicated in another way because I'm like glad that he's here with me. But like my mom's not here to experience it with him. So it's like I'm feeling good that I got him. But I'm also feeling that hole that she's not here. So it's a rough time. So I'm just trying to get through it.

Yeah, I understand your brother. It first of all, before I talk about my experience, I would like to receive yours and tell you that I love you and I'm here for you. So that's first. That love is mutual. But you couldn't just say I love you too? I love you too. See what I'm saying?

That's a little toxic shit. that be inside us. That's a little touch of shit. Normally I say I love you back. That's how I respond to my friends. Oh, Donnie. Love you too. Donnie.

Donnie, that's a little fuckboy energy. When you can't say I love you too, I can tell that Donnie had a time, hey, love you back, girl. And there's some girl walking home with her books like, I just told Donald I love him and he didn't even say,

he said, I love you back. What does that mean? What does that mean? She's calling me Donald, then it's a reason that I'm saying to get me back for real. That was staying. But so, you know, my parents got divorced. Me, like my family, we weren't in the same room really ever after that, right? The four of us, me, Ebony, dad and mom.

And which is probably a good thing because to fit all his kids, you probably would have needed like a bigger room. But the whole family wasn't all in the same room. But you always thought that you would be. That eventually I would have a family or eventually I would be the patriarch of the family where the grandparents would be there and everybody would be there together.

And you were kind of like looking forward to that Christmas where everybody would be together again. And you're just kind of getting things right and getting things together. And then one day that's gone. It's like it's never going to happen. Like things are the way they are and they stay that way forever. It's just a weird feeling.

Like, you know what I mean? It's like if somebody just calls the basketball game off in what you feel like is the second quarter and you're like, no, no, no, no, no. We was about to go on the 10-0 run. And they go, no, no more game. That's it. Yeah. Game's over.

When really it was the fourth quarter, but you just didn't know. Odd. It's an odd feeling. all I feel. Love you, Donnie. Love you. Love you, if I was here,

I'll pop you right with my goddamn nerve gun that I have. All right, let's... All right. Speaking of things that are fun to talk about, Donnie, get this into some politics. Yes, it's Matt Gates' time.

Let's talk about sex and drugs. The House Ethics Committee just released a report that found evidence that former representative Matt Gates paid thousands of dollars for sex and drugs, including allegedly paying a 17-year-old girl for sex in 2017.

We kind of have seen this coming, but now it's officially out. The report is out to be read by all. Gates had filed an unsuccessful last-ditch lawsuit to halt the release of the report, but it didn't go through. So what do you guys think about the release? Wait, do we know why they changed their minds? Is it – because before they emphatically were like, we're not doing it. And that was obviously when he was in the running,

possibly be the attorney general. He removed himself from that. Here comes the report. Is that where they did it? Because he's no longer in the running. Do we get an actual explanation on that? About why the ethics committee decided to release the report? Why they changed their mind?

Why they changed their minds? I think there was some pressure. I think the extra added... Once he was out of the running. Yeah, I think, and plus the extra added microscope of his name being floated for a G. renewed interest in the ethics report

and the findings? Well, no, because when he was of interest, that's when it came up and they said, no, we're not doing. I know, but I don't think people really bought it.

I think that was probably, well, so to your point, I think that you're, I'm not saying that you're wrong. I'm saying that I don't really have a good reason and I haven't really heard one. I'm sure some of the one of the thought words

out there will be a little bit more buttoned up on it. But from what I know, is that the interest in Matt Gates got to a point to where he was almost the AG, and people then really wanted to know what was an ethics report. Sure, sure. He had left Congress in order to presumably take that post, and Speaker Johnson was like,

there's no need to release an ethics report on someone who's not in Congress anymore. That doesn't need to happen. But I think people really wanted to see it after, it was tossed about to be brought up. We should say that this is breaking news. This literally came out right before we

got on to do this podcast. I think a lot of the reason why this whole thing with him went away because it was hanging over his head for a long time was because in 2023 the DOJ decided not to bring charges.

So the whole thing was sex trafficking and whether or not the things that he was doing, whether or not there were federal offenses. The DOJ decided not to bring charges around that. So a lot of people thought, well, the Justice Department, a Biden Justice Department is not looking into this. There must not be any there there there.

However, when you read the ethics report, there is a lot of there there. He allegedly had sex with his 17-year-old girl. They talked to her. She said that Matt Gates didn't know how old she was, never asked how old she was. So there was no, he was not explicitly looking

for an underage girl. However, he broke statutory rape laws in Florida by having sex with her. They also talked to other witnesses that said that they were applied with drugs. They weren't drugged,

but there were some coherence issues with all of these sex capays that he was having. Not only that, but he was using benefits and properly, he was taking private flights back from the Bahamas. All of this is part of his

sex capades and a lot of that stuff in it of itself is against ethics rules in Congress. And some of it's fairly illegal. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they didn't find there's nothing in the report that says that he was involved in sex trafficking, which is probably why

the DOJ did not pursue go further on that. But he was doing this for 2017 to 2020. Now, Donnie, when he read it, said that he tried to get the release of this report, you know, halted. Was not successful on that, but has come out and said, like, yeah, he went through a time where, you know, he didn't make the best decisions. He says, you know, he was having sex, paying for sex. Like, there's so many receipts of him paying for sex.

Drugs was used during these wild parties that he would have. But he says he didn't do it. when he was married. The interesting thing, he was, this was from 2017 to 2020. He was married in 2021. So you were obviously doing it

while you had a significant other, while you were engaged. Well, more likely than not. No, if you read the report, one of them says his then-girlfriend was sometimes an intermediary between him and some of these women.

So everybody was getting down, his homeboy who... Everybody was getting down. Everybody who cooperated. Everyone was, getting down. Well, the guy who was his, you know, the tag team partner in it is in jail.

But he cooperated with the investigation. Something else that this said that I think, I hope that it should alleviate for people is it said that while he did have people cross state lines for the purposes of sex, that it wasn't, they weren't underage and it wasn't by, coercion, force, or fraud. Which I think a lot of people are confused right now that if you fly a person out, that then they will,

and you guys have sex and have sex trafficking, no, there has to be, the person has to be underage, there has to be coercion, force, or fraud. It doesn't look like that was a case in Matt Gates' case. Now, he is now going to go and be an anchor on O-A-N-N news network. Yeah, starting in January. So it remains to be seeing how this ethics report,

which is disgusting, we should say, with all of the things that were going on, and particularly the irresponsibility and the predatory behavior of having 17-year-old girls involved in his pay-for-sex scandal. We don't know how this is going to affect him. Do you think this will have any effect?

on his political reputation. Well, the thing is he didn't care to ask. The goal was sex, drugs, and for him a good time. It wasn't about making sure that things were legally being done,

which is obviously the issue here and how someone underage was participating in these parties, you know, a girl who says she had sex with them twice. Do I think this affects his reputation? No. I think that most people, the moment these investigations started, there was little doubt that it was not true. And I think that he's making the natural progression to go on a conservative network to continue to be the public figure that he is. I don't think anybody, I think his reputation, it's interesting.

I think his reputation is already ruined within his own party, which is why I don't think it'll have that much of an effect. I mean, of all the people that have been, you know, put up for a position in the next administration, he is the only one who removed himself and he removed himself or not, he isn't the only one. Another guy actually stepped down, but he is the one who had such controversy surrounding him that he removed himself because of it. He doesn't seem to have a good reputation on the hill. And I think that he'll just continue to go on and try to seek attention in other ways. He's going to do it on OAN and he's doing it on cameo. It's got a cameo now. Just depends on what Trump does.

If Trump, the whole thing depends on Trump. If Trump sticks by Matt Gates in some way, then the Republican brass by and large will stick by Matt Gates. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I'm not saying that he will or he won't. I don't know whether or not he will or he won't.

What I'm saying is if he does, then the Republican brass will stick behind Matt Gates. if Trump doesn't, then they will then use Matt Gates as an example of the fact that they still have some moral clarity or piety or whatever. However, everybody should remember this guy a month ago was nominated by Donald Trump to be the Attorney General of the United States of America. Okay. There's nothing that has come out or been revealed in this ethics report that is new. Okay. The ethics committee is normally pretty buttoned up with the way that they do their stuff. I'm not saying that there were a ton of leaks to the press, but people on the hill and people in political circles knew what Matt Gates have been up to. There have been a lot of discussion, a lot of speculation about this.

and he was nominated anyway. Yeah. Yeah. So Trump sticks by him, they stick by him. He had sex with a 17-year-old girl and paid her for sex. Degenerative activity. I'm not getting in here to talk about all of that other stuff and what's morally right or morally wrong,

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involve significant risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Manage your activity with our consumer protection tool. Restrictions apply. See terms at fanduel.com slash predicts slash bonus dash offer dash terms. Uh, ooh, donnie, take us to entertainment. Speaking of people, I told you a little last week that he needed a crew. I've never known anybody needed a group more than this fellow. Yeah, this is weird. Spider-Man, homecoming actress, Laura Harry, you're posting on TikTok, discussing how Shemique Moore was, in her words, a fucking weirdo.

Let me just play her audio. I keep seeing all these videos that I'm being tagged in with another actor and people speculating what that is. It's really annoying me because I'm literally engaged. Um, and that's important to me. And you know, I'm in Hollywood. I get it. People do PR stunts, whatever. People like to get attention. But when he first posted that video, I, a friend sent it to me and was like, did you know that he put this up? And I was like, no, because that was taken a year ago at a party when somebody asked us to take photos together. And I guess somebody was filming it. And not sure why you would post that now? And so I texted him. We're not closed. Like, I know

him just from around. And I texted him, hey, can you take this down? I don't, not sure why you would post that. Also, I'm literally getting married. And I don't like this insinuation that there's something going on between us, if that was your intention. And it's still up. Which is fucking weird. You're a fucking weirdo. I'm sorry. You're a fucking weirdo. And I'm fucking annoyed. So, Shemique responded after he was trended for a while. And in his response, he tries to give an explanation to what happened.

This is all a misunderstanding. Unfortunately, it's public. You know, it's really the fanficit. man, it's the commentary. It's, it's, it's, um, that's what's fucking weird, you know, um, but I mean no harm. I mean no harm. I have no ill intent. Uh, you know, it's about art for me. You know, the video had the aesthetic of the song, you know, that's it. Wasn't insinuated no relationship. You know, um, you know, I apologize for the misunderstanding. I do. You want the back throw here, Rach?

there's more? So this is kind of like a snowball effect. This is big of nerd circles. Okay. So the backstory here is that

Shameek had been I guess what people say outwardly crushing on Haley for a long time. They're in Spider-Verse movies together, right? Yes. I, okay. And so people saw...

Yeah, I interviewed him all together. He's like trying to get at her, trying to shoot a shop. And so after years and years and years of people speculating that he's so into her, she gets engaged. People light him up because she gets engaged. He comes back and he tweets about it. Then after he posts this video with Laura Harrier,

like insinuating that there's something between them when she is engaged. So Chameek is just experiencing different levels of crash out, left, right, left, right. Now people are digging up his own tweet, his old tweets and all of that stuff. So they'll snowball because people think he's been pining after Haley for a long time. Crash out is a strong work. And maybe I feel that way because I don't know the backstory and I haven't been reading about this for a long time or following his social media behavior and his relationship with ships with his co-stars. But I kind of felt like this was an overreaction of somebody who's looking at it from the outside in.

Overaction on whose part? The public. Oh. And I'll tell you why. Not on Laura's part. No, no, no, no. Oh, okay. Like, I, I listen, I obviously listen to all of this, and I understood his explanation.

I don't necessarily believe all of it. I think that when you post a video with a beautiful woman who's your co-star, coupled with all the history that you're giving me now that I know that part too, you're obviously doing it for attention. Yes, you're talking about promoting new music. but you're obviously, he claims that the aesthetic of the video matched with the song, you easily could have done something else. You know that you being linked to someone who's like Laura is going to get people talking even more. And the thing is, is if you're trying to promote your music, people aren't talking about your music

or talking about something else. When I watched the video, I wasn't even paying attention to the music. I was just looking at the aesthetic of the video and watching him with her and wondering, like, why he would do this. So I understand Laura's reaction because I'm sure that she's minding her own business, doing her thing, planning a wedding, and all of a sudden now she's got to explain herself to the public to people she doesn't know, and also most likely to her fiancé and her family at the same time as to why somebody would do this. So she's in defensive mode. She's probably embarrassed. She's trying to protect her relationship. So I understand all of that. the only thing I'm like, I'm a fucking weirdo.

It was a little harsh. I kind of feel sorry for him when she said it. I did. I was like, damn, a fucking weirdo. I get it.

Rachel's taking up for a black man. I get it. The bullying works, guys. But I would have, if I asked somebody to take it down, if I gave you a chance to not publicly address it

and just said, hey, can you take it down? And you still don't? Yeah. Now, I got to be all the, I got to be a, explaining all of this stuff to people, and I'm upset, I'm embarrassed, I'm annoyed, I absolutely would have gone on social to address it.

Fucking weirdo was harsh, though. I don't think it was. That was tough. I wouldn't use that language, but I would have been highly annoyed and frustrated. If you tell somebody, look, I don't know what you were trying to do. I don't know what's going on, but this is causing an issue. It's my, it's an image of me with a message. take it down and they don't take it down

and they leave it up, it's weird. You're being aware. No, it's not weird. I would have blasted him because you're not weird. You're, you're, it's the weird isn't the word. The word is you're being an opportunist. Like, you're using me to big up yourself.

That's not weird. It's just, that's not the word I would use. I guess it's the thing. But I would have, I would have blasted him. I know, but she did. Don't fucking use me. Well, that's what she did. She did.

She did. She did. She called him a fucking weirdo. And, um, and, like, he deserved it. Man, look, if you in Shamique's crew, man, like, like, tug Shemke on the cape, tug, Spider-Man's cape. He ain't got no cake. But Tug Spider-Man's long, John. My brother, no.

Come on, man. Like, what's going on? This was an easy effect. So, Shemique, in the moments after George Floyd, tweeted something that I think him and I had a conversation about it tweeted something

and I don't know him I think we just talked for that one time if I'm remembering correct he tweeted something that was just so fucking crazy what people have to understand about celebrities and sometimes particularly younger ones

I'm not saying younger when you don't have any responsibility really for your words, you're 12, 13, 14, whatever, your brain's still developing. I'm talking about, like, people that have been around in the business for a little while

there in their early to mid-20s. A lot of times, I mean, just celebrities, period. They just haven't been socialized in the same way that we have. They haven't. They haven't been socialized in the same way that we have.

And so when we were talking to Jalil, I think it was interesting to see his parents desperately trying to make sure that he had some kind of grounding as an actual person. And, you know, you take the good with the bad as far as, like,

what that does to somebody's self-image or whatever. But when you see someone like Shemique, who is so oblivious, oblivious, oblivious, oblivious to any sort of concept of how something that he does will be perceived.

Like, just totally oblivious to it. In a way, it's like freeing because, you know, you can't even understand what people will think. But in another way, it can have this effect where it actually like hinders somebody's real life.

And so, yeah, he was being a fucking weirdo here, man. And I'm not even trying to like, hey, don't. And boy, like having the super pretty girl looked dead into the camera and call you a weirdo in front of everybody. God damn, every 10th grade is worst nightmare. It was even, it wasn't even just how she said it. it was like she laughed at him.

That's what I said. Damn, I felt sorry for him. She said fucking weird. She's like casually eating soup and shitting on him at the same time. Like laughing like, dude, I'm getting engaged. And you're like you're pretending out here. It just, you said it best when you said he needs a crew.

Maybe you should reach out. Maybe you should reach out again. Like, I'm not, I'm not mature enough to be. nobody's OG. But I'll tell you this. You're wearing a Santa hat and holding a Nerf guy. Yeah, I'm not mature enough to be somebody's OG because he called me up. Hey, what time? Fuck it. Crash out,

a little nigga. Go get your girl. Show up to Josh Allen house right now. Like, show up to Josh Allen crib right now. If I'm, I'm not mature enough because I want to see the bullshit. So, Shameek, show up to Josh Allen right now and tell him to step out on the lawn

and give you a fair one. If he loved Haley like that. Tell them to shoot one with you. Friendly fade. Friendly fade. Spider-Man versus Bill's man. Friendly fade. Shoot a fair one. You know what I'm saying? And then after, after, you know, Josh Allen breaks every bone in your body, then you know that you've been through something. But just fucking fight them. You know what I'm saying? Release all the pictures you got with all of those. I'm fucking a little nigger. It's up. Donnie, what's the next topic?

All right. Fat Joe. Speaking of crashing out. Yeah. Let's talk about Fat Joe. He was on Math Hoff was my expert opinion podcast where he spoke ill of the group known as the foundation of black Americans. And while he was doing that, he also, like, you know, slipped in one of his favorite words. I'm going to play his audio and see what y'all think about what Fat Joe had to say.

These rumors. were made by radical black racist. Let's just say that. Okay, it's a group of these guys. It's not funny to me. They don't want to hear Jamaican, don't want to hear Guyanese, they don't want to hear,

they don't want to hear a black guy that ain't down with them. Right. Right? So their job is to criticize anybody who don't look like them, who ain't black American. Who are these guys? You want to be the same name?

We're going to give them two months club. I mean. The FBA, foundational black authority, whoever the fuck these broke niggas is. I'm just keeping it a buck. And their shit is to attack everybody on Twitter. You see this nigga who run them?

Like, you know, your leader? Oh, man. You got to be fucking kidding me, man. And so they're trying to change the narrative. They're not from New York. Right. So they're telling the whole other story. This was whoop-a-duke-watt.

Rache. Mathoffer. I know here we go. ought to be ashamed of himself. Damn. And any person who got a podcast called My Expert Opinion, but you have a fool over here talking to you, I can't stand Fat Joe.

I'm sorry, I can't. And I can't stand anybody black who, man or woman, who sits across from Fat Joe and allows him to continue to speak on the black experience. I don't care how you feel about FBA. You can, good, bad, you have criticism, you feel that they're controversial. The one person who should not be giving an opinion on it

is Fat Joe. You don't even go here. And the fact that he felt like he could fix his mouth to speak on black racists when you yourself, sir, aren't black. I will admit, there was a time on this podcast That's where I did think that Joe was black. And partly because he's constantly speaking, I did.

You don't remember that? I was like, wait, that Joe's not black? I thought he had like, I thought he was Afro Latino. Which, to my shock, he was not. And part of the reason that I thought that is because he continues to voice his opinion about our experience. And the reason he can continue to do that is because people like Math Papa allow him to do it. That conversation should have stopped immediately. Say what you want about FBA,

but Fat Joe shouldn't be saying shit about it. And I'm sick of it. And I don't even need to get into him using the N-word because we've addressed that before on this podcast. That thing speaks for itself when it comes to that. But why does Fat Joe feel like he needs to keep talking about black folks when he is so quick to tell us he's off, he's not black? Yeah.

Help me, understand, please. There's no understanding to it. Number one, I don't understand the New York nigger, nigger to my face thing. I don't understand it. I don't. It doesn't just exist in New York, but, you know, the people in other places

share communities and they, everybody's saying nigger, we all niggas. They wrote the N-word for J-Lo. And J-Lo saying that bitch, I tell them niggas, my nizabeth, but they don't hear me, no. I don't understand that. I don't get it. Whatever.

That's you guys is saying. You don't want to do it. I'm not about to get all in that. I don't, that's not fucking me. It's just not my thing. Ain't no community. Did J-Lo sing that or Ashanti? No, J-Lo sang.

J-Lo sang. J-Lang sang the N-word and. I didn't know if that was a shot. And I'm real, yeah. You know, I don't know if a shot. You know, I don't know if that was a shot. J-Lo sang that bitch. And then when J-Lo got, uh, called out for it,

she was like, fucking J-Rood wrote the song. So, what you were talking? Yeah, whatever. So J-Lo saying, No, J-o was like, that wasn't even my voice. It was Ashantz. But anyway, here's the thing.

Once again, we're going back through this same thing again. This is kind of the same thing that Michael Rubin did on the breakfast court. Right? It's worse, but yes. Well, no, no, no. It's in the same vein of it.

It's whatever. I'm just telling you all, they don't let y'all do this. There is an access that comes with a feeling of cultural ownership. That is the deeper issue here. Sure. This conversation is revolving around

who owns and who created hip hop and how much diversity there was in the creation of hip hop. Who was involved in all of that? You have the FBI faction saying that hip hop is a black cultural invention, black American cultural invention, which it is

with a lot of other people involved that have given contributions, right? And then you have somebody else saying that, no, everybody was together and contributing to hip hop

and you can't say that black Americans own hip hop, you can't say than any one group owns hip hop. I know how I feel about that. Black American cultural inventions, I know what they are. I know

the importance of maintaining them, I'm not going to relitigate that. What I will say is for somebody to be this comfortable having a conversation about intra-community relations in a community that they're not a part of. Fat Joe, no matter how many records he sold, and no matter how much love he gets in any hood

that he goes into, Fat Joe is not black. Not at all. So you do not see black Americans talking about how, dynamics within Jewish American communities. Black Americans talking about dynamics within Puerto Rican American communities. Black Americans talking about dynamics within Asian American communities and making value judgments based upon their observations.

And the reason that that is like that is because there's no sense of cultural ownership of those cultures. There is something that we've had to do as black people, which is accept the fact that other people have to. cultural rules that we don't get, cultural rules that we don't understand because of the intimacy of culture. We leave them alone.

They do what they do. No one does that. People listen to conversations between black people and then go other places in front of black people and speak on those conversations as if they have authority to speak on them. If you guys don't find something odd and wrong

and fucked up I don't know what to tell you. I know it doesn't feel like it, but it energetically subjugates what you got going on in your culture. When anyone else can come in and say, this is what the fuck is going on,

this is what the fuck is happening. These are the bad guys, these are the good guys, and throw it out there. You just can't do that. And it don't matter what kind of person you are, good person, bad person, whatever. Like, good fences make good neighbors. And we're all human. We're all human.

But we ain't all black. Nope. And that's the way that it goes. Like, we ain't all black. And we can share and we can, like, love and live and laugh and dance and do all of that. While also respecting the fact that there are things that bind us together culturally, socially, all kinds of different ways, right, that you're just not a part of.

So stay the fuck out of it. Exactly. That's it. Is that so hard to do? So stay the fuck out of it. I don't care how defensive you are or offended that they're trying to gake, you feel they're trying to gate keep hip hop. You don't need to speak like that.

No, you can speak on, if you want to speak on hip hop culture, fine. But the moment that you start talking about, black, black this, black dad, black that. Right. Nah, dog.

Exactly. Come on, man. Exactly. We're not all the way up. We're all the way down. Y'all, it's like,

as much as I want to, yes, it was. But as much as I want to credit, I'm going to criticize Fat Joe, I will every single time criticize the person who allows it to happen.

Not only did you sit and listen. Now, Matthew Wiley. You published it. I think he took it down now, though. But because of criticism. Like, were you not embarrassed? Like, that's the thing.

You didn't recognize it. We got to recognize this. What else I'm not going to do is I'm not going to get in the middle of the way other people. Look, I, look, man, if you want to let people say the N-word around you, I'm not about to. I'm not tripping on that anymore. Just listen, seriously, I'm not tripping on that no more because it just, it's a battle that is not for me. I know I'm from. I know how I was raised and all of that stuff.

If that's the way I do it, that's cool. But a broader cultural analysis of factions within Black America and like speaking to those things, from a place of authority where you can put people in different columns. You don't know. It's like that, man. You couldn't. You couldn't. I'm no longer fighting the battle.

I'm not fighting that battle, but what I will forever do is ask people to please hold people accountable for what they do. Like, don't allow this kind of stuff to happen because all it does is they'll continue to do it. Please, there are some things that we should gate to keep it. I'm not just, I'm not talking about the N word. I'm talking about even having the conversation of talking about a culture, a race, an identity that you are not a part of. So you're never going to see it the same way that we do. I'm please asking you to get keep on that. And he should have taken it down because you should be embarrassed.

Don't just take it down. How about you respond to it? How about you address it? Please. That's how I'm asking. Don't hide from it. Hey, look, look, look, I'm saying this, had you all the way down.

You disappointed me, Joe. It's the first time. You disappointed me, Joe. He disappointed me, Joe. You know, like I said, a lot of this comes from cultural differences and how everybody's together and all of that stuff in different places.

And I can't speak to that. Can't speak to how the shit goes in your hood. But come on, man. Come on, man. I saw Tariq Nishit responded to it. Tariq Nishit. Of course. Well, what?

Tariq Nishid and the FBI contingent. What is what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What did he say? He said a lot of stuff. Tarique was very,

like I'll say whatever y'all want about Tariq and I know there's all kinds of different actual conversations that we can have intra-communally about FBA whatever whatever but when you get to fucking with Tariq with them words you better be ready

because when you get to fucking with him with them words you better be ready you're calling in flab job like Let me tell you something. I'm going to tell you something right now, man. And all the chelots tethers. I forgot that's what people always said.

I forgot he says tethers. I don't always see eye to eye with the FBA. I don't. But with somebody, when you talk about a group of motherfuckers, you don't want getting on your ass. Butter biscuits, tethers, all of this stuff. They know how to. get to a motherfucker.

Let me say something else. Y'all can say what y'all want about me. Y'all can. But a group that is specifically dedicated to observing, protecting,

and upholding the cultural strength of black Americans, I can't fucking hate on that, man. Like, we can talk about xenophobia and we can talk about the diaspora, and we can talk about all of that stuff and how it relates to the greater question of worldwide blackness

and where the solidarity comes in there. We can have all those conversations and say what's wrongheaded and what worse and what doesn't. But if you're telling me that there's somebody that's saying, you know what, we're speaking up for the people that like, where I'm from, the generations and generations and generations

of black Americans that have, And we're just, even if we don't always say it the right way or go for it the right way, it's not, I'm just not going to hate on that. That would be like hating on my grandfather, big mama, big papa, hate on on Emily, hating on Aunt Teresa, hating on these black, black, black southern people who had to build an entire culture from oral history that they were able to get from their, ancestors and then from scratch on the soil in their ancestral homeland, which for them, for us,

is the United States of America. Like my ancestral homeland is here. Yeah. And I love those people. So if we got to argue at the family reunion about a couple of things, I'm not fucking mad about it. But neighbor Joe from across the way. he ain't invited to the argument.

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Ask your doctor about Trimfaya. Tap this ad to learn more about Trimfaya, including important safety information. All right, would y'all rather talk about this Travis Hunter update or switch it to the legal news that we got on deck? I do have one thing to say about Travis. All right. I wish you go. Let's do it. Travis deactivated his Instagram account after a video of his fiancé, twerking on another man resurfaced online.

The post to the video was Travis Hunter's girlfriend posting on twerking on a random guy in 2021. two years into their relationship at this point. That same poster also posted a video of screenshots of a DM conversation that was between Leanna and another guy that was, you could argue, was flirtatious. What do you all think about these new revelations? Yeah. I don't think, I think, I think it's gone too far.

I think that the new revelations. Finally, finally. Okay, so I think the new revelation. What turns you? Just because it's, it's, it's one thing to observe. something and then see that maybe the energy looks off or whatever. Everybody does that. It's human nature.

Oh, what was up with them? What's going on with them? Blah, blah, blah. But the internet has a way of taking something like that and then turn it into like an excavation or a complete investigation into one person's life and everything that they've ever done. And that's toxic,

wrong, bad, and it's really fucked up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. gone too far. I mean, the moment that he, I understand observation and, you know, I think a lot of this also centers around the fact that they're engaged in such a young age, that people even more so want to, you know, like pry and talk about it. But at this point, it's like, the internet is so determined to break up this couple that it's sad to me because Travis Hunter, I don't know him as a person, but we've obviously watched him as an athlete. And you've seen, you've seen the hard work, you've seen how his teammates talk about him, how his coach talks about him. Like, he's very deserving

of the things, the achievements that he's accomplished, and which is why he got the highest honor in college football, which is the highest man. And he can't even fully celebrate that, because that is surrounded by all the chatter with his fiance, from how she responded to how she she was right after and before to now this video. This man can't even celebrate and enjoy his achievements because he's got to deal with all of this. And the thing is, guys, you may be right. You may not. We don't know this is their relationship. We don't know what goes on behind closed doors. We don't know what information he was privy to before you, the internet was. He may know about this video. They may have handled this three years ago when it came out and dealt with it. And

figured it out. How many of us have been in a relationship before where things have come up? We deal with those things. We figure it out together and we move on past it and you might be stronger for it. And the fact that they have to relitigate or litigate every single situation that happens surrounding their relationship is so sad. Yes, some of it happens when you're a public figure. But as you pointed out, and I've felt for a while, this has gone too far. This is too much. I'm a person who has deactivated their social media account for my own mental peace, mental health piece, because it became too much to where it was really affecting me in my everyday life. So I feel for Travis, you may or may not like his relationship with Leanna, but he has

chosen to be in it. Let him figure it out. If he's got to learn the hard way or maybe not, let them have it. Let him have it. Leave them alone. Please, let's move on to the next. We see what kind of stuff happens, which leads us to Blake Lively and Justin. Yeah. First of all, Baldoni, yeah, first of all, all y'all girls and twerked on somebody.

I don't even know when this video was taken. It was taken three years ago. Okay, but we don't, if the video was taken three years ago, we don't know what the, all y'all girls and twerk on someone. They'd be twerking on people. They go to the party, they twerk on people. I remember a story

because we're in college and we pull up to the party I'm not going to tell who it is but she didn't think she was going to see us there she didn't think she was going to see us there and we roll in but let me tell you how good a friends we are

because this could have been used in the drive contest we could have used this in the drive contest because you know how we're doing it in the player proof if we get a one-up on you, we don't even bring it out right away. Yeah, we're so pretty long. We tuck it. We tuck it. It keeps sitting in the tuck.

And then you get a little out of line, you need to be brought back in line. Hit you with it. She didn't know he was going to be there. Homeboy parking the car. Let us out. All right, I'm going to park the car, whatever, whatever. All right. Him and another friend is in the car.

We walk in the party. She's throwing that ass. It's like a motherfucker Lamar Jackson. I mean, she up in the niggas. She's doing the one, you know the one where, where, I mean, she's going.

Where the one where the hand is up like this, where she's throwing her ass, but they holding hands too. Yeah. See, it wouldn't even be the ass throwing. I don't bother me. Y'all dancing. It's cool, whatever.

But the holding hands. It's a level of intimate. The whole. It's too sexual. It's funny because she, because she's doing like this, she's holding the hands, and she's, and I'm like, and I'm like, damn, oh my God. And the look.

You set that out loud? Yeah, like, because I come around, I'm like, like, God, damn. Oh, my God. I'm laughing my head off, right? The look on her face is, oh, oh. And I'm like, I'm like, nah, no, no, no, no, no, no, you're good. And it was, I'm laughing. It's funny to me.

It's funny. That's funny. She was in another round. She was in another round. The nigger bucked up for a second. Like he was about to come on dog. Like, relax, man. You don't want to get in the fight because he's torting them.

And I'm like, no. But there were members of our crew that were super mad at her. But we never told. We never told. And we like we, we, we never told. They walked in the party. It was together the whole night. Now, we had our little fun and jokes and games.

about it, but we never told. Would you have wanted somebody to tell you? It depends, man. You would have. You would have. But wait a second. Wait a second. If it's something substantive, yeah.

But is that? You saw it. You were the first point of contact. If that was your girl, would you want somebody to tell you? Probably not. You know you would. Probably not.

But I'll be honest with you. Like for me, I'm not the one that's going to run back and be like, hey man, I saw your girl giving up the back of the thing. You know, rubbing it, all kinds of stuff,

holding hands. Like, I'm not the type, like, part of the reason I'll be honest with you is we was keeping it on the tuck for the drive. That's part of the reason. We was keeping it on the tuck for the drive contest.

Because if it comes up, we got something that we can keep it on the tuck, right? And then part of the reason is, that's just not me. It's just not me. I'm bad with secrets, but I'm not bad with, so I'm bad with secrets, right?

I'm not a good, like. Oh, good to know. I'm not going to tell your shit. You ain't the crew. No, you never have. But around, within the crew, you know, but I'm, but I'm not going to,

plus if I know that you're not going to leave and you're going to stay and you're going like, and you're just going to be, then what's the point of going through the whole thing. And, you know, we already knew what. That's true. But let me tell you, tell me.

Mm-hmm. Tell I, I don't, I don't want to be embarrassed. Tell me if my man has somebody bent over and somebody's throwing it on them and he's holding their hands? Mm. Tell me. Never forgot it. But this.

Travis Hunter has de-activated. Travis Hunter has deactivated his Instagram. And he should. And he should. For a little while, just tell Travis this. I'm a person that believes that you can opt out of celebrity. You decide, hey, I want to be whatever and I don't want to be famous. It's fine.

You can opt out of celebrity if you want. You don't have to be a celebrity. you can just be a football player. However, they're going to want you to be a celebrity. So that means that because they're going to want you to be a celebrity, that means that

you, they're going to want you to be a celebrity, they're going to want you to do celebrity things. And if you are celebrity, this is part of it. They both have to opt out a celebrity. and I'm not sure they both want to. That's just, because that video isn't the only thing that's come out. So that's just what I say.

I'm not, it's got to be mutual. I feel bad for the kid. I feel bad for his relationship. I feel bad for everyone. And you know what? Last time we'll discuss it. It doesn't matter what happens. We're out of the Travis Hunter in this fiance business.

Last time we'll discuss it. Donnie? Blake lively. Let's talk about some legal drama. She filed a legal complaint against her. It Ends With Us, Co-Star, and the director, Justin Baldani. It alleges sexual harassment and a campaign to destroy her reputation. The filing included some excerpts from a bunch of pages of text messages and emails that she obtained through the subpoena. I won't go through all the allegations, but a lot of them involve, like, unsafe working environments when it comes to shooting sex scenes and inappropriate comments to her. her throughout the shooting and afterwards there seemed to be a campaign to take her down via

social media. The document showed that that playbook was like thorough. There's some quotes that says, he wants me to feel like she can be buried. A publicist who's working with the studio had written and we can bury anyone, they said. In the following weeks after this was filed, Ms. Nathan, who, Melissa Nathan, whose clients have included Johnny Depp, Drake, and Travis Scott. She went hard at the press, allegedly pushing to prevent stories about Mr.

Baladani's behavior and reinforced some negative ones about Ms. Lively. Jed Wallace, a self-described hired gun, he led the digital strategy that included boosting social media posts that would ultimately help their cause.

Oof. Donnie. Before us say anything, I am curious, Because we talked about this. I feel like we're getting in, like, crazy detail. We more were like, hey, everybody's talking about this. Let's address it.

I'm curious, Van, did you know that this, not that this was going to come out, but that there was something fishy behind the Blake lively and Justin Baldoni of it all, just because you're more connected in this area and have your ear to the streets. Were you hearing that things weren't as it seems? No. And the reason why I wasn't hearing it is because no, no, no, no.

No. I mean, look, we must talk about the things we care about. We must talk about the things that others care about. It's part of the job, occupational hazard. the reason why I didn't know anything about it is because this was played perfectly by Blake lively and her team perfectly chef's kiss so the entire run of the movie goes Blake lively is put in a position to be the villain she's put in the position to be the villain as everyone is saying look how terrible Blake lively was that's about Donnie

is put in the position being the person that is actually about the movie and understands the gravity of the movie, it understands the weight of the movie, and understands the tone of the movie, what the movie's supposed to be. Blake lively is made to look like an aloof, out of touch, Hollywood Mean Girl.

The entire run of the movie, which goes on to make $350 million, runaway hit, none of these claims that she's talking about are made. None of them. Do you know why? Because if a movie

is hit with a sexual harassment claim, between two of the leads and affects the box office of the film. The film then becomes an endorsement of whatever bad behavior has happened on the set. You can't ask people to go see a movie where you've been sexually harassed on it.

You can't. Product is tainted. Don't want to take the product. Product's making a lot of money. Product has Blake Lively's face on the poster. And her face on the poster means that this is a huge, huge deal. in her career. However, after the run of the movie, after the eyes are dotted and the teeth are crossed,

and when it's time to talk about the next movie, when it's time to talk about the rights to the thing, when it's time to do the year-end best of lists, when it's time to decide who was made a star by the movie, who owns the narrative of the movie, you then have your people drop And this is more than any one thing because it's an indictment of not just the behavior that was happening on the set of the film. It's also a very clear, clear, clear call to arms for people who believe that there are powerful men in Hollywood

who run smear campaigns against women. And the way that those smear campaigns are run. Now, there is no world in which Justin Baldone, is more powerful in Hollywood than Blake Lobby. That's a dream. He's already been fired by WME which is the place that Ryan Reynolds,

Blake Lively's husband, is also repped. So he doesn't have more power than her. However, the power matrix as it exists in this town is normally male to female, the way that it normally is.

Particularly in this movie where he has so much creative into it, you can make an argument that there was a power struggle happening on the movie and some of the things that maybe he was doing was to assert himself, right?

Sure, sure, absolutely. Like, if all of that stuff is true, like whatever, like I said, allegations are an lawsuit. But in this back and forth, she showed him who to fuck with. Because she took blow after blow to the face. Blow after blow to the face.

Body blows, all kinds of stuff. And she waited, and she waited, and she waited and she hit him with a fucking haymaker. And now almost everything that was said about Blake lively during this will be relitigated as part of some gigantic smear campaign between Baldoni and his people. The same people who they are saying now ran a smear campaign against Amber Hurd, who has now come out and said,

hey, these people that were with Johnny Depp did the same thing. By the way, that does happen. Like, without a doubt in Hollywood, there is a connective network of people who you make one phone call and they hit you from all levels. They hit you from the legal level. They use the media.

They use social media. And then they use network talk show people. Like literally people that are told to ask certain questions when you pop up on talk shows in order to put you in an awkward situation when you're answering the questions based upon relationships that happen behind the scenes. So that's all I got.

But I'll say that she masterfully took back the narrative on everything that happened on this movie. Yeah, I think there are a couple of reasons why she was able to do that. One, because Justin Baldoni and his team honestly were really stupid about how they went about it. To your point, which was great, she sat back in order for this

information to not take the success of the movie for people to go out and watch it. There was just enough talk about it to make people curious in addition to being co-ho fans and this being a very popular book within them and people really, you know, tapping into this story. Plus all the talk around did other people who maybe weren't, aren't Colleen Hoover fans, curious to go see him. The thing I think too is that for her, it was about the success of the movie. For him, it was about the success of himself. For him, it was about his ego. And he was more fixated in that with his smear campaign than he was, in my opinion, with the financial success of this movie.

He wanted to look like the better person. He wanted to present himself as this feminist, which turns out he's this fake feminist, this ally for women. He and the man, Mr. Heath, alleged in this, have a podcast. In fact, you believe everything that's being alleged. You always have to say if in fact you believe. Sure, sure, sure. Sure. Well, I will say, though, that there are thousands of pages of text messages and documentation back and forth that really leads to this. But sure, it's not even a lawsuit. It's a complaint. But yes, allegations. And just similar to the Drake suit against Spotify, you do this so you're able to get subpoena and get or possibly depose certain individuals and get information to build up a potential lawsuit. That is why she has all this information.

I think, though, his ego got in the way, right? Sure, I'm speaking to what is in the four corners of the complaint. He allowed himself to be, he allowed what people thought of him, what could possibly come out to be the leading thing as to how he navigated this entire thing, whereas she didn't, right? She didn't care as much. I'm sure she cared. She didn't act on what people were saying. about her, she gathered information and then it came out. So I agree with you. I think it was a fantastic point in you saying how she did it for the financial success and she won on that.

But now she was able, how she navigated it to win. I'm not even going to say she's winning the public battle, but she's able to, it is able to be relitigated. Because even people on social media are still not necessarily team Justin, but are still finding reasons to hate on Blake. And I think one of the most damning things in one of the messages that came out as Miss Nathan, who represented, who's the crisis PR person who represented Justin Baldoni and all of this, she even says, and I quote, socials are really, really ramping up. In his favor, she must be furious. It's actually sad because it just shows you have people who really want to hate on women. And that is what they were able to capitalize on in changing the narrative when it's

came to Justin, and even still, after all of this comes out, you still have people who are don't like Blake. And I think both of these things can be true, right? There's certain interviews that they were able to use to their advantage in this PR narrative that they were building against Blake lively, where she does come across as, you know, not, not friendly to the reporter or, you know, doesn't seem to engage in a certain way or seems to be a little dismissive. Those things really came out and they were able to build on it to create this narrative. But it also was able to play into the fact that people do find reasons to hate on women. There is, to your point, this power struggle in Hollywood in other industries as well with men over

women. And they were able to build on that. And that was also why they were able to tear her down. And that is sad. And, you know, part of Blake doing this is to show, and I think this This is what she says. She says, I hope, as her quote, I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted. And I think that specifically speaks to the dynamic of men and women in Hollywood. If she didn't file this complaint, we wouldn't be able to pull back the curtain.

And people who aren't in the industry, I mean, we're in this industry. adjacent, I didn't even know that it could go to these depths. I'm familiar with smear campaigns. I didn't know it could be like this. Also, I don't want to believe that this is actually true, how people can change the narrative about particular individuals or situations. And I think it's important for people who aren't in this industry to see this. So I'm glad that she filed this complaint. And also, what a disgusting person, if this is true. Just as I'll donate. So let me ask you a question. So let me ask you a question. you said people want to hate on women, right?

The people that were hating on Blake lively were women. Yeah. And the people that Blake Lively was accused of mistreating, like the people that we saw Blake Lively mistreating also by and large were women. So when you, I mean, I don't know how many men are invested, are invested into the, this is all us drama. So like.

I'm not saying that the. has to come from men just because the hate is on a woman. I think that's where people talk about the patriarchy and how it's like, like when, when you have black people who talk negatively about their own people, you see a lot of times women are very quick to hate on other women to bring them down. And I think that that is a symptom of patriarchy. So I'm not saying you have to be a man to hate on a woman. A lot of times what drives this narrative is women,

doing this against women, which is why you talk about you've got to have this unity and you have to stick together and you have to rise above it and you have to see what's the bigger picture of what's happening. Yeah, I'm not saying, I'm not saying this is men doing this. But the point is, is that it is easy. Women, well, I'll just stop there.

No, I know what you're saying. It's just, I mean, for a man, it's got to be something like, oh, my God, And he's, it's got to be something pretty sinister. Women are given the benefit of the doubt in the same way that men are when it comes to accusations. For men, the accusations also have to have a different tenor. For a man, it has to be something pretty substantive. It has to be like he's a creepy, he's a widow, sexually.

He's something like that, abusive, something like that. It has to be something like that. For women, you just be like, we don't like her. Yeah. And Justin Baldoni and the accusations against him, and Heath and all these people, they knew exactly what to do to play into this, right? He was presenting himself as an ally, allegedly presenting himself. No, he was. He was presenting himself as an ally to women. He was writing books. He co-host a podcast where he was talking about

toxic masculinity all the while these allegations, if to be true, he was the most toxic of them all, all to protect his ego, his image, to assert his power, to be. To be a good. It's a be bigger than Blake lively in this situation or for fear. One of the allegations is, you know, he hired this PR company because like Ryan Reynolds unfollowed him and he was afraid of how that looked. Like all of this was for his ego allegedly and his image. So yeah, he was the most toxic of them all, but he knew what to say and do to play into it to get people on his side.

Yeah. So now we'll see, we'll have to see what happens with the movie. all of the white, but if this is over, I'll say I'll miss this white mess. This was some good white mess. You know, other people are being drugging to it now. You know, how people relitigate what happened between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.

That wasn't good white mess because there was abuse in there, you know. This was like, this is getting to the point to where before when it was just like a spat, it was good, Once you get down into, we like our white mess where nobody gets hurt. Mess is best when it's just people that, I don't like that bitch. I mean, both can be true. You can be dismissive.

You could think Blake Lively is maybe a little aloof and dismissive and not relatable. Nobody's going to change your opinion on Blake Lively. Like nobody's going to change your opinion on Blake Lively, the town knows. Okay. You've been around. They're the things that like the town knows. Like Blake Lise and her. I'm saying both can be true.

I'm saying that can be true and it can be true that they retaliated against her in order to protect themselves. 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. It 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.

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Zero shortcuts. Everything you love in one hand. Think green goddess chicken, garlic aoli, crumbled bacon, corn salsa, 40 grams of protein, made to keep up with whatever comes next. New sweetgreen wraps hit different. Order now at order.com. All right. Staying in the world of misconduct allegations of the sexual nature. Jeffrey Madgery, the top uniform police officer in the NYPD, resigned amid allegations that he demanded sex from a subordinate in exchange for opportunities to earn extra pay. Lieutenant Quathisha Epps, she filed a complaint against the city with the federal equal employment Opportunity Commission claiming that Madri engaged in quid pro quo sexual harassment

by forcing her to perform unwanted sexual favors in exchange for overtime opportunities in the workplace. Ep said that when she finally pushed back on the demands, he retaliated by claiming she was abusing overtime, which prompted a department to launch a review. after this review she was then suspended without pay despite putting in her retirement

notice earlier this week Epps was the department's top earner it looks like in last year or this year earning more than $400,000 according to local media reports for copping

Yeah more than half of that is overtime pay it looks like $400,000 for being the police what the fuck who the fuck you didn't arrested John fucking nigga who the fuck

you, Al Capone, you got El Chapin. $400,000 for copping. Mm-hmm. Yeah, what? And she wasn't the only one. Apparently there is a history and there have been complaints

about the overtime payment when it comes to the NYPD. I mean, millions of dollars in overtime payment. You, millions. I know that after a while, you make a nice, comfortable six-figure salary for coping.

I didn't know cop was up $400,000. We got to defund them. When it's corrupt, listen, this is like a story like tell us old as time, right? Somebody's, they protect their own. They ignore allegations. This course was not the first allegation of some type of inappropriate behavior of Madry. There have been lawsuits filed. they've been dismissed.

Eric Adams took up for him. He was tied to another sexual harassment lawsuit. Of course, what does Eric Adams come out and say? He's a good man. I've always known him to be a good police officer. Like the list goes on and on and on. And he gets, what does he do? He gets promoted.

He's chief of the department when there have been multiple complaints from men and women by this man. And finally he resigns and it comes out. And the chief of police comes out and talks about how she's firing internal affairs. And of course, to say maybe not herself, but somebody else in the department,

somebody's got to go. It's just like these issues have been there. People have been making complaints. I'm glad this man is out, but like, all these people are corrupt. I don't know. I don't even know what to say. I just watch something on HBO and something was said on there.

I want to be able to give the name of the actual show. Hold on real quick. Damn. Oh, it's called Nature of the Crime. Okay. Nature of the Crime. So nature of the crime is a documentary and is about it's very, very, very, very riveting.

Okay. It's about it takes place around two different cases. These are cases where gentlemen haven't been involved in some pretty heinous crimes. One was the perpetrator of the crime. The other was a lookout in a crime. And they are on parole.

And it is an examination. Nature of the crime on HBO, go watch it. It is an examination of the parole system in America. Because you commit a crime, 1986, the crime's not changing. Only the person can change. So if you've made a determination that the nature of the crime is such that this person should never see society again, well, that's, it doesn't make any sense to have parole because that means that the person is bound to that act in perpetuity. It also gets into all kinds of other things, right? Like how a lot of this is basic capitalism, how the parole boards and different people involved in that situation have economic, um,

incentive to not parole people sometimes because they need to have their jobs. And if you parole the wrong person, maybe you can lose your job and whatever, whatever, whatever, certain time. One of the guys that is involved in this documentary was a gentleman that was part of a group of guys that was hired by a notorious NYC drug kingpin called Pappy Mason. And Pappy Mason apparently ordered the death of a cop from jail. The word of death is a cop from jail. One guy killed this police officer. And the other guy was a lookout or distracted the police officer. Somebody could do it. The guy who distracted the police out of police officer was a lookout or whatever. This guy is one of the guys that's looking for parole.

And I remember a guy said something they were talking to somebody about it because they interview people that are on both sides of the issue. People that think, you know, people should be more lenient about letting these guys out. And then they talk to other people who are like, stay in jail forever, whatever. The guy said, this was a police officer. And the life of a police officer is valued more in society because of what police officers represent.

It's out of his mouth. One thing. The value of police officers' life It's more in society. This gentleman was killed in the mid-80s. Police officers all over the country came to his funeral. And I get the sentiment of how other officers feel when somebody dies. It's not what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about the fact that that idea that the life of a police officer should be valued more than the life of somebody else in sighting is the stupidest fucking thing I have ever heard of before my life. And it's something that through a system of propaganda

virtue porn and all different types of other things that's been accepted into our brains, the heinous and outright diabolical crimes that are

committed by members of law enforcement. Every single day. I'm not fucking talking about like the brutality and stuff. I'm talking about serial rapists inside of the department. I'm not talking about bad apples. I'm talking about like a mythology of thought, a methodology, whatever, that leads people to believe that they are all powerful

and not subject to societal discipline, retribution, or criticism. And when you look at rates of harassment and rates of domestic violence and all of these things, oftentimes you see disproportionate representation inside of police departments. Now, people can say that I'm railing on the cops

or railing against the cops all I want. I'm telling you that I have been so far, deep down into the well of watching all of this stuff that I'm watching, I see cops that are interrogated as pedophiles, cops that are that kill

prostitutes cops that do like legitimately some of the most sinister cops that their family members have killed people and they try to help their family members out of it. These are people with badges. Just right.

people. Not saints. Now, these are people with badges that have a job to do. And we're going to continue to be outraged. The more we put it past them, because we think that in every single aspect of their life, there's some kind of honor or duty code that they operate by. The average cop is no more honorable than the average worker at Kinkos or the average person that's working over at the crypto or the average person that lives their life with honor, and respect in the society every single day, every single day. And if we start digging through these departments and actually doing like a forensic accounting of people's personalities and how they are, you're going to see people drunk with power.

You're going to see people that the only thing that they believe in really is their authority over most of us walking around society. And I believe that sincerely, I do. I believe that sincerely, and it's at the root of every single problem that exists with policing is the idea that they are in some way more valuable to society than the rest of us are. Well, that's why he was quitting. That won't happen unless people within the force start holding each other accountable. Damn it, no.

Similar to what you've got. That's never going to happen, Rach. I know. I know. They're never going to turn against each other. I know. I know. I know.

Should we do a higher learning person of the year? I got one. It's easy. To me, this was easy. Who was ours last year? Was it the Alabama Avengers? Might have been. Was that last year?

Was that two years ago? Man, that seems like forever ago. Okay. Who was yours? Easy work. Cat Williams. Kat Williams is your higher learning person of the year? Kat Williams is my higher learning person.

of the year. Put Cat right here. All right. Cat Williams is easily my higher alert. Let me tell you why. I can't remember a time where someone so presciently

has described the entire tone, tenor, and feeling of a year. I can't think of a time when someone has sat down with somebody else and said, this year is going

to be about this and then this year was actually about that. Yeah, he did do that. It's almost as if Cat Williams is the one controlling all of this, that Cat Williams went to bed in fucking November or December of

2023 and was like, I'm tired of this shit. It's time to get some people to fuck up out of here. And then he set the wheels in motion for this. So, almost everything that happened, even if you're making one of these politicians, Kamala or Donald Trump, even that Donald Trump and him winning was just another expose of where we are right now in America. We've just been battered with the brutal truth all year long. So I got to go with Captain.

That's a great one. It makes me want to go sit down and listen to that interview again to, match things up, which is why that interview is so highly watched. I don't know. This was like, I was like, should I do Kendra? No. Should I go a different way and choose Donald Trump? Because I was like, how do I pick higher money?

Do you do it like time person of the year where it's for better or worse, who's the person that's most influential? And then I was like, do I do the person that we've talked about the most who's given us the most content? in really deep discussions. And then I thought, no, I'm going to cheat a little bit. I'm going to cheat from something that happened in 2023, but really became, came to fruition in 2024.

And it was because of what happened, because of what someone did, that really opened up a whole can of some, it brought, The Me Too movement has been in hip hop, but it really brought it to a point where you couldn't escape it. Couldn't escape the lies. Couldn't buy your way out of it. Your friends didn't take up for you. Really brought things to light.

And that's, I'm giving it to Cassie. Because when Cassie Ventura came out at the end of November and filed that lawsuit, many people hated on him. Many people didn't believe her. Many people blamed her. Many people tried to excuse it. But in 2024, they couldn't do that. it was all out there.

And because of her being brave enough to use her voice, to talk about the years of abuse that she was subjected to, that was ignored by a ton of people that was allowed to continue to go on because people looked the other way, when it was a secret that many people either assumed, thought may have been happening, or just flat out new. And because of that, it allowed other people, to be brave enough to file their lawsuits,

to speak out against Diddy and the whole bad boy organization and to maybe other people who were linked to him who allowed this type of stuff to happen, who were a part of his team or whatever it may be. So I gotta give it to Cassie.

I gotta give it to Cassie. Cassie's good one. I mean, it's not 2024, but I get it. But it all came out in 2024. It was because of the issue. It's just so tough. tough, you know, with doing it to give it to Cassie. You don't want to give it to Cassie.

I don't care whether she gets there or not. Cassie's great. Cassie's super brave. For one year, not just strong. All right, we're out of here. When are we coming back? When is the podcast? Donnie, when is the podcast back? Unless something crazy happens next week, we're going to be off next week. So we'll be off Thursday.

We'll be off into the new. year. Let me put on my calendar. Is it the sixth? When is the, yeah, it's the six. We'll be reporting on the six. So y'all will hear from us again on January 7, barring something crazy happening. We might, I mean, we might

have something, we might keep the feed going, you know. Oh, yeah. Just throw some old stuff up on the feed, you know, get you something. You know, you guys, tell us if you're new to higher learning. What's the best thing we could put on the feed to, like, best interview,

best moment. Maybe it's something like that. But also, if there's something that's like, you're like, we need a high learning emergency pod. You know, we don't think it's worth it. But you guys are like, we got it here. Let us know. Yeah, if something crazy happened,

we'll jump on. If Vice President Trump in some way has, he's the vice president. If Vice President Trump has something really crazy go on or if President Musk makes some kind of declaration. I was like, what?

President Musk. Our second African American president, President Elon Musk. Look, the second African American president, look, you guys, you don't know when you're going to be able to celebrate a first. And we have something. We have our second.

We thought that we wouldn't get it, right? Because it was Kamala and she didn't win. But what we didn't know is that we would actually get an African-American president. Is Elon Musk born in America? He was born in Africa. Then he's not an African-American.

How can you say that? You'd be born here to be considered African-American with African descent. Am I getting this wrong? I think what you got to do is be a citizen. Is he a citizen? No, no. He's a citizen.

He's not a citizen. He has to be born here. He's an African-American. Otherwise, he's just a South African-African that lives here. You're doing it to me now. You're doing the same thing I do to you. That's how we roll into 2020. A new day.

A new day. A new 24th. See, he is, he was born in South Africa. Okay. Where he was tied. He was, he was down. He was rolled tied. Okay. A little tidy.

Two chain's got a verse where he goes, Black Diamond's apartheid. Oh my God. It's so funny. It's funny. Anyway, he was down there with the tide, rolling with the tide, tiny tide. His parents down there with the tide,

tightening it up. And then he moved here. He made untold wealth, untold billions of dollars, which he's made in the world. He is an African who is now American. He is an African American. Okay.

Go ahead and wrap it. He is an African American and he is the president. Elon Musk is calling the shots. We didn't vote for but now that we officially live in an oligarchy, that's, look, President Trump, you got cucked again.

Just, you got cucked. You know, Vice President Trump, Vice President Trump, uh, junior president, Vance, because he's not even a,

he's junior. He's in the presidential boy scouts. He's like a president ranger. So, you guys, you got to keep the vice president. narrative vote, this gets to Trump. Okay?

So for the rest of the- He's big math. He is big mad. For these four years, see, y'all don't want to be like me because I'm not at the role model. But y'all know how I needle, this is what you have to do to Trump.

Rachel doesn't deserve it. Just who I am, I apologize. Which means the apology must be accepted. That's the rules. But Trump, this is actually the way to get to him. Vice President Trump I want to hear all of the thought words Everyone

It interviews If you go to college I want to hear Vice President Trump He's vice president Trump He's vice president number two He's number two We're out of here

We love animals I want to say something real quick Before we go And you know what Let me talk to her before I say it It was a little tragedy in my family. I want to send a lot of love and hugs and thoughts and kisses to my big sister.

My big sister, everybody. I won't say what happened, but like a lot of love to my big sister. I love you, babe. All right. So you think caps off with not stop learning. I'm Van Lathen, Jr. I'm Rachel and Lindsay. Bye, guys.

Happy holidays. Happy New Year. Merry all that shit. Thank you.