Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - Shaq and Snoop Dogg Are First-Time Voters. Plus, Amy Coney Barrett's Hearings Are Starting.

Episode Date: October 13, 2020

Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay discuss the nuances of Shaquille O’Neal and Snoop Dogg admitting that they are first-time voters in this election. Then they talk about Cardi B and Offset partying together, Bill Burr’s SNL monologue, and Amy Coney Barrett’s hearing beginning. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, yo, yo, thought warriors. What is up? Is I Van Lathan? What's up? It's Rachel Lindsay. Big Rache. Big Rache, put your thing caps on. It is time for higher learning, Rache.

We are doing the podcast a day late. It's actually a day late that we're doing the podcast. Like, we're stacking up podcast because yesterday was a special holiday. Yep. A day it was. Columbus Day. Just kidding. Just kidding.

Y'all, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Right. But see, here's a problem with Ken like that. You could be clipped. They could clip you off right there. They're not going to do that to me. And then how do you know I won't do it?

If you are a faithful thought warrior, then you know that last episode we said we were recognizing Indigenous People's Day, which is what it should be. Let's start this. How do you feel about the change from Columbus Day to Indigenous People's Day? How do you feel about that? I mean, I think.

feel like it's well warranted, especially because we now people are understanding the person that Christopher Columbus was and what he wasn't. And the things that we were taught about him is not the actuality of what he was. Like, I mean, I don't know if there's anything positive to say about Christopher Columbus, to be honest with you. So the fact that they're replacing it with the people who actually lived in this land, on this land, and honoring them, I feel like it's something we should have done a long time ago. Okay, I have issues with Indigenous People's Day. You don't like the name?

No, I don't. I don't like the name. I don't think it goes far enough. All right. So if you've done any studying of the Colombian exchange, the world fundamentally changed because of Christopher Columbus. Okay. When I say fundamentally, like, they're less species on Earth.

There's like all, there's less speech, there's less, uh, like fruits and vegetables and stuff because things became homogenized, right? Like agriculture spread all over the world. You know, of course, disease and all of that stuff. Like, there's a great book about it. You can read it about it. You can read about it.

And you'll get an idea of how fundamentally Christopher Columbus really changed the world for the worst all over the place. Now, there are people that are going to argue, hey, you know, this and this and that, you know, brought this. And if you're some kind of die-hard American, you'd say, hey, it's not all bad.

He hipped us to a world that we can come rape and pillage, okay? But if you look at this in any type of logical and reasonable way, Christopher Columbus is one of the worst terrorists in the history of the world. And that's not just because what that also has to do with the brutality, which they showed the people here. So here's the deal with Columbus Day. So you change it to Indigenous People's Day. where you celebrate the indigenous people,

I'm assuming beautiful indigenous people all over the world who had learned to a degree how to live a symbiotic relationship between them and the lands that they lived on. Now, they had problems and like all other human civilizations have problems. There was fighting. There was this, there was that, but not nearly on the scale of the savagery that was imported from across the seas. They'd never seen anything like it. Okay.

Columbus landing on the Columbus Day is nothing to celebrate for indigenous people. So what we should do is not change Columbus Day to Indigenous People's Day. We should come up with another day to celebrate Indigenous peoples all over the world, right? And we should change the name of this day, of that day, should I say, not to Indigenous People's Day, but to fuck Columbus Day. that is the name of the debt. It should not be about, it should be about fuck Columbus Day.

I'm serious about this. Fuck them. Because there are very few people who have done as terrible things that have changed the world as fundamentally as he has that get any type of celebration. Well, actually there are

quite a few when you think about it, but still, in this particular, not indigenous people's day, so while we're looking back on the day that's connected to Christopher Columbus, a guy who slaughtered most of the indigenous people that are over here and diseased and brainwashed the rest, it should be fuck him on this day and every day it should be about learning the intricacies of how bad the Colombian exchange was and how bad because of Columbus was.

And then on another day, like a nice day like in the summer, in the springtime. We should all go out and plant and be around the earth and be in tune with nature. and that should be indigenous people's day. Okay, I disagree with you in the sense that I agree with everything that you said, but I disagree with you about the day because I feel like changing the day is a big F you. The FU is for my mom. The big F you for Christopher Columbus. Is it not?

Because you're taking away something that was given to him to honor him to celebrate him. And instead it's like actually F you, Christopher Columbus. We're going to give it to the people who actually. we should be celebrating. The people that you terrorized, you know, and completely change the whole dynamic of Western culture or whatever. You know, like, I think that that is exactly what it is doing.

Even though they haven't replaced the day yet, right? You look at your calendar, and let me make sure I'm right on this. You look at your calendar. It still says Columbus Day. That's because the change to Indigenous People's Day, in my opinion, is too passive. It's too passive. It has to change.

But no, but what I'm saying is we've changed it as in the same people of the world have changed it, but it's still too passive. Here's the thing, Rach. Here's the thing. The thing is this. It's the same when they do these superheroes, right? When they say, okay, we have a new Spider-Man and he's black, even though Miles Morales is a fantastic Spider-Man. Now, most of the time they do this new Spider-Man, new superhero thing, it sucks. but Miles Morales,

fantastic Spider-Man. So they'll take, after years and years and years of Tony Stark being an Iron Man, of Bruce Banner being a Hulk, Marvel will say, hey, that's not enough diversity. That's not enough diversity. So what we're going to do is we're going to take one of these heroes, right?

And then we're going to make them into a black person now. We're going to start over and make them into a black person, make them into an Asian, making them to a Muslim. We're going to change it, right? Whatever it is, we're going to change it. Here's the problem with that, though. I know that Muslim is not a racist religion,

but, you know, somebody from the Middle East, Middle East. Here's the problem with that. The problem with that is that, in my mind, Iron Man is still Tony Stark, right? Okay. Captain America is Steve Rogers. The Hulk is Bruce Banner. You can't undo that, right?

But what you could do was make new and amazing superheroes, and rather than Black Panther's not new. He came out in the 60s. He's new to us, man. He's new to us. Right. You can make new and amazing superheroes and actually put something behind them. You see, instead of retrading something old and trying to change it around and make it uplifting now, make new superheroes and maybe take the onus off Tony Start and Iron Man and whomever else and Rogue and Black Widow and then put it on the new.

superhero so we're not getting retreads of things that are already established in the bad way. When you, Columbus Day, same thing. New Day. It's a good point. But a Tony Stark and whoever else you name, because Lord knows I do not know these characters, Tony Stark I do. They don't have the history that Christopher Columbus has. So it's different when you replace them.

And what I will also say is there's a story to be told. So when you talk about Indigenous People's Day, you'll be able to talk about what it used to be and why it changed. I just think that there's just, like, there's, it's, it's relevant to keep it on the same day. I still think it's a big eff you. And I think that when you're talking about this, so you're writing about this in history, you're telling the next generation, you will be able to discuss this day and talk in terms of Christopher Columbus, but talk about him in a way that we were not taught.

Talk about him in a way that, like now, like you said, do you know what's the name of the book? The name of the book is the Columbian Exchange is by Alfred W. Crosby. it talks about sort of the biological and cultural differences of the world after Columbus. And look, my only point is this. It's not a small thing. And because it's not a small thing, the reality is that you have to look at it as a big deal. That's why you can't just change your name. You have to talk about how bad Christopher Columbus is.

It's not indigenous people's day. That's a different day. They deserve their own day. not a day. It was on the same day as their tormentor. They deserve their own day. They took it away from him. Like he took things away from them. Come on, man. Look at it. Look at it this way. I start the movement. The fuck Columbus Day movement.

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Okay. So, a very interesting story. I talked a little bit to Shaquille O'Neill yesterday. Shaq. You talked to Shaquille and he's not on the podcast? What's going on, Van? You know, Shaq, I asked Shaq if you wanted to come on the podcast today, Shaq was like, when? And I said, tomorrow, didn't hear back.

So maybe, so the reality is that Shaq was probably like, who is this guy I think he is asking me to come on the podcast with one day's notice. I'm Big Shaq. I'm Big Shaq, Diesel, i.e. Papa John. pizza. Shack and Snoop both made headlines and I'm wondering if this was even headline worthy. Shaq, I think, is 47, 48. Snoop is around that same age. And both of these guys came out and just admitted that they voted for the first time. Both guys, it voted for the first time. Both guys, it voted for the first time, it's interesting

that the response to Shaquille O'Neal saying that he is close to 50 and voted for the first time wasn't all positive. It was, to me, a lot of negativity in there about the fact that this is, and it should.

You think that there should be negative. I'm shocked at the way you just introduced this topic when you're like making it seem like it's not a big deal. So, yeah, like, I don't... You don't think it's a big deal that someone's not voting and specifically black people aren't voting? Now, I know I have made the comment on the podcast before that at the very least, people fought and died for our right to vote. And you told me, I hate when people say that.

And I was like, I don't understand why you hate when people say that. I think this is a huge problem. And I'm embarrassed for both Shaq and Snoop that they admitted this. I just think that there are so many questions that arise from this. Like literally, I was like, okay, so you're admitting that you haven't voted. Good for you, you know, for admitting it. Good for you for saying, you know what, I'm going to vote. But for me, that's not enough that you're admitting that you're voting for the first time.

I need the who, what, when, where, why, and how. Like, how do we get to this place? What did you learn from your decision to start voting? When did you make your decision to vote? Why are you deciding to vote now? Who are you voting for? When did you learn? What did you learn from not voting?

What have you been doing this entire time? How did you feel when people heard you weren't voting? And you didn't. As a black man, as a black man. So let me ask you this. Shaq's not here. Okay. I'm not Shaq.

No, but these are, fine. They're rhetorical. No, no, no. I'm asking you quite. No, I'm sending that up. Okay. Shaq's not here. So let's jump into the mind of Shaq, Rachel Lindsay.

Let's jump into the mind of Shaq. I don't want to get in there. Or Snoop. Hey, look, it's a lot of, it's a big mind, okay? Why do you think Shaq or Snoop? Guys who actually have very similar life trajectories, very similar. If you look at them, Shaq starts out, Army brat, not a rich guy, not poor, but not a rich guy, right? Army brat.

Moves all around, ends up having a father figure in his life. By the time Shaq is 19. He is famous. He is destroying. If you guys ever want to see what a joke basketball could be, don't look at Shaq when he was in the NBA. I mean, he had some unbelievably dominant times in the NBA, the most dominant in the history.

But look at Shaq at about 290, 295, agile, quick, lean, and deadly when he was at LSU. It was a joke except to Christian Leitner. But it was a joke to everybody else. Now, Snoop around that same time, 19, was on the precipice of being the biggest rap star in the world, Snoop Dog West, okay? Both guys, very early on, a lot of money. They make it.

They're world famous, all right? Then they both become masters at their craft, one being a basketball player, the other one being a rapper. And then after that, they become cultural icons. So Shaq is more than a basketball player. Snoop is more than a rapper. Right. They have a very, very specific.

identity in American culture. So they're very, very similar. Why would you think that either one of those guys, given the scenarios I just gave you, are there any reasons that pop into your head about why they wouldn't vote? I mean, the first thing I would think of is that they don't think that their vote counts

and it won't do anything to benefit them or black people. That's the only thing I can think of, right? which is a common thought, but it still doesn't make it okay. Is that what you would say? No, see, because I don't think for either guy that it has anything to do with helping black people. I think if you ask Shaq or Snoop

whether or not they help black people, they could probably give you a phone book thick. Snoop started a football league. I want to be clear, I'm not saying that they're not helping black people. I know. So what I'm saying is, I don't think that that's it. I don't think that it has anything to do. They probably don't think that voting is actually helping black people

or either they don't think that. I think that, yes. Or it never occurred to them that the way to help black people is to vote. So even those are two different things. So it never occurred to them that in order to help black people you have to vote. Snoop wants to help black people, starts a football league. Starts a football league, gets the kids off the streets, sends all of these guys to LSU. Shaq starts a record label,

employs black people, all kinds of businesses, employs them. Shack and Snoop have undoubtedly done more for black people than I have, and I never missed the vote. Yeah. So what I'm saying is that I'm interested, I'm not interested as much as why they didn't vote before because I think I can pretty much understand that.

What I'm interested in is why they're voting now. Because after 50 years, after almost 30 years of being a voter, nearly just about 30 years of being a voter, what gets them out to the polls now? That, to me, is the more fascinating thing. I think it shows, one, how bad things are. And maybe, like you said, they didn't understand how their vote would matter, how their vote can help people who look like them. And now they're in a better place where they're under.

understanding how impactful their vote is. But the reason I guess I have a problem with it, one that is one of my questions that I would have asked if Shaq was here or Snoop was here. You know, why are you coming out with this now and why are you deciding to vote now? And I think it's something that you said. You said that they aren't just, it's not, Snoop's not just a rapper and Shaq's not just a basketball player. They become cultural icons. And when you have that type of power, you have a certain responsibility. And most people who look up to you as a cultural icon aren't going to have the same path that you have. So how do you set an example and how they can be impactful and they can do things to help

their community or help themselves or have a better world and better opportunities than they currently do? And that's through voting. And so I guess that's why I have a huge problem with it because maybe you didn't feel the need to do that, but you're in a place of power and a position where the decisions that you make impact people who look up to you. And I just have such, you know, and I didn't listen to the full podcast. I know Shaq came out and said it on his podcast and maybe he did explain why he's doing it now. But to me, I understand why people are being negative about it. I understand why they're having a huge reaction to it because I did.

I, you know, I'm not one to be quiet, but I almost wish they hadn't said it. No, I couldn't disagree with you more. I almost must just go vote and just don't tell say anything. No, I couldn't disagree with you more and I'll tell you why. I've never disagreed with you more on any podcast ever. Then I'll never disagree with you more. So. Wait, which part?

Which part are you disagreeing with? The fact that they shouldn't have said that this is the first time that they've ever voted. Okay. So Shaq and Snoop, if you look at the, let's go back to when you, These guys both got famous, 1990 or whatever, 1991, 1992, 1993. So you go from HW to Clinton to Bush, to Obama, to Trump. I bet you that Shaq and Snoop, even despite the fact of who Barack Obama was, right, couldn't see much difference in those four guys.

I bet you that there was nothing about any one of those four guys that made them run out and say, I got a vote. I got to vote. Especially in the situation where those guys live in California and, you know, Obama's going to carry California and stuff like that. It wasn't like a nip-tuck thing. No one could impress upon them and get them to kind of be a part of a political machine.

They're a generation younger than the Magic Johnson's and the creams and the guys like that who jumped into those political machines. Also, something else that we never talk about, there's a 90s wasteland. of political activism from important athletes. You don't, in the 90s, you didn't hear it from Barclay, you didn't hear it from Jordan, you didn't hear from any of those guys. You didn't, like, the guys that were politically active in the 90s

were your Craig Hodgis's and your Mamu Abdul-Raw's. There were some other guys, but there was a wasteland. There was, it was a decade of prosperity and things like that. Even the rappers and stuff, Diddy and all the voter die stuff, that was 2000. All throughout that time, everybody was getting money. And American politics was something that you cared about during election time. I think it's fascinating to me that those guys have finally recognized political danger.

That fascinates me. It fascinates me that they're seeing that Trump is different from all of those other guys. That's fascinating. You can have a regular bad candidate. You can have a regular bad administrator, a regular bad executive. but both of these guys are saying there is something different and novel here. And not only do I need to vote, I need to tell people that I've never voted before because I need to inspire people.

I need to go through this and inspire people who might have never voted before to vote so that there is no more me. I'm saying I'm voting after all of these years are not voting. I'm getting into this because I realize, remember these guys didn't vote in 20, 16 either. So Trump wasn't bad enough the first time to get them out to get them out to vote for Hillary or to stump for her. But now after years and years of this, they see how bad it is. And to me, when you see people that are doing that, that's a wake-up call to everybody. Because those guys are rich and those guys are iconic. That's a wake-up call to everyone. So when I saw that, I was like, damn, think about what happens now if the rich people, Shaq and Snoop going to be rich on November 4th. they're going to be rich. Right. They're kids going to be rich.

Think about what happens if the rich people are scared enough to go out to the polls or to send in that ballot. So what you just gave me, and I'll give you a handcloth for that, is what they didn't give me. And please, correct me if I'm wrong.

But the first thing I said, I had a huge problem with it is that you're telling me that you're going to be voting for the first time, but you're not giving me the who, what, when, where, why, and how. You did say that. like if you're going to say

I'm voting for the first time, then we need to understand how you got here. And you just beautifully describe that. And I don't doubt that that's the case for them, but I think that for the people looking up to them, they need a little bit more. Because what I don't want is, well, so-and-so didn't vote until they were

50 or 40 or whatever it may be. We need to understand why they're making a change and why it's so important for this. Not just to do it, but to say why they're doing it. Then I can hop on board with that. Shack did say that he never understood the electoral college

and he shouldn't understand it because it's fucking stupid and was... You don't need to fully understand that to be voting. But he's... But he said, and he's also doing a lot of voting campaigns

because he's getting out the vote this year and he didn't want to be a hypocrite. So he wanted to tell people that he was going to go ahead and go out and vote. I just thought, and I saw a lot of people, I saw a lot of people a lot of people giving them fly for this. And I understand

it. I get it because that type of apathy ends up being the reason why structures in America don't benefit people because even though Shaq and Snoop are rich, and they might vote with their checkbooks a little bit, and that's okay. They might vote for some tax cuts or something like that. That's okay. Whoever. But they still do both have a connection

to their community and you would assume that they would vote for the people there. And anybody that's not voting and representing on behalf of the people of their community, you have to ask how much they love and care about them. Now, both of those guys expressing in other ways. So when I heard people saying, you know, blah blah,

I was like, yo, these are dudes who are in the middle of it, right? But yeah, it's, and it's, it's,

it's an interesting, interesting thing. So, Shack said it's never, it's never been more important to vote than it has been, than it is now. So he was in there kind of doing his thing.

I want to bring something else up to you. Let's talk to you about this because there's something happening. I think Offset and Cardi B are getting back together. Did you see this? I can't. I can't keep going in the circle. I think what circle?

The Cardi B and Offset Circle. We break up, we make up, you know, we're confessing our love. We're throwing parties and buying Burkins. And then we're breaking up again when the next rumor starts. And then it's the circle. It's the circle of their relationship. Just don't, I don't want to be involved in it. Let them do them.

You don't want Cardi B. and Offset to be together? I don't care. I think it's the bigger. It's the real thing. I don't care. So here's the thing. So obviously, you guys,

it was Cardi B's birthday this past weekend and her and Offset. She was in Vegas. Which, by the way, did coronavirus expire? Great question, ma'am. Great question. And to some people, it seems like it,

even though there was just an alert on the news that where we hit another, milestone when it comes to coronavirus deaths, I believe 215,000 now. Yeah, man. In some circles, it has expired. Trump being the biggest one, because he's apparently immune to it. And looks like that's the same case for Cardi B and offset.

And all the attendees at her birthday party. Yeah, so they, they, Meg the Stallion was there. Meg is back out. Like, Cardi B is 28. That's it? Yeah. I don't know why I thought she was older. She's lived a life.

She's lived, that's what I mean. Like, she's not because she looks, she looks great. It's just, you know, she's done a lot. That's always crazy. That's always crazy to me. What part? Like, when I, when I meet her, like, a, you know, an adult film star or like a stripper. And I'll be like, so, you know, how long have you been in the business?

And it'll be like nine years. And I'll be like, oh, shit, how old are you? You'd be like 26? I'm like, God. Damn, when did you start? You know what I'm saying? Like, when did you start? Like, I started recording under the table.

And I don't want to know. I don't want to know if you started recording under the table. You're not supposed to be, supposed to be 18. But no, think about it. You know, she was a dancer for many years, but she's been rapping for a while. So you don't care about the fact. You don't think that this is a good thing, that there's a family there. So it's a good thing that they're going to get back together.

Okay. So you think that just because, so just because they're a family unit, they should stay together. even if it's toxic, even if it's a bad example for little culture, you think that because they had a child together, that means that they should stay together. I know you don't believe that, Van. I know you don't.

I got to be honest with you. I don't know. And I'll tell you why. I know that a toxic environment is bad for a kid. Yes. But how do we know that they have a toxic environment? I mean, we know that he, we know that offset can't seem to keep his dick.

his pants, but maybe beyond that, and you got to tell me the way this works, maybe beyond that, things are rosy. Maybe when they're together, they're together and things are good. Maybe there's some reason that she doesn't, and maybe having, maybe having the family, I don't know, because I really don't know because it's so public.

You're right, we don't know. But the fact that, you know, it becomes public with his indiscretions, she's filing for divorce. And then it just seems like with, with, with money and a party and the right bags, everything is all, you know, great again. That's how it looks from the outside. I'm just saying.

You're right. We don't know the ends and outs of their relationship, but, like, I was about Cardi when she was like, you know what, I'm doing this for me. I'm getting a divorce. It's necessary. I believed her. And then here we are.

First of all, we don't, first of all, here's the thing. We don't know that they're getting back together. We assume that because they're so charming on a birthday, it looks like it. It looks like they're getting back together. And secondly, we don't know that it was necessarily infidelity that pushed them apart. She said it wasn't.

She said it wasn't. She said she was tired of arguing all the time. And to your point, if they were. That sounds toxic. To your point, if they were arguing all the time, they are toxic. Or it is a toxic situation. I guess what I'm saying is that I guess what I'm saying is that I was fundamentally affected by my parents' divorce. And I don't want to see people get divorced, man.

I don't know what to say. Like, every time we come to this, my fucking inner child starts screaming into the microphone. And sometimes you got to get a divorce. Sometimes you got to get a divorce. But fuck, man. Y'all don't know what can happen. I'm telling you, it can be 20 years later and you can only have seen your parents together once or twice. It's not great.

It's fucked up. And I'm sorry. You know what, though, man? Let me just give you a moment. Because you're right. You're right. My parents are still together. 40 plus years.

I don't know what it's like to be on the other side of it. So I'm giving you my perspective. You're right. You're right. I ain't nobody ask you for their stats. Shout out to Sam and Kathy Lindsay. I ain't nobody ask you for their stats. They got their points per game and rebound average.

They've been together 40 years and it's been going strong. They only had a bad period. 42. One six week period back in 87 was bad. But other than that has been good. I ain't anybody ask you for your stats. You rubbing in me and my sister face. I love you, Ebony.

He is salt. Yeah, I'm salty. I can't wait until my mom trolls you again in social media comments. I saw her troll me. I saw her troll me. I saw her troll me. I like that. We're really building up to this parents' day.

Yeah, but look, but to your point, though, I hope that they're providing a very stable and anxiety-free. You know, me and my mother have been talking a lot lately, and I think that, you know, my mother is a beautiful, amazing, insightful woman, almost more insidated. insightful than I even knew. I've never, let me say something real quick. I have never given myself the opportunity to know my mother as a person. I wonder if we do that. I wonder if we get to know our parents as people and not like a job. She was a caregiver.

She was a nurturer. She was a firefighter. She put out big fires. She did all of these things. But my mom is like a person. with the like experiences and her own heart and her own regrets and her own love and her own fears. And I don't, I've never invested into that. I've invested into like a Virgin Mary ideal and we've been talking lately.

And I've noticed that, hey, she's got some shit to say too. What is that? Remember the story you told? Oh, the pencil. Oh, yeah, my mother told me about, I got to let her tell the story. I'll bring her on and let her tell the story of the pencil. Yeah, so it's just interesting.

When I think about that, I think about, you know, when families break up, I've been thinking about nonstop what she lost. She told me, I'm not going to, she said, I was walking down the street in Beverly Hills crying, people are looking at me like, do you need us to call somebody and something like that? And like, because my mother told me, she was like, yo, I had a whole lifetime that like just got zapped away. Like a whole lifetime.

She's like, you don't understand. She's like, I lived an entire lifetime that I didn't really live. Like, it's gone. Yeah. You know? Yeah. And it was like, Jesus Christ, imagine living with that. What a brave, amazing, strong woman.

Like, imagine and still giving everything. everything to me. It's like crazy to me. I can't understand it. Yeah. You bring up a really, really good point, though, Van. And I don't know if it's generational because our parents come from a generation where you don't really tell the kids your business. You don't really talk about what's going on and how you feel. And I didn't really see them. My parents have emotion like that. It hasn't been until I've gotten older. And now I'm in my own marriage. And I'm too learning things about things my parents went through in their marriage because they did not talk to us about those kinds of things. And I'm asking questions like you are. I was talking to my dad the other

day when John Lewis died and I learned that my great-great-grandfather was killed by the KKK and my great-grandfather. That's how we ended up in Texas. Never knew that story until I started interviewing my dad and having a conversation. So I think it's something you learn when you get older because when we were younger, we weren't allowed to do that. We weren't allowed to have those type of conversations. By the way, my dad would have led with that story. The KKK store? It would have been

one of the first things... It would have been one of the first things that he told me. This is the way my dad goes. It's like, well, the first things he'd say, it would have been one of the first things have been like, so, son, every Christmas, Santa Claus is going to come bring some presents. Okay? Also, I don't know if you know this, but your uncle Larry got killed by the white folks back in the 50s. I heard the story for Big Poppin,

and let me tell you what happened was. He was down at the general store. There's always a general store. General stores are bad for black people. If I could go back, let's say I could go back in time, right? I would tell black people don't go to the general store. Don't go. But the general store was like every,

it's like a universal term. That could have been the gas station. It could have been the corner store. You know what I mean? It's just hard for me because even, in the color purple. A lot of shit got popped at the general store. You go to the general store.

You're just down there. You're trying to get some sugar. The clerk behind there is this is how the general store scene always goes. This is the general store scene. So there's a white woman that comes up. Always a woman. And the general store clerk is super nice to the white woman. Then a black woman comes through and a general clerk goes,

what's you want? That's the scene is in every, every racist movie back in the day. But anyway, I don't know what happened in general story this time, but one of my uncles was in there, and they fucked them up. That's a true story. But look, no problem with Cardi B and offset reconciling. The whole big party during COVID, I don't know what we're doing.

I don't know what to say about this. Yeah, I mean, nobody was wearing a mask? I just saw like strippers. And, like, I mean, it looked like a fun party. I'm not going to lie, but no mask. What kind of example are you setting? then we had the weddings, right? Two housewives got married. But Cynthia Bailey, Mike Hill got married. Congratulations to you guys. My guy. My guy. Mike Hill. My guy. We should talk to him about it. 250 plus people. Mask where I know I talked to Cynthia before. I know they had all the protocols and everything. But when I saw pictures, I didn't see a lot of masks. Where did they get married at? What does this happen? Atlanta. Oh, it's fine. Because the state and the city are open or just like? Atlanta told COVID no.

COVID don't exist in Atlanta. Atlanta did tell COVID no. Where was Cardi's party? Vegas? That was Vegas. Did Vegas tell COVID no? I don't know about Vegas. But Atlanta,

COVID tried to come to Atlanta, right? It tried to come. And when it got there, they turned up jeezy, loud. And COVID was like, I'll go to the next neighborhood. Because at least that's how they're acting. Because these niggas in Atlanta.

These niggas in Atlanta, Wow. Yeah. I mean, I mean, literally Atlanta is just regular. It's just regular life in Atlanta. That's why my sister's still here. You're right.

Good for her. Tell her to stay. Tell her to stay where, you know. All right. So, Bill Burr. Oh, yeah. Bill Burr. Actually, you know what?

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All right, so Bill Burr piss a lot of people off. This past week, he was the host of S&L. I think he's one of the top five funniest guys in the world. I love Bill Burr. I have always loved Bill Burr. The comedy can get a little bit dark sometimes with Bill. But he is nevertheless one of the funniest guys. His monologue on S&L to me was just amazing.

Number one. All of it? Well, specifically the white woman part. Well, first of all, let's go to you. What did you think about Bill Burr's monologue and what he had to say? I thought it was on point. And I'll specifically talk about the white woman part. I'm trying.

Oh, I found it. Okay, I'm trying to find something. So this is an example of what Bill Burr was talking about because he said that white women have hijacked the movement, right? Eight seconds in and they've made it about themselves. So I posted a video on Instagram of our story, just a preview of talking about why reparations for the black community are necessary. Sure. And a woman, a white woman, wrote me and said, reparations. Reparations.

You're kidding me. Maybe that is what the food stamps and free housing are, huh? Where are the reparations to the white women raped by black men? Okay. So I'm so sick of people in my DMs like that that like sometimes I'll just screenshot and just post it. And so when I posted it, I wrote Mondays and Cairns. I can't tell you how many white women wrote me in my DMs and said, I understand what she said is wrong. But why do you have to call Cairns? Now you're on her level. What? Did you just equate yourself to my own struggle because a name, Aaron has been used to describe problematic white women. And now you have made it about yourself. And this is what Bill Barr was talking about. And I thought he was so on point with it.

Somehow you have taken one name. Bill Barr, Bill Burr. Did I say Barr? Did I say Bill Barr? You said, you said Bill Barr. Bill Barr wouldn't be saying any of that. Bill Barr. Bill Barr would be ready with that.

He would have sent me the message. He would have sent me message. My bad. Bill. Burr. This is exactly what he was talking about. But no, I agree with it. The term Karen has now become problematic. They're saying it's almost racist to call women that way. And so something that was just used in fun in jest to describe problematic white women has now been turned into a racist term. And that woman right there made it about herself as she talked about black men raving white

women. And somehow people who have responded to that message have made it about them. I'm wrong for posting that and calling her at Karen. This is his example. So I have no problems with what he did in his monologue. I thought it was funny. I thought it was well executed. And I thought that it was correct. Now, and there was a part where he said that he thought he felt like Pride Month was a little bit too long.

Because I guess it's in, when is Pride Month? This is July? Jim. Jim. Jim. So he said Pride Month was a little too long for the gay people that they've never been enslaved, our LGBT brothers and sisters, we are with you guys, and that maybe they should have February and then the black people who are enslaved should get a great month

like July. Now, obviously, he's in the trade of being a comedian, and that joke is going to stoke up some sensitivities because you're going to get gay people, LGBT people, talking about their experiences and how, if we're being honest, I'm not going to compare it to any one thing that's happened in American history. But there's a sort of societal and cultural enslavement that they go through from the fact that they are not free to be themselves without violence, without being ostracized, without, you know, having someone tell them to move to the back of society. So, you know, I'm not going to compare anything to the transatlantic slave trade or chattel slavery. But I think they deserve a month to be free and open, whatever month they want.

Absolutely. However, Bill Burr is being a comedian. And so, you know, that's the thing with that. So I understand why people who are sensitive about those things, this is very difficult to tell somebody who's lived a life of incredible sort of oppression that they can't be sensitive about something. You know, they're reacting to something real that happened to them. But something struck me about what you said.

Okay. When you were talking about talking to that lady, she said, now you're on her level. Now you're on the level of the lady. Yeah, that's what people were saying, because I called her Karen. So here's the thing about the levels to get on somebody's level. So let me tell you what you would have to do

to be on the level of somebody who is white or talking about those things like that. See, emotion and why. words, it's not going to be enough to get on the level. That's what people are, are, are, um, are staking. They think that as soon as you say something or do something, then you are on that person's level, that's actually not true. You might be on their wavelength in being that you're reciprocating something that you got from them, but level is a different term. See, in order for you to be in her level, we'd have to have this conversation again, about 375.

years from now. Okay. 375 years from now of her people being enslaved, then leading to her people being politically and economically enslaved, and then leading to her people being culturally and educationally enslaved.

So then after that, if you then wanted to trade barbs and somebody could choose a high road, then you might be on her level, right? Right. Now there's a situation of equal experience equal cultural resonance, equal sort of standing in the country

where everyone gets to choose a level and then if she goes low then maybe you can do something else. Now if you want to lay on a shield and be a martyr and say, hey, I'm not going to say fuck you when you say fuck me, then that's cool. I'm with that. Somebody got to do it. But I don't want to really hear

the level shit where people talk about getting on somebody's level because these levels ain't the same. Not even close. It's not the same. So here's the thing. The Karen thing. Wear it.

Wear it. Yeah. You know what it is? Don't even be, it's an early warning signal. It's like I watch this thing about these animals and they were in this jungle and they do this thing where I can't remember the animal. My brain is really fuzzy today. You can't remember the animal, but they give off a little buzz or something when there's a predator. Right?

And that buzz lets the other animals know, lets everybody else know, and hey, somebody's bad coming up the block. You might want to get the hell out of here. The Karen thing is that. Now, we're human beings, but the Karen thing is us saying, hey, this type of person is dangerous.

This type of person will send you this. If you're offended by the term Karen, the easiest thing you can do is just not be one. Boom. Yep. Yep. Boom. Just don't be one.

Yep. But if you come in me with that dumb shit, you care. Because being a Karen is a choice. It's a decision that you make. We don't have a choice to be black. We're born this way. This is just the way that we are. Right.

Right. We do have a choice, though, to put masks on and to not get a bunch of people together. I can't believe you, Mike. Can't believe you, Mike Hill. Would you have gone to the wedding or to Cardi B's party if you had known that

not known, period, but you had gone if you were invited. I ain't going to nobody's party. Okay. Me neither. I don't know if you go with wearing a mask, maybe. I go to my friend Tommy's house.

I come back. Shout out Tommy Alta. Go to Tommy's house. I wonder if I can even still say that. I like it. I go to Tommy's house. I come back home. Those are all the places I go.

Sometimes I go to Trayvon, Trayvon Fri's house, go over there and we watch and we do our movie together. Two distant strangers coming soon. Ooh, ooh. So, as we speak right now,

they are doing their thing to confirm Amy Coney Barrett, which I get hungry every time I say her name. Do you? Yeah, Coney. I think about the.

Connie from Sonic. You ever get the hot dog from Sonic? I got sick one time off after Sonic Hot Dogs. I've never been back. I've never told you my Sonic story before. Was it hot dogs for you too? Wasn't hot dogs. It was something else. Never told you it? Mm-mm. Okay, so Sonic would never advertise with us now. But I'll tell you what. I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't do it.

No, it's okay. I mean, but it wasn't Sonic's part. I know you think I'd do everything, but I would not do Sonic. Wait, yes, you would. What are you talking about? I would not do Sonic. No, I wouldn't. I got three. Food poisoning from them. Mm-mm. Oh, did you? You got food poisoning. From the hot dogs.

From the hot dog gave you food poisoning. Yes. I don't know if I got food poisoning from Sonic. I think that I got, I caught a stomach virus from my niece. That's what I think happened to me. I think I caught a stomach virus. Just say you want to keep eating it, Sonic. You just don't want to talk bad.

I don't eat there. I don't eat there. I don't eat there. I don't eat at Sonic. But this is what happened. So I was, I was elected. Election Day 2004. Election Day 2004.

So it was Kerry versus Bush. Yes. All right. At an off day from Best Buy. I could totally see you working at Best Buy. I was the best. Which section? Home theater.

I see it. Home theater, baby. Home theater. Home theater. I was the man. I was the man. So I had Dale from Best Buy, I went to Best Buy, got my check,

got my little $300, thought I was the man, whatever. Yeah. And then I went to Sonic. So I was going to get the check, go to Sonic, and go back and finish watching the election after I voted. So people remember about that election is early on, it looked like Carrie could win.

Yeah. Like he was pulling off a couple of states early. on. Like, it looked like Carrie, I remember Rush Limbaugh was on there saying outrageous things. Like, maybe the founders had it right when they only let landowners vote. Because now we got people like Britney Spears deciding elections and blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, whatever. So I eat, it wasn't a coney. It was, I got some chicken tenders, some fries, and an ocean water. Do you remember ocean water? Oh, the ocean water. Yeah, I miss it. The ocean water. Okay, so I ate all of it. All right. Now, my.

Knees have been sick with the stomach flu. Okay. Okay. And the whole house had gotten it except for me. Everybody had gotten it except for me. So I eat all my food. I'm feeling fine. I get there and I started sitting, I start sitting down.

And I'm like, hmm, I'm going to throw up. That quickly? I just, as soon as I sat down, I'm like, hmm, I'm going to throw up. I'm going to throw up. up. It's going to happen. You know when it's going to happen. But I want to see what's going on on the screen. I see what's happening on the screen. So I'm like, I'm going to throw up. Everybody's looking around and Kerry loses another state. And then what's his face goes, it's all but impossible for him to make up the ground right now. As soon as we call this state,

we're going to call George Bush as being, you know, reelected, whatever, whatever. So I remember before that happened, it looked like it was about to be over. So I'm like, guys, I'm just going to, I don't think we can win. I'm going to call it, get up, let me go up the stage. I remember I stood up. As soon as I stood up, I grabbed my mouth.

Oh, I'll grab my mouth. And Katrina went, what's wrong with you? And before you knew it, blah. Oh, God, you're too old for that. When I say blah, and the thing about it was because of the ocean water, it was blue. Oh, and it stained.

It was, it destroyed their rug. Oh, my God. Did they kick you out after that? No. He went. He went on. His face, everybody was so. Oh, God.

Everybody was so. freaked out. And then the thing is, everybody was so freaked out. And then they were so freaked out that I was amused. And so I got my hand in front of my face and I'm covering

my face and I'm laughing. Oh, gross. Vomit all over my hands, all over my face, all of my shirt. And Ian looked at me and Ian like, nigger, go to the bathroom. Oh my God. I'll be honest with you.

It's not even their fault. I think I got the virus from, but I haven't eaten that sonic since. See? I haven't eaten that sonics since. By the way, I think that's the last time I vomited. 2004. Really?

Yeah, I haven't vomited. Like, I got a good stomach on me. I do too, but it's usually drinking for me. Yeah. And then you just give up the, you just. give it up. Anyway, so Amy Coney Bear. That is gross. I just saw the whole thing. Everybody has that story of one person who did it.

For me, it was his dude named Landon in the third grade. And he had sunny delight. It was sunny delight. And he stood up and he covered his mouth and it went all over the desk. It was like a fountain. I will never forget. It's embedded. I think the teacher sent us home after that.

Yeah, she probably had because we all went home. Yeah. Disgusting. Oh, no. So Amy Coney-Barrie right now is talking to senators, and she's getting confirmed. They're deciding whether or not to confirm her. They're going through the whole process.

Here's the thing about Amy Coney-Barrant. And I want to ask you if you think this is problematic in any way. Okay. There was a time back in the day where I guess she was asked about the N-word. Did you hear about this? No, I did not. She says that using the N-word in the workplace

is not hostile or abusive. Now, where did she say this? Hold on for a second. I got to find it right now. Oh, my God. Said it. I think it was part of it. Here it is. It's a racial discrimination case. This is what happened.

So there was a racial discrimination case for her to decide. This is what it says. Barrett wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel in 2019 that upheld the dismissal of a workplace discrimination lawsuit by Terry Smith, a black Illinois transportation employee who sued after he was fired. Smith's claims included that he was called a racial slur by supervisor Lloyd Colbert. The N-word is an egregious racial epithet. Barrett wrote in Smith versus Illinois versus Department of

Smith versus Illinois Department of Transportation. That's it. Smith can't win simply by proving that the word was uttered. He also must demonstrate that Colbert's use of this word altered the conditions of his employment and created a hostile or abusive working environment. Barrett went on to say that Smith introduced no evidence that Colbert's use of the N-word

changed his subjective experience of the workplace. To be sure, Smith testified, that his time at the department caused him psychological distress, but that was for reasons that predated his running with Colbert and had nothing to do with his race. His senior at the department was rocky from the outset because of his poor track record. Okay, your thoughts on that?

I'm trying to grasp this, because first of all, I've never heard this second. I know I have not watched all of the confirmation hearings. They're on the second day as we do this podcast, and today was the day where they started asking her questions. I did not hear anybody address this. I could be wrong. I haven't listened to the whole,

I didn't listen all day. I am more so floored because this is a woman with not one, but two black children that she has adopted from hating. Yes. And you don't understand the weight and the importance and the hate behind the N-word to where simply saying the word is enough to create a hostile. work environment because of what that word means when someone spews out that type of language to a black person. How do you not, one time is enough to create a hostile work environment.

One time. And the fact that she says no evidence was provided to show that that was there, it blows my mind. And this is why people have a problem. And I'm not saying that I necessarily do, but this right here is an example why people have a problem with white people. adopting black children. Because you don't find the... I didn't say... Rache, I'm not saying I have a problem with it. I'm not saying it, but what I'm saying is...

I'm not saying anything. I'm saying, I'm not saying, I'm not in any way trying to impede your opinion. I'm just saying that you really went there. I like that shit. Because this is what people have it. Like, this is a prime example of it. People, there are...

I'm not saying I'm one of these people, but there are a circle of people. who truly feel like white people shouldn't adopt black people because they don't fully understand and get the experience and aren't going to be able to provide that to their black children. I don't necessarily agree with that. But this right here is an example to play into that school of thought and rightfully so. If you don't understand the weight of that word and you don't understand how just writing it, reading it, saying it is hostile, you don't need to have black children in your home.

I'm sorry. Point blank, period. And I find it also interesting because, is if you are watching the confirmation hearings, you're seeing two stories, the tell of two stories from the Democrats and the Republicans when they're talking to Amy Coney-Barrant. And when the Republicans are talking about her,

they're talking about her being a great woman, how qualified she is, and what else are they highlighting? The fact that she adopted two black children. But when you come from that type of school of thought and not, you didn't just say it in a group of friends and secret, you wrote it in a published opinion? That's all I need to know about you right there,

that you don't understand that. I have a huge problem with that. Incredibly well said, pithy, pithy, by the way, pithy from Big Rage. Pithy. I'll say this. If I'm working somewhere and I'm working with a white person

and they say the N-word, it's a hostile workplace. From both sides. I'll tell you right now, from me, from me as well. I'm about to say, it's hostile. If it wasn't hostile before, for them, I'm about to make it hostile. Right. It's hostile.

It's a hostile workplace. It's hostile. By the way, it don't have to be in the workplace. You see, if we, if it's so-and-so's last day brunch, or if we go, we used to go to Cinco, somebody was leaving TMZ every week until one day it was my week. Everybody was out of TMZ every single week. And so when they were, when they would leave or, you know, we'd go to this place called Cinco. It's a great place, by the way, Mexican food over there.

in Marin del Rey area, you know, right there, Lincoln. So we go over to Cinco and we hang out. See, if we go over there to Cinco, we're away from TMZ now. We've left. We're all sitting around at the table. We're eating the nachos. We eating the guacamole.

The margarias are flowing. And somebody's, and one of my co-workers says to me, man, what you think about this nigger, Mark Trout? I hope he hits a home run. The workplace has become hostile. What happened at Cinco? as you were talking about Angels baseball, will now then be carried on into next day and next week,

meaning it don't have to happen in the workplace. If you are my coworker and it happens, it's hostile time. I don't understand. Like, it's so, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, you can make, you can create a hostile, uncomfortable workplace, all kinds of ways. Right. Like, all kinds of.

of ways, and especially using the A number one pedigree, top power ranked gold standard racial slur certainly is a way to create a hostile workplace. Look, I'm not going to act like I went through the ins and outs of this case with a fine-tooth comb. I'm not going to act like that. I'm not going to act like I know whether or not this situation was decided the way that it should have been decided. I don't know. I'm not about the front. Like, I know how that was supposed to go and I'm not about to say that. What I will say, though,

is that that opinion in and of itself is a bunch of fucking bullshit. Right. Because if you're somewhere, and I hear the N word from a white coworker or superior, it's hostile. It's going down.

I can't get over the children. You know what? If you want to do that and you have that in your own life, but now you're subjecting that thought, you're raising children under that same type of mentality. And I can only imagine the conversations they must have, must have had in 2020 with everything going on,

which a senator did ask her about actually. And of course, you know, she gives, and I'm not saying that she hasn't, you know, had these deep conversations with her children, but when you write an opinion like that, I can only imagine what you must be saying with what's happening right now with the Black Lives Matter movement.

Like, you don't need to be, well, first of all, you don't need to be thinking that way, but you also don't need to be objective in your thought. You need to be subjective because you have black children. Right. Although, I don't know, something else happened over the weekend. I don't know if you saw it. I'm very mad that you just said that.

Like, I'm mad. I am mad that if, like, whatever, I don't know what you were reading from with the Amy Coney Barrett. I'm, like, really bothered by that. You're upset? Yeah. Go ahead. Change the subject.

Like, I did not know that. Maybe I'm upset, one that I didn't know, but two, I know it has nothing. It really isn't going to affect the fact that she is going to be confirmed. You're trying to say you want to put their hands on Amy Coney-Barrant? I didn't say that. Would you fight Amy Coney-Barrant? She gave me a reason to. So what you're trying to say is the N-word is not enough of your reason?

She didn't say it. She didn't say it. Here we go. Here we go. This is going to become a second. No, no, she didn't say it. Let me tell you something. There's a such thing as second.

Second hand in words saying. Okay. Go ahead. I'm not going to name who did it. I'm not going to name any names. But there's somebody that works very closely with us here on this podcast that was guilty of second. I know he did not.

No, he did not. Don't you do him like I was a witness to him. That is not second degree. I'm not going to say who it is. But I have to let him know. You can say the in-word second degree. For example. If you walk up to a white person and you say,

I used to do this all the time, by the way, if you walk up to a white person and you say, what's happening, my nigga? And they say, nothing much. I go, so you think you're my nigga. Would you say that? I probably have in the past.

I can't think of them. But I've been drunk, so maybe I have. So you think you're my nigga. Well, I used to do this game all the time. And they'd be like, well, No, you said I was. I'm like, no, you agreed. But you agreed.

Agreeing with someone using the N-word is second-hand inward usage. I sent a text message. Somebody that works with us. After they asked me to do something. And I said, they said something. And I was like, I had my niggum. And they went, okay, cool, got you. And I was like, you agree with the-

You probably made him uncomfortable. And he just wanted to get out, abort the conversation. I was like, so you agree with the usage of the word. And he was like, absolutely not, but you said it, not me. I'm like, second degree. That second degree inward uses. I'm not going to say who it is. I'm not going to say who it is.

All I know is that this is what HR should know. This is what HR should know. We've talked about it. He's my guy. We've moved on. But don't think I have forgotten. And all the white people are there, we know the second degree. And I will say that Amy Coney Barrett,

writing that opinion and saying that the N-word, which she had to say in her mind a million times while she was writing this because she was thinking of that. So that's number one. You know she said it in her mind. And then saying that it wasn't hostile, that's egregious and aggravating second-degree inward usage. That's egregious, rage.

I find it so appropriate that we led into this topic by talking about vomit. Because that is how I feel at the moment. Egregious. Egregious. That's all I'm going to say. The Lakers won an NBA championship. Oh, Lakers. Let's go.

Let's go. Purple and go. It's the Lakers. It's the Lake Show. I just made that song up. Okay. I was going to say I've never heard that before. That's really cute.

That's real cute, man. That was my Lakers song. They fucked over Miami, which is, I guess where Brian is. Hey, Miami won more games than anybody else did against them in the playoffs. Good for Miami. Went farther than we thought they would. Miami played fantastic. They have the right mix of veterans and young cats that are on the rise.

Miami will be back. And they are a great team and a great organization. Now, I called this. I said that LeBron James would win this year because it's a, LeBron James has an interesting situation going on with him. Okay. There are movies where you ever see a movie where somebody sells their soul to the devil? No.

You've never seen one movie where some bamboozled, oh God, book two, oh God, you devil, what people sell their souls to the devil? Never seen that? No, no. But some say that's what the Kardashians did. Okay, but here's the thing about selling your soul to the devil. there's always a catch. Okay?

There's always a catch. And so, because you'll, like, for example, in, in bamboozle, he gets,

he sells a soul to the devil Brendan Fraser for three wishes. And every time there's a, every time during one of the wishes, there's like a catch to it, right? So he sells a soul to the devil to be a,

like, a fantastic, beautiful ladies man or whatever like that. so that he can have the girl of his dreams. He wants to be a ladies man, dashing, all of that, so he can have the girl of his dreams. And she makes him all of that, but then she makes him gay.

So then he doesn't want the girl of his dreams. I've seen, this is sorry, the whole time I've been thinking, this is coming to me, I've seen this somewhere. American horror story. Go ahead. They sell the social devil in that. Okay. And then another one, they make him a big-time NBA player.

He's like a 7-foot-3 athlete who can do every, but he has like a really, really small penis. So, so like a tiny... In the movie. In the movie, yeah, seriously. But he has like the smallest, the smallest penis, the smallest penis ever. So, so there's a catch. Now, what I used to do is I used to put people that have these kind of catches in their lives and sell your soul to the devil's situations.

This is not novel. Other people do this. So sometimes if someone really has it going, but then there's just something they can't get up. I'd be like, yeah, he must have sold his soul to the devil, man. Like, because you get all of this stuff, there's always one huge catch, like one huge drawback, you know? Okay.

LeBron James, I'm not saying that he sold a soul to the devil because he didn't. Okay, and that's not really a thing. But I'm not saying this. But what I'm saying is he is in the basketball soldier's sold to the devil category, and I tell you why? Why? Because it can't just happen for LeBron like it. happens for everybody else.

You know? Like Kobe Bryant wins three championships with Shaq, right? God rest our brother's soul. He wins three championships with Shaq. People go, okay, Kobe can't do this by himself. Kobe comes back and he does it by himself. Pretty straightforward. He won championships as the second guy.

He won championships as the first guy, right? Legit championships. Goes through a hard West and then he wins. Right. You know what I mean? Shat keeps knocking on the door, knocking on the door, gets to the point. Three championships, three finals.

MVP's you cannot deny, I can't say anything about Shack, blah, blah, blah, one went through all the teams, won all the games, did all the stuff, all of that. Jordan, same thing, Magic Johnson, went to 9 NBA finals, 1, 5, lost 4. You can say Magic Johnson had all of these things, tragic magic, dribbled out the clock, all of these things, whatever, whatever. But with LeBron, even when he wins, there's always a thing, okay? So he wins the title in, I think it's 2011. Miami, right?

Not 11, Dallas won in 11, 12. Okay, well, he wins it in 12. Okay. Well, he wins it in 12, right? And it was in a strike shortened season. Mm-hmm. So people were like, eh, whatever. He wins the next one, and it's seemingly because Ray Allen made a shot from the corner on a tap because Graemehapovic didn't have Tim Duncan in the game the rebound. It's really a game that most people think that the Spurs should have won.

I don't happen to believe that, but it's like another yeah-but situation. Okay. then he goes to to Cleveland. They're down 3-1. Grandma Jean gets suspended. And then they the Warriors lose Boggart.

They come back 3-1, even though that is an incredible thing to do. And it's like, whatever. And then with this one, it's the bubble. So because this was a bubble year and the Lakers were the best team, there's always a yeah, but with LeBron. They always yeah but this guy. I don't think that any of them are real yeah buts.

I think the first time the warriors beat the calves, the calves had lost Kevin Love and Kyrie Irvin and it still went six. So that's an excuse that. I don't think it's a yeah-butt. But there's always a yeah-butt with LeBron. He's always being compared to someone. He's always being put up against somebody. It's always what LeBron just did, no one's ever done before,

but we're comparing it to people that did, stuff that other people had been. You know what I mean? So like, I mean, no one's gone six and no in the finals like Jordan, but still Michael Jordan had to have for most purposes a very conventional basketball career where he showed uncommon excellence. LeBron James has had anything but a conventional basketball career and has done things in a very difficult way. But it seems as if that fatal satanic glitch is always there for LeBron.

There's always a reason for somebody to detract from what he's done. And I just wonder, that must drive him fucking crazy. Well, I think it does, which is why when he stood up there, when he was accepting, you know, the championship trophy MVP, he was like, give me my respect too. I deserve it. And he absolutely does. I wonder why we do this with LeBron. I mean, I would give you the Miami championships, not necessarily Cleveland, just because of him going back and how he won and all of that. I think for Miami, the reason people did that to him is because of how he came to Miami, you know, the decision.

and all of that. So people already had like a chip on their shoulders when it came to LeBron and weren't really feeling him. Definitely the bubble, though. I will give you that. There's always going to be kind of like a mark on his record because he won a championship in the bubble. I honestly think to redeem himself, it's almost like it didn't count.

And I hate to say that. I'm not taking away from. That's how it feels. That's how it feels because like we just, we just had a podcast. We were talking about how the ratings were low and people weren't necessarily watching it. Even though somebody did point out to me that digitally the ratings are there, are up or high. Somebody point out to me that the ratings are down for every sport across the board. TV is what they pointed out to me and said, maybe you want to check it digitally.

And I was in there like, things are moving away from TV. And I was like, oh, okay, that's a good point. The ratings aren't what they used to be anymore. But I feel like because I didn't watch it, I watched the last, maybe the last two games, and I know a lot of other people who didn't. It almost just feels like we were in a bubble watching the game in. a bubble. I don't know. It's weird. It's weird to explain it. Even though we're in L.A. and there was a big celebration here about the championship and, you know, even people in my

building were talking about L.A., L.A., like we brought the championship back to our city. It just doesn't feel that way. And I think that if he wins again, which it looks like he very well could, when a lot of people thought he wouldn't bring a championship at all, he almost has to do it outside of the bubble. And then maybe we'll stop having that conversation. I don't know. Well, next year is going to be tougher. You know, the nets are going to be good. The Nets, the Brooklyn Nets have Kevin Durant. So that's going to be a...

They have a roster of other people on the team as well, Van. But they have Kevin Durant. That's, you know, people have... We talk about basketball players. You talk about Kevin Durant. When I'm talking about basketball, I'm sitting down to my friends and we're talking about basketball, where everybody's around, you know, what we talk about?

What about Kevin Durant? We talk about Kevin Durant. Durant, Durant, Durant, Durant, Durant, Kevin Durant is what we talk about. KD, the Slim Reaper. You know that guy? What's the next topic, man? There's no next topic.

That's the end of the podcast. I can't stand you. Trying to make something out of nothing. Y'all don't pay him any attention. Not trying to make anything out of anything. Not trying to make anything on anything. All right. So, I will say this.

on the next podcast, tonight's a very special night. This is coming out on the Wednesday, but tonight, Rach, who-hoo, tonight is the first episode of the Bachelorette

featuring Claire Crawley. Okay, comes on tonight. Yeah, Claire Crawley comes on tonight. So our next podcast, now how many times a week does a bachelor come on?

Once a week. Every Tuesday. Every Tuesday. So our next podcast, which will be on, it will drop on it. Friday, I will give my review and my takeaways from the first episode of The Bachelor at My Journey as a batch begins this week, and I couldn't be happier.

I'm so excited for you. And the people want this. People, and I do a Bachelor recap podcast, and people are looking forward instead to your recap to hear what it's like as a first timer to watch a season. a season like no other, and you're getting a weird season to start with. But enjoy, I'm a batch. I'm a batch version. You're a batch virgin.

It's almost like somebody's taking my hand and leading me into my first fantasy suite ever. You got a while before you get there. You're going to be disappointed. With the fantasy suites? No, no, no, no, no. Actually, I take that back because I have no idea how this season goes. Let me ask you something about the fantasy suites real quick. So you think the Bachelor, you think that the Bachelor,

you think that The Bachelor is leaving money on a table with the fantasy suite. No. I'm serious. Why do you need to leave money when he could have it for free? No. What I mean is The Bachelor of the Show. Oh. I think they're leaving money on table with the Fantasy Suite.

This is why I'm saying about the Fantasy Suite. For the women? For everyone. This is why I say about the fantasy suits. Well, okay, go ahead. Mic them up. Okay. Mic up the Fantasy Suites.

It's a family show. No video. No video. Wait a minute. can it be a family show when they fucking in a windmill? It can't be that family. That's the first time. And a lot of the audience hated that. Oh, for real? Oh, yeah. Like a lot of people tried to slut shame her for that.

Let me tell you something. Easy. Batch on demand. You know what I'm saying? You do Batch on demand. 999 a month. You get behind the scenes shit. Batch on demand. It's easy work, easy money. Full access to miced-up fantasy suites. Just the audio. Just the audio. You're sick then, Lathan.

Just the audio. Hashtag just the audio. Because, by the way, I'm not just talking about listening to people have sex. I'm talking about listening to all the other stuff that might get said.

Think about how enthralling it would be. Big conversations happen. See what I'm saying? Big conversations happen in the fantasy suite. Like, guys tell on each other. They tell all kinds of shit. Guys go, hey, just to let you know.

I'm uncircised. Think about how funny that would be to hear on hashtag batch on demand. Hashtag just the audio. Just the audio. Just the audio. Hashtag just the audio. Just the audio. Batch on demand.

Just the audio. We don't want to see all of that stuff. But the audio, the audio. I'm going to get you a conversation with the producers and see what we can make happen. All right. All right. All right. You guys, take your thinking caps off, but do not stop learning.

It's going to be a big week. Can't wait to see you guys again. I know that we are late, but we are late for a good reason. I would like to give my undying love to all the indigenous peoples of this earth that built amazing, diverse, and beautiful civilizations everywhere. you are not forgotten, you are not without allies, and you are not without advocates. Whatever we can do, we are here.

I am Van Lake. And I'm Rachel Lindsay. Peace.