Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - The Fox Sports Lawsuit, and Drake’s Break Up With LeBron

Episode Date: January 7, 2025

Van and Rachel discuss the Fox Sports lawsuit and social media’s reaction to the allegations (15:12), before breaking down Drake’s, ‘Fighting Irish’ freestyle in the context of his relationship with LeBron James (51:48). Plus, Notre Dame’s Black head coach Marcus Freeman speaks on how “color shouldn’t matter” (1:14:51). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm a swerp in that corner, whoa, boy, I'm trying to tweak in this bitch, I let you shit go and I heard that you. Yo, yo, thought warriors. Higher learning is on. Is Iy Van Lathen Jr.?

And it's me, Rachel and Lindsay. I want to start jigging to that shit. That's the only thing you can do. It took you back, didn't it? It took you back. Man, I'm proud of Leangelo Ball. Why? Because you got LaMello Ball,

who is doing great Lonzo Ball, who is come back from injury. I saw him catch a lob. So he looks healthy. He looks spry. Young man, get his career back on track.

And then jello in his moment, man. Like that shit, y'all try to act like y'all didn't like that shit. That new jello. That new jello. That new jello.

But it's getting a lot of play. People fucking with it. It's definitely a bop. But it's nostalgic for me. I mean, just to be clear, everybody, he is not from the south. He is not from Louisiana. He's from California, even though it is a bit of a 99 and 2000's tone. Yeah. That's why you like it. But it's a bob. I like it. I like it.

Everybody was trying to hate and now look at what happened. Jello up. Wage is a new year. It's 2025. Happy New Year, everybody. Happy New Year. How are you feeling with the New Year? Like a new woman Oh my lordy Oh God I mean I posted it on social media Like I'm one of those people I'm obsessed with New Year's Eve

I love the new year I love the reset I love the reflection Of it all I'm definitely one of those people Who gets caught up in it You know I I've done a New Year's party That year I had everybody

Burned something that they wanted to leave In what year was that 2023 and then have a new word for the next year. This year, my last year, my word was like forward and just survive. This year, it's thrive. That's what it is. Shout out to Callie Curry who gave me that word.

Thrive, that's what I want to do. This time last year was a hellish time for me. Now it's like a one-80. I feel more myself. I feel rejuvenated, revitalized, reinvigorated. What does thriving look like to you? I just feel, you know, I feel control of my life, of my life, but I also feel out of control, and I'm embracing that in a way that I never have before.

I don't know what's to come. I'm not in the best, you know, situation in some ways that I was this, you know, last year, but I'm very hopeful and I'm excited. So that's thriving for me. It doesn't mean material things or, you know, like that I have to achieve certain things. I mean, I do want those things. But I just am in a better mental space and it just feels so freeing. And I'm not even divorced yet.

I was hoping to be at this point. But I'm still not. Leave her alone. Get a job. Donnie, I want to check in with you, bro. The holidays we talked about it can be a tough time. or our friend, Donnie, you're a new father, beautiful family.

Yeah. Thank you, y'all. Thank y'all. How did things go for you, man, and go over the holidays? It was a good time. I had a good time with Junie and my family that is here. My in-laws came.

I enjoyed time with my dad who's still here, which I'm grateful and thankful for. And like Rachel said, I had a good New Year's, and I'm looking forward to the year to come. It was refreshing, recharging, take a little break. but I'm also ready to get right back into it.

Yeah. Yo, my dreams have been crazy lately. Well, how was your, is that a part of the new year for you? Because how you have to ask you the same question? I don't get into that. The holidays was great. The holidays was great. How was your new year?

New year was great, two bunch palms. We went down to two bunch palms. Yeah. I was in the mineral pool six days in a row. Which I recommended. She recommended it. Kalika took her. up on the offer, two bunch palms, mineral pool.

It's the only place to be. Yeah. It's the only place. Honestly, I think that maybe I was in the mineral pool too much. Yeah, well, they say, because there's lithium in the pool. Did you tell you that? No, I ain't anybody telling me nothing. I'm almost positive, the, like, lithium pools.

So, like, you're not supposed to spend more than two hours. Oh, because you start to get lightheaded. Yeah. Did you feel that? Yeah, of course. And I like it, but I watched multiple college football playoff games in there.

Multiple, I watched days of college football. But I watched days of college football inside the mineral pool. I just stayed in the pool. One time a woman tried to goody locks herself into the private mineral pool. Got to get out of the pool. I'm sorry. But it was great.

I don't, I am the opposite. I don't buy into the New Year's stuff. Okay. Fair. I do receive the energy, the good, energies and the healing energies of new times.

So I receive those energies. But as a stoic, which I'm on my journey, my stoicism, my stoicism journey. Sounds exciting. It's helping me. Okay. All right. Well, then that's good.

Okay. Stoicism is helping me. Something happened yesterday to where I was about to blow up. I was literally about to blow up. on the phone with somebody, somebody said something, out of context, and I'm about to blow up.

And then I go, no. Okay. It's not what happens to you. Things will happen to you. It is how you react to the things that happen to you. It is. Yeah. And so for me,

I have to remember that. It's not what happens to me. It's my reaction. I'm in control. I probably need some of that. I'm a very reaction. person. Are you? Yes. And I demand, I, like, demand that from other people. I want people to react in the same manner that I do. And I want them to react as quickly as I do. Like, if I'm, particularly,

I can be like that in relationships. Like, if I'm like, let's talk about it. Let's do it right now. Let's do it right now. I'm not a, let me think about it for a second. Let me gather my thoughts. I'm like, no, I want to know how you feel. How do you feel right now? Let's talk about it. Let's get it. Because I don't want to talk about it again. And that's not great. Well, honestly, I kind of agree with that. I hate the when later on when you have some time, can we talk? No. I'm like, right now.

Let's do it. Let's get it over with. Have the talk. Because I'm not going to be able to enjoy anything else that I do. I'm the same way. Until we have the talk. I have the same way. But even now, I'm learning to let go.

Yes. My family has experienced some tragedy lately. The tragedy season of the late. than Ellis Watson Dixon clan of people. However, I'm not holding on to things anymore. Let them go. Have a good time.

I'm very excited right now for the point. I got a Samsung smart monitor for my office. What is? Is a desktop? Is it a desktop? What is it?

It's a TV? Oh. Oh, yeah. So now we can expect that when you are podcasting from there, you will also have the TV on in front of you. Full of distractions. Tell you what happened. Best Buy, we went to Best Buy.

Shout out to the little kids that was selling shit outside of Best Buy in Rancho Mirage. To the little homie I saw that was selling stuff for his basketball team, I asked him his stats. He said he was averaging 11 and 5. How old? It's like 11. Okay. I gave him 50.

I don't want your chocolate. Fuck that chocolate. I give you 50. Get your stats up. I told him 15 and 7. Out here selling shit for the basket, you make an impact. How is the $50 going to help him make an impact?

He's going to remember that there was a guy, a random guy who took the time to say, 11 and 5, that's good. That's Jacques Vaughn numbers. at Kansas. And he was still like national player of the year. I was like, what the fuck?

Get your numbers up. Anyhow. Going there because too much palms has no TVs. They do. In some rooms. Not in my room.

But that's good. So you convinced her to take me to a place that has no TVs in the midst of the college football playoff. You almost fucked up my entire life. You see that? Wow. This sounds like somebody who's really doing the work on themselves.

Placing the blame on me. I didn't tell you to pick those days. I didn't know that you were going to extend it through the first. I didn't know how long y'all were going to be there. You picked that time. I didn't pick anything. I had no choice in the matter. You still found a way to watch, apparently. I watched because all of the stuff that I was harping on had no bearing on anything and it was fantastic. So I'm indebted to you. Look what just happened. I started. excoriating you, then came back around to indebted. Excoriate in debt.

Excoriate in debt. Okay. But it was good. So I was going there to kind of think about getting the TV so I could watch the games. And I'm not realizing I can watch the games here. I watch the games there. YouTube TV, all of that stuff. And I decided, let me get a monitor for my office.

So I could watch my shit. Yesterday, got the monitor for the office. big monitor, the smart TV, hook it into my Xbox, bring the Xbox out of the living room. I was on the phone with Ryan for four hours playing college football. I love this for y'all. I'm fucking doing my thing. I deserve a room for myself. Okay.

Well, I'm glad you had, you got all of that. I'm glad you had a happy New Year. I did too. I did. I went to Nashville. Ooh. I've been in Nashville like five years Nashville

Huh You went to the Country music capital of the world Mm-hmm A lot of people spend holidays celebrations there Interesting

You like country music I have always liked country music More so like a 90s nostalgia country music Who are some of your favorite country artists right now? Just name five. Right now? Right now.

I would say all the people on Beyonce's album, Cowan. Who are they? We got a podcast. Shout them out. Shout out to Beyonce. Okay. She's never been to Nashville, but. Shout out to Tanner Adele.

Shout out to Britney Spencer. Shout out to Willie Jones. Shout out to Miley Cyrus. Shout out to Raina Roberts, Tierra Kinn. You missed the one. Let's move on. I'm glad you had a happy new year. I do.

And I'm glad you look brighter. You look like there's a wait, but off you. Rache, there was a time some months ago when we were wondering whether or not Rage was going to rach it up again. But in these last couple of months, you've reclaimed the rachiness. You know, know what it is? I had to let go, as you were talking about. I had to let go of certain things. Like, it is what it is. I can't change the way people act. I can't, you know, I can't change

the way things were done in the past. I can't. So I have to let go of it for me. Right. And having that kind of, that freedom and just that peace that comes with it, is this some of the change you're saying? As we end this and get into the show, when do you think? think you'll be ready to talk about. You're so ready. No, I'm asking you. You don't have to do it here, but I'm just asking you because you, you seem to be turning pages and writing a new book at that same time.

So when do you think you'll be ready to talk about the experience? I mean, I ask the thought where it's like, what's the, I mean, what's the best way? You know what I'm saying? To do something like that. I have thoughts. I have different, like, probably a book, make sense, but not a tell-all. Like, I'm not a tell-all person.

You know, miss me with that isn't a tell-all. Right. That's not, but I have a lot of thoughts in ways I wanted to do it, but I don't want to just make it about me, so I have to figure out the way to do that. But, I mean, to answer your question, though, when this divorce is over with.

I need to be divorced. Like I said, 2027. That would be the most ridiculous. It's going to be a while, man. Ridiculous. I am trying to move on. Mm-hmm. As we know.

It's going to be a while. All right. Yo, we have to start the show, and I'm just going to be honest with the audience. This is one of the thornyest, most uncomfortable topics that we have ever had to discuss. Ever? One of them. Top five. Top five.

It's so thorny and uncomfortable that it's fucking thorny and uncomfortable that it's fucking thorny and uncomfortable for Donnie. That's how you know. Mr. Nice Guy. Everybody loves Donnie. Who can do no wrong. You can do no wrong. Even he is uncomfortable with what we have to discuss,

but it's what people are talking about, and there are some things to discuss in it. It's another side of this break. The entire, as far as what we know right now, dust up, mess, allegation, scandal-filled, complaint alleging all different types of workplace misconduct at FS1. Did you know about one and three people with plaques psoriasis may also develop psoriotic arthritis,

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Manage your activity with our consumer protection tool. Restrictions apply. at Fandul.com slash predict slash bonus dash offer dash herms. All right. Let's get into it. A new sheen Faraji, long-time hairdresser for Fox Sports, has sued the company alleging that she was fired after raising concerns, a series of concerns about workplace misconduct. In the suit, she alleges that she declined Skip Baylitz's offer of $1.5 million to have sex with him.

He later accused her of sleeping with Shannon Sharp, which she denied via recording that's mentioned in the suit. The lawsuit states that Mr. Baylis then warned that he doesn't want to see her lose her job over this. And Farage also alleges that she went to HR about these complaints and they ignored her complaints. She named several other defendants in the suit, including Charlie Dixon, who is the executive VP of Content and Joy Taylor, who is on-air talent at the network. The suit also alleges an affair between those two and accuses Dixon of groping Farage during an office birthday party. The suit also alleges that when she complained about that to Taylor, Joy told her to forget about it and reminded her that both women had had their jobs because of Dixon. Faragey, who's Iranian, alleges he also subjected, was subjected to racial and ethnic discrimination while working at Fox. in total, the suit accuses Bayliss and Dixon of sexual battery,

it's sexual harassment. It also accuses Fox of harassment, retaliation, and wrongful determination among other claims. As Van mentioned, it's thorny and uncomfortable, particularly for me, because I worked at Fox for a few years before coming y'all's way. And this stuff is tough to read because I know a lot of the people mentioned in this. I knew Nushin. During my time at Fox and I still have a relationship with joy. But yeah, I mean, with all that being said,

I honestly can only speak on the stuff that I know. I'll let you guys take it from here and I'll chime in. Before we move on, just when you say that you knew everyone, you worked at Fox and so you've had personal relationships or personal conversations with almost everybody that's mentioned in the lawsuit. Yeah, yes, for the most part. I had working relationships and personal working relationships with people. It's coworkers.

You can be tight with coworkers just as I'm tight with you guys. So it's like reading things with faces attached to the names and like, you know, experiences come up. And like I had good relationships with a lot of the people involved. So it's like, it's tough to read. And it's honestly tough to speak on. What, and we appreciate you talking about it, during your time that you were working there, let me pause and start over.

Are you surprised about any of the allegations, revelations, or accusations that were made in this complaint, which is a very lengthy complaint? Yes, I am. based off of my experiences there, reading this is like, it is shocking. And it throws you for a loop a little bit. Like, I, honestly,

I had nothing but positive experiences at my time at Fox. But again, this is, I'm Donnie. I have had mostly positive experiences at most stops during my career. I'm Donnie. I'm saying. I'm speaking for myself is what I'm saying. I'm speaking. only for Donnie.

I had a good experience at Fox, and I loved my time with everybody there. It was like a dope time. I explained my hair care routine with Jason Whitlock in an elevator, and that's something that I, like, that was a weird experience. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Wait, wait, wait. Why? He doesn't even have hair. You did? What? Jason asked me, like, so how do you get your hair like that? which is, that's a question that I probably answer on a monthly basis to somebody. To white people or black people?

I feel like I've asked them that, though. Both, both. Yeah. I feel like I've asked them. White, black. Did Jason Willough touch your hair? No, that is a good question. He didn't.

But I saw the question coming. You can see the question coming when it's almost like my hair can be like boobs. I can see people looking at my hair and then giving me eye contact. And then looking at my hair, I'm like, Like, I see you're not looking at me in the eye. I see you want to ask this question. I need cooking right now. So let me ask you this.

Knowing what you know now, can you be sure that Jason Whitlock wasn't trying to fuck you? I'm bad at reading that. I don't know. Smart, don't know. I'm bad. But, yeah, it's tough. I can't say, I can't speak with any authority on these allegations, to be honest. I think it would be dishonest if I did.

Like, I can only speak on my experiences there and with these people. And that's what makes this tough to read. Yeah, this is not easy. Legal perspective, Rach, what are your thoughts? I mean, this is a complaint. I feel like we're seeing this more often talked about, right? Because the Blake Lively's, what she did, everyone was calling a lawsuit. that was a complaint, which is the first step.

It outlines the lawsuit you will file. If you read the 42 pages of this complaint, it says that, is it Nushin? Nushin. Nushin. Nushin now has gotten permission to sue, so this is the first step. But it's really damaging. And if you read all 42 pages and not just the articles that are, summarizing it, it is clear that it is meant to be damaging.

Now, the reason Van says that this is a thorny topic for us to talk about is because Joy Taylor is a friend. I'm sure we've said that on the podcast before, if we haven't already, but she is a friend. I'm surprised at what I read. I, like Donnie can't speak on anything in particular, but I can talk about, you know, I can give you a slight legal perspective and I can talk about maybe some of the purpose of why somebody like Nushin. Is that correct? New Sheen. Yeah. Get it right. We ain't trying to get sued. Why Nushin would do something like this, right? Because this is the first step. Well, she wants, she wanted this to be provocative, salacious, attention grabbing. Because as I read

the complaint, and I'll particularly talk. about, I'm going to start talking, I'm not going to talk about, so several people that she files, you know, that she names. Fox, the corporation, you always start big, and then you name the other people. When you're filing a, this is a class action suit, she files it on behalf of other people who may feel like they were subjected to some of these things, not the personal stuff, not the individual complaint. The individual complaint is the sexual harassment. She says that she faced and the hostile work environment. She's also claiming, like, minimum wage,

not getting paid minimum wage, not getting paid overtime. And some of those things, that's a class action where she says other people who may have been subjected to some of these things can jump into this as well. But right now, it's her. And I forgot what I was saying.

Oh, the individuals that she names are, you know, top people or on-air people. or on-air personality. What I find interesting is, within the 42 pages, there are other people that she specifically names that contributed to her hostile work environment, yet she doesn't name them as defendants. That's interesting.

They're not as high profile as the people that she named. That's one thing that stands out to me. The other thing, which is why I say she wanted this to be loud, is because it seems very personal and particularly towards Joy Taylor. The things that she is alleging or claiming against Joy Taylor, which she wants to sue her over, is hostile work environment, and specifically disability, national origin, race, sex, and gender.

None of that has to do with some of the details that she alleges related to Joy Taylor about she alleges romantic and sexual relationships with her coworkers. None of that has to do with the hostile work environment. That's personal. She talks about being a friend of Joy Taylor, and that's why she's privy to some of the things that she alleges. That's personal. She didn't have to reveal those details in order to make the claims that she has against Joy Taylor. You wanted it to be incredibly damaging to her.

You wanted it to be personal to her. I can't speak to what's true or what's not. But what I can say is you didn't need that to make those allegations against her. That's not speaking to what she's alleging against Skip Bayliss or Charlie Dixon because she's talking about things that personally happened to her. The hostile work environment, those things that she's alleging against joy, she's talking about things she experienced allegedly at the hands of joy. Her talking about her sexual and romantic encounters has nothing to do with Nushin.

That's just messiness that she wanted to put in this lawsuit to boost the attention of it and to force the hand of the people that she is going to sue, which is the next step after the complaint. That's why she did that. That's why somebody would do something like that, because what comes next, you file a lawsuit, now you've got discovery, you've got possible depositions, and that's what somebody doesn't want. You don't want the testimony. Joy, Skip, Charlie, Fox, they don't want to have to sit down and answer these questions in a deposition, written out in discovery, or trial if it goes to that. They don't want that. So she put these things out there to force

the hand of these people. And I think that is extremely problematic, and I'll stop there, and I'll get into why in a second. Do you, is this is a complaint something that people are supposed to see? Well, I mean I mean, the general public. Are we supposed to see the complaint? If they file it, then yeah. I mean, it's public.

Complaints don't, I mean, they can be private. They can be. Right. So she filed it publicly to be loud. Is a complaint, well, front office sports went and got it. But that means it was public. Maybe. Or

what? What I'm asking is, is the complaint something that's supposed to be between the people, and then it's between the people, you don't see it between the parties involved, you don't see it, and then later on... How did front office sports know to go look for it? Obviously, it was leaked. Exactly. How did New York Times coincide with Blake lively in her complaint?

Obviously, it was late. Justin is suing one of the reasons he's suing them. They collaborated together. Sure. She wanted them to see them. So this, from your purview, this is something that people, she wanted people to see what complained itself. How would they know to go looking for this? Because this is the thing that I'm saying, well.

So I get your point. From a TMZ perspective, we used to have somebody at the court, right? Oh, you still do. I know that first. Okay. Well, I don't know what they do now. But we used to have somebody at the court. And this person's job was to be at the court and flag any filings.

Any filings that are coming through, you recognize the name, you flag the filing, it's a celebrity, it's a divorce action, it's a lawsuit, it's whatever. Sometimes, though, with how well-resourced you are in the court, you'll get tipped off to a filing. Somebody will say, because you're spreading money around. Somebody will say, hey, this person is getting divorced. You make contacts, it's like any other news gathering. Yeah. But those things have to, like, come through PACER. They have to be public filings.

Ooh, PACER. Yeah, well, I know, you know, I was there for a long time. Like, they have to be public violence. Uh-huh. If they're not, which sometimes they're not. Yeah. And particularly the complaints, sometimes they're not. Then there has to be a reason that there has to be leveraged that somebody wants

in order to make this filing. public. It's a public record. Everything I see a legal complaint is a public record. So there's never a legal complaint that's sealed and desecutive. I think if it's juvenile, juveniles or... No, but when you send the complaint over, isn't that just supposed to be, this is the last time I'll ask this? When you send the complaint over, isn't that supposed to be between the two parties? And then it's between the two parties and then later on the lawsuit comes based upon the complaint. Isn't the complaint supposed to be leveraged to file a lawsuit?

to make you settle, shall I say? Am I wrong about this? I'm probably... It is my understanding that I'm sure that they drafted a complaint. They know... Before a lawsuit happens most of the time, people know that they're about to be sued. Right.

Right? They contact you. They say this is what we have. They probably sent a copy of the complaint. But once they file it, unless there's something that, you know, like I said, a juvenile or, you know, like maybe... Yeah.

Then it's going to be sealed or... Yeah. But it's a public record. The reason I say it was leaked is because I know firsthand TMZ does have people. Oh, it was certainly leaked. And I know that if it, if it, TMZ didn't report it first. If they saw it at the courthouse and they reported it, then I would be like, oh, TMZ got the public record. But for front office to do it, they leaked it, right?

My situation, it was page six. That's a New York publication. My divorce was leaked. Right. The filing of it. was leaked. So that's, I mean, this was leaked. So it goes to my point of she wanted this to be loud. She, I'm sure the people who were going to, who are named as defendants knew about this prior. They probably tried to get some type of settlement. Didn't work. And so they filed it. Now they want,

they want to force the hand of the people that are named to settle out of court, to be embarrassed, to be shamed, to be, you know, to tank the brain. of whether it's an individual or a corporation so that they end up settling the case. And this isn't me taking away from the allegations that were made, right? I want to be clear. I keep the same energy. She's alleging sexual harassment against certain individuals. I'm not speaking to that. What I'm speaking to is the extra things that were put in it that weren't necessary,

I believe, to prove the case it was done to be, in my opinion. malicious. So this is what I would assume. I would assume, first of all, before I even get to that, let me just explain something to you guys. I'm going to say this one time. I did something on the Reddit that was pretty fun.

I asked for feedback on the Reddit. I saw the post. I thought that was great. Right. And they gave me a lot of great feedback. Shout out to the people. Thank you, everybody. The writer is over there.

Great idea, too, by the way. But one thing that they said was you guys should treat, your friends and people that you know, sometimes you guys take it easy on them. You guys should treat them the same way. You treat people that you don't know. Sure. And we do.

I, we don't. We do what? We don't what? We don't treat them the same way. No, that's what I'm saying. Right. We take it easy. I'm sorry.

When I said, and we do, I meant take it easier on friends. So let me explain to you guys the way I see this. And I'm going to say this one time and I'm never going to revisit it again. Okay. I explain this in the Reddit.

When you are trying to analyze or give commentary on the topic, you're looking for context. Let's take the idea of an athlete playing a game. If Shannon Sharp is talking about the NFL, the context that he has is years and years and years of football play. Like years. and years of football played. It's familiarity with the game. Right. So in order for you to meet the context requirement to have a conversation with Shannon Sharp about football and you've never

been on a football field in the NFL, you've never played college football, you've never blocked, you've never washed someone down the line, you've never picked up in pass pro, you've never chipped and then got out for it. You've never done any of that stuff. The only way for you to get to his level on that is you have to watch thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of hours of football, different football, like all types of football at all types of levels. You have to know every single different offensive call. You have to really, really grind tape.

And even still when you do that, there will be aspects of the game that his familiarity will just blow you away. He just knows dynamics in a locker room that you'll never know. But on the game itself, it might get to a point to where you can have a conversation with someone. because like familiarity is the ultimate context. When you know somebody, now a lot of the times I myself have gotten into trouble on the podcast

or in other situations by not knowing people as well as I need to know them to be able to talk from a landscape of familiarity with them. But when you know somebody, that is the ultimate context. Right now, if someone said something about Donnie or about you, I know you guys well enough to be like, I don't think that that person would do that. Or if that person did that, there is a story to it.

Remember when the lady made the TikTok about you making her pill to cheese off of the thing? I know you well enough now to know that that story was probably 100% true and that you put that lady through all of that pain on there to get the cheese off of the thing. I know you now. You fucked over.

And that's okay. But it's joking. But what I'm saying is that it's impossible to be in this situation, having known joy and having had conversations with joy and having talked to Joy about her relationship with this hairdresser a year ago. And how tough things were. It's impossible not to look at some of this and feel away for your friend. Impossible. Impossible.

So I'm not going to try. Yeah. I'm going to say this. I don't, I'm not speaking on anybody's behalf, but if I were to conjecture, if I were to make an educated guess, I would guess that a lot of things that the internet is hung up on in terms of the details of what's going on here that she doesn't care very much about. What I would imagine she does care about is an accusation that she was, was in some way harassing or toxic or racist towards someone who she was at one point very close friends. Right.

Right. Right. And so I think when you look at all of the stuff that's happening here, and these are some ridiculously serious allegations, we're talking about things that women go through in the workplace. we're talking about powerful men leveraging their power to control women and subordinates in the workplace

all very serious things but a lot of the things that's in here the plaintiff in this case knows them because they were so close because of the intimacy of their relationship there's an intimacy with makeup artist hairdressers you know

like they see you every day every morning. You spend hours together. Right. Yeah. And so to me, it's interesting, and I'm not, once again, it will get to the Skip Bayless part of this and the Charles Dixon part of this, because I don't know those guys. Well, before we do, I want to say this too. You know, I love the way that you put the way we know her. and of course, you know, we can speak to the familiarity we have with her in ways that other people don't. But if I'm also reading it objectively, certain things don't add up. And I'm speaking to, you know, the accusations particularly against joy with the hostile work environment because it is odd.

And this is why I say like it seems so personal that this person, as you stated in your complaint, requested you for you. years and the moment that changed, things change for whatever reason. I can't speak to that, that you might want to change up how you're doing your makeup, your hair, whatever. That's when things start to change with what it seems like where the allegations came about. But what I also want to talk about is what is being done on social media, on the internet, and why I feel like the things that were alleged against a joy were done to be damaging to her personally and to her brand. That's what the headlines are. That's what people are talking about on social media.

That's what the articles are on Instagram. That's what the back and forth with it is on Twitter. That's what the jokes are about being made. The goal was to be damaging and that is what is happening because it doesn't take much for people to take and run with something that I, that is negative against a woman. We talked about it back and forth with Blake. I don't know what the, what's true or what's not,

but we see how quickly, and we even see it in text messages where a publicist says, hey, it was easy, paraphrasing here, but it was easy to do because it's, what I'm saying is, is the publicist said, this also happened

because people are so quickly to turn on a woman. That is something that is true. It's the low hanging fruit. And we're seeing it happen right now. There are, I just want to be particular what, like, the uphill battle that this does to a woman, specifically a black woman in a male-dominated field. There are very few women working in sports and even fewer black women.

Joy is one of the few black women working in sports who has a coveted in studio position. Most of the people you see who are black women working in sports are on the sideline. You can count on one hand how many people are in studio, let alone hosting. leading a show in studio talking about not just one sport, multiple sports. There's always been this stereotype about women in sports that, or it will in male-dominated spaces, but it will stick with sports, particularly in sports, where they're not qualified to have the positions that they have, that they're getting it because they're pretty, and those women are always having to prove their ability.

They're having to show how talented, how knowledgeable they are, and they have to. to prove their track record constantly. Joy Taylor is somebody who's had to do that. And she is extremely knowledgeable about the sports that she discusses. And she's very talented. But now with this complaint, she's got to defend her reputation because people are going to question that because they're always looking for an excuse to question the ability of a woman to hold her own when it comes to sports, to sit at the table and talk with men about a sport that they may or may not have played and whether or not they can do it to the same level. Now she is being dragged on social media and question about her ability to do that when she's

clearly qualified to while the men are getting praised for not skip. I'm talking about Manuel Acho. I'm talking about Charlie Dixon are getting praised for their affiliation, their alleged affiliation with her. And she's getting ripped apart in pieces. this is what I believe this woman wanted to turn the hand of Joy being a name defendant in order to get her to settle. And it's a shame and it's ridiculous that Joy's getting her image and Brand is getting tarnished while other people are getting praised for it. It's ridiculous. And now she's being questioned. And I don't know.

I hope that she's able to hold the position that she has and continue to be on the successful track that she's on. But it's really upsetting at how she is. being dragged through the mud right now over these allegations based on gender? Well, I mean, for me, you know, it's always interested in what people choose to believe when something is

put in a lawsuit. If it's like if it's if it's someone that you guys believe to be beyond the pale of wrongdoing, ah man, it's just bullshit, somebody lying. But people

believe essentially what they want to believe. And part of the media game is giving people reasons to believe what it is that they want to believe. It's also what's sexy to talk about. And so what people want to believe is that women that are pretty women are in the positions that they're in because they are pretty women. Yep. Not because they grind at the tape. Not because they played the sport. But they're there because they're pretty women.

And they don't really have the chops to be where they're supposed to be. Right. So they had to suck somebody's dick to get there. And because that is an underlying patriarchal and a belief rooted in misogyny, then if you highlight things like this, then people will room with them. And they want to believe that. And they, like, even in this, this lawsuit, alleges that Joy was hired on at FS1

because of her relationship with someone and that she had was just a bartender before then. Right. That's not true. Not at all. I mean, just, you guys, I know it sounds, that's just, that's not true. Yeah.

I mean, that's not, that's not true. She was on a radio in Miami. A top rated show. Yeah. That's just not accurate. That's somebody's interpretation of things. That's just not true. And I know how y'all going to react and all of that.

That's just, that's not true. It's not true. And so, you know, what I hope is that if there is to be, if we are to look inside of workplace relationships, we can never do too much of this. We can never do too much, never have too much conversation about workplace relationships, about the dynamics in the workplace,

about how men and women and people should function inside of workplaces. We can't talk about it enough, right? Because I haven't been in one office where there wasn't a problem eventually with how people talk and relate to one another and stuff like that. So I am not in any way saying that

Skip Bayliss didn't harass this woman. that what happened to her on behalf of Charles Dixon didn't happen. I'm not even going to say that all of her back and forth with joy. I can't say that joy was her best self every time she dealt with this woman. I wasn't there. Right, right. Like, I can't say that. I can't say that there was never anything that was done that was wrong.

I can't say that. I can't say that Joy in a racist. She's certainly in a sexist. And she is not the type of person to vindictively ruin someone based upon a personal falling out. Right. I just don't, you know, whatever.

If I learn different information, I'll work on that different information. As far as everything else, the internet is going to internet. I mean, people hear about who fucking who, they're gonna go crazy. If certain niggas involved in this, that this is probably the coolest moment of their life.

I'm just being for real. So in that type of situation, that's gonna make people look at things and do things and make their jokes. There's nothing. We're essentially all on Twitter, kids in a cafeteria. But there's a cost.

You know what I mean? There's a cost. Skip Bayless, as far as all of the stuff, we've even talked more about joy and the plaintiff here than we've talked about the allegation that Skip Bayliss was sexually harassing a subordinate and offered her $1.5 million to have sex with him.

That he, this complaint lays out a whole whole history of him being oddly and weirdly obsessed with her. Yeah, yeah. That, if true, working in that environment for that many years and being pooled between Skip and Shannon and being held...

What do you mean pulled between Skip and Shannon? Well, if you look at the lawsuit, it alleges that Skip Baylews was under the belief that this woman was in a relationship between with Shannon Sharp, which he got incredibly jealous over and then started treating her like shit.

So even if she wasn't actually being pulled between Skip and Shannon, it felt like to her that she was being pulled between Skip and Shannon. Yeah, I just wanted to be clear to make it, for people who didn't take the time to read it, I just wanted you to clarify that. Oh, Shannon Sharper has nothing to do with it. He has nothing to do with it.

And it is later revealed in the complaint that allegedly Charlie Dixon told Skip Bayliss that she was messing with Shannon just because he wanted Skip A-Lis to let her go. That's her allegation. So he's just, Shannon Sharp was just used as a pawn. I just wanted to be clear for people who didn't, who ever read it.

You're right. But yo, so, you know, I looked at it and I saw somebody who had, who seemingly had a really tough and very fraught workplace experience. And when I read the things in there that were specifically, specifically alleged, you can't help but feel bad. Yeah, I mean, the key word that you said is subordinate. You know, if you look at the allegations that she has against Charlie and Skip Bayliss,

she felt trapped, you know, because of course the first thing people say is, well, if this was happening to you, why would you not just leave? Well, she states throughout the complaint, she's a single mother. You know, she had left one job to come here. You know, the industry's small. She probably was like, what will my reputation be? She also had private clients from her time working at FS1, some people who were up in corporate. And so she felt like if what am I, I can, I'm going to have to endure this to be able to provide for my son.

Let me just put my head down and get through the day. And I'm sure there are a lot of people who've probably been in similar situations as well. So yeah, I absolutely feel like she, you know, if you believe her allegations to be true, that she was in a lose-lose situation just for just to be able to survive. And, you know, she alleges that Skip Bayliss knew that and took advantage of that, you know, offering her money, threatening her job. Some of the shit that it alleges that Skip said was wild. Go ahead.

the, I mean, the dad's. The dad. Look, once again, we haven't heard from anybody involved. Very detailed. Very detailed. Very detailed. Very detailed.

We haven't heard from anybody involved. So, you know, once again, we don't know. I'll say this. I'll ask you this. As a lawyer. How strong is somebody's diary in terms of evidence? I don't know. Yeah.

She constantly throughout the complaint, you guys, she references something that happened at work, and then she has a coinciding diary entry that she uses as proof. I mean, it's her account, it's her story. I don't think that's going to, that goes into evidence to sway that it's just, it's the equivalent of her telling her story, right?

But she also has a diary entry. I don't know. that's a trial issue of whether or not a judge is going to allow that to be submitted as evidence. I don't know. If anything, it just helps her be able to recount her memory.

Donnie, you should have done something while you in the elevator with Jason Whitlock letting him pet you. Letting him pet you. Should have done something, Donnie. You were there. I'm telling you, what did Dr. King say? He said two things. First thing he said, where the ho's at.

Second thing, he said, an injustice, anyway. You know, okay. I got it. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere or something like that. Donnie, you know that. You should have done something, Donnie. Now look, everybody business on Front Street now. I want somebody to create Photoshop a picture of Jason Whitlock petting Donnie.

Hey, make that picture. Donnie and Jason Whitlock make that picture and we'll prominently feature it in the next highland. Donnie and Jason Whitlock Donnie's sitting on Jason Whitlock's lap as Jason Whitlock pets his hair.

Danny. I'm calling HR. HR. You can tackle this. You're going to call HR now, nigga? It seems like you should have been called HR. Don't call them now. Allegedly, they wouldn't have done it.

anything. They went to dutch it. Yeah. HR was part of the whole game. Yeah. This episode is brought to you by WeatherTech. Everyone knows winter is the MVP and making a mess. You don't need WeatherTech floor liners in the summer unless you hit the beach or go camping. Then you'd want a cargo liner. Or a road trip goes sideways. Ketchup goes rogue ice cream drips.

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not available in all areas. All right, Donnie, next topic. This is a good one. All right, yeah, let's switch gears to some music stuff. All right, so Drake released a freestyle on Friday, which was, I think, titled Fighting Irish. Yeah. He got several things off of his chest during the freestyle. He dropped some verses that fans are taking as hints that they reference LeBron.

And for a little bit of context, recently LeBron celebrated his 40th birthday party and footage of him rapping Kendrick's man at the garden went viral and this is a little snippet of what Drake had to say during the fighting Irish. The world fell in love with the gimmicks. Even my brothers got tickets. Seemed like they loved

every minute. Just know the shit is personal to us and it wasn't just business. Analyzing behavioral patterns is someone suspicious. Niggas was never happy for me when I run up the digits or when I'm breaking world record still as I guzzle a Guinness or when I get my fifth made back because the color is different.

Remember we traded watches I gave you the Arabic die You gave me a number of the dishes You would even check up on my son like a pediatrician Sure convinced the gang and shit was rooted in love when it isn't Show me how different we are There's blessings and juxtaposition I guess now you boys got a band of your summer tradition Cold shoulders I gave in a half

Does it come with the distance Figure we was always going to be close out Ovens and kitchens Okay first of all the guy's a good rap Which nobody ever said he was not He's a great rapper. This is the kind of drink I like. You like this type of shit?

I liked this flow. Yeah. But he's just kind of getting into his bag. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You have a problem with this. Why do you say that? I could tell.

I don't understand people that have a problem with this. Okay. So we started off this podcast talking about the new year and I talk about how meaningful it is to me. Because it's a time to reflect and reset. Mm-hmm. If Drake could come out with this at the end of December, I probably feel a little bit different. It's a nice way to put a butt, a bow, and wrap the shit up.

But let's start on with new energy in 2025. I just, it came out and I was like, again? No. You like it because you like the mess. That's not true. And you like, you like, you, you've referred to, you found it very funny how LeBron was, how close they were,

and how he seems to be really by, lying into the whole Kendrick thing. And I was like, when I saw it, I was like, man, Van cannot wait to talk about this on the podcast. But to answer your question, just to answer your question, I don't like this. I want to see, nobody said Drake's not a good rapper. Drake took the L, he lost.

It is what it is. Make some new music. Let's keep going. You will continue to do well. You will break records. You will sell out. Embrace the rapper that you are. and just leave the Kendrick stuff in 2024.

I don't want to start this again. That's how I felt. Okay, so. Leave it alone. Donnie, Drake was on the shop after the beef that he had with pushy tea. He was on the shop. He was on the shop. He had the beef with push a tea.

He lost. Scaving disc track called the story of Adidon. Like, when people make disc tracks about Drake, is different to me. When you listen to back to back, which is one of the greatest disc tracks ever made, when you listen to back to back,

Drake's clowning meek. But when you listen to the record, you feel like that they can come back from the jabs that's in the record. Sure. I feel like they can come back. Sure, sure, sure.

When niggas made disc tracks against Drake, it is like they fuck hate his guts. Like, when you listen to the story of Adidon. With the accompanying artwork. Artwork. Push-a-tee fucking can't stand drink. Disgusted.

He's disgusted. When you listen to some of the stuff that Kendra put out there, he can't stand him. It's disgusted with him. Knowing that, that that's the vibe that Kendrick was on. I want to play something from the shop after the story of Adidon. because he wouldn't give any interviews really to any traditional media besides rap radar. He had a rap radar interview.

From what I know about that interview, there were heavy, heavy, heavy constraints put on it. Maybe I'm wrong about that. We're still a great interview, by the way. Still a great interview. Rap radar. There was a time, man. There was a time when Rap Radar was giving you interviews in depth on hip-hop figures like nobody else. but niggas want to do different shit, I guess.

Play the clip. Play the clip from Drake on the shop. Listen to this. Drake takes you and like, am I letting you down? Yeah, and what I tell you? What did you say to him? You said that I can never let you down. I say, listen, as a hip-hop historian who loves hip-hop,

I will love for you to respond. Of course, we're selfishly. I did, by the way. I did, by the way. By the way, I did, by the way. Can we reenact it? Yeah, we react it. I'll be LeBron.

So Maverick says, you text Drake right after whatever, whatever. And LeBron goes, and what did I tell you? You told me that I could, I could never let you down, dad. So look, but look, all those aside, they're very close.

I put that out there to say that at one of Drake's lowest moments when his business has been put out on Front Street, when people are talking about his son, his lifestyle, all of it. He confides in LeBron James. This is the depth of this relationship. We're talking about going all the way back

to where like when Drake was in the locker room with the heat back in the day, like they have been friends for a long, long, long, long time. And at the moment, it seems that a large portion of the culture turns on Drake because as bad as the story of Aedadon was,

Scorpion came out a little bit after it. Scorpion had God's plan. Scorpion had it in my feelings. Drake actually reacted to the story of Aadon the exact way he should have reacted to not like us,

which is just drop fire music, remind people that he is who he is, and then get on with being a hitmaker. It's not what he did this time. This time, he's wallowing a little bit and making some, miscalculations. But my point is this, why would anyone think that he would be okay with LeBron

James at this particular point siding with Kendrick Lamar in this beef seemingly dancing to the song. Sagan much how much he likes the song, going everywhere, being seen in public, vibing with the record. Why would anyone expect Dray to just not have any feelings about that? And last thing I say, after the birthday, when LeBron is rapping Kendrick Lamar again, he probably went, you know what, nigger, enough. I'm serious, bro. He probably went, you know what, nigga, enough of this. We got it.

You like the record. You like Kendrick Lamar. Kendrick is on top of the world, the A number one hip-hop king right now, undisputed. We get it. But, nigga, we've been to Carabana together. Nigel, we've been all over the place. we was jumping and pointing on the stage it's me, Drake.

So he probably got fed up with this shit. He put some bars on it. I don't have a problem with it. Well, I was listening to some YouTube videos on it. And in the video, he has hairs and braids, which it's not now, I believe. So he did this a while. He did this back.

LeBron just turned. That's fine. But he didn't drop it, though. He didn't drop it. So he didn't drop it. Okay, you think he dropped because of this. I am not, I, okay, as much as I talk about Drake in a not glorious way.

You don't fuck with him. That's not true. I just said I like love when he is rapping in that way. I've been to Drake concerts. I like Drake. I don't like when he acts all hard and stuff. Like, relax, it's enough. I think Drake adopts other personalities.

This is what I'll say. I cannot imagine the world, it feels like the world is against you. The world is actually singing lyrics that trash you, that question you, that put you down, you feel at your lowest when you were originally just like running it. I cannot imagine feeling that way. And it feels like this, when you feel like that,

you turn to your inner circle. You turn to your community. And he, I'm sure, it does seem like before I finished that statement, it does seem like something, I'd like to think something went down between them and that LeBron just wasn't on the bandwagon of Kendrick because it was what was popular and poppin. I would like to think that there was a shift in their relationship

that we just don't know about. And so LeBron is reacting this way. I pray it isn't just because Kendrick's popping, so he wants to be on what's popular. But I will say, just to finish this sentence, I can't imagine going through all of that and trying to turn to my friend, and he can't pick up, he's not picking up the phone

because he's at the pop-out. But I don't like the timing of the disc record. I wish you would have left it in 2024, but I do understand his feelings towards LeBron. Imagine you've seen your best fridge fighting to get up on stage at the pop-out. I'm sorry, yo, in this situation, Braun is wrong. Unless they had a shift. Unless they had a shift.

Hold on. Shout out to Club Paradise, which is a YouTube, which is a Twitter space that I went on. I saw low-key on there. There's this thought that I'm a Drake hater in some way. I love Drake. I just have to be objective about things that happened. And Drake got his ass washed in this entire situation because Kendrick Lamar was able to hit Drake where it hurts. It's just what happened.

But in this situation right here, this is a break. letter. It's a hip-hop breakup letter. But LeBron is in the wrong. Unless. Unless what? If something went down with them that we are not privy to and they don't have the same friendship, then it would make sense why he's doing this. That's what I'm saying. And I actually hope that's the case because otherwise it is so messed up that you're like, when Kendrick's popping right now, He got the record. Like, I want to be where the people are. So it's time to do something that I love to do.

And it's called blame the woman. Okay. It's time to blame the woman. It's time to blame the woman. Because I don't think Savannah likes Drake very much. You've said this before, and I'm trying to figure out why. So we talk about these carabana trips. If we talk about these carabana trips and what was going on,

on in these carabana trips. The part of what I don't like is saying we're going to snitch and tell about what was going on. Oh, because he has the lyric about messing up your public image. Messing up your public image, your summer tradition. Drake was snitch too.

Don't snitch, bro. Don't snitch on Bronon. Drake. If Braun responds, he's going to snitch. Drake. Don't snitch on Braun, bro. Okay? I never been to, don't snitch on Braun.

You can't do that. Just don't do it. That's going, people not going, you're not going to be able to, don't snitch on them, bro, because niggas not going to forget if you snitch, bruh, don't snitch on bra on them. Don't snitch on bra on, bro. Don't do it, Drake. Now, if I'm playing hip-hop detectives and these summer tradition trips are happening to Carabana, Savannah might not like that very much.

And the Hamptons. And the Hamptons might not like that very much. Might not like that very much. you go and hang out with your friend who is single and is fucking everybody with an IG over 120,000 followers, right? Might not like that. Might not want to see you around Drake. Might not like the fact that Drake is around as much as he is.

Drake might not be a friend that's inside of the inner circle. And so maybe with LeBron, who's very family-oriented, playing with his son now, families together. maybe she put the kibosh on it. She likes not like us, so you like not like us. She likes euphoria, so you like you for you. If Drake is the homie that's bringing the ladies through, maybe Savannah's like, uh, later for him.

And Braun will always choose his family in a situation like that. And so. So LeBron has no responsibility in this. It's all her fault. See how you went? I didn't say fault. I didn't say fault. Then what is it?

It's she inspired the relation. Who, Danny, you understand what I'm saying. Donnie, Ashley, is this wrong to say that maybe if your wife doesn't like your homie, the homie is not going to last? That's fine, but does that mean the homie starts jigging to music and goes to concerts and fights to get on stage so he can play on stage with the rest of the West Side. If the wife is going to the pop-out, you're going to the pop-out. I don't think she was there. Oh, she was there?

Are you sure? I'm pretty sure she was there. She wrote not like us. Donnie, would you be friends with somebody that your wife didn't like? Honestly, no, but I don't think I would handle it in the way LeBron did. It's just like you slowly lose contact with people. You hit them up less and less, or vice versa. And, you know, relationships fall off.

That's life. But I agree. I feel like the way LeBron handled it in the best, not the best. LeBron is in the wrong. It's okay for your favor to be wrong. LeBron is in the wrong. He turned his back on Drake. And she was at the popout.

Of course she was there. She said, now you get on stage. Go up in it. Hey, get your ass on stage and tell everybody. we're not fucking with this nigga from up here. This is my this is my fucking

dream scenario. And then LeBron, good family, man. He don't side with his family. Oh my gosh. He's going to side with his family. What, if you were managing Drake because you don't disagree with the fighting Irish

freestyle. Don't disagree with it at all. If you're, I disagree with the timing. I'm not Maddie wrote it. Disagree with the timing of the release. If you were managing Drake, it's 2025, you wrote your love letter, where do you go from? How would you tell him to do 2025?

You know what the interesting thing about that question is, is that there's really, the reason why I am such a singular entity, like I don't have like a, like I've grown into like a loner. is because I react to things so specifically and I'm not good at telling other people what they should do. I'm good at telling people who they are

and reminding them who they are. But if you're him, if you're Drake, so let's look at it like this. I'm going to go, Drake has a lyric where he says, I used to be teased for being black, now I'm not black enough. Because I'm not acting tough or making stories up about where I'm actually from.

How long ago did he write that? Because times have changed. Okay. So when you look at him and the things, even in the rap radar interview, that bother him, the things that bother him are seemingly people questioning his authenticity. There are seemingly things that people say, that don't have anything to do with Drake the rapper. Yeah.

You know, hip-hop rap beefs go into, hey, man, if you look at Ether, ether is a rat-based beef. Nigger, you love my style. Nigga, you, you love me. Like, you got my name in your mouth, the whole thing. It's a, it's a stand,

an accusation. But the space of music, every time somebody comes at Drake, they accuse him of being a culture vulture. They accuse him of being inauthentic in a very granular way. Like down to the atoms of him, he's not one of us, he's not real, he's not this.

That's got to bother someone who feels like they've been so cut off from what they are. And what he is is legitimately the son of a nigger from Memphis. like a pioneering black music family, the Graham family. Larry Graham is his uncle. Dennis Graham is his father. These are some black people, but he's a world away from them in a lot of ways. And whatever point in your life you come to

your origin or who you are, normally for me, that's okay. As long as you're coming to it in authenticity. So he becomes the biggest rapper in the world, and he is granted interest, entrance into this culture, into a thing that maybe he feels like he's been, he wasn't shown the door to before. And his cultural viability is based on the fact

that he is the biggest rapper. Drake might feel like, and I'm definitely psychoanalyzing him now, that if he is not running hip-hop, that he won't be accepted as a black man, that the only reason why, Interesting. He is who he is, is because, or he's accepted at all, is because people had to accept him.

And so if people don't have to accept him anymore, then he's not a part of it. Right? He said on the rap radar interview that he gets artists of the decade and he gets all of these accolades and people don't say, hey, a black artist got this. They say Drake got it. And he says, I associate myself as a black man. Once again, not a very wise choice of words. You don't say, I associate myself as a black man. You say, I am a black man, right?

So I wouldn't know how to tell someone whose identity feels like it's so closely connected to running a rap game. how to come to terms with the fact that they don't run the rap game anymore. That's very interesting. And I love everything that you said. So I will answer my own question based off that analysis, assuming that that is true,

everything you're saying is true, and say, Drake needs therapy. And we all do. I'm in it. Go tomorrow. I think what would be great is if that is, I think everything you said is true.

So let's just say it is. He went to therapy. He worked all that out. Took a full year off. All of 2025 isn't trying to sit courtside and meme mug, DeMars Rosen. Like, isn't, isn't writing love letter freestyles. Isn't doing streaming videos, streaming videos with your favorite Gen Zier. It just takes off, disappears and does some work on himself and comes back.

You know how good the music would be? Just like he takes off and it's like the comeback or not even that, not cheesy like that, but something that alludes to that like, shit, I got therapy. And like the whole thing is just a reflection, him talking about what he went through. See, that kind of reflection I'd be okay with. Talking about it, being honest about it, talking about the failed. relationships with other rappers, his failed relationship with the industry, with black people. I would love that. And he just does an album kind of like a book to us. That's what I would say.

Take the whole year off. Throw 2025 away in that publicly and take some private time for yourself. That's what I would love to see Drake do. This is the only thing that he seems like he can't be authentically vulnerable about. He's touched on it, like I said, in some of his songs. he's definitely touched on it. I'm not saying he hasn't touched on him. But a lot of the vulnerability that I see from Drake with women and other things like that,

this identity thing, it would be really, really interesting to hear him authentically delve into this particular part of it because this is the only gap in his armor. There's almost nothing else. You can't say Drake can't rap. You can't say Drake can't got hits.

You can't say Drake ain't got women. Yeah. You can't say Drake ain't got money. You can't say Drake ain't got another. The only real gap in Drake's armor is that Drake ain't black. I would be so eager to listen to an album, a song of him talking about it. That's the, that we just gave him the keys to, the comeback, the steps to a comeback. Did you know about one in three people with Plex psoriasis?

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Order now at order. Dot sweetgreen.com. Donnie, let's do college football. All right. Let's do college football. I know Texas is still alive. Congratulations. I don't like the way you said that.

Donnie, perk up when you read the fucking topics, bro. Yeah. Like, it's, it's, it's, you know what I'm saying? Like, I know Texas is still alive. Michigan is, I don't like Texas, but that's the thing. But Michigan, Michigan had a good end of the season. So that actually does perk me up some. And it's hard because I'm about to talk about Notre Dame,

who I also don't fuck with. So it's like, I hope everybody loses. Let me tell you something, Drake. Leave Michigan in 2024, okay? In 2025, Texas is still alive. Now, do we have a tough road ahead of us? You do. On Friday?

Sure, but we are playing a game in Dallas. We're very familiar with the Cotton Bowl, with the atmosphere. We're familiar with the Ohio State audience. I think we might we are favored to lose is it by six the last I saw but I believe in us

and Donnie I need fucking ass bust Donnie I need you to believe in us too I believe in you too I don't believe in Ryan did If Ohio State don't win this game It's that cockiness It's that cockiness

that I'm hoping they come into the game with it's giving it's giving Roseball If Ohio State don't win this game this is a fucking choke job. Texas has to play the best game they've ever played. If Ohio State don't win this game, it's a fucking choke job. Ohio State is by far the most talented roster in the country.

They should win this game. But Donnie, we got history happening. Tell us what's going on in the semis, Donnie. Yeah, we got two black coaches going head to head, guaranteeing that there's going to be a black head coach coaching in the national championship game. We got Marcus Freeman, who's coaching Notre Dame, and you got James Franklin at Penn State. And recently, or after Notre Dame won, their last playoff game, Marcus Freeman was asked about the

significance of that history, and this is what he had to say. You and James Franklin are kind of making history here. Can you kind of just put in perspective what it means to you to be, you know, one of two black coaches in this playoffs? Yeah. Again, you're very grateful. It's a reminder that you are a representation for many others. And many of our players that look the same way I do.

That, you know, your color shouldn't matter. And that the evidence of your work should. But it takes everybody. What y'all think about what Marcus had to say about color. You go. I don't like it. So it was overall a good answer. It was a very good, very PC answer.

He said all, checked all the boxes. Overall is a good answer. All right. Marcus Freeman is a fantastic young coach. My thing is this. Why can't we ever be proud to be who we are? Why do we have to dilute who we are to be palatable to the masses? When Hubert Davis was hired, he's like, yeah, I'm happy.

Oh, we remember. But I'm also happy that my wife is white. Donnie, play it. Play it. I'm very proud to be African American. But I'm also very proud that my wife is white. And for me, it's like there's nothing that I do think or go through where my identity. as a black man is meaningless or where I don't want it to matter.

And maybe that makes me race obsessed. You know, maybe that makes me hung up on race. But I'm like, you're sitting there on the precipice of this historic thing. Wouldn't it be awesome if you could just say it means a lot to me, like a super lot to me that I am black? It means a lot to me that I am Korean. It means a lot to me that I am black. It means a lot to me that people see this.

This, me, my color does matter, but it doesn't matter to separate me from something. I'm not talking about being separated from white people. I'm talking about being included in the devastating beauty of black American culture. And what that means to me and how. that lifts me and sets me apart and puts wind in my sales is central to the way I do my job. They're both biracial. Yeah.

James Franklin could be passed. You think James Franklin will look white? Do I? I don't think you look that white. Maybe I didn't look at a good picture. But my point is, is when I heard this comment, which I thought it was a good, answer, I thought he could have look at that with the head, look at the first picture.

Come on, come on. Come on. Yeah, I didn't think he was black. You take a quick look at James. So wait a second. You take a quick look at James and you don't know. But see, here's the thing though. This is the Louisiana in me. Because of Louisiana and me, I look to him and I go, there's a black guy.

This is Louisiana. I see it too. But I guarantee you white people think he's white. You ever see a picture of James Franklin's family? Let me see. What's the fuck I'm talking about? Now pull up Marcus. No, I'm not doing it. No, do it.

Do it. Donnie, pull up a picture of James Franklin's family and then Marcus Freeman's family. I thought you would immediately say that this was beautiful family. I thought that you would say that this was a case for the BBI. It is a BBI. Because the reason that I don't think they can speak, like Marcus' Freeman's answer was solid. There's nothing wrong with what he said, but there's no depth. there's no meaning.

It's not felt. It is hard these days to do something historic. You don't hear that many firsts that come about. I feel like we've talked about that in a sense. So to have the ability and to be the one to do it, there should be a lot of pride behind that. And the reason behind this is you being black. And I would have loved for him to like really like take a deep breath,

have a moment with this. I wonder, I don't know if James has been asked the same question. I wonder how he would answer it. But this, it could have been a lot more beautiful. But I feel like he can't because this is a BBI issue. And he might not being half Korean. We don't know James's answer yet. But being half white, he might not speak to it in the same way that we would as

monoracial black people. But then you have Herbert, Hubert. What was the name? Hubert Davis. So look, here's the thing. Who was mono racial? My wife is white. We covered that on the five-track.

That thing is said, my wife is white. So here's the thing. I feel like it's particularly hard for football coaches. Now, before you say that, I have a friend who's a football coach who has a theory. He's black. What's his theory?

That in order to succeed as a black coach, you have to be white adjacent. I think that that's probably true. And that particularly mean as a white wife. Now, that takes away from James Franklin, who is married to a black woman, but more likely than not, they have a white wife or non-black.

So the football coaches have to manage, it's a very specific leadership position. It's political. It's super political. And in college, you're also navigating. the cultural and regional realities of where the schools are. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, very true.

So you're at Notre Dame. You're dealing with the fan base at Notre Dame. You have to do something to make them feel comfortable with you. You're at Tennessee, Alabama, LSU, wherever you are, right? You have to do something to make the fan base believe that a black man can lead the team to glory. There's so many things that are baked in. NFL, big business, right?

Sure. Big business. Big business. Colleges are still made up of these people that are living in these areas, highly regional that still have really, really, really, really dense notions about what black people should be able to do. Well, wouldn't you think just a little pushback that they, Because you're right, I agree with you.

But wouldn't you think that those communities might have a problem with an interracial relationship? Yeah, maybe. But, I mean, that's not as much of a concern to them if you're asking me. What's wrong? Is it a boxing glove? Or it's a boxing glove on my keychain, yeah. It's so extra. First off, it looks like Shamu.

It does. Shamu. Shout out to the whales, man. It's a boxing glove. on my keychain? It's just a lot. Why? Sorry. Keep going.

Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on for a second. We have to talk about something real quick. Women, why do y'all do that? What?

Why do y'all do stuff like that? What am I doing? So I got a boxing glove on my keychain, right? I got a boxing glove. I love to box. I got the boxing glove on my keychain. Why do women do stuff to where they,

want to make you less of what you are. Actually, I think it's cute. Like, it's very little boyish. See what I'm saying? But I mean that in an endearing way. Like, you love to box. You love boxing. I can just, like, you saw a little boxing keychain.

Maybe you picked it up at the gym. I don't know. They were passing them out. And you thought, I want to do that. And there's something childish about it, but it's very endearing at the same time. and it's cute. I'm not making fun of you.

It's just like, aw, he has a little boxing glove. See what I'm saying? This is the type of stuff. Keachie. See? Donnie, what's on your keychain? See?

Let me tell you what happened. I went to the boxing store and I bought so much stuff. The guy was like, you get to pick a boxing keychain. I see what I was saying. And I was like super excited about it. I was super, I was like, oh shit, for real?

It was just poking out of your pocket. And I said, is that what I think it is? It's a boxing keychain. I'm not trying to shame you. It's cute. Don't, Don't, do you have something on your keychain? I don't.

But I keep my key chain super light so that I can, like, have it in my pocket when I run. I don't want anything to weigh me down. But I respect it. That's that childlike spirit that we love about you, man. Don't change. But, but, so a lot of these coaches and shut up, Rachel. And I feel like this is another reason why a lot of these coaches don't last. Because along with, I'm just being for real.

Because along with the extra scrutiny on who you are and what you say comes the extra scrutiny in job and performance. It's all one big organic globule. Yeah. That's why if you stop trying to meet the cultural expectations and you be who you are, you'll actually, in my opinion, do yourself a solid in the long run. I have seen so many coaches in college football. recycle coaches that get job after job after job after job after job after job after job. There's guys that are coaching now and I'm like, oh shit, he got another job. They hired him.

Rich Rar Rieges just got hired at West Virginia. We just went back to his alma mater. Rich Rar Rieges left West Virginia, went to Michigan, fucking flamed out, almost ruined Michigan. Then they gave Rich Rod another chance at Arizona. Goes away for a little while. He comes back, and now he coordinates for a little while. Now he's back coaching West Virginia. Head coach.

Back to where he was in West Virginia, we're in that glory days. Look, what I'm saying is you don't see guys, black guys, recycled around college football like that. You don't. We give you the big job. You fuck up. The defensive coordinator, 35 years.

Linebackers coach. 35 years. Tight-ins, running backs coach. 35 years. You had your chance, nigga. It's over. Okay? And so, or you better get your ass in that motherfucking studio

and talk about, like, how Ohio State is going to run over Texas. I feel like all of this stuff, this little submission to the college football sports culture orthodoxy, it makes it easier to do that to them to me. Yeah. I mean, I couldn't help it as you were thinking this.

I know we're talking about college, but it made me just think of Jared Mayer. And I thought to myself, is that why you're even more so giving this speech and impassioned by it because we see a black coach who had one year and they fired him? One year in a rebuild. One year in a rebuild with a brand new shit. team. I know.

One year he's out. Never given a chance. Like, what did they expect? Right. It's almost like they set him up for failure just to say that they did it, you know, and now they can move on past that. Meanwhile, Lane... Potentially to a retread, Mike Grable, who had a good time at Tennessee,

but it's like another coach getting another chance, another white coach getting another chance. Like, that's... He's the leading candidate. it looks like to get that job. Oh, really? Yeah, Mike Vibro will probably get hired. And if he has a 4 and 13 season, they're not going to fire him.

Man, 4 and 13 who, whatever. That's enough podcast. That's it. That's enough podcast. Having to be back, though. It feels good. Yeah, I'm still not going to rust off. Still not going to rust off.

You know what I'm saying? Like, I was a little bit more subdued this podcast just because... Like, I gotta be honest with you, man. My heart goes out to joy. Oh, for sure. It's just, it's tough to watch a friend go through something like this. I know it's all jokes and games for you guys,

and I get the jokes off as much as anyone. The jokes are, the jokes are part of it. The jokes are part of it. But, like, my, like, I couldn't imagine going through what she's going to do. She's fighting for her life right now. Truly. Truly. Professionally and personally.

Donnie, put that with tweaker on. I'm going to put it up with me and I'm going to show you how they're going. Like the money in my pockets, go. Oh, they're having to compos about me. Be coo-in'nickers. Don't know.

Tell me what they're talking about. I ain't fucking listening. Let your thoughts run your mouth. But ain't touching their dance, nigga. I ain't fun to stop. But kick it with my meth and swam. Is that supposed to be the Louisiana dance?

That's your jig? That's as much as I can do right now. That's your jig? Please. Hurry. I'm going to post it. I was going to say break it out. I'm just going to post it and say, we back.

Happy New Year. Oh, it's good to be back. All right, guys, happy New Year, everyone. By the way, I ran three miles this morning, so I'm fine. It's just, you know, I haven't got crazy in a while. Take 10-cats off and do not stop learning. I'm Van Lakin, Jr. I'm Rachel and Lindsay.

Bye, guys.