Lovett or Leave It - Demi Lovato, Yelp Elite

Episode Date: April 24, 2021

Joel Kim Booster is back to break down the week's news and provide life advice to listeners. DeRay Mckesson talks about the Chauvin verdict and what's next in the fight for accountability and justice. And Jon quizzes Louis Virtel on new Oscars categories and historic Oscars controversies.  For a closed-captioned version of this episode, please visit crooked.com/lovettorleaveit. For a transcript of this episode, please email [e-mail] and include the name of the podcast.

Welcome to Love It or Leave It, Vaxxed to the Future. And a talented comedian provides her critique The host is respected on both sides From the Eastern to Pacific Standard Time We've all been apart for far too long. We miss our normal theater and we sure, sure miss the theme song. But hope rises at the needle's end. Sweet back to normal seems to all depend On the vaccination A collaboration of a dozen nations

And it's worth celebration Vaccination meet the expectation Of inebriation on a Vegas vacation Eyes to the future. Get that shot into the straight shooter. Facts to the future. That's a 9-0. That incredible song was sent in by Kate Hart.

If you want to make a Vax to the Future theme song, please send it to us at leaveit at crooked.com. Before we get to the show, right now, Senate Democrats have the power to stop the wave of voter suppression laws sweeping the country by passing the For the People Act. But first, they have to come together and eliminate the filibuster. To do your part to help abolish this Jim Crow relic, head to votesaveamerica.com slash forthepeople

and use our new whip count to find out where your senator stands. If they're on the fence, give them a call using our tool. Maybe your senator has a gold star. Some of them have gold stars,. We love that. But some of them don't. Some of them need your call. So please go to votesaveamerica.com slash for the people and call your senators because we've got only so many days to get some shit done here. Also, this Wednesday night, join Crooked for a live group thread of Biden's joint address to Congress. It will be, I'm sure, a long speech. They always are. And we'll be there. We can

laugh, cry, whatever, make jokes. It's a great way to watch it. Watch it with us. Subscribe to the Crooked YouTube channel today. You're going to watch the speech anyway. Watch it with us. On the show this week, Joel Kim Booster joined for the monologue and helped give some advice to listeners about coming out of this pandemic. I talked to DeRay McKesson about the verdict in the Chauvin trial and what it means for the movement for Black Lives moving forward. And Louis Fertel joined because the Oscars are this weekend. And so it's time to quiz Louis once again.

joined because the Oscars are this weekend, and so it's time to quiz Lewis once again. But first, joining us this week is a stand-up writer, actor, and co-host of the podcast Urging Care. Please welcome Joel Kim Booster. Joel, it's good to see you. Hello. Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. Let's get into it.

What a week. On Tuesday, a jury in Minnesota convicted Derek Chauvin of all three charges stemming from the murder of George Floyd. I had a great conversation about this with DeRay later in the show. The verdict was a tremendous relief to those who feared that even in a case as egregious and awful as this one, there would be no accountability. But that is not how Lachlan Murdoch's in-house white supremacist Tucker Carlson reacted when he seems to have accidentally booked a guest who was willing to criticize Chauvin's conduct. I just think that it was excessive and it shouldn't happen.

And what I'd like to say- The guy who did it looks like he's gonna spend the rest of his life in prison. So I'm kind of more worried about the rest of the country, which thanks to police inaction, in case you haven't noticed, is like boarded up. So that's more my concern. But I appreciate you coming on on ed gavin thank you nope done thank you joel that laugh is the last thing you hear before you find out batman has to decide whether or not to save you or rachel it's terrible i mean what a fucking baby um am i allowed to curse yeah okay great yeah. I couldn't remember. It is such a man child.

And the thing is, you know, Tucker Carlson doesn't even have to be doing this to himself. You know that, right? Like, he's independently wealthy. The man could just fade away into obscurity and not have to worry about any of this. And yet here he is on our TV screens laughing like the Joker. People do strange things when they start moving up the Maslow hierarchy of needs. You know, like he has a lot he has a lot of his needs met. And for whatever reason, for now, almost four decades, he has taken on whatever persona is needed to be central to the kind of right wing conversation. to be central to the kind of right wing conversation.

He started out as a kind of semi-serious writer from a conservative point of view. He goes on to become this like bow tie wearing CNN pundit. He then becomes a right wing troll with the Daily Caller. And now we have this lady, he was on Dancing with the Fucking Stars. They're not super discerning. Yeah. They have a low bar over there.

And then now he has his final form. This is his final Pokemon form of revanchist right-wing nationalist. Did you see his yearbook page circulating earlier this week? Yes. Yes. Let's talk about it. Let's talk about him being a part of the Dan White Society. I, um, so for those, for those who haven't followed this story, um, like the broken people

that we are there, Tucker Carlson went on his show and said, there's some lunatic from the Washington post trying to do a hit job on me, but don't worry about it. It's not real. It's like, which is really not what you do if it's not real. And then it turns out that in Tucker Carlson's yearbook, it says he was part of the Dan White Society. And I'm sure, Joel, you had the same reaction as me, which is, it can't be that Dan White. The Dan White that fucking shot Harvey Milk. Like, that can't mean that Dan White. Yeah. The Dan White that fucking shot Harvey Milk. Like, that can't, there must be another Dan White.

But who is it? Who is the other Dan White? It has to be. It seems like it's that Dan White because I think that's how, because I believe it's like roughly a few years after. Right.

That he is in college and part of the Dan White Society. Again, the man who shot Harvey Milk. And Mayor Moscone, lest we forget. And Mayor Moscone, lest we forget, making Dianne Feinstein the mayor, acting mayor. Really jump-starting her career. By the way, Dan White is responsible

for the current incarnation of Dianne Feinstein, as we know it. She was about to go and eat, pray, love herself out of politics before this happened. And then this moment changed the entire trajectory of her career. We only have Dianne Feinstein misremembering names and quotes today because of Dan White. Because I looked. I was like, is there some other Dan White? There's no other Dan White.

Certainly not in whatever year that is, 1987. They know what Dan White you're talking about. So that really sucks. I'll just say that. In other right-wing news, Florida's new anti-protest law, which Governor Ron DeSantis signed on Monday, provides greater civil protection to people who run over protesters with their cars. So I hope everybody's ready for Flatboy Summer. No. No, John. Yeah. No.

Yeah, well, see, in Florida, see what's going on with people who get run over by right-wing people. They'll be flat. Uh-huh. And Chet Hayes, you know, yeah, yeah. They'll be flatboys, so it's a Flatboy Summer. Got it.

Chet Hayes, yeah, he said the other thing, but this is Flatboy Summer. Different thing. Anybody can's a flat boy summer. Got it. Chad Hayes. Yeah. He said the other thing, but this is flat boy summer. Different thing. It's anybody can be a part of flat boy summer. I can't wait for you to have to go back through and scrub this reference from your podcast. I just want everyone to understand that that's a, that's, we're going to call that, you know, it's dark. All right.

Macabre. It's macabre. Yeah. It's gallows humor, as they say. Still allowed. Yeah. Still allowed. Yeah. Still allowed. It's such conservative theater, this bill,

because half the shit that they are touting that it makes it illegal to loot, basically, and it's like, babe, it's been illegal. We been knew that half that shit that you're saying is going to be illegal is already illegal. Rioting is already illegal. Other than the flattening part of this, I don't see exactly what this is doing for anybody.

Well, I mean, I do think it's telling people that if they think that they can say later that they were scared, that they don't have to worry about a civil suit if they ram some fucking protesters with their cars. So I think that's new. Meanwhile, the Senate passed an anti-Asian hate crimes bill sponsored by Hawaii's Senator Mazie Hirono by a vote of 94 to 1. Joel, who do you think voted no?

Which one of the Senate's three biggest assholes? Was it Tom Cotton, Ted Cruz, or Josh Hawley? I'm going to say this seems like a Hawley move to me. It was. You got it. You got it. It was Josh Hawley. It could have been any of them, but it was Josh Hawley. When asked why he voted no, Hawley said,

while my political instincts tell me that there is little to be gained in supporting even popular bipartisan bills, when I can signal to the base of the Republican Party that I'm unwavering around matters central to white identity politics. And that's because my goal ostensibly to improve the country, the conservative policymaking, is really about attaining power and ultimately the presidency. Why do I want to be president? Well, that's complicated. It's a mix of narcissism from the recognition I received throughout my young life for genuine talent mixed with some innate lack of self-worth

I've never really surmounted, combined with a primal ambition, a desire for more that I can put into different pursuits, but it's ultimately insatiable. And then of course, there's this unexamined fear of death. And the presidency is a means to in some way live forever rather than face the grim reality of the fact that one day I will die. So that's why I voted no, fear of death. Wow. He fit that all in and just a quick soundbite. What a talent. Quick little, he's very, he is talented. That's what makes him so troubling. You know, he's, he's not as dumb as Trump. That's very alarming. Almost handsome. Yeah. I was about, I didn't want to say it, John. I know you didn't.

I saw it in your face. I saw it in your face. You saw the little twinkle in my eye when you said not as dumb as Trump and I said, but definitely hotter. Definitely hotter than Trump. Trump looks like his own

Madame Tussauds statue is melting. Yeah, it looks like, oh no, something happened on the interstate. It got hot in there. Yeah, no. Yeah, Josh Hawley. It's a shame. Yeah, it's a shame. We could get it done. You know, also this week, the House passed a bill

to make D.C. the 51st state. It now heads to the Senate where we can either reform the filibuster and pass it with 50 Democratic votes, or we can call upon some sort of divine entity with the power to persuade 10 Republican senators to support increasing the Democratic majority in the Senate while admitting a state to the union in which almost half of the population and a plurality of the electorate is black. But does such a force of nature exist? Tom Carper, senator of Delaware and someone who is currently on track to lose a primary to Dan Pfeiffer, if Tom doesn't get right on the filibuster, has called upon former Connecticut senator and permanent health care monster Joe

Lieberman to persuade undecided Democrats and Republicans on the issue. Joe Lieberman's coming to the rescue. He's going to be a little suicide squad. You know, if you want to if you want to catch a moderate, you got to learn to think like a moderate. What does a moderate eat? What does a moderate do? You have to have somebody who can help you if you want to catch them. It is amazing to me that like you hear even some Democrats say that you sort of waffle on this and be like, is it fair? Is it fair to give ourselves a super majority with the state? And it's like, bitch, why do you think there are two Dakotas? They've been doing this. It's so frustrating to be on the one side that gives a shit about rules, you know? Yeah. And just

completely imaginary rules, by the way. There's nothing. This is very airbud. There's nothing in the playbook that says we can't give ourselves a supermajority by doing the right thing and making D.C. a state. Like, just get on board. These are the rules. They're right there. Yeah. This is a state. We have Wyoming. Nobody in Wyoming, you know? D.C. be a state? No different than Wyoming. They try to come up with every argument against it. They can't do it. I think we should basically be going further and letting D.C. statehood be like the compromised positions. Like, my view, here are some future states.

We should give Puerto Rico the option. If they want to be a state, let them decide. U.S. Virgin Islands. I don't mind it. I think it's time. Let's let them in. Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. They're far away, but so is Alaska. So is Hawaii. Although I do believe, I think there are some Republicans in the Northern Mariana Islands, if I remember correctly.

They're not on my list yet. I don't know. I want to find out what's going on over there. It sounds, part of my brain is thinking that they're Republicans over there. I'm going to have to trust you on that one. Well, put it in the comments. There are no comments, but if you could, put them in the comments.

Yeah, I'm good with that. Let's put some states in. I have no problem with that. The more the merrier. The more the merrier. I also think we have to get to 52 pretty quickly

because 51 is a rough number for stars. You know, it's like, 9, 8, 9, 8, 9, 8. I don't love that. I don't love that. Aesthetically though,

I mean, maybe it's time to get rid of the stars. Maybe it's time for a total overhaul. I think our flag is so tacky, John. I think it's so tacky. I like it. Really? Really? The stars and the stripes together?

I mean, you know, they're kind of, yeah, no, I see the issue. I guess you could make a choice. I think that maybe one way to go is to use the stars to make a shape. You know, it was kind of fun in the beginning when they were in a little circle. Maybe they can make something, you know? I prefer that, for sure. What would it be? Just a gun?

A gun. I think it should be a gun. Maybe that'll get them on board. Hey, it's a gun. It's a gun and a woman forced to carry a baby to term against her will yeah i think that'll that'll convince some people to get on board maybe that's let's get hey hey somebody get that to lieberman let's get that to lieberman that's an idea that needs to be in lieberman's hands all right we're gonna get lieberman's gonna go find

10 republicans he's gonna need something like. I'm not saying these are the perfect ideas, but there's no bad ideas in a brainstorm. Maybe the bad idea was Joe Lieberman, but other than that. Joe Lieberman is always a bad idea. But all is not in the hands of Connecticut's most annoying person who doesn't work in finance. On Thursday, protesters headed to the marina to protest in front of Joe Manchin's houseboat. Joe Manchin, this is real, Joel. When he is in D.C., lives in a houseboat called Almost Heaven. No. I thought he couldn't get any worse.

No, I think it's good. I thought the man could not be any more obnoxious. He lives in a houseboat. It's called Almost Heaven. A houseboat? It's a houseboat. It's a houseboat. Before we, look, we can talk about the houseboat.

I will say, and we are very critical of Joe Manchin on this program, but if you're going to be a senator from West Virginia that lives on a houseboat, calling it almost heaven is pretty great. I mean, at the very least, it's on brand. It is on brand. You got to assume the water pressure on this boat is terrible. And I'm wondering if he wouldn't be a little less obstinate on some key bills if he wasn't always in a bad mood from taking subpar boat showers. You know? Yeah. Those aren't going to have good pressure.

No, not at all. Not at all. He's definitely not clean. No. He's not getting himself clean. And I'm in a grumpy mood when I'm not clean. Right. For sure.

Right. It's like why I don't go to Burning Man. No water pressure. Yeah. And it's like, it's also a job where you wear a suit every day. And like, if you ever put on a suit when you're not feeling, you got to shower before you put on that suit, you know? It's tough.

In other news this week, Doug Emhoff, the nation's first second gentleman, is doing a light brand refresh. He now says that the the doug emhoff persona is a bit limiting and from now on he's asked to be known as second gentleman chris gains that's a deep cut it's a deep cut yeah but in reality uh according to like what was actually a pretty flimsy politico story but whatever uh doug is wants to go by douglas he's going back to douglas uh in his official capacity, no longer Doug. And I think it's nice. I think it reflects the deeper and broader aspects of

what is contained within Doug slash Douglas. Emhoff, Doug has a past. Douglas exists in the here and now. But you're allowed to do that when you go to college. And then the name you choose for yourself in college, that is the name that you're going to be known for for the rest of your life. That's the one place you get to pivot. Not when you become the second gentleman, okay?

There's a girl I went to college with who decided she wanted to be named Honey. And guess what? She regrets it now, but she's still Honey to this day. There is no turning back. I think that's right. I do think you get one chance.

Like, I think that there was this, you know, 14-month window where I could be Jonathan, but I missed it. But that said, you know, I do think that, like, when you become the first second gentleman, you get one chance to try on a new personality. Yeah, I guess it is like going to college.

It's like going to college. Like, Doug is a mild-mannered Jewish lawyer from Brooklyn. He has a supportive, loyal spouse. But Douglas is a pansexual post-Christian hedonist who took mescaline the night of the inauguration. He wandered to the National Mall, and he said to Abraham Lincoln, with whom he had a full conversation,

once America is comfortable with a second gentleman, maybe we can introduce a third gentleman. You know, that's Douglas. That's not Doug, that's Douglas. Wow. That's what I think. On Wednesday, Republican Senator Rand Paul had this suggestion for President Joe Biden.

If you want more people to get vaccinated, Joe Biden should go on national TV, take his mask off and burn it, light a torch to it and burn his mask and say, I've had the vaccine. I am now safe from this plague. If you'll get the vaccine, you can be safe too. Very, very like evangelical theater.

Like I get where he's coming from. This is like youth group, like me burning my Avril Lavigne CDs at a bonfire at Bible camp. Like, that's the vibe that he's bringing to the vaccination question. Well, the thing about it, though, is I'm not a doctor.

Rand Paul's a doctor, but a bad doctor. But like, I don't know how you're feeling about this now, but like, there's been a bunch of stories about how we probably don't need to be wearing masks outside. And now when I walk the dog with this dog right here in the morning, I feel like I have two settings, which is like mask on and silly and mask off and guilty. Like, you know what I mean? It's like, I know I want to do the right thing, but I also like I'm alone on the street. But, oh, there's somebody coming and somebody passing me. So my thing is, if like Rand Paul wants people to get vaccinated, which is better than a lot of them.

I do think if we're going to have a situation, I kind of think they need to tell us we don't need to wear the mask outside unless we're in a crowd anymore. Like, give us that. Like, we need a win here. Yeah. No, I mean, that's the thing. Like, you know, the beginning of this pandemic, it was people like you and me saying, trust the science, trust the science, trust the science. Now the science is telling us we don't need to wear masks outside if we're alone walking our dogs in the morning outside of our beautiful homes in West Hollywood or wherever you live. And, you know, it's time to trust the science still, you know? Yeah. If what we have learned

is that like outdoor transmission is pretty hard, is not really possible when you're just randomly walking by somebody, maybe in like a really compact crowd, you should think about it. Then they should give, they should like, we can't have a situation where we're supposed to be kind of wearing them all the time because it's safer to have people wearing them indoors and knowing that they're effective and then taking them off when they get outside than some of the people wearing it some of the time in both places. And I just like. So what you're saying is you agree with Rand Paul a little bit.

Like I obviously don't think Joe Biden should burn his mask. I don't think that sends the right message about wildfire season, about science. wildfire season about science. But I do think one lesson and like, and not just people like people like Rand Paul, you can put them aside, but like people like Zeynep Tufekci have been talking about this, that like, there's a lack of honesty about people's behavior and some of these recommendations, like the science should guide what we do. The evidence should guide what we do. The goal of the recommendations are not to make the most strident recommendations based on the evidence. It's to release recommendations that have the best possible impact and protect the most people. And to me, those are recommendations that reflect that people are people and they want

to go outside and they want to see friends. And like, if you don't give them those ways of doing it, they'll do what happened over the past year, which is say, fuck you and travel for all the holidays and do everything else. So it just feels like a year into this pandemic over a year now into this pandemic, almost a year and a half into this pandemic. They're still like making recommendations as if human beings aren't human

beings. Yeah. And I hate that Rand Paul is who made me say that. That's all big day for you. It's a big day for me. And finally, the discovery of dozens of black holes clustered around the center of a nearby group of stars has astronomers scrambling to determine the official collective noun

for a collection of black holes. This is going to be brutal. This is just going to be brutal. All right, just brace for this one. Here we go. A group that's impossibly dense and reduces everything it touches to pure nothingness, we should call it Congress.

Wah, wah, wah. I was really expecting something much worse with that preamble, honestly. Well, thank you. Because I thought you were going to go in like, a collection of black holes. That's just my weekend, you know? See, that's

good. That's good stuff. Yeah. Collection of black holes. Wow, the pandemic really is over. That kind of thing. Yeah, exactly. That area. That's my area.

That would have been better. That's better. That's a good pitch. Joel Kim Booster, thank you so much for being here. When we come back, Joel is going to stick around for a quick advice segment. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up.

And we're back. It's month 14 of the pandemic, the risk of leaving our house in our good pants to see a friend, drink a drink, tell an anecdote, and pretend to be human lowers every day, especially if you've gotten the fabled shot. This raises a lot of questions. What are pants? How do you meet yourself in real life? What if wearing a mask has made me forget how to smile, and instead my mouth just forms a grimace? We're enlisting the help of comedian, actor, and professional advice

giver Joel Kim Booster, who gives great advice with Mitra Juhari on their podcast Urgent Care, to take a few questions about our brave new old world in a segment we're calling Out of the Closets and Into the Streets. First, we have, I think it's Carol, who needs advice about dating. Hi, Carol. Hi, love it. You have me, you have Joel Kimbooster, all right? Hi, Carol. He's an expert advice giver.

Fantastic. What is your question? So a couple of questions. One, do we have to go back to wearing nice pants? Because we all know we've been wearing pajama pants, leggings, what have you, while we're on our Zoom meetings. No one's wearing the nice dress slacks or even jeans anymore. So do we have to do that when we go out in public now? Or can we just continue to wear the comfy clothes? Joel, what do you think? I think you can continue to wear the comfy clothes. But what I think will happen, Carol, is I think you'll miss the nice pants. I think given time, you will come

around and you will naturally want to diversify the wardrobe a little bit. Like I, I personally am excited to wear nice clothes again a little bit. I liked, I went to an outdoor hang recently and I dressed up just a teeny bit and it felt so good. It lifted my spirit so much that I, I think that you are more than entitled to wear your comfy pants until the day you die. But I do recommend as a pick me up just maybe one day a week. Dress therapy. If you're going to see people as therapy, putting on the nice slacks.

Yeah. I think that's fair. Yeah. I think you're right. And other question was for dating. I am single, have been single this entire time in quarantine, which actually hasn't bothered me.

And now looking at people on the app, I just can't. Every single one, I'm like, no, no. So I don't know if I'm being too picky. What is actually a deal breaker? And what is me just being too picky and saying, I'm fine by myself, and I don't want to do any of this? Well, what are some of the deal breakers that you're swiping left on? If it says they're searching for a partner in crime, like that's, no, I can't do it. Yeah, that's bad. Yeah, I'm a blue dot in a red state also.

So there's just a lot of that. I'm in a blue area of a red state, but still there's not a whole lot of options. I mean, obviously I do care about height to a degree and looks to a degree, but it's mainly stuff like their pet peeve is racism. Like that's not a pet peeve. That's a real problem. You're an idiot type of thing. I will say, I will say in a red state, like at least it's a pet peeve. Yeah. That's true. Yeah. So at least you're against it.

That's fair. A little bit. Yeah. A little bit. At least you're mildly annoyed by racism. That's true. Yeah. At least you're against it. That's fair. A little bit. Yeah, a little bit. At least you're mildly annoyed by racism. That's nice. That's nice to hear. At least it's not an organizing philosophy of your life. Right. Josh Foley is my senator.

Oh, I see. I see. I see. Wow. Wow, wow, wow. What do you think, Joel? I think that your time on the apps has come to a close for this stage of your life. And I feel the same way. I'm so burnt out by the apps. And I'm perfectly happy

being single right now. But I think that right now, like the way I look at it, so I'm desperate to find one single gay man that does not intrinsically find unhoused people to be disgusting and also does as many drugs as I do on the weekends. Like that's literally what I want to find. But every guy I know who cares about homeless people is a nerd and everybody who does drugs hates homeless people. But I exist.

So there must be another person out there. And you exist, Carol. So there must be another Carol out in the area you live. His are more specific than yours, you know? No, his very specific. And you've got Ronan. So you're, you're doing well, um, for sure. But, uh, very well. I am not a sober person. I don't do drugs, but I also will swipe if they're like, they don't ever drink. Don't be better than me. If you're a vegan, I can't, like, I'm, I'm a good person. I'm not,

not you. I can't do that either. I don't want to. I think Joel's right. I think it's time to take a little break from the apps, throw on a pair of sweatpants or leggings, head down to some, uh, I don't know what part of, of Josh Hawley's state you're in, but there's probably there's barbecue nearby. Uh, I think pull up a stool. All right. And see what happens. Cause I think there's a great guy who's also going to be in maybe joggers show up.

All right. Yeah. Cause here's the problem with the apps is that you might find that you end up with a person who's looking for a partner in crime because you meet them organically and you, you, you see the holistic picture of who they are. Sometimes people don't put their best foot forward on the apps. And it's so easy to itemize

the things that we don't like when we're just looking at a list of them. But sometimes you might find a vegan that you actually like. I know it's scary to think about. I know it's frightening. Right. I just don't want to feel like a bad person when I'm eating an entire barbecue plate next to them. Well, if you meet them at the barbecue place, then chances are they'll be okay with it. The one thing you don't actually ever need in a partner once they're a partner is the skill of being good at making a dating profile. Yeah. It's actually one of the least valuable skills in a partner and one of the most important skills in meeting someone online. That sucks. So yeah, just no apps. Just now I can leave the house, maybe put on real pants and then see what's out there in the real world.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Okay. Carol, I hope this was helpful. So nice to meet you. Very nice to meet you. Both. Good luck out there, you know. Thanks.

Hi, Victoria. Hello. Hi. you both good luck out there you know hi victoria hello hi victoria needs advice about the world opening up as she moves to a new city for college what's your question victoria uh wow so many questions i live in such a rural area and i'm moving to new york city so to start with i have no idea how anything works and then we add pandemic. I think my biggest one is like freedom of movement, especially in a city with like 9 million people. Am I expected to walk by myself? How close do I get to other people? Just things like that.

Well, I guess it depends on what the CDC says when you actually, when are you moving to New York? August. It'll York? August. It'll be late August. I'll have both faxes. And so in that way, I think New York is going to be fairly open by the time you get there, my dear. And so I think no one was going to expect a gorgeous young woman like yourself

to be walking alone in New York City, much at all, in fact. I think you should, in fact, not be walking alone, no matter what the CDC says, in New York City, once the sun goes down. Please, for all of our sakes, don't do that. I have a night class. And the only thing I would add to that very good advice is, as a new person in the city,

make good choices about when you're looking at your phone. I'm not a purist. We need to look at our phones out there in the world. I would just choose your places. The dead stop, mid-sidewalk, mid-block phone check. It's become normalized, all right, but I don't accept it, and I don't think you should accept it. That's not the values that brought you to the city, you know?

My parents are real bad about that one. Yeah. They'll dead center of the street, completely stop walking, yeah. Yeah, and the only other thing I'll say about living in New York is it's a big city. You will get very, you will feel like you are seeing all of it when you are ensconced

in your own little corner of New York, wherever, most likely the East Village, somewhere around there where you're taking class. Do the day trips to, you most likely the East village, um, somewhere around there where you're taking class, do the day trips to, you know, the different boroughs as much as you can. Cause I lived there for five years and I didn't see shit because I was so enmeshed in Brooklyn and my world there. And that's fine. Like I loved Brooklyn and the world of Brooklyn is amazing and vast and diverse, but I do, I wish I would have spent a little bit more time in other boroughs? Absolutely.

And so just really force yourself to make those journeys. Find a restaurant somewhere that's a 45-minute train ride away and go and see other parts of the city. I'm looking forward to it. You're going to have a blast. It's going to be great. Happy to be out of here. Look, the county is purple, but it's a to be great. Happy to be out of here. Look, the county is purple, but like it's a very red purple.

And, you know, I'm in 19 year old progressive. So it's not the best. Oh, your life, your whole life is going to change. I can't wait. I'm so excited for you. We just can't. We're just we can't. We're we know we know what's coming and it's all so good. hopefully it's just hopefully no we know trust me we know it's it's the best thank you

bye victoria bye thank you you're both wonderful bye good luck hi anisha hi hi uh thanks for being here you have joel kim booster and and me to help with your problem, your question. And apparently you need advice about quelling your cat's separation anxiety. Yeah. Oh, hello. Wow. Podcasting famously a visual medium, but you can't see the cat is so cute. Why would you ever want to be separated from it? I don't. It's the real problem. How old is the cat? He just turned four.

Okay. And what's his name? Hamilton. Hamilton. Adorable. And what's the issue when you try to separate from Hamilton? Just cries and meows a lot. When I come back, he's very needy. He kicks his litter out of his litter box. He kicks his food everywhere. He kicks his water everywhere. My shoes have ended up in the litter box. Things are not great.

Wow. Have you thought about getting a dog? I have a dog. I'm just kidding. I'm not kidding when I say I think the answer is clear, Anisha. I think you know what you need to do. You need to get another cat. You need to get a second cat.

Because your cat is obviously very lonely and very bored. And I think a second cat that he can sort of lord over is the answer here. A cat can't talk to a dog. It can't relate to a dog. It's just it's not they're not they're on two different wavelengths. They can't you know, it doesn't, it's not a relationship. So here's the thing. We do actually have another cat who is also very clingy, just not here in this very moment.

Do they get along? Is the other cat's name Burr? No, I want to get another cat named Burr. Also, I want to get a white cat that I would name Marky De Lafayette. His nickname would be Marky and it would be great. But no, my other cat was actually my first cat. Her name is Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And they do not get old. You know what you would love? There's actually a musical about Alexander Hamilton. It's called Hamilton. And based on just your cat names, I think you would

really, you should check it out. Yeah, I'll do that. Why is the cat not with you? Why is the other cat not with you? So my cats were really clingy. My mother is clingier. So we had to fly from Maryland where we live to Arizona to see my mother because finally got vaccinated. Hamilton and Ruth are on two separate diets. So we thought we would leave Ruth at home and let her have like full reign of the house. And I would bring Hamilton and he would be here with us and be able to eat his food. And so we had to separate them. Have you considered a pet psychic? No, I haven't. But I think that's a really good idea. I'll do that. I'll do that next. I think it's worth the investment. Okay.

So I'm sorry. So Ruth Bader Ginsburg is with your mother. Is that right? No, no. She's back home in Maryland. I'm in Arizona to see my mother. I see. Oh, so the cat will be reunited. So Hamilton and Ruth will be reunited eventually. Yes. In two days now.

And do you think, does that, will that help? No, that's the thing. Like even when we're at home, if we leave, they've gotten really needy because we are home 24 seven because of the pandemic. So if we leave, they get really anxious and then kick things around. And then we come back from like grocery shopping and everything is a mess. Katie Xanax. Do you think it may be sometimes that like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, like she's holding on, she's holding on, she's holding on just to make it a little bit longer just till we get home, you know?

And then she kind of doesn't make it all the way till then. Are you trying to make a very thinly veiled joke? Yeah, I think that was trying. That's what he was trying. You know, that basically like that, like, you know, that you just all you need is for Ruth Bader Ginsburg to just stay as as she is. Just hang on. Don't do anything.

Don't go anywhere. Not just just stay put just till we make it home. Yeah. But then right before, just like so close to the end falls apart i mean i i haven't that could be it i have a pet camera and i think i'll just like monitor her next time okay see if that's what it is that's what we should have done with ruth bader ginsburg yeah camera monitor and fire that fucking trainer yeah what that guy do for us nothing sorry we didn't really help you but i do think a pet psychic might be the answer for you yeah all right i'll i'll

definitely look into it i don't really know the cat world what's catnip does that work um so catnip is just like essentially a green powder um kind of grassy is it like a drug for them yeah so depending on how they experience it if they eat it it, they become really calm. But if they just smell it, it gets them a little riled up. I see. Hamilton is not much of an eater. He likes to smell it and then bat at things. And go, well, put it in his food. Trick him. Yeah, Derek, it's a cat. You can outsmart him. I bet. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I can try that as well. I hadn't thought about that. But yes, drugging my cat seems like a good idea. Anisha, thank you so much for joining. We basically did not provide very much assistance. So we do think drugging the cat is at least something that should be a tool in your toolkit. All right. I'll consider it for the future. That and a pet psychic.

All right. All right. I'll consider it for the future. That and a pet psychic. Yep. Yeah. And check out, and again, check out, it's like a musical. It's like a rap musical. You should check it out, Hamilton.

Okay. Lin-Manuel Miranda. He also does In the Heights. Check it out. My Plane Ride Back. Yeah. Cool, cool, cool. Okay.

Awesome. Bye. Bye. All right. Well, thank you to Carol, Victoria, and Anisha for calling in. And thank you to Joel Kim Booster for joining us today. Check out Urgent Care. Always a pleasure.

Always great to see you. Returning champion, Joel Kim Booster for joining us today. Check out Urgent Care. Always a pleasure. Always great to see you. Returning champion, Joel Kim Booster. When we come back, my conversation with DeRay. Don't go anywhere. This is Love It or Leave It, and there's more on the way. And we're back. He is an activist, organizer, educator, and host of Crooked Zone Pond Save the People.

Please welcome DeRay McKesson. DeRay, good to see you. It's good to be back. So I want to start by sort of stepping back. You know, we had this verdict this week, and I want to talk about what the conviction means and what it doesn't mean. There were some wild statements over the last few days, and I was really reminded. There's this quote by William Dean Howells, and it's, What the American public always wants is a tragedy with a happy ending. So we have this conviction.

How do you see it as fitting into the larger struggle against systemic abuse? What does it mean and what does it not mean? Yeah, I think that this was the accountability the family wanted. And in that sense, this is a good thing, right? And in that sense, this around transformational change, right? Like all that is still the same, you know, like that remains. And I'm hopeful. I didn't know, and you probably, I mean, you had done more in politics across the country than I had done.

Did you know, I didn't know that there's some legislatures that are only open every other year. I didn't. Yeah. So Nevada, Texas, like they are biennial. So it's like, if you don't get it now, you got to wait. I didn't know that. Like you got to wait a couple of years, which is wild. So when you think about some of the change that people are looking for, it's like the system, even more, you realize the system

is not set up to support people like me and you who want these big changes, right? Or Maryland, Maryland's only open for 90 days. So if you can't get it in 90 days, you got to wait for the next go around. Some places are only open for 60 days, right? So it's like, when we think about these state level changes, like I didn't even know until I'm engaging at this time, I'm like, you know, people are like, this is going to be the watershed moment. And I'm like, well, in Maryland, we got to wait till January to pass a new bill because that's the way the legislature set up. And we don't get it in Texas this year. It's a wrap until, you know, like those sort of things, those levers are really wild. In our conversation as a country and the culture, we don't really fight over systemic

issues or trends. We kind of fight over examples. What examples get to be the avatar for the truth? And what is the truth of the examples as we're having those debates? That's why you see conservatives create all kinds of false narratives about specific incidences, right? Because it's about the fight over what the specific example actually means and what gets to be the representative of the deeper things that are going on across the country that aren't getting the attention. So this started out as an example of a horror, and now it's an example of some form of accountability. It drew the nation's attention, right?

Like everybody was paying attention. What do you want the lesson from this example to be? What is this an avatar for to you? Yeah, I think for some people, unfortunately seeing is believing, right? Like I remember in 2014, we were like convincing people this is a problem. In 2014, I was like, not just Ferguson, it's not just Baltimore, it's not just McKinney.

It's not just where Sandra Bland was getting ready. This is close to you. People didn't believe that in 2014. We really did have to convince people. Even with Walter Scott. I don't know if you remember the video of Walter Scott running away from the police officer. He gets killed. It's like that was a moment where people sort of thought maybe, but they sort of put it in a corner like, oh, that just happens there. happens there. With this, by 2020, people are like, we get it. There's a problem. Breonna Taylor got killed. People sort of accept that there's something wrong. I think we're in this moment now where people are like, what can we do about it? There are more people who are interested in what's the fix now. And we're spending a lot of time trying to make sure people don't put us to fixes we know don't work, right? Training doesn't work. Body cameras don't work. Community policing is a scam. Questionable whether hiring really matters, right? Things that we do know work like moving money away, investing in alternatives, police union contracts or police union power is a big

lever that we got to work on. Use of force policies, they can't wait, right? So there's some things that we know work. And then there are a lot of things that we know don't work. And we're trying to make sure people don't go towards what we know doesn't work. And then there are a lot of things that we know don't work. And we're trying to make sure people don't go towards what we know doesn't work. Can you talk a little bit about the role that body cameras and cameras generally play and don't play? Because I hear you, the evidence is there about how it, what impact it has or doesn't have. But at the same time, it does seem as though, just not to put too fine a point on it, that white people needed to see video because they didn't believe the stories. And now they see the video and it makes it easier to believe the stories even when there isn't video. And so how do you think about that where there's evidence about what body cameras can do inside of individual police departments,

change in individual situations, and yet as a culture, it does seem that video has played an incredible role in reshaping the public consciousness on this issue. Yeah, I think that the fine line is that the body cameras just don't do what people thought they were going to do, which was make the police use less force, right? There was this idea that if it's filmed, the police will make different choices. And we just saw the opposite, right? You remember Rayshard Brooks got killed in Atlanta? That was HD quality video. That didn't change anything. Even when Dante got killed in Brooklyn Center, that was on video and they still killed him, right? So it just doesn't, the data is, one of the biggest studies sort of says that it does change police officer attitudes. It just doesn't change their behavior. Now on the flip side to sort of

what you're saying is that it is probably impossible at this point to get a conviction without video, right? That if not for that video of George Floyd, I mean, you saw the original press release was like he died of a medical condition. If not for that video, and that wasn't a body camera, but if not for just the presence of video, there would have been no, we wouldn't have known anything. So when I think about George Floyd, I think about, you know, the police have killed 320 people as of today. I think about all the other cases where like there wasn't a video and we don't know anything or the police said something that wasn't true. You know, like how many cases do we have no proof or no evidence and videos might help with that. They just don't make the police make different choices. Yeah. If somebody shared the original statement and it really was like a, as the verdict was coming in and it really does strike you like, my God, like the volume of

injustice that is represented by the difference between this statement and this video. Is wild. And we're still not grappling with that. We're still not actually willing to face like, wait a second. If we are recognizing that video is showing us that the police have lied, even when there is video, what does that tell us about a history of convictions? A lot of people still in jail. That part of the conversation, I understand the need to have this conversation moving forward about how to stop this. But there's another conversation to be had about the fact that there are a huge number of people in jail right now because there wasn't a video and the police

were able to tell a story that just wasn't true. Yeah, we actually covered this one on this week's Patsy to People, is that there's one officer in Virginia who lied in so many traffic cases that they are about to undo 400 convictions. One officer. He got a firefighter put in jail. I think this guy got a 10-year sentence, firefighter. The police officer made it up. There's another officer in Brooklyn or in Manhattan who, by the Brooklyn DA and the Manhattan DA, they are probably going to undo 200 convictions because he lied in drug cases, right?

Yeah. So that's the other rub, is that it doesn't take a million officers. It just takes one or two, and they can change people's lives forever, you know? Another outcome of this case is the DOJ is conducting an investigation into patterns and practices. In 2015, the DOJ opened a probe into the Ferguson Police Department. They found a clear pattern there. Can you talk a little bit about what role the DOJ can play and what this means? Yeah. I'll ask you, what's the highest number of investigations you think the DOJ does in a given year, minus the Trump years when it was zero? You tell me. You tell me.

No, you got to guess. It's the whole point. I don't know. All right, seven. Three. Wow. So it's really low, right? So there are 18,000 police departments in the US. Three is sort of the highest that they do. And it is good that they investigate

those three police departments, right? But three is not really a lot. And this is, you know, the power for the federal government to investigate police departments comes out of the Rodney King beating. This is sort of one of the big systemic things departments comes out of the Rodney King beating. This is sort of one of the big systemic things that comes out of Rodney King.

But three is really low. And what the unfortunate part about it is that they often go to places where the media drives them, not where the problem drives them. So we would love for it to be where, like, the top 10 percent of departments that kill people every year automatically get investigated. Like, something like that that follows where the problem is and doesn't just go where like the news is. Because now, you know, like they only are staffed up to probably do two more in 2021. And like, that actually doesn't make a lot of sense. And, you know, Biden has gotten off the hook because the George Floyd Act, remember,

doesn't apply to federal agencies. Doesn't apply to Border Patrol, ICE, ATF, DEA. So he tomorrow could pass a use of force standard that like reigned in the federal agencies. Border Patrol has 20,000 officers. It's one of the biggest police departments in the United States. So, you know, Biden has continued to say like, you know, Congress, Congress, Congress. It's like there are federal agencies that today he could reign in. Yeah, and one thing people, I think, don't always understand about the policing that the border control can do is that their purview expands a certain distance from the border, which actually encaptures— Communities!

Virtually the whole country, because it goes all along the border, up the coast, around—I mean, that's—the majority of the country lives under the auspices of border control. Dre, before we let you go, you said that there are these conversations that are happening now that weren't happening five years ago. What do you hope to see happen in the next few years? What's the next conversation that we're not having now that you think we need to be having in the wake of this verdict

and some of the ongoing activism and protest? So two things come to mind. One is you've heard the phrase, how do you eat an elephant? And it's one bite at a time, right? There's a version that this is one bite after another. And I just don't think we'll win that way. Like if we take a bite in January, bite in July, bite not like we just won't win. We think about this is like everybody bites at the same time. So it's all these strategies at play at once. That's how you break a system. So it's like police unions. It's use of force. It's moving the money.

It's decarceration. Like it's all of the strategies at once because like that's how you actually sort of snap a system and the second thing is that i feel and totally push me if you disagree i feel like in these moments people are like hungry for something to do they're like yeah let me know what is the thing that i can do and we are offering a couple things one was a can't wait so like i was just on this call with maine a set of people in maine and they are gonna like in their towns get their use of force policies and like fight, which is cool. And the other is that we have the biggest database of police. We have the only database of police union contracts in the country. And we're recruiting volunteers to help us both find the rest of them and encode them. We look for six things in them and people can reach out and like, we can get you, we have trainings every Tuesday and Thursday,

but that's like an actionable thing. There's no way to make the transformational change that we want. Like if not sort of dealing with the power of the police unions and like that is, uh, that's our thing. So I'll make a plug that people can email me at DeRay at DeRay.com. Very easy. Just literally D-R-A-Y at D-R-A-Y.com. It's my actual email address. Just say you want to volunteer and we'll get you hooked up, but like it's actionable. It's real. It means something and you can do it today. DeRay McKesson, thanks so much for joining us. Whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop, love it or leave it. Whoop, whoop. When we come back, we'll do some real

and not so real Oscars trivia with our in-house crooked Oscars experts, Louis Vertel. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. Louis. John Lovett, hello. Hey, don't go anywhere. There's more of Love It or Leave It coming up. Lewis. John Lovett, hello. Thank you for doing this early.

Thanks for jumping on. Oh, no problem. I was setting up this ring light, which is right in my face. I feel like fucking Joan Crawford. There's no brightness for a ring light that is unacceptable anymore. I go full fucking blast. I want to look like Barbara Walters six

months before she was done. Blow it out. Like a big interview, like when she has like Castro on. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I want to be shot through a duvet. Like that's like the level of filter that I want. Like no, I don't want

gauze. I don't want a sheet. Shoot me through the x-ray vest they give you at the dentist. That Jane Fonda clip going wild again. How exciting. I know. I know. It's very funny. It's a very funny clip.

I was just, every time I see it, I'm reminded of my strange rapport with Jane Fonda where I'd like, it worked great. I was so glad to talk to her, but it was also like, it's like, I just feel like we're from two different parts of the universe. I just was like, I'm trying to relate. You were married to Ted Turner. She actually does something which I find deeply alluring, which she has no tolerance for my jokes whatsoever. They don't do anything. They don't get a reaction.

She just sort of like looks right through me. And I find that very intoxicating. I want to impress. I want to fight harder for it. Oh, yeah. No, on Millionaire, when I was with her, like, I had a distinct feeling. I was like, this is somebody who does not like wasting time. It's like a Madonna type thing.

Like, I have a dinner in 11 minutes. Yeah. It actually did remind me of when I worked for hillary clinton and i felt like every phrase that left my mouth was a waste of someone's time like i just like you really do feel that like i'm like i am not ready for this level of series and i also i think some people sometimes people say like oh i don't take myself seriously and they mean that taking yourself seriously is bad but like no jane fonda takes herself seriously yeah and it's intimidating because i don't take myself seriously and then i see her and i'm like am i fucking up the whole thing like

did i screw it up from the jump like look at how serious for her it is to have a view and to see what her role is and to think it through and and to take that seriously and it's like that's really admirable fuck but then but the weird thing is she doesn't waste time and yet rolls in jokes of her own. Yes. She'll be like, and by the way, I'm funny, you know? Yes. You're not funny to me, but I'm funny to you.

Yeah. That's why I'm Jane Fonda, and you're whoever the hell. You're a podcast person. You live in the computer. Yeah. All right. Well, we kind of started, and I honestly want to use this anyway. Okay, great.

So whatever. Joining us, returning champion, co-host of Keep It, Oscars expert, Louis Fertel. So good to see you, Louis. Oh, it is always a thrill to be here and always like a thrill to be usable for like a segment. I'm like, oh, somebody would like to call me because I, for some reason have stockpiled all this nonsense and I have nothing else to do with it. So it needs to go somewhere and it's going to you. Yeah. We don't want it to be like a nuclear arsenal, a nuclear stockpile.

We want this something. It's exciting when we use it, you know, we don't, we're not just saving it for no reason. Right. I don't even know what that meant. All right,

here's what's going to, so Louis, it's time for a game called the Knotskers. Here's how it works. We have a few categories in which you will choose a winner because the Oscars are on Sunday, and this has been a deeply strange year. And then once we've gone through some of those categories,

we're going to go to the lightning round, and we're going to test your knowledge. Okay, are you ready? Yes, I think I'm good. I took a nap earlier. I should be all invigorated that's cool naps are cool yeah I'm like our field that's awesome yeah so I would say we'll start by testing your taste and then we'll test your knowledge oh all right my two favorite things great first category Best Actor and the nominees are Colton

Underwood for heterosexuality james corden for homosexuality and then justin timberlake for his notes app apology oh right which is the leading medium in uh artistry right now notes app i'm gonna well you can't deny that james corden was golden globe nominated um history cannot deny that um can't take it James Corden was Golden Globe nominated. History cannot deny that. Can't take it away from him. We may be burning down the HFPA right now, and it's for more complicated issues, but it's actually technically for this.

People don't know that. I think I'm going to go with, well, it can't be Colton, because we were all suspicious at the time, right? Right. Healthfully. Right, Billy Eichner was like, you seem gay to me.

Yeah, so, unfortunately. And he's like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna. Colton's lucky to be nominated, frankly. I'm gonna go with Corden because I'll say this. I don't find the performance offensive. I find it occasionally irregular. Like sometimes he's gayer than other times. And I feel like that's what people are latching onto more than it's offensive that he sounds gay

because plenty of gay people sound gay and I'm okay with that. That's correct um and also it's um there uh the movie um in and out with kevin klein popped up on one of the streaming services and i like hovered over it like do i need to like like heraldo in the pyramid like am i gonna open up this ancient vault and see what is going on inside of in and out with ke with Kevin Kline. I haven't yet, but I do think like, I don't know, like do, you know, whatever. It's fine. James, you've won the award. You're okay with these two gay guys. As a role, we'd like some gay people in these roles. Sure. I'm not going to put you through the ringer. Next category, best actress,

Demi Lovato in Frozen Yogurt Mistake or Meghan Markle in What She Did to the Queen. And by the way, another fro-yo veteran of Humphrey Yogurt. So this is another category we just formed right here. Didn't the LA Times send a reporter there to try to see if they could find something? And everyone's like, I don't remember her, but I think she was nice. Right.

And also, it's like anybody would be there from that era. It was hundreds of years ago. Well, okay. The Demi Lovato thing, it took me three tries to read what she was actually concerned about. So I appreciate that she conjured the rage and was so confusing about it. Because I thought it was like she was mad that there was diet stuff there or there was language about guilt freeness, et cetera. And then it turned out to be about service she got. So anyway, I was, whatever she was mad about, I was searching for what it was.

Which, and by the way, art that leaves you with questions that sticks with you. Demi Lovato created it. Yeah, no, I was fascinated by that story. I just love the idea of a true megastar, a true megastar doing a, hey, where's my Schnitzer's Deli to 102 million people. That is so many people to send a message to about a Westwood yogurt shop. The whole thing was, the whole journey was just, it was a delight. It was low stakes and I needed it.

And so I agree. I think Demi Lovato's performance in Frozen Yogurt Mistake was wonderful. And I just want to add, by the way, that the yogurt place itself was so low key. Like they didn't even try to make a good pun. It's the big chill with two Gs. Like it's a Glenn Close movie that we added a G to.

What's the G doing there? They're like, we don't want attention. Don't look at us. Well, it's a Glenn Close movie that we added a G to what's the G doing there? we don't want attention don't look at us it's a fascinating thing because I don't really know what the you could have just called it the Big Chill and spelled it properly what is the extra G doing in the yogurt shop's name yeah no

is big short for something else? no I don't get it I don't understand it was weird I agree next category we have No, yeah, like biggest? No, I don't get it. Yeah, I don't understand. It was weird. I agree. I agree. Next category, we have Most Butchered Name. The nominees are John Travolta for Idina Menzel. Please welcome the wickedly talented, one and only Adele Dazeem.

The next nominee, Neil Patrick Harris for Chiwetel Ejiofor. Ladies and gentlemen, as Nicole Kidman, Chitawell Ejiofor, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and as Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nicole Kidman. Whoa. Tiffany Haddish for Daniel Kaluuya. Daniel Kaluuya. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Hallelujah, hallelujah.

Daniel Kaluuya. Kaluuya. Kaluuya. Yeah, you know it Daniel Kaluuya. Kaluuya. Kaluuya. Yeah, you know it. He know his name in Get Out. Jack Palance for Marissa Tomei. And the Oscar goes to Marissa Tomei. And finally, the last nominee, Moonlight.

And the Academy Award for Best Picture. La La Land. So what do you think? We've got Travolta for Idina. We have Neil Patrick Harris. We have Tiffany Haddish. We have Jack Palance. And we have Moonlight.

God, you guys did your research for this one. I forgot all about the Tiffany Haddish one. Me too, me too. She said Coulier, like a Full House reference, just to be clear. The answer is definitely John Travolta. Now, if it's a dyslexia problem, I don't mean to talk specifically about that, but what makes this moment golden

is that there's a light Hungarian accent in the way he says, Dazim. It's so like Bela Lugosi or something. Adele Dazim. There's like a lurking quality to it. Right, right. It was as if he made up a place from which

this name would come and it has a culture it has an accent it has a way of being the rich bodies yeah right uh final category best picture and the nominees are chris evans penis photo self-leak and 1988's beaches wow those are the only two nominees okay this is my favorite year uh well let me just say something uh chris evans nudes enlightened me about how boring heterosexual nudes are i guess well it was like the corner of a shadow of a dick i mean mean, I'm just saying when you enter my world, honey, like it's not shadowy. It's not film noir. That's all I need to tell you. No, production values. Production values. Oh, yeah.

You're just talking about production values. You think I only use this ring light for you, John Lovett? I mean, just be prepared is all I'm saying. Just be careful when you're sending the audio from this. Just be careful with your attachments. The answer is definitely Beaches because Barbara Hershey literacy has gone awry in the past few years. You guys haven't seen Portrait of a Lady recently? You've got to get on that.

Of course you choose Beaches. Now it's time for the Nonskers lightning round, a.k.a. Manx for the memories, because we would be remiss if we didn't test Lewis's skills. The Oscars have always been political and they've always drawn the ire of conservatives, claiming they should go back to how they were before when they weren't political, even though they always were. And so for this lightning round, Lewis, I'm going to read,

I'm going to share an Oscars moment that was called too political. Okay. And you have to tell us the year. Oh, all right. Okay. The year of the ceremony. The year of the ceremony. Okay, I'll do my best. The year of the ceremony. And I'm glad you said that because you and only you consistently remind everybody that the 2021 Oscar ceremony is the 2020 Oscars. Correct. Yes. People lose that. People miss that. And that's important. Here we go.

Dozens of protesters show up to the Oscars to denounce stereotypical depictions of Latinos in the films Bush Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Wild Bunch. Okay, well, that would be 1970. Correct. Joaquin Phoenix uses acceptance speech for Joker to make an impassioned plea for veganism. That would definitely be last year. That's correct. Bert Schneider read a telegram from the Viet Cong during his acceptance speech after winning Best Documentary Feature for Hearts and Minds. 75. Correct. Yeah. Amazing. Michael Moore used his acceptance speech for winning best documentary feature for Hearts and Minds? 75. Correct. Yeah. Amazing.

Michael Moore used his acceptance speech for Bowling for Columbine to call George W. Bush a fictitious president who started a war for fictitious reasons. Okay, I might mess this one up. Is it 2003? Correct. Yes. Iranian director Ashgar Farhadi refused to attend the ceremony after being nominated for The Salesman in protest of the U.S.'s recently adopted travel ban. Ooh, so that is only a couple years ago.

That would be 2017. Correct. Marlon Brando declined to accept his Best Actor win for The Godfather and sent sending an activist named Sashene Littlefeather to deliver a statement in protest of Hollywood's treatment of Native Americans. Presented by the great Liv Ullman. That was 1973. Correct. And finally, Spike Lee, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Will Smith leading a boycott of the ceremony

after all 20 acting nominations went to white people. Okay. That was a specific year in the 2010s. I want to make sure I'm getting it right. I'm pretty sure it's the year with Brie Larson and Cate Blanchett. So that's 2015 into 2016. Lewis, you got it. Yes. Every single fucking one. And I want everyone at home listening. This is not a Zoom scam. All right. This is not camera trickery. He got every single one right in a row. Lewis Vertel. One take. You ever heard of Jay-Z?

every single one right in a row. Louis Vertel. One take. You ever heard of Jay-Z? It's like that. One take. Look, this is not a Jonathan Frakes situation, all right? Famously known on set as two takes Frakes, okay?

This is one take Vertel. Right. No, we're out of here. I have a dinner to go to. Come on. Louis Vertel, everybody. That was great. Oh, thank you, John. What a pleasure.

That was so fun. I really was like, oh, God, what if I get one wrong and you have to cut it out? Nope. All right. Oh, thank you, John. What a pleasure. I really was like, oh God, what if I get one wrong and you have to cut it out? Nope. All right. Oh, and by the way, you tell Louis and Ada that I heard this little conversation about whether Ira wants to be or not be like

me on the show Keep It. It was a punch in the gut, all right? And it left a mark. And that's all I want to say about it. I'm not even looking to feud. I'm not going to punch back. Oh, sure. All right? And it left a mark. And that's all I want to say about it. That's all I want to say about it. I'm not even looking at Feud. I'm not going to punch back. I'm hurt.

You're going to live in the hurt, I see. I'm going to live in the hurt. Leave this in. I want this out there. Well, now Ira's going to respond. Unfortunately, now this is a situation, and I have to deal with his five-minute Aaron Sorkin-esque monologue about you the next time we tape. As long as you're talking about me.

Right? I'll press the good press. Thank you so much to Lewis for joining us. When we come back, we'll end on a high note. Don't go anywhere. This is Love It or Leave It, and there's more on the way. And we're back. Because we all need it this week, here it is, the high note.

I love it. My name is Leanne, and I'm from New Jersey. My High Note is a little extended. So I found out last year through DNA testing that I have a biological brother and sister that I didn't know about. We were all adopted separately from Korea as babies. But my super high note is that my brother and I were both able to get fully vaccinated, and we met for the first time last weekend. So I got to fly out to St. Louis. I got to hug him for the first time ever. It was amazing.

And my sister just got her first shot last weekend. So I'm looking forward to that first hug as well. So I'm just really, really, really thankful for all the amazing scientists and that this is even possible right now. You know, I'm super thankful to you and your show for just keeping everybody upbeat throughout all this. So thanks for all you do. Have a great one. Bye-bye. I love it. And pundits. This is Melissa from Bowfountain, Ohio, but now in Toulouse, France. And my high note of the week is the fact that my son was born the day before Biden was inaugurated. And just two weeks ago, he became a U.S. citizen at the U.S. Embassy in Paris. It was a big moment for us as France has been in the middle of lockdown since basically

October, and we haven't been able to travel travel so it was quite moving to drive to Paris with my brand new son and make him a U.S. citizen so thanks for keeping me sane in a country where I have to defend being an American so keep up the good work and thanks bye. Hi John it's Ashley calling from Annapolis, Maryland. My high note this week was that my favorite bird has finally returned to our yard. It is the wood thrush. And anybody who's familiar with bird calls will probably know this bird by its very distinctive call. It's considered one of the most beautiful of all birds in Mount Hambleton. And so I encourage all of you to go immediately look up the Wood Thrush's call.

It will absolutely make your day. And wood thrush tends to appear pretty early in the morning and be one of the last birds of the evening that you'll hear. And so I like to call it the last bitch at the bar. As always, thank you for everything that you do. Hey, Love It. This is Zach from Denver, Colorado. My high note of this week is actually twofold.

Yesterday was my last day working at a homeless shelter for the last five years. I really think everyone should volunteer and meet your unhoused community around you because they're some of the coolest people that you will ever meet. And yesterday was also my mom's birthday. And tomorrow I will be flying out to see both my parents after not seeing them since February of 2020. And they don't know I'm coming, so it's going to be a surprise. We're finally all vaccinated, and we feel so grateful for that. But it's time to go be with some family. Thanks for all you do. Thanks for the show. Bye-bye. Hi, John. My name is Ellen,

and I'm here with my daughter, Beatrice. And I just wanted to share something great from my week. I actually started listening to your show during the start of the pandemic, shortly after my daughter was born. And so I have really used the end of your show and people sharing that the good things that have happened to them as something to kind of get me through some really difficult times. I have been waiting for the news that I'm about to share to call, even though I've had some really wonderful things. I'm currently looking at one of them. But my mother has yet to meet my daughter, who just turned one years old. And she lives in Seattle. And she just got her second shot. And she purchased tickets to fly out to where we live in Kansas, and I cannot tell you enough how wonderful that will be.

And so, you know, this is the good thing that I have just been waiting to share with your show and just to say thank you to everybody who shared all of their good things over the last year or so because it's really been uplifting, And I'm really excited that I get to share something that hopefully uplifts other people as well. Thank you so much. Bye. Thank you to everybody who called in with those high notes. If you want to leave us a message about something that gave you hope, call us at 213-262-4427. Thank you to Joel Kim Booster, DeRay McKesson, Louis Fertel, and everybody who called in. There are 563 days until the 2022 midterm election. Go to votesaveamerica.com slash for the people. Call your senators. Let's keep the pressure up and have a great weekend. Love It or Leave It is a Crooked Media production. It is written and produced by me, John Lovett, Ryan Woodruff, and Lee Eisenberg.

Jocelyn Kaufman, Polavik Gnalen, and Peter Miller are the writers. Our associate producer is Brian Semel. Bill Lance is our editor, and Kyle Seglin is our sound engineer. Our theme song is written and performed by Sure Sure. Thanks to our designers, Jesse McClain and Jamie Skeel, for creating and running all of our visuals, which you can't see because this is a podcast. And to our digital producers, Nar Melkonian, Milo Kim, and Matt DeGroot for filming and editing video each week so that you can.

One other note, an earlier version of this episode misgendered Sam Smith. They go by they, them pronouns, and I am very sorry for the mistake.