#RolandMartinUnfiltered - Anger mounts over Ahmaud Arbery killing; Trump's stunning COVID-19 inaction; Murder hornets arrive

Episode Date: May 8, 2020

5.6.20 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: Anger mounts over Ahmaud Arbery killing; Trump's stunning COVID-19 inaction; First the coronavirus, now murder hornets arrive in the United States; Former NFL player Eric Reid battles for player benefits; In today's tech segment we'll introduce you to the Vyre Network + comedian Luenell is in the house. Support #RolandMartinUnfiltered via the Cash App ☛ https://cash.app/$rmunfiltered or via PayPal ☛https://www.paypal.me/rmartinunfiltered #RolandMartinUnfiltered is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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or wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be right back. Today is Wednesday, May 6, 2020. Coming up on Roland Martin, unfiltered civil rights groups, friends and family calling for a wider investigation. An arrest in the murder of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery. Shot and killed by two white men in February in Georgia. Why are they not in jail? We'll give you the latest on that story, plus the latest on

the coronavirus pandemic, where it continues to stun us all across the country. We'll also have an update on the status of PPP payments. Black businesses, you still have time to file paperwork. Plus, on top of the coronavirus pandemic, we now have murder hornets in the United States. We'll tell you exactly what that's all about. Also, former NFL player Eric Reid talks about the battle for player benefits. Hmm. He'll join us. Also, in today's tech segment, we'll

introduce you to the Viren Network. And comedian Lou Nail is here with today's comedy break. Folks, it's time to bring the funk. I'm Roland Martin on the filter. Let's go. just for kicks. He's rolling. It's Uncle Roro, y'all. It's Rolling Martin. Rolling with rolling now. He's funky, he's fresh, he's real the best.

You know he's rolling, Martel. Now. Martel. All right, folks. This stunning story out of Georgia. People still are talking about it all over social media. That is the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. How is it that the two white men who shot and killed him are not in jail? People, and of course, this took place in February, Brunswick, Georgia, of course, where Ahmaud

Arbery was jogging. He was then chased down by two white men, father and son, shot and killed, yet they have not been arrested. Here's a statement put out yesterday by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. They said they have not been requested. He said the GBI has not been requested to investigate the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery. The Glynn County Police Department has requested that our Kingsland office investigate the following allegations of threats against GCPD and individuals involved in the active investigation. The public release of video related to the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery. These investigations are active and ongoing.

And I want you to leave that up. I want you to follow this here. The police department where this took place has not asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, essentially the state, their state FBI, to step in. But they do want them to investigate threats made against the police department and individuals involved in the investigation. And how did the video get released? Now, keep in mind, that video is why the case is being referred to a grand jury.

Folks, they were trying to keep this quiet. They did not want the public to see this video. The Georgia NAACP has also issued a statement about the case being presented to the Glynn County Grand Jury. Joining me to talk about all of this is President of the NAACP, Reverend James Woodall. Reverend, glad to have you on the show. Thank you, Roland, for the invitation.

I'm glad to be able to speak to this injustice. Speak to how, so the police department doesn't want the GBI involved in the actual murder investigation, but they want them to investigate two other issues as opposed to exactly how do these two men shoot and kill Aubrey. That's correct. And the only thing I would add is we did receive an update late last evening that the GBI has

officially been requested to investigate the murder of Ahmaud Arbery as of yesterday. The governor, as well as the attorney general, has also made comments that they, quote unquote, are very concerned and are putting their resources to ensure that justice is served in this case. So that is as of late last evening. Again, though, this took place on February 23rd. That's right. The New York Times had a story on this a week or two ago. We had Lee Merritt on the show.

All this activity in the last 24 hours is solely because the video was leaked. If that video is not made public, then none of this is happening. There's no grand jury. There's no request for the GBI. The governor's not commenting. And it's not like nobody knew about this. That's correct.

And then to add insult to injury, the video that was released yesterday has been in the possession of the police department and the district attorneys, all three of whom had access to it. The family had not seen the video until it hit social media on yesterday. The family did not get the opportunity to see it and review it prior to it being released to the public. And therefore, it was insulting as well as very troublesome to see and to deal with that. But the fact is, it's out now. And so we want justice for this young man.

Well, and again, and the reason the family has not seen it, because the investigators kept it under wraps. That's right. Until it was leaked, no one knew that there was somebody who was trailing. Then the original DA, George Barnwell, says that, oh, the person who shot that video was

somebody who was assisting the McMichaels in the pursuit of Arbery. That's correct. That's correct. And that's exactly why the Georgia NAACP, along with several coalition partners, we have all demanded and advised our members and our community leaders to all demand that not only Jackie Johnson, who was the district attorney in Brunswick, that she resign because this is not the first time she has done what we like to call judicial malpractice, but we also believe that George Barnhill needs to resign too, because who could be that slow

and that crazy to put into writing that this was justified? There is nothing in the state statute, there's nothing in the law that would allow for those two men to kill an unarmed black boy who's simply running. So they should not only be disbarred and resign, but they should become criminally complicit in this death as well. So just several things, first and foremost. Coming in here, Ben Crump, he represents Aubrey's father. Lee Merritt represents, along with Chris Stewart, Aubrey's mother in this particular case. We're trying to get Ben Crump on the phone as well. There is no doubt in my mind, there's no doubt in my mind here, that what you have is an attempt by the police, an attempt by these DAs to hope this story was going to go away. The fact that the initial DA, George Barnwell,

concocts this whole report that absolves the McMichaels of their involvement, says it was self-defense, they were trying to make a citizen's arrest, and now all of a sudden, it just so happens on the day after the video gets leaked that the third DA goes, ah, you know what, I think there is sufficient evidence to take this to a grand jury.

Yeah. It is very traumatic. It's very disappointing. And it's injustice. And we've seen, I mean, you've covered it, you know, time and time again. We've seen it here in Georgia that this continues to happen.

You know, 1939, you know, 1839, we've seen these cases, so much of black blood draining our streets. We cannot continue to allow these things to happen. So we need to take up our own community and really just hold the people that need to be held accountable and ensure that justice is served. All right, then. Reverend James Woodall, we so appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you, sir. Take care. I want to bring on my panel, A. Scott Bolton, former chair of the National Bar Association Political Action Committee,

Joseph Pignon, Republican strategist and political commentator, along with Victoria Burke, NNPA writer. Scott, again, all of a sudden, all of a sudden, the DA, I'm going to take this to the grand jury. They have had this video since February 23rd. Yeah, they were, you know, they were going to bury it. The one thing for our viewing audience is to know is that the reason these two people haven't been arrested is because the shooter and his father, the father is a former police officer from New Brunswick or that jurisdiction.

And he's a former investigator for the DA's office in Brunswick County or in that area. And so they're going to be given the benefit of the doubt. This really reminds you of Trayvon Martin, if you think about it, Roland, because they called the police, the assailants called the police, and then they got off the phone when she was asking them, what is he doing? He's running. What is he doing? And then they got off the phone when she was asking them, what is he doing? He's running. What is he doing? And then they go run in front of him and then confront him with a shotgun and then a struggle ensues.

There's no gun for him. He's running. It's not like running, trying to get away. He's jogging. He's a former athlete linebacker for a high school football team. Are you kidding me? So he's dead for running while black and they were going to bury it. And then the video comes out.

And now the danger in going to the grand jury is this. Listen up, folks, because that grand jury is going to be from people in that community. And they're going to couch it like it was a struggle for the gun and therefore was justifiable manslaughter or homicide. But you've got to look at what happened before. But for them getting their shotguns and doing vigilante justice, this young kid would still be alive. It's just unbelievable. But that grand jury is going to is going to get manipulated because they'll they'll indict whatever the prosecutor wants them to indict. And that's simply not going to be fair. That's why the FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation have to investigate versus the grand jury or an independent commission. Let's keep watching this case closely. Joseph, what's interesting here to Scott's point, not only as you begin to break down what they did here. The fact

that this is on the third prosecutor. The first prosecutor said our relationship recused themselves. Second one did. Third one has had the case. No, I'm not going to ask Joe Beard of investigation. And so here's my question. All right. Coronavirus

has been happening. What the hell have they been doing for the whole month of April? What the hell were they doing in March? I'm just trying to understand how heavy was their load that it took a video being leaked for them to all of a sudden say, yeah, we're going to take it to the grand jury. I'm not buying. That's why I tweeted this prosecutor is no hero. Mm-hmm. I mean, look, this is not about load and maintenance when it comes to cases. This is about the systemic devaluation of black bodies. Started with talking about people being three-fifths of a human being, and it continues to this day. And so to me, I mean, I actually was struck. I remember, you know, our dear brother Timothy and Melissa in Cleveland back in, what was it, 2012, got shot 137 times by law enforcement unarmed in a car. I mean,

you know, I think I spoke to you at the time. I think I remarked that, you know, if you had shot at a wildebeest that many times, you'd probably end up in prison. And yet again, you know, those individuals not only did not go to prison, it took them six years to lose their jobs. So I think, again, you see time and time again that the people find ways of showing you just how little they think of us. And I think it's incumbent of us to start thinking of new solutions into how do we approach these things, right? You mentioned that we're on the third prosecutor right now. I mean, again, I mean, in all of this time, this video has been here. We know they've had access to the video. The family never saw it. At some point, we have to stop talking about, you know, the outcomes and start talking about how do we actually put teeth

in legislation that actually prevents the cover-up in the first place. Because that is where the true kind of most pernicious thing happens, where they start couching things, as our brother said, whether it was a struggle, whether they start trying to throw dirt on the deceased. With Brother Martin down in Florida, his mother and his father still trying to work to clear his name to this day. So these are the things I think we have to talk about. But again, just another tragedy that is unfortunately too predictable when it comes to black people living in America. Lauren, this was a tweet sent out last night by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp.

GBI Director Reynolds has offered resources and manpower to D.A. Durton to ensure a thorough independent investigation into the death of Ahmaud Arbery. Georgians deserve answers. State law enforcement stands ready to ensure justice is served. Now, again, what you had here was you had the prosecutors there saying, nah, it's all good, we're good. Obviously, the pressure continued on them.

So this is now the front page, we'll pull up in the second front page of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Calls for federal investigation into Brunswick shooting grow as GBI opens state probe. And so again, all of this action is only because of the video. Vice President Joe Biden's in the tweet out saying it is time for a swift, full and transparent investigation into his murder and saying he was killed in cold blood. I mean, this is the sort of the nonsense. I'm going to go ahead and play this video because this was the video that was released today by the by the state director. Today and discuss our agency's involvement in the Ahmaud Arbery shooting in Glynn County, which occurred in February of this year.

As you're probably aware, late yesterday evening, Governor Kemp issued a statement indicating that the GBI was willing to make all of our resources available to assist the local authorities in this investigation. I then reached out to District Attorney Tom Durden, who is the special prosecutor assigned to this case by the Attorney General's Office. I offered our assistance in this matter. Mr. Durden and I were able to connect and speak

about 9.30 last night, and he quickly accepted our offer and asked us to become involved in the case. Some of you may not realize, but the GBI can only become involved in a matter. Some of you may not realize, but the GBI can only become involved in a matter when asked by the local authorities. After Mr. Durden's request last night, I advised him that we would hit the ground running this morning. We've now assigned this case to three of our experienced supervisory level agents. They come from two separate regions and a specialized unit, which is located in the third region.

We've also decided that this case will be ran from headquarters that will bring to bear every resource and all the experience this agency has in resolving this matter. Our goal in every investigation is to seek the truth. That's exactly what we intend on doing in this matter. I realize that emotions are running high in this community, and they're running high throughout this state, and the last thing anyone wants to do is extend us any patience, but I also realize that this investigation must be done correctly,

and therefore I must ask for a little of your patience. I'm confident that we'll do justice in this matter, but I'm just as confident we're going to do it the right way. Usually the right road isn't the quickest or the fastest way, but it's the right way. And that's the road we intend on taking. The Governor of this state wants justice done in this case, as does the GBI, and I'm confident that we'll deliver that. Thank you for giving me a few minutes of your time today. Stay safe

and God bless. Thank you. Lauren, this is the problem. Black people got to raise hell just to get due process. How about that? And, you know, all this nonsense about they needed permission from somebody to do an investigation is a bunch of foolishness. Okay? They can do what they want to do.

What we're going to need is the FBI, obviously, is going to have to get involved with this. I wouldn't trust any authorities down there. I wouldn't trust the prosecutor. I wouldn't trust the grand jury from down there. It is going to have to go over these people's heads. This case is probably going to be on the level of a Michael Brown, Walter Scott level thing

that we always remember and turn to. It's another example of how the advent of video and the technology in the world that we always remember and turn to. And it's another example of how the advent of video and the technology and the world that we live in has allowed us to know about these things that we've always known were going on in black communities. But the fact of the matter is, without the video, as you've said many times, Roland,

we would not be sitting here talking about this. They would have buried, they would have let it go away, and all the pressure that we're seeing right now is happening because of the video. So the idea that they would have buried, they would have let it go away, and all the pressure that we're seeing right now is happening because of the video. So the idea that they would have been doing this and they need patience and they need time and all this other nonsense, they've known about this since February 23rd.

So why should we give them any deference whatsoever in terms of timing? It's completely ridiculous. But I would trust absolutely nothing in terms of what they're saying completely ridiculous. But I would trust absolutely nothing in terms of what they're saying, what they do in the background, and what happens further. It has to go over this.

And if Donald Trump really wants to prove himself and all his little flunkies that think he's so great really want to prove themselves with the black community, this would be an opportunity to do that. Well, first of all, they won't. And, of course, you've got Alveda King, who's there in Atlanta, Angela Stanton. They're not going to say anything. Let's deal with what took place here. We talk about federal involvement. Scott, oftentimes what we hear is that

difficult for the feds to get involved because of just how, when it comes to trying to determine if somebody's civil rights statutes are violated. I remember my previous conversations with former Attorney General Eric Holder. In this case, he was somebody who was jogging on a public street. That opens the door, Scott, correct, yes or no, to his civil rights. Oh, it's not just the he's on public streets. That jurisdiction gets federal funding too. And you can purposefully and with intentionality violate someone's civil rights

by attacking them or doing anything to them that violates the law, whether it's the Fourth Amendment or otherwise, simply because they're black or they're part of a protected class. So the short answer is yes. Well, you would have to establish that he was being targeted or technically because he was black uh but but in this case but but the heart of the other piece is that if you deny somebody their civil rights meaning uh the ability to move freely to be things along those lines and so i think for a lot of people, a lot of people say, hey, federal investigation, civil rights violations. But it's a very fine line, which holders often talk about, that need to be brought in his estimation. Because how do you show purposefulness, not necessarily a mens rea for criminal conduct,

but how do I show that the reason he was targeted was simply to violate his civil rights? It's very difficult, because the assailants will argue on the defense side that he was attacked and there was a struggle simply because they believed he was a burglary suspect, and he was burglarizing a house being built, even though he had nothing on suspect, and he was burglarizing a house being built, even though he had nothing on him,

and he was running by the house, even if he ran through the house, the civil vigilantism, or the justice vigilantism, would never justify that. But you've got to have clear and compelling evidence that his civil rights were violated, and the sole reason for him being attacked was to violate his civil rights because he was black.

That can be difficult for the feds. George, uh, Joseph, this DA, George Barnwell, the first one, uh, who recused himself, he still, though, laid out the facts of this case, absolving, uh, these individuals, uh, the McMichaels of this, stating that they were trying to make a citizen's arrest. This is what the Georgia Code says.

Title 17, Criminal Procedure Chapter 4, Arrest of Persons, Article 4, Arrest by Private Persons. A private person may arrest an offender if the offense is committed in his presence or within his immediate knowledge if the offense is a felony and the offender is escaping or attempting to escape a person may arrest him upon reasonable and probable grounds of suspension so when you look at what that prosecutor did, what he basically gave is he gave actually the defense of these two when he's the prosecutor.

I mean, look, I mean, it's very clear to anybody with common sense. I mean, we talk about law. What is the reasonable person threshold? The reasonable person can deduce that the only reason our dear brother is deceased now is because he was a member of a suspect class called Jogging While Burying.

You broke up there, so go ahead. You broke up there, so go ahead and repeat it. Your Skype broke up. Go ahead. No, I'm just saying. I mean, really, the only thing that made this brother a member of a quote unquote suspect class was the color of his skin. And so I think that we just have to really dispense with the foolishness, this foolish notion that there was any other reason that he was being stopped, that he was being profiled, other than he was a black person who was jogging amongst anxious people who were pale-faced. That's just the hard truth.

So ultimately, you know, the things that we have to focus on right now, how can we get justice for somebody who is not here? I mean, how can we actually sit here and continue to watch these images time and time and time again and continue to put our faith in a criminal justice system that repeatedly does not work for black and brown people. I think to your earlier point, it is the time for people who do champion President Trump when it comes to criminal justice to say that criminal. All right. Not sure why we keep we keep losing. We keep losing your Skype. There keeps freezing up there. I want to read this here, Lauren, and this is from the New York Times story.

According to a police report, one of the men, Gregory McMichael, said that he saw Mr. Arbery running through his neighborhood and thought that he looked like the suspect in a rash of nearby break-ins. Mr. McMichael, 64, told the authorities that he and his son, Travis McMichael, 34, armed themselves and began chasing him in a truck. Now, Lauren, very basic questions that I would think if your police officer or of your prosecutor, you would ask.

How do how did you ascertain that he looked like the suspect in the previous burglaries? Were any videos distributed? Were any videos distributed? Were any photos distributed? Was he wearing the same clothing in the video? How did they ascertain that a brother who's running

looks like the suspect in a rash of break-ins? Really? Did you see of break-ins. Really? Did you see those break-ins? That's the other question. Lauren, go ahead.

Lauren and Scott, go ahead. We're about to hear the Trayvon Martin playbook, right? That it was somehow Trayvon Martin's fault that some idiot followed him on a rainy night at night when he's minding his own business, but somehow he is the aggressor and he is responsible for his own death. We're going to hear all of that run of show.

It's a complete, you know, it really just harkens back. It's appropriate this week, of course, that Ida Wells got the coolest surprise, and of course she got that for investigating lynchings, because here we are talking about this. We've heard this again and again and again and again and again. It's the same nonsense again and again about how, oh, we got into a struggle, and then it's the dead person's fault that they're dead because I chased them

and followed them and hunted them down with a gun. Everybody's armed, right? Then they have video. But yet it will be this guy's fault that he's dead. It's complete nonsense. We'll hear the entire thing, not only from the people who are the perpetrators of this murder, but we'll hear it from the authorities,

we'll hear it from the investigators, we'll hear it from the cops, we'll hear it from everybody on down, because this, of course, is the legacy of 400 years of American history. There's no escaping that. So we get back, we have to get back to the question of how do we put a stop to it? And that comes down to a great deal of political pressure and a great deal of very focused political pressure on specific people who have anything to do with these issues and the punishment that needs to happen

after these things happen. Because we're just watching videos over and over again. We're really watching the same video over and over again in the way, which is really insane, but that's what's going on. Scott, here's what's very interesting. Barnhill, this is going back to the New York Times piece here.

One of the prosecutors who was previously assigned to the case, George E. Barnhill of the Waycross Judicial District, had advised the police that there was insufficient probable cause to arrest

Mr. Arbery's pursuers, arguing that they had acted legally under the state citizen's arrest and self-defense statutes according to documents obtained by the New York Times. Scott, this is not a prosecutor saying, you know what, I don't think we can get a conviction. No, this is a prosecutor saying,

you shouldn't even arrest him. Now, the whole point of this here, even if you get, first of all, getting arrested doesn't mean you are convicted. These two guys haven't even been arrested. Gregory McMichael and Travis McMichael haven't even been arrested. Where a judge has set out bail. There are cases where you can get arrested and then a DA will take it to the grand jury. They may not indict. And then you're they say, you know what? Don't even arrest them. Well, as a former prosecutor, as you know, these prosecutor can look at both sides and make that determination.

However, they also have the option and the discretion for the police to arrest, they post, defendants post bail, and then you can take it to a grand jury. But the standard for this civilian arrest is rooted in reasonableness. And if you look at that video and go frame by frame, you know, I do this on this show when these cases come up. I did, too. If you look at Arbor or the deceased, he's running, and then he runs away from the truck and runs away from the son who has the shotgun. Then you see around the truck, when he comes past the truck, he sees the shotgun. These aren't police and the shotgun is pointed at him. And he then turns and runs towards the shotgun to get the shotgun from the assailant, or who he believes to be the assailant.

There's nothing unreasonable or nothing reasonable about what these two vigilantes did. Yes, there was a struggle, but the analysis and the evaluation by the prosecutor and the police cannot begin with the struggle. It's got to begin in the whole video and the beginning to the end because the struggle is only part of the problem in the case. Was it reasonable for them to

be there? Did they have probable cause to believe that he was a burglary suspect? Did they see him carrying a TV or something that had been removed? No. They were acting on their dumbness, their presumptiveness, and the fact that there was a black man running in presumably an all-white neighborhood. There can be no defense of civil arrest and their right to do so, but you've got to analyze all the facts, not the struggle. And that's going to be the challenge of the grand jury and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. And this is what Barnhill wrote, Joseph and Lauren. This was in the Land Journal Constitution. They were joined

by a third man, William Bryan, who lives in the neighborhood where Aubrey was killed. In a letter sent to a Glynn County police captain, go to my iPad, please. in a letter sent to a Glen County police captain. Go to my iPad, please. In a letter sent to a Glen County police captain, Barnhill wrote that the three men were in hot pursuit of a burglary suspect with quote, solid

first-hand probable cause. Really? Wow. It's a lie. I mean, this narrative for all of this stuff is always predicated on a lie. It's this notion that somehow that the burden must be placed on the deceased to somehow rise from the dead and prove that they are not only a good human being, but also not guilty of the crime for which they were believed to have actually committed, which upon further evaluation never occurred. So I think we just have to almost dispense with just kind of talking about it. I mean, it's just heart wrenching to talk about it.

We have to talk about it, obviously. But talking about it in a way as which even now we here amongst the living feel as if we have to try to, you know, basically prove what should be obvious to any simple person who cares about justice, who cares about goodness, who has a shred of honesty and compassion in their heart to say that this young man should not be buried, that he should be here in the midst of this corona crisis to comfort his family, to be with his loved ones. And he's not. And it's solely because of the color of his skin. And until we can say that frankly and begin to organize, not in random marches, not in Twitter hashtags, but to really organize and leverage power in a meaningful way. We are going to keep having the same conversation over and over and over and over again until our eyes fall out. As Lauren alluded to earlier, Lauren, last quote here from Barnhill, he wrote, it appears I've had please.

It appears their intent was to stop and hold this criminal suspect until law enforcement arrived. Under Georgia law, this is perfectly legal. Protesters are also calling for the police chief of Glynn County to step down. Well, Lauren, he's got his own issues. Go back to the iPad. John Powell, who's currently on administrative leave with pay in Glynn County, after being indicted on charges of three counts of violating oath of office, two counts of influencing a witness, and one count of criminal attempt to commit a felony. Those charges stem from an unrelated case. Really.

Yeah, and of course, he's walking around and everything is great. Look, until we get the level of political power that we need to stop, these things are going to continue. It is built into American history. It is not new. It requires some real, real political power. And really, you know, I hate to go back to what Sean Puffy Combs said last week, because I didn't particularly agree with it for all the reasons that you had outlined, Roland, but it does at some point become a quid pro quo question, right? You know, we need to stop these things from happening or you don't get this thing, you know. And until we get to that point in our politics where we're doing that,

where we're actually withholding some of our political power until we see something that stops, that's something that stops happening. I don't understand how, I don't get how we stop this. It's the exact same conversation we had around Trayvon Martin. The big banana in everybody's tailpipe at that point was the stand-your-ground law. And of course what we find is that only black people end up dead and they always are the ones that somehow can never be standing your ground when something like this happens.

So I-I'm not a big believer in getting into the-the finer details of this nonsense, because it really is the same thing over and over again, with the same dead people, with the same skin color, with the same perpetrators. So we're gonna have to go big picture and really look at what-what really stops these things from happening. I can name a few things, but unfortunately,

they're all extrajudicial, so within the law. So it's kind of, we're not dealing as African Americans in a system that's fair to us. We've got to start with that notion and stop thinking that somehow that's going to just change automatically. And of course, we've heard nothing from the current occupant of the White House. Like I said, Vice President Joe Biden has weighed in.

And so we'll continue to follow this story, folks, to its conclusion. All right. As of today, there are 1.25 million cases of COVID-19 in the United States. Folks, 205,000 people have recovered yet. 74,102 patients with the virus have died. Talk about pure devastation. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo gives his daily update to the media. Here's what he said today. Our total hospitalization rate is down again. You see this curve. We talked about it on the way up, which was a painful journey. We talked about it at the quote-unquote apex,

which turned into more of a plateau of flattening. And now we're seeing it gradually decline. We would have liked to see a steeper, faster decline, but this is where we are. And it's a painfully slow decline, but it's better than the numbers going the other way. You see it on total hospitalizations, you see it on intubations, and you see it on total hospitalizations. You see it on intubations. And you see it also in the number of new cases per day. This is important because while we're seeing that hospitalization rate go down, and you see the number of new cases going down, those number of new cases are still problematic, right? So it means 600 new cases yesterday.

With everything we've done, we still have 600 new cases yesterday, either walking in the door to hospitals or people who are in hospitals who were then diagnosed with COVID. But that number is also going down. One of the most stubborn situations and the most distressing are the number of deaths. And that is down from where we were, but it's still 232 yesterday, which is an unimaginable and painful reality that we have to deal with. And when people talk about how good things are going and the decline and the progress, that's all true. It's all so true. Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, of course, did the usual BS from the White House podium. Listen, listen to this. There were supposed to be 2.2

million deaths. And we're at a point where we're far lower than that. And it's thanks to the great work of the task force and to the leadership of President Trump. Whose idea was initially to wind it down? Again, I'm not going further. The president has answered this four times today. There were supposed to be 2.2 million deaths. It's going to wind down the coronavirus task force. Then, of course, got lots of criticism. And Donald Trump said, oh, no, I didn't realize the panel was, the task force was so popular. So we're going to keep it going. And then, of course, when McEnany was hit over her previous comments with regards to

what she said about coronavirus, than what they usually do in this White House. They want to pivot to the media. Watch this. Kayleigh, in a previous life, before you were press secretary, you worked for the campaign and you made a comment, I believe on Fox, in which you said President Trump will not allow the coronavirus to come to this country. Given what has happened since then, obviously, would you like to take that back? Well, first let me note, I was asked a question on Fox Business about... So again, the dancing that they're doing with these people,

the dancing that they do is quite interesting, okay? How they play these games with words, how they play the world choice. Then, of course, McEnany comes back to her favorite one, how we're leading in testing. Good afternoon, everyone. I'd like to direct your attention to a very encouraging graph regarding test results.

It'll be over my shoulder and hopefully on the screen for those of you watching on television. As this chart shows, the United States has to date completed 7.5 million coronavirus tests. It's an extraordinary number. And as you can see, the United States leads the world in testing. This graph is no accident. In fact, this graph is a testament to American innovation, including the work of the Trump administration. For example, the FDA has issued over 70 emergency use authorizations to expand testing capacity to accelerate the development of therapeutics and vaccines. There are nearly 80 clinical trials ongoing. Oh, seven million tests, Lauren.

And then later she talked about, no, it's silly that we should talk about testing everybody. The death toll increased 3,000 overnight. Folks, by Monday, we're going to exceed 80,000 people dead. But I love how

all of a sudden, they're trying to latch onto the initial model. It could be upwards of 2.2 million. Well, you know, it was 2.2 million, and we've only lost 70,000. So we've done a great job. Yeah. Well, let me tell you.

My prediction for this entire thing is that in 181 days, Joe Biden will be elected president. This is one of the worst disasters in American history. I mean, I don't need to say it again, but I guess I should just say it because we're in a Trump segment. This president is deeply incompetent. He is obviously very dangerous. This is the guy that two weeks ago told everybody to inject Lysol into themselves. And his level of incompetence is so dangerous and so deadly, it was bound to catch up to us, and it has caught up to us. Because he could not read an intel report and wanted to talk about

vaping, there are 74,000 Americans who are dead that should not be. He could have prepared for this. He didn't. As we know, he closed the office that deals with pandemics that Barack Obama, of course, funded and touted and obviously had operational because he's stupid. And now he's going to ramp things down because he thinks he can PR his way out of this, which you can't because there are 74,000 people who are dead and counting.

So now what he's going to try to do is try to pretend this isn't happening and get back into some sort of campaign mode because that's how stupid he is. That's how morally bankrupt he is. Joseph, right. Joseph, talk about moving the goalposts. The people at The Daily Show, they really did it best. Watch this. You would have had a million people, a million and a half people, maybe two million people dead, but we're going toward 50 or 60,000 people. It looks like we'll be at about a 60,000 mark. 60, maybe 65,000. 65,000 people. 70,000. 75, 80. 80 or 90,000 people. 100,000.

And I think we're going to beat that. If we could hold that down, as we're saying, to 100,000, so we have between 100 and 200,000, we all together have done a very good job. Wow, Joseph. Great job. I mean, look, I come from the position that two things can be true at the same time, that we can talk about the fact that they were on to call it missed opportunities is probably an embarrassment to missed opportunities for us to try to take steps to quell this global pandemic, this global disaster. You know, like I said, all the talking points are out there that, you know, if the World Health Organization hadn't done this or, you know, yes, the World Health Organization went from telling us that we could not have person to person transmission to us witnessing probably

the worst pandemic in close to 100 years. So, you know, I think overall, I think we're having the right conversation, perhaps the wrong way. Yeah, we could talk about the fact that maybe the president didn't tell people to inject Lysol, but he should have some level of awareness that as the leader of the free world, in a world where children will, you know, swallow Tide Pods. Again, looks like we... Even if they're...

So, you know, I think ultimately, again, we just need to talk about how do we keep people safe? We are crushing the curve a little bit here in New York, but we see spikes in places like New Orleans. We see spikes in places like, you know, places like Washington, D.C. So those are the type of issues that I think we should be talking about right now moving forward. Scott, Trump is a little bit upset at Never Trump Republicans, this Lincoln group who put out this devastating ad playing on the well-known Ronald Reagan ad, Mourning in America.

Many credit with putting him over the goal line. They have a different morning in America. Watch this. There's morning in America. Today, more than 60,000 Americans have died from a deadly virus Donald Trump ignored. With the economy in shambles, more than 26 million Americans are out of work. The worst economy in decades. Trump bailed out Wall Street, but not Main Street.

This afternoon, millions of Americans will apply for unemployment. And with their savings run out, many are giving up hope. Millions worry that a loved one won't survive COVID-19. There's mourning in America. And under the leadership of Donald Trump, our country is weaker and sicker and poorer. And now Americans are asking, if we have another four years like this, will there even be an America? Paid for by the Lincoln Project, which is responsible for the content of this

advertisement. Well, Scott, that ad ran in one market. Trump lost his mind, was tweeting, cussing them out, dogging them. Sounds like they hit their mark. A hit dog will holler, as my grandmother used to say. And the dog is Trump, and he's

hollering. But the best line in that, and it's undeniable, that America, what did the ad say? We're weaker, we're poor, and sicker because Donald Trump ignored this deadly disease for 70 days or more. This is undeniable. And you see that the people in line with masks on were black, white, yellow and brown. And so Donald Trump wants to get the economy going and wants to tout how many tests we have. But he had a hand and it feels like he had a hand in some of these deaths. It's not fair to give him to blame him for all of it. The disease is deadly. But how many lives would be saved? How much safer would we be had he read the reports in the White House in January, in December? The testing and that chart that Kayleigh put up,

that's completely misleading. That's what you've done after the fact. Once the disease has dominated American lives and taken American lives more than in the Vietnam and that we have a million-two infections because we didn't act swiftly, that we ignored it for 70 days. You've got to look at the full story in evaluating this White House, and they get an F, not for their response,

but they get an F for not responding for 70 days. One of the issues that we're still talking about, of course, is PPP, that is the loan program for small businesses. On Monday, we talked about what this means for African-Americans. That is critically important because many small businesses out there are suffering as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Returning back is Kenneth Kelly, chair, National Bankers Association. Kenneth, we had you on a couple of days ago. What has been the response from black businesses since we last talked on Monday to today? Roland, thanks for having us again. The response is increasing. It's not increasing fast enough. And so your messaging is getting

the word out there. We knew we had an awareness problem of this, Roland, and the intent is to be sure that people know about this and they can apply for it. There was a call today that you guys had with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnookin. What was what was discussed there? Yeah, we talked about some of the mechanics of trying to ensure that it expands. And let me give a disclaimer. He was not able to make that call because of some things going on. But his chief of staff was on that call. Also, Ivanka Trump was on that call. So we had, I'll say, high levels of government involved in the discussion, and we talked about some real particular things that hopefully can help elongate the potential of individuals

being able to apply for this process. What we do know is that the burn rate and the amount is slowing down. So that doesn't mean everyone has a lot of time to participate, but it just suggests that there may be longer than originally expected. So we need businesses, in particular sole proprietors and 1099 individuals, to go ahead and be prepared to apply for this program. And as we said on Monday, you might have a banking relationship with a particular bank, but you can apply for this program with other banks, with other community financial institutions. Yes, that's correct. And that still stands true. I think we had given out actually our email address, which is pppl at firstindependence.com as one option. But we would encourage you, whether it's through your existing bank or another bank that you fully engage,

if you are a business owner, you have the option to engage and participate in this process. All right. So again, folks, if you go to nationalbankers.org, give a list of those black banks or banks for people of color there on the website. What else do you want businesses out there to know? Just to know that we need to be fully engaged. You know, we are going through a very slow period in this economy, as you know, Roland, and we need individuals, in particular in the minority communities, who sometimes get left behind to fully engage. If you don't know the

answer, ask someone. Feel free to make yourself vulnerable and participate in this process is the word that I would encourage everyone to do, Roland. And by the way, I spoke with John Rogers prior to this call. He told me to tell you hello. All right. Of course, John Rogers, Aero Capital, Aero Management there in Chicago. Great guy. Kenneth Kelly, Chair, National Bankers Association. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you so much, Roland. Take care. All right. Again, folks, the website is nationalbankers.org. At the end of the day, if you don't apply, you sure as hell can't get any money. And so we need all of our black businesses to apply because we have to make sure they stay

afloat. Look, you got 2.6 million black-owned businesses in America. 2.5 million only have one employee. And so we understand how difficult it is. And so we need for folks to be able to file that paperwork. Don't assume you're going to get a rejection. And look, a file through several banks, whichever one calls and says we processed it, that's who the hell you go with. That's what we did.

Okay? So we did that. And so just like, look, we are a black owned business and we did the exact same thing as many of you did not just sit and wait. And so we want more of our businesses to do that, to file that particular paperwork. Real quick, I want to talk a little politics here. A new Monmouth poll shows Joe Biden with a 50 to 41 lead over Donald Trump. What's interesting, Lawrence, that when you look at that Monmouth poll, Joe Biden is only down two points to Trump in the category of men, has a 20 point lead among women. As he should. I mean, his policies certainly are better than Donald Trump's.

And we know the history of Donald Trump. So it would be very disturbing to see the results that we saw in 2016 with regard to women and Donald Trump. It would be very strange to see that against anybody. I thought it was particularly strange to see it against Hillary Clinton, but Biden as well. So we'll see what happens on Election Day. I predict that Biden will win. I just think that this is a disaster that we're watching with regard to Donald Trump economically and, of course, health-wise. One of the things, Joseph, obviously this is May. Election is in November.

But the reality is this here. Donald Trump had a perfect confluence of events that allowed him to win. Only won by some 78,000 votes when you combine what took place in Wisconsin, Philadelphia, and Michigan. And so he is desperate for that. But here's the deal.

He's not running against somebody who's hated by a lot of people in Hillary Clinton. And so it's a different sort of election. Just your thoughts on how this election is shaping up. Look, I think that people who think this election is over and think that they can have a coronation party for Joe Biden are probably put in the cart before the horse. Or to say people who keep saying, oh, Trump is going to win. I keep saying, y'all, ain't nobody a lock. I think the reality that we face

right now is that you got President Trump who in many ways, even if he's the made-for-TV president, and we're actually going to be in the situation with the first television-only event when it comes to the presidency of the United States. And for me, you know, Joe Biden's superpower, you know, whether he sometimes

stutters, whether he sometimes forgets his own name, is that he can get in a room with people and he can connect. And that when American people see him connecting in that deeply empathetic way, it has this power to grip a nation. Well, in a post-pandemic world of COVID-19, those moments don't get to happen anymore. You don't get to have that moment where Bill Clinton walks towards a lady in the audience who's talking about the national debt, but really she's talking about her own personal issues with debt and with poverty. Those moments that define presidential campaigns may not exist in this 2020 election. And so really, if you talk about the confluence that helped make President Trump in 2016, in a very strange and bizarre way, you know, the tea leaves could actually be favoring him again.

An election where Joe Biden really all he had to do was stay standing up and talking to people. He might not actually even be able to do either of those things because of the nature of this pernicious disease. Well, don't forget. I mean, Joseph, I get your point, but ain't like Trump is young. I mean, Joe Biden's got 77. Trump, what, 73? I mean, look, I just... So, I mean, at the end of the day, coronavirus, both of them are in the danger category. Well, look, I don't think the issue is the age. I think the issue is the vitality. I think whether you hate President Trump

or whether you love him, the one thing I don't think you can say is that he's lacking of energy. Oh, yes, we can. But here's the other deal. It's easy to have lots of engines when all your ass do is watch TV for most of the day. Hold on.

I mean, look, here's the issue. We're talking about real life and then we're talking about political life. No, I'm talking about real life. Donald Trump is a lazy son of a bitch. That's not what we're talking about, though. We're talking about how people win elections. And the reality is that you have somebody like Joe Biden

who, honestly, I think we're actually watching him in decline. You can't sit there and honestly say that the Joe Biden that announced his candidacy for president has the same vitality of the Joe Biden that we're looking at today. Have you heard? And I think for all of the shortcomings... I'm trying to say that Joe Biden is...

I think we're talking about two different things. You can talk about all of the obvious shortcomings. Lauren, hold on. Joseph, Scott, then Lauren, go. Yeah, I mean, you can talk about all of the obvious shortcomings about President Trump. We knew them before he got elected president. They've been on full display most assuredly during this pandemic. But that has nothing to do with the fact that if you talk about the reasons why people voted for him, the cult of personality, that is very much still there. And I think, again, my point is that the things that people decide elections on,

how they feel about somebody, did they have those moments along the trail that galvanized them, I think that the things that Joe Biden does best, he will be robbed of that because of the fact that we're in this situation he will be robbed of that because of the fact that we're in this situation where you can't have the rallies, you can't have the town halls with the audience members, you can't have those interacting with him in the crowd talking about Beau, talking about the things that make Joe Biden the Joe that everybody loves. Actually, Scott, that does favor Biden because you can run a far more scripted campaign. What the criticism of Biden has been are the unscripted moments. Yeah, I agree with you. I understand what Joe is saying,

but I think you can get to that through TV and the Internet. Here's the problem the Republicans will have, and they can have a billion dollars, is that every day Donald Trump is showing why he shouldn't be reelected, first of all, whether it's the pandemic or the economy and what have you. The other thing is he can't grow past his 40 percent. The independents and the moderate Republicans are looking for an alternative. Hillary was not that alternative in 2016. Joe Biden is a reasonable alternative. But black folks are going to come out and vote for Joe Biden. And because Joe Biden connects and he shows empathy across the board. The other thing about that Monmouth poll that you

have not talked about is that it shows that he's got a 20% lead on women and that these sexual allegations, whatever you think about them, out there against Joe Biden, the one young woman, or maybe it's two now, compared to the 20 against Trump, the Republicans can't drive that narrative because your eyes glaze over. Secondly, because of Biden's empathy

and his heart that he wears on his shoulder, I think there's a fair amount of trust by men and women in Joe Biden caring about the best in this country. And you're not going to have the Comey effect. Biden isn't the boogeyman that the Republicans and the White House want to have. And so this ought to be simple. It won't be easy, though. And you've got to continue to fight for every vote. And people have to vote to ensure his success. Lauren, look, first of all, again, it's still extremely early.

A lot of things are going to be coming out. But here's the deal. Trump was bemoaning the fact that the coronavirus may very well be his. This election may be a referendum on how he handled this. Here's the deal. Trump was bemoaning the fact that the coronavirus may very well be his. This election may be a referendum on how he handled this. Here's the deal. If we continue to lose two and three thousand people a day, trust me, he can't try to dance around by saying, oh, we did a great job. It was absolutely amazing. Right. Right. 300 people a day in New York, which by the way, is the average for the murder rate in New York the last seven or eight years, 300 a year in murderers. They're losing that a day in New York. He's not going to avoid these facts. It is him who is connected to what

just happened with coronavirus. He can't escape it. We're headed toward 100,000 people dead, an unprecedented crisis, and he's rage-tweeting about the never-Trump Republicans. I mean, so what Scott said is absolutely correct. It's like every day he's showing us exactly why he should not be reelected. And the fact that Hillary Clinton wasn't even all that great of a candidate and still gets three million more votes than he did would tell you

all you needed to know. I mean, Biden is not going to have that problem. He's not going to have the Pennsylvania problem. He's not going to have a Wisconsin-Michigan problem. All he has to do, really, my view is stay upright. And not only do I think the presidency is gonna be won by the Democrats, but I think they're gonna get the Senate. Because there's three seats that are looking shakier and shakier. And when you got your top of the ticket being an idiot on a daily basis

and reminding everybody why they shouldn't be elected, that typically filters down into places like Colorado and Maine and I just think... Arizona....and think North Carolina and I think they're going to lose the Senate over there because this isn't going to change anytime soon. Democrats pick up four seats. They take over control of the United States Senate. We'll certainly see what happens. All right, folks, you've seen this story. Roughly two inch long insect known as the murder hornet has made his way to the United States for the first time

ever. As we don't have enough to worry about. Just the nickname of the Asian giant hornet has made his way to the United States for the first time ever. As if we don't have enough to worry about. Just the nickname of the Asian giant hornet is enough to make you panic. Well, exactly what should we do? Entomologist Dr. Samuel Ramsey joins us right now. All right, doc, should we be worried about this damn murder bug? Well, that actually depends on who you are

and what you like to do for a living. Okay. So everyday human beings probably don't need to be worried about what we're calling the murder hornets. And it's the Asian giant hornet. But now that they've gotten this publicity around the name murder hornet, it's all that anyone can talk about. They're typically found out in forested areas. And so if you happen to be a hiker who enjoys hiking in forested regions, there might be something for you to look out there. And if you're a beekeeper, so beekeepers would have some concerns if these bees want to make it to their area of the country.

Nah, I ain't keeping no damn bees. So I'm a golfer. You might want to think about it. Okay, I'm a golfer. I'm outdoors. So is that an issue? Is that an issue? Is that an issue? So first of all, the first thing that needs to be said about this is that we have only found the murder hornets in one state in the United States

and only a few colonies. Where was that? Where was that? Washington State. So it's an invasive species. Hold on, don't worry about it. Not many black people there. I'm sorry, go ahead. I'm messing with you. I'm messing with you. Go ahead. It's an invasive species.

And so since it's from Asia, right now we are watching the spread of this organism. We're hoping that we'll be able to slow the spread of this creature. And what a lot of people have been asking me is, well, what exactly would speed up the spread? Like, what would make it spread more? And it's if people move things around like this is an organism that sometimes nests in potting material, in mulch, in siding, in things around houses. Sorry, in forested areas and ornamental plants. Those sorts of things around, they can be a problem. But that's not going to happen very much in the COVID-19 era, because right now, we're supposed to be indoors. How do we kill it?

How do we kill it? So right now, a lot of individuals who are trying to get rid of these creatures are killing them with pesticides. There are targeted pesticides that can kill wasps, hornets. But right now, the best thing that you could do would be to simply, if you were to actually encounter a hornet nest in the wild, stay away.

Don't be a hero. We don't need anybody to be a hero in this context. In the COVID-19 era, we are telling everybody that you can be a hero by staying home. In the murder hornet era, please don't try to be a hero by thinking you can kill these creatures. Their nests can have hundreds of hornets in them. Their stings can be very painful, can cause necrosis, multiple organ failure if you get enough stings.

We do not have time for anybody to be trying to play games with these creatures. But as I've stated before, they are currently only in Washington state. And we hope that we'll be able to contain the spread of these organisms and at least slow it down so that they won't be found in most states in the U.S. Well, I'm going to tell you right now, I ain't doing no damn camping. I ain't doing hiking. So that, I mean, all that, I'm just letting you know. So, I mean. Rolling.

Rolling. Like, this is about equality, sir. Like, black people as hikers. Walk your ass on. Walk your ass on. Look, my wife like hiking. You know what I tell her? Enjoy yourself.

Damn that, man. I'm going to play golf, okay? That's where I'm going to be. You know what? Well, you know what I would love to see? I would love to see more black beekeepers. So I'm going to be. You know what? Well, you know what I would love to see? I would love to see more black beekeepers. So I'm a beekeeper. My father has recently taken up beekeeping.

For what? These are very lucrative, great for the economy. And so we would love to see more black beekeepers, but I don't think the whole murder hornet situation is going to help much with that. No, hell no. First of all, with black people, the moment you say bee, we ain't messing with Bs.

Huh. Come on now. You know the all wrong way. When a B come by somebody black, they lose their mind. This is true. Thank you. So right there. So we ain't even getting to the keeper part.

We stuck on the B part. Consider for a moment. consider for a moment, this is an element of the economy that we would, we're not a part of at the moment. Right now, $18.2 billion a year come in through the pollination of honeybees. Without them, we wouldn't have a good three quarters of the fruits and vegetables we eat on a regular basis.

They're an incredibly lucrative organism. All you need is a bee suit and you never have to worry about being stung. So at this point, I think that it's a shame that when I go out and give presentations to bee keepers, I'm the only brown person in the room almost every place I go. All right, black people, all y'all who are on YouTube and Facebook and Periscope watching right now. If y'all want to go mess with some bees, y'all call Dr. Samuel Ramsey. So, Doc, why don't you go ahead and tell them how they can contact you if they want to run around and play with some bees?

Absolutely. If you want to run around and play with some bees, you can find me on Instagram at sammy.david. I can give you information there. You can find me on Facebook, search Samuel Ramsey. I am the brown one, leaning on a bee colony. And if you are interested in honeybees, remember that they are a fascinating organism and they are essential to the environment. And so us making sure that we preserve them is us making sure that we preserve our planet and our way of life. We

wouldn't have so many amazing fruits and vegetables that we consume on a regular basis and the meat that we eat on a regular basis because many of those animals are fed pollinated plants. So, Roland, if you like food, you like beef, sir. That's cool, but I ain't got to be a beekeeper. Tamika Coleman on YouTube

said my daughter wanted to be a beekeeper so it's not all blacks, Roland. Tamika, that's great. You can call Sammy. Y'all can work that whole thing out. Thank you, Tamika. Look, here's the deal. I ain't got to do what everybody else do. I can enjoy the fruits of y'all labor. So y'all go ahead and be the black bee

and go and get some honey and knock yourselves out. Dr. Sammy Ramsey, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Glad to be here. Thanks, Roland. All right, folks, real quick break. When we come back, we're going to talk to NFL player Eric Reid, his attorney, about their fight against the players' union

when it comes to benefits for fellow players. You're watching Roland Martin Unfiltered. Back in a moment. You want to support Roland Martin Unfiltered? Be sure to join our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar that you give to us supports our daily digital show. There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real.

As Roland Martin Unfiltered, support the Roland Martin Unfiltered daily digital show by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing 50 bucks each for the whole year. You can make this possible. RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Last month, the National Football League Players Association ratified a new collective bargaining agreement with the NFL. The agreement will run through the 2030 season and provide players and owners labor peace

during an uncertain time for the country. The players' vote was close with 1,119 players, 51.5% voting in favor and 959, 48.5% voting against. Also, I understand some 500 players didn't even vote. What the hell were they thinking? But a win is a win. A majority by one vote would have had the same impact, of course, as unanimous vote in their favor.

Then the 456-page deal was passed. But did the players vote on the right deal? Joining me now is Eric Reid, who's a free agent, and his attorney, Ben Masalis. Is that correct? Masalis, is that it? That's it, Masalis. Masalis, Masalis.

All right. Glad to have both of you here. Eric, I want to start with you. You've been quite vocal with your comments on social media, talking about this deal. I've seen accounts by the wives of NFL players, former players who say that they're going to be hurt by this and they're freaking out because they are the caregivers.

And so what has been your main objection to this deal? Well, initially, I got a random email saying that I needed to vote on the deal. No heads up at all. And I had no clue what I was voting on. So I asked Ben to review it for me because I'm not a lawyer and it's a contract, 546 pages. And through his revision and his review,

he found a litany of issues that he thought would impact players, one being the change to disability payments. And then after the vote happened, Ben recognized that there was a change to language that we had voted on. And so, but even when it came to that language, what I keep hearing from these wives is they felt that this deal gives short shrift to these players, and many of them dealing with some serious medical issues.

As a result, they're playing days in the NFL. Yeah, and so one of the biggest problems are that these guys signed total and permanent disability agreements to receive their health benefits. Now, this means that they can never work because of their disabilities. The contracts that they signed to receive these benefits were for life. And now the NFL and the NFLPA are going back and retroactively changing that language and saying that it is no longer for life, among other things which Ben can speak to more in depth.

Ben, go ahead. Jump in. Yeah. I mean, look, one of the most important things of any union is not just to protect your most powerful members, but to protect your most vulnerable members. And one of the most shocking things is that all aspects, the quote-unquote tradeoff they made, was drastically reducing disability benefits, and reducing disability benefits from a $250,000 a year cap to $48,000, to applying offsets to players who are guaranteed certain disability

benefits for life that drastically would reduce their monthly payments that they were promised, and also mischievously changing the definition of the very word disability. Normally it was based on what the Social Security Department claimed. If you were disabled by the government, that was good enough for the NFL and the NFLPA. Now the criteria is going to be made by the disability plan whether or not you're disabled. And we've heard from players, people who can't even walk down the block when you didn't have the Social Security qualifier would be claimed to be perfectly fine and not disabled. And we've heard from players, people who can't even walk down the block when you didn't have the Social Security qualifier would be claimed to be perfectly fine and not disabled.

So the Social Security qualifier was critical. And so really, you've thrown these disabled players completely under the bus. You've called them a tradeoff. And the NFL has built their league in billions of dollars off the backs of these players from the 80s and 90s. And so NFL has built their league and billions of dollars off the backs of these players from the 80s and 90s. And so we sent our legal letter. You know, Eric Holt held these incredible town halls that he can speak to where the wives spoke. And fortunately, the NFLPA has recognized this week they said we will be reevaluating the situation because I think they've recognized they've made a mistake. And that's because of the great advocacy of Eric Greene.

So where do we stand now? So we say it was ratified, but they also said that, yeah, that was an alteration. Eric, you said revote, correct? Yeah, look, I follow the advice of my lawyer, Ben. And it doesn't take, I'm not a lawyer, but it seems disingenuous for there to be a vote to take place and then for the language that we voted on to be altered after the fact. It doesn't seem right. It doesn't seem legal. And according to Ben, it's not legal. So something needs to be done about it, whether we revote or nullify the CBAs.

Something has to be done here. Ben, is it going to happen? Is it a long shot? You know, the good news is, as I've said, it's a step in the right direction. Initially, reflexively, the NFL, PA and NFL, you know, criticized Eric. But kind of once again, Eric is right. And they recognize that they've made the mistake. So as I said, it's a step in the right direction that the president of the PA said we will be reviewing and reevaluating the decisions we've made with disabled players. That came out as recent as early this week. But as I've said in interviews, those are just words. And we've heard idle words from the union over and over again. And I've made it very clear.

We will be bringing a legal action if those are just words. If they want to do the right thing, they want to help permanently disabled players, they want to restore the benefits that these retired disabled players were promised, I'm not going to file an unnecessary legal action. But if it's just idle words and a PR stunt and they say, hey, we're going to reevaluate and do nothing, of course, we're going to sue them. I don't think it's a long shot. Hey, when you change a contract and you change a comma or a period in contracts in the law that I do, you have to flag that and say, hey, I'm making an alteration.

When you make a change that reduces disability benefits for 400 players and you claim that to be non-substantive, I've never heard of that before in my life, yet alone where the impact is so substantial, which is precisely what they did. So is it a long shot? No, I think it's logical. I think it's legal. And I think that's why the PA has recognized it.

And I think we all have to thank Eric Reid for bringing this to the attention and bringing it to the forefront again. Questions from our panel here. First, I want to go to Scott Bolden. Scott? Hey, you all. Scott Bolden here. Hey, Ben, you and I both know edits or corrections for typos happen all the time in contractual negotiations when there's a final product. But this is a really huge and important issue because there are more offsets for players who filed before 2015 than after 2015. And so it ought to be pretty simple and direct to show that

there were substantive changes. The real question is, do you go to the NLRB that historically will take forever to change this, or do you just go to federal court and seek a temporary restraining order or a permanent injunction? That's a great, it's, I mean, it's not only a good question, it's a great question. And frankly, it's a debate that you have, right? You'd love for the NLRB to do the right thing here, but I'm with you that, you know, it would take forever. Here's what we know. By 2021, the impact, you know, the thing takes effect, the changes take effect. So it would not necessarily be a preliminary emergency injunction, especially given court closures, given COVID, but it would certainly be injunctive relief. And as we got closer to that 2021, the necessity for an emergency,

based on my analysis, would seem to be triggered. So it will get to an emergency position soon. So I think it looks more and more like a TRO. And I think it's framed very simply, which is what you discussed. You made a dramatic change that impacted the lives of hundreds of people and reduced their disability. You want to claim it's non-substantive? I think any logical reading would be it is substantive. Judge, make a decision and restore these benefits and excise that provision. But the other thing is, what's interesting about this case, Roland, is that the NFL and NFLPA, neither one of them want to go back and do this. And they probably got their own reasons.

And so we ought to watch this case. Yeah, $12 billion. Right. That's why. Lauren Victoria Burke, your question for Ben and Eric Reid. Yeah, Ben and Eric, how you doing? I was going to ask a question like that. Why would this change have been made in the first place?

It would be my guess that there wouldn't be that many people involved in terms of these types of benefits. But Roland sort of just answered the question with regard to money. But I'm wondering, does anyone have any clue about why this change was made or when it came up? And Eric, on a personal note, I really enjoy your Instagram, particularly your last photo nine hours ago. But does anybody have any idea why this came up? Yeah, I think as the science has evolved, it's become clear that essentially 100 percent of retired players will be retired disabled players and many of them will be permanently disabled players. So I think the owners and the PA looking at these issues, especially in light of the concussion cases, see this as an area that could be potentially

very expensive for them and contribute to their profits. So that's why you've had this push to have this incredibly long CBA, you know, 10 years and to lock in caps, because I think they realize that the science is going to show that if you have hundreds of thousands of players claiming disability, potentially for $250,000 a year for life, which was promised, that they think that's going to cut into profits. Regarding the very specific change that was made, the NFLPA's position was, you all should have realized, even though we made a mistake and didn't include the disability aspects for players before January 1, 2015,

come on, you should have realized that the intent of it was, since we were stripping benefits anyway, everybody should have known that we were stripping benefits of all players because it would be incongruous for us to take benefits away just from post-January 1, 2015, if we didn't take pre-January 2015. And frankly, I think that's a ridiculous legal argument to be made. But I think that's the bigger picture argument and the micro argument to answer both of your questions. Go ahead.

Thank you. Yeah, Eric, my question, Joseph here, just my question for you specifically, you know, I think it's well documented kind of the malfeasance of the NFL. We talk about, you know, I mean, this is a league that you can sign a multimillion dollar contract on Monday. They can get tired of you on a Tuesday and kick you out the door penniless on a Wednesday. So I think that that is obviously, you know, this has been the case my entire life, certainly your entire career. But, you know, I think my question, I mean, is more how do we keep getting here?

I mean, specifically when it comes to the NFL Players Association Union, and forgive me for maybe putting you on the spot, but, you know, this is obviously the most violent sport on the planet. We're talking about a multibillion dollar multinational organization. You know, how is it that it seems to me that we keep finding ourselves in a situation where, you know, for one reason or another, the union hasn't found a way to protect its most vulnerable members? I think that's exactly it. It boils down to union leadership. DeMore Smith was in charge of negotiation on the last CBA, which people say was the historically worst CBA in the history of sports. And we're right back here again with this CBA.

It boils down to union leadership. Now, Joseph, go ahead. No, I mean, I think to that point, I mean, again, to me, how do you change that? Right. Because I think to me, you know, I think whether you're talking about a neighborhood or whether you're talking about a family that is that fraternity of the NFL, you know, at some point, I know you're not the only person who feels this way, right? And so at some point, how do you get to a point where you can galvanize, you know, enough people to say that, you know, we're not going to be treated, you know, basically as, you know, at-will employees by a multi-billion dollar organization? I mean, even back to the contracts, not to harp on it, but I mean, if you are planning a wedding right now, I mean, there are catering halls right now that won't return deposits for people who are trying to

plan weddings. And we have people who are trying to plan weddings. And we have people who are going to be permanently disabled, and they can't even get their just pay and their just due. So, you know, to me, again, I don't know if you have the answer, but, I mean, maybe somebody has the answer. How do we get enough players to realize that things are bad enough, that they need to not only take care of themselves, but also take care of future generations of NFL players? Well, the answer is the same. It's union leadership. And with regards to the CBA, again, there was no announcement saying, hey, you guys,

we're going to vote on the CBA next week. I happened to check my email on a Tuesday and saw that there was a vote on the CBA. Had my phone been broken, had I just chosen not to check my email that day, I would have never known. And that may have been the case with the 500 players that didn't vote. Maybe they just didn't check their email for a week. We don't know. And here's an incredible thing, too.

The executive committee who's responsible for voting on whether or not to pass it to the broader vote, the executive committee voted no on the CBA by a vote of seven to four. And regardless of the executive committee's vote no, it was still sent to the larger body to vote. And this wasn't a CBA year. 2021 was the CBA year. So a lot of players were frankly surprised that they had 10 days in the middle of a pandemic to have to sift through not only a 456-page document, but it references disability plans that are also hundreds of pages.

So you're really talking about 1,000 pages or so in about 10 days where the executive committee that was supposed to be the first line of protection voted no against this. And so what Eric and I have been doing is we've been battling, you know, on the legal front, but we've also been battling by holding these town halls as we've both been quarantined at home by bringing the wives of players and having wives of disabled players talk to us on a town hall style interview so that the executive committee and current players can say, wait a minute. And their wives can say, wait a minute, you know, that's going to be me one day, you know, and, and that's, that's real life. And if I'm not going to be covered that I should look out for myself in addition to these players. So it's a multifaceted approach that we have, but ultimately it is to protect the most vulnerable players in the sport

who are disabled. And that's the most important thing to harp on over and over again. And that's who we want to protect. And time and time again, Eric Reid, who's on your program right now, has been proven right for standing on the right side of history. And he's going to be proven yet again to be doing that here. Eric, with your constant focus on this, whether we talk about on social media, raising these questions, bringing Ben in, have you heard from players who did vote yes, who said, dude, if I knew all this stuff,

there's no way I would have voted yes? So I've heard from one player in particular, Lorenzo Alexander, who sits on that executive committee who voted. Well, actually, I don't know what he voted, but he's on the committee that voted no. He acknowledged that this was a mistake. He said that in an interview. But I've heard more so from players who are going to be affected by this.

Former teammates of mine, one who suffered a neck injury and is disabled, he didn't even know about this. He had no idea until I called him. So who actually voted? First of all, before you finish that, who voted? Was it current players? That the only ones who could vote?

Yes, you're correct. So current players are the only one with a voting power. The disabled players who are affected by this had no vote, had no say in it. Wow. Wow. That's so. But I would think that, again, to your point, and it is quite interesting that email gets goes out and you only have 10 days to vote. Yeah, that's all.

Then you said it was supposed to be in 2021. Why was it 2020? It's a good question. And Lorenzo Alexander, he was asked that question in an interview, and he said the owners presented him, because whenever the owners give you an offer, you should listen, because it's probably going to be a good offer. Now, I've never heard of this style of negotiating before, of taking the very first offer you're given and believing that the owners are going to give you the very best.

And that's why they're rushing a vote to you. So that's the explanation. Right. I mean, I remember I remember reading that. It was like, well, this is the best we're going to get. And I'm going, the first one is the best you're going to get? Yeah, it makes no sense. And it was set to expire in 2021. And, you know, with social media, players have such a profound platform right now to directly interact with constituents and to let them know the issues of where they're being taken advantage by ownership, and to

really rally support like never before. And none of that was used. I mean, it was literally out of nowhere, boom, 456 page document, incredibly complex, legally dense, tons of text, vote, you got 10 days, go. In fact, some of the players after Eric put out his memo pointing out the critiques wanted to change their vote. And then the NFLPA said you couldn't change your vote. They claim that it passed by 60 votes. Although, you know, I think that's that could be determined as well. You know, I mean, we have to take them at their word on that as well. But we'll see.

I mean, look, as I told you, I think it's a step in the right direction that they've at least acknowledged. Yet again, Eric is right. But as of now, it's just words. All right, then. Final question for you, Eric. I know you're a free agent. Do you expect to be on the team by the beginning of the fall season? Well, I hope so. Thus far,

I haven't received any offers, but I'm still training and waiting for a phone call. I want to be clear, too. Eric said two franchise records last year. If you look at his pound-for-pound stats, he's literally at the top of the game right now. Right. That's why it was sort of confusing that you would have a great season like that,

but then wouldn't get a phone call. Then again, we are talking about the NFL, where scrub quarterbacks can get huge contracts, yet Colin Kaepernick is still sitting at home. Ben, Eric Reid, gentlemen, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Alright then, folks, earlier we were talking about, of course, the case out of Georgia dealing with Mr. Arbery

who was shot and killed by two white men. I told you that Lee Merritt represents the mother of Mr. Arbery. Ben Crump represents the father. Ben Crump joins us right... Is he there? Okay. Is... Was he on the line? I see it. We're gonna go to him. Okay. Get him on the line.

So what we'll do, we're gonna go to a break, get Ben Crump on the phone. We'll come back, have a conversation with Ben Crump. Uh, and then also, back half of this show, we'll talk to comedian Lou Nell, as well as our tech segment. All of that coming up right here on Roland Martin Unfiltered. Want to support Roland Martin Unfiltered?

Be sure to join our Bring the Funk fan club. Every dollar that you give to us supports our daily digital show. There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real. As Roland Martin Unfiltered, support the Roland Martin Unfiltered daily digital show. There's only one daily digital show out here that keeps it black and keep it real as Roland Martin Unfiltered. Support the Roland Martin Unfiltered daily digital show by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing 50 bucks each for the whole year. You can make this possible. RolandMartinUnfiltered.com.

All right, so a lot of y'all always asking me about some of the pocket squares that I wear. Now, I don't know, Robby don't have one on. Now, I don't particularly like the white pocket squares. I don't like even the silk ones. And so, I was reading GQ magazine a number of years ago and I saw this guy who had this pocket square here and it looks like a flower. This is called a shibori pocket square.

This is how the Japanese manipulate the fabric to create this sort of flower effect. So I'm going to take it out and then place it in my hand so you see what it looks like. And I said, man, this is pretty cool. And so I tracked down, it took me a year to find a company that did it. And so they did these about 47 different colors. And so I love them because, again, as men, we don't have many accessories to wear, so we don't have many options. And so this is really a pretty cool pocket screen.

And what I love about this here is you saw when it's in the pocket, it gives you that flower effect like that. But if I wanted to also, unlike other, because if I flip it and turn it over, it actually gives me a different type of texture, and so therefore it gives me a different look. So there you go.

So if you actually want to get one of these Shibori pocket squares, we have them in 47 different colors, all you got to do is go to rollinglessmartin.com forward slash pocket squares. So it's rollinglessmartin.com forward slash pocket squares. All you got to do is go to my website uh and you can actually get this now for those of you who are members of our bring the funk fan club there's a discount for you to get our pocket squares that's why you also got to be a part of our bring the funk fan club uh and so that's what we want you to do and so it's pretty cool so if you want to

jazz your look up you can do that in addition uh y'all see me with some of the feather pocket squares my sister was a designer she actually makes these they're all custom made so when you also go to the website you can also order one of the customized uh feather pocket squares uh right there at rollingnessmartin.com forward slash pocket squares so please do so and of course uh it goes to support the show and again if you're a bring the funk fan club member you get a discount this is why you should join the fan club. All right, folks, joining us right now is attorney Ben Crump, who represents the father of the black man shot and killed in February. Ben, glad to have you back on the show.

Hey, thank you so much, Roland, always. We talked about this thing earlier. And again, the explanation being offered by these DAs makes no sense. Frankly, they are only moving. They're only taking into this action because that video got leaked. Absolutely, Roland. And you have to remember, Greg McMichaels, the father and this father-son duo who executed this young black man who was only jogging in broad daylight, was a detective for the district attorney in that district for 30 years. So you know he had a lot of relationships with the local law enforcement community, and I don't think they ever intended to arrest this gentleman until that video came out. And so in terms of what's next, now we have the Georgia Bureau of Investigation say they're launching an investigation. The DA said they're going to take it to the grand jury,

but you can't impale the grand jury until June. And so now you have other people who are calling for the feds to step in. Absolutely. And, Roland, we reject that excuse that they can't arrest anybody until June 12th. You know, when you think about what they consider essential services in Georgia, like tattoo parlors, alcohol bars, and bowling alleys, why isn't it essential that we get justice for the execution of an unarmed young black man who was simply jogging in his

t-shirt and shorts, no burglary weapons, no burglary masks, any of that crap? Why can't we get justice for him? And there is enough probable cause in that video that we see with our own eyes to make an arrest. Black people are arrested all over Georgia

with far little than that video. Questions from our panel. First, Scott Bolden. Hey, Ben. Scott Bolden here. Hope you're safe and sound. Glad you're on the case. Let me ask you this.

Is the judicial system or the grand jury system there, are they impaneled or at least available to be impaneled? Because you're right, Georgia is one of those states that's open and trying to be open. And here in D.C., you know, you have speedy trial requirements, you have grand jury requirements. The justice system can move when it wants to move. Would a panel be available? Could the justice system or the prosecutors move quickly to do that before June 12th? Scott, it's always good to hear you and your legal acumen. And you're absolutely right.

It's a matter of will. This is an executive order by the governor of Georgia, who, based on his executive order, opened everything else back up. So if he wanted to, they could have this grand jury impounded and respect social distancing. It's just a matter of will. And I always believe, it's like Dr. King said, justice delayed, justice denied. They're hoping that we will forget about it, Scott. But they could go out and arrest him right now. I mean, the DA could authorize the police to arrest him, hold a bail hearing, and put him in the grand jury later. It happens all the time all around this country.

There should be no delay here. Absolutely. And the Georgia Bureau of Investigations can do it. In fact, we expect them to do it and not wait on June 12th because they are supposed to be operating completely independent, completely divorced, they said, of anything that the local authorities have done. So if that is indeed the case and they watch this video with their police power, Roland and Scott, they can go arrest these murderers, this deadly father and son duo right now. Joseph. Brother Krupp, thank you so much for joining us. Obviously, you know, it's bittersweet because obviously you're a tireless advocate for justice, and yet at the same time, I feel like, you know,

every time we encounter something, how horrific. And so I think, you know, to like, you know, every time we encounter something horrific. And so I think, you know, to me, you know, how can we focus on getting the average person to understand kind of what our colleagues have been iterating, you know, talking about all day, which is that, you know, people are being arrested every day for foolishness, even in the midst of this corona crisis, right? And that people have arrest warrants issued, you know, for parking tickets. So, you know, just trying to talk about that in a way that people at home can understand that, you know, there is absolutely, positively

no excuse for the fact that these people have not been brought to justice or that at least not in the queue for justice to occur. Exactly, Joseph. Two things. Number one, as I articulated in my book, Open Season, the legalized genocide of colored people, over and over again, they if the shoe was on the other foot and it was him and Ahmaud in a pickup truck with a shotgun and a.357 Magnum chasing a young white man jogging in the neighborhood and they kill him, they would have been arrested that day.

There is nothing that can convince him that they would not have been arrested. And so Mr. Marcus says it's just not fair that Greg McMichaels gets to enjoy his son and his presence while on Friday, which would have been Ahmad's 26th birthday, he can't enjoy the presence of his son on this earth. So it's just disingenuous what they're saying, why they can't go make an arrest. Hopefully our people won't keep falling for the banana in the tailpipe. When they want to arrest people, they arrest them. They don't want to arrest these guys.

Lawn Victoria Burke. Hey, Ben, this is Lauren. My only question for you, and thank you for all your great work, is when are you filing the civil lawsuit? I mean, I trust nobody down there. I don't think any justice is going to be done. So I'm just wondering, when do you file the civil lawsuit? Do you wait until these people do their typical dance or do you do it now? You know, unfortunately, even though we can file a civil lawsuit, we've looked at assets. They have hardly anything. The real push, and we don't mind

bankrupting them, Lauren, but the real push is to make sure that they are held accountable, that they are in prison for the execution of this young man. And so if we don't get them to go forward with charges, we will certainly file a lawsuit, as Scott knows, to be able to get discovery to help bolster our position and gather evidence that otherwise we probably couldn't get to say, you have this ground to arrest him and you have this ground to arrest him and you have this ground to arrest him and you have this ground. You know, Roland, we believe, as we observed that video, that was a single pump shotgun. And we believe that each time he shot that gun, he literally had to pump the gun. And we believe each time he shot that gun should be another charge for murder because we think this case

reaps of malice of forethought. When you get in a truck with a shotgun and a.357, that's what they use to take elephants down when they escape the zoo. They're a shotgun. So to have that shotgun and say, I'm going to encounter this young black man, we think you had

evil intentions from the beginning. All right. All right. Ben Cronk, we certainly appreciate it, sir, and we'll keep following this story. Thank you so much, Roland Martin. Thanks a bunch. Also want to thank Scott Bolden, Joseph Pignon, Long Victoria Burke being on today's panel. Folks, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

Thank you. All right. Thank you, Roland. All right, folks. Every week we feature a tech segment on the show designed to keep you up to date on the newest, most cutting-edge technology being developed by African-Americans. Today, we're looking at Vyre Network with its president, Lamar Say. Lamar, how you doing? I'm good, I'm good. How you doing, sir? Doing great.

Thank you for pronouncing the name right, too. So, first off, explain to folks, what exactly is Vyre Network? What is it? Vyre is a distribution outlet similar to a Hulu or Netflix where we distribute everything from shorts and features to documentaries, TV shows. We also do livestream events, concerts, and things like that, and also music videos. So we're in over 107 countries right now.

We're available on all major outlets from Roku to Apple TV to Android, iPhone, and so on. And so we talk about the content, what type of content we're talking about. And you talk about like Netflix, but is this a monthly cost or is it free and open? No monthly cost. It's free. Everything is free. So we're ad-based. You'll watch a 30-second commercial before each piece of content. And yeah, that's pretty much how it's set up. We have, in addition to the films and movies, we also have about 10 or 11 channels,

which range from hip-hop based to food to travel, family, kids, and so on. Obviously, OTT networks are really growing across the country. People are gravitating towards them. Cord cutting is significant as well. And so when did you get the idea to launch Vyre? About two years ago, my partner and I came up with the idea. We've been in music and entertainment for a long time. But about two years ago, we seen everything going over to streaming. And, you know, it was just time.

It was time to get into the new market. So, you know, once things start to change in any industry, there always has to be companies that take that leap, you know, into the next stage. So we wanted to be there. And so you launched it. And how has your growth been? How many subs do you now have? Actually, we're in over about 107 countries right now. We're heavy in China. We're real heavy in China for some reason.

We're launching divisions in India, UK, Australia, and South America, which will have their own channel to have their own curated content out of there. So it's own films, it's own shows, and so on. So yeah, we're expanding pretty quickly. So you talked about obviously being in those countries and being open access. In terms of what is the viewership like? What have your numbers been like since you launched?

Well, we just officially launched in November. We just went live, so we're just over 50,000 downloads. Mm-hmm. And so now we say 50,000 downloads. They're not downloading the show. That's downloads of your app. That's downloads of the app, yeah. Okay, okay.

Got it. Yeah. And so now that's the downloading of the app, yeah. Okay, okay, got it. Yeah. And so, now that's the downloading of the app, but then also you're still able to see these, but also when you're on Roku or Apple TV, you're still downloading the app there as well. Yeah, exactly, yes. Okay, okay.

And you can also watch on the web as well. If you go to watchvire.com, you can view everything through there as well. You said vire.com? Watchvire.com. Yeah, watchvire.com. You said Vyre.com? WatchVyre.com. Yeah, WatchVyre.com. Okay, WatchVyre.com. One of the things we talk about OTT networks that people don't understand is that you are, you know, when we watch it on YouTube or Periscope or Facebook or Instagram, those companies are bearing the brunt of those viewership costs. And so when you talk

about OTT, really you are in terms of people who are actually watching that. That's something I think a lot of people don't quite understand about OTT. They just think, oh, I just do OTT. It's like, yeah, but like that broadband one is consuming has to be paid for somewhere. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And we have a very good company that we partner with as far as our broadband. So we've never had any issues with that. What's the name of the company?

Is it Black-owned? The company we go through? You know what? I don't know if the owner is Black or not. I'm not sure. But now I will probably look that up now that you brought that to my attention. Okay. The only reason I'm asking is on Friday I'm going to have a guy on the show who has

actually an ad program that when African American, I talked to him last week, that when you press pause, in a matter of seconds, folks are competing to what video to show you when it's paused. And so he saw some of my videos

where I was talking about technology, the whole Teddy Riley, Babyface deal, and some of the other videos. And so he hit me up. And so we're going to have him on the show Friday because we're going to test it. Actually, let's do a test next week. Test what that's like, that particular program.

Oh, that sounds great. I'd love to check it out too. That sounds like something innovative. I'm open to, and particular program. Oh, that sounds great. I'd love to check it out, too. That sounds like something innovative. I'm open to, and us as a company, we're open to anything that's innovative and next level. There's always got to be somebody to do it.

So that's cool. I'd like to know more. And last question for you. Do you think that you're seeing, are you encountering more of us operating in these spaces, looking at how court cutting has gone? I mean, look, you've got folks out there, obviously, black folks have done content, but it's a whole different deal to say I'm a content person versus someone who say, no, now I want to actually operate my own channel, operate my own network. When you say dealing in this space, you mean as far as the owner?

Yeah, from an ownership standpoint, yes. Not really. Not really, which is sad. I think it's very new for people, so a lot of people are still scared. Even in our position, people that we come across are still kind of skeptical. They don't know how, you know, how to get paid, how to, you know, build it out and things like that.

I've seen people get interested after they have a conversation with us or they might get inspired by somebody else in tech that's built a certain app. I think it's growing. We just have to get rid of the stigma that being in tech is

nerdy and it's not for black people and all that stuff. So it's very beneficial. All right, then, folks, here we go to my iPad, please. And so, again, folks, the web base is WatchVyre, W-A-T-C-H-V-Y-R-E.com. And you can actually, you see the promotional there. You can also, again, download the app via V-Y-R-E network as well. Lamar, I certainly appreciate it, man. Thanks a lot. Yeah, thank you.

Thank you for having me. Have a good one. All right, then. Folks, got to go to a quick break when we come back. Have some fun with comedian Lou Nail right here on Wilder Not Wednesday on Roller Martin Unfiltered. You want to support Roll Roland Martin Unfiltered Daily Digital Show by going to RolandMartinUnfiltered.com. Our goal is to get 20,000 of our fans contributing 50 bucks each for the whole year. You can make this possible. RolandMartinUnfiltered.com.

Alright, folks. As always, need to have a little fun, a little laughter, and there's nobody who is more hilarious and more ignorant than my next guest. That is comedian Luenell. Luenell, what up? Hey, Roland. can you see me? Yes, I can see you.

And thanks for getting dressed, because last time, you know, when I had my News 1 Now show, your ass was all in the bed, butt naked, doing the show. Listen, I didn't get no complaints, did you? Well, luckily, first of all, y'all need to understand, we had news one night, it was 4 o'clock in the morning, and we were on, and so Lunell used to get up early to watch the show,

and so I told her, I said, well, now, you ain't got to get up early. It's the middle of the day for you in L.A. Well, I'm ready now. I have, it's very, very warm here in Los Angeles today. I must say there are some really good things that have come out of the quarantine for me. What's that? For example, I haven't had a bra on since March 16th.

Thank you, Jesus. And I also, you know, I feel like these guys, these gentlemen, are really finding out who the women are that they're married to. Now that these tracks done got loose and these nails done popped off and they're not getting dressed up every day no more, and they're not out fine dining. You got to figure out if your wife is a top ramen girl or a neck bone girl. Look, look.

Now you really finding out who you with right now. See, Lunell, you nailed it because there's a lot of people. There's a lot of people sitting here didn't think about that kind of stuff before. And so they figured, ah, we can always go out. We can always, now, you got to earn that thing. So I know some folk been sitting here going to YouTube and trying to watch videos.

Because, look, there's some people out there, men and women, hell, they can't even boil water. Well, you know, you can go to YouTube, and it's just like singing or acting. You can teach anybody how to cook, but you can't teach them how to cook. That's in them. You can teach anybody how to sing,

but you can't teach them how to sing. That's in them. Right. You can teach a person to sing, but you can't teach them how to sing. That's in them. Right. You can teach a person to be a comedian, but you can't teach them to be a great comedian. That's in them. So, you know, you might can get enough food out of somebody who's not a good cook to live,

but you'll be running back to Ruth Chris the minute the door's open. So, all this time at home, has there anything that's happened where you said, ooh, I am sick and tired of my husband? Yes, we only argue in the bed. Hold on, hold on.

Y'all argue in the bed? Yes, because he and I sleep like two wild animals. It's like Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin in the bed. You know, I'm flipping. I sleep at the bottom of the bed with my feet on the pillow. I come back up.

We have the fan on, the fan off, the covers on, the covers off. He's over here. I'm over there. My arm hurts. Move your arm hurts. So we do all that dance. But I know that there's a million women out there and men who are quarantining by themselves

who wish they had somebody like that to argue with because there's beauty in the bitching too. You know what I mean? You're married, Roman. You know. You guys sleep together. I'm sure that you're no picnic to sleep with every night. Hey, first of all, baby, I am a picnic to sleep with every single night.

Oh, you're a snack. You're a picnic and a snack, bro. No, no, no. I'm a full damn meal. So let's just be real clear. I ain't no snack. I ain't no snack. I'm going to have to take a sip of my girl's margarita.

But see, that's also why you get a big enough house there, you can go to another room. Praise God for my house. Because when I get tired of being in that room, I go in that room. When I get tired of being in that room, I go in that room. When I get tired of being in that room, I go in that room. I got to tell you, though, this quarantine is the most rest I've had in my 30-year career.

Right. Because when you're building a career, you got to go. You got to go. You don't even realize your back hurt or your knee hurt as you're going. I got to pack. I got to get on this plane. I got to be at this radio interview. Six o'clock in the morning, 10 o'clock at night.

You're just going, going, going, going, going. And if you're a person in demand, like I am, you don't get no two months to lay up because, you know, the Bible says, a man who does not work does not eat. And I love to eat and I don't mind working because I'm not digging no ditch. I'm not, you know, driving no strangers around. I'm not doing anything weird like that.

And I really enjoy my job. I think it's a shame that people didn't realize how much we need the audience. I don't care if you're Ellen, Wendy, or nobody. We need an audience. The laughter is what makes the show exciting, and I think all the shows have fell flat. I mean, everybody has fell flat since we don't have the audience.

They think they need us, but we really need them. Now, Lunell, this coronavirus thing has also exposed us to far more celebrities than we have ever seen. We got folk at the house.

They doing interviews. They doing cooking demonstrations. They doing make-up stuff. What have been some of the craziest stuff you've seen some of these entertainers out here have been doing? Well, me, I've done a lot of interviews from the bathtub. Video or audio? Video, baby.

What you think this is? Come on now, Roland. Why the hell are you doing interviews from the bathtub? Because if it's 7.30 in L.A. and it's 10.30 in New York and I have an interview, I'm usually in the bathtub. But I don't show no areola or nothing like that. Listen, my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard, hunty. I have not had no complaints about my bathtub interviews.

I've seen a lot of, you know, people are bored in the house and they're in the house bored. So that makes your creative juices flow. A lot of these people that are doing stuff on the internet now would have never thought to do this stuff and we were not confined at home.

You know? We talking about Luenell's areolas. Okay, all right then. Okay, gotcha. Now, I see your nails got did, that you do your own, because, you know, it's a bunch of women out there

losing their damn mind. You saw that woman, the nail shop owner in Dallas, threw her ass in jail for a week because she tore the order up. Then you had the mayor in Beaumont, Texas, who defied her own shelter-in-place order to go get her nails done.

Well, I have not had my nails done since March the 7th. I just have a badass nail tech. But I told the people on my YouTube show today, Hey Lou Nell, that I did right before you, you know, they have grown out. I haven't lost any stones. They're still beautiful. But I'm ready to let them go and let my nail beds breathe.

If I wanted to get my nails dead, I could, because my girl comes to the house. But I'm not a slave to my nails. I'm bad still whether I got nails, whether I got lashes, whether I got a bra on. I'm the same Lou Nail. So I'm going to be tonight starting the process of cutting these suckers off, cutting them down. And within the next week, people will see me with no nails. And I'm still going to be, you know, the original bad girl of comedy with or without my name. Well, that's no doubt there. And so

you talk about your YouTube show. When does it air? What time? And where? Well, if you follow me on Instagram at Lunell, L-U-E-N-E-L-L the link is in the bio. And if you don't

and you just have YouTube, you just go to HeyLunell, H-E-Y-L-U-E-N-E-L-L. And I just did my show live every Wednesday from 3 to 4 p.m. in L.A. time, Pacific Standard Time, 5 to 6 in Central Time, and 6 to 7 in the East Coast. And if you don't watch it live, no big deal. You can watch it on YouTube. Today we did the Cinco de Mayo, Seis de Mayo edition because I didn't have a show yesterday, so I had to celebrate my Latinos y Latinas today. I don't let a holiday go by.

We can tell. All right, Lunell, give everybody your Cash app. Oh, my God. Okay, my Cash app is dollar sign HeyLunell. H-E-Y-L-U-E-N-E-L-L. And I gotta tell you,

Roland, as sad as I am about Essence Festival being canceled this year, because my boyfriend, Bruno Mars and I, you know, he was supposed to be performing there. Right, right. I was supposed to be performing there, Janet. But one thing I can always look

forward to at Essence Festival is you, Roland, because what they don't know, if they don't know, they don't know that you're a dance, dance, dance, dance, dancing machine. Watch them get down. Oh, I'm a dance. Yeah. And I have the receipts to prove it. I got pictures, Roland.

Don't get snarky with me. I'll release our pictures. You can release them. This video of me dancing already on YouTube. That don't mean nothing. I ain't scared. I ain't scared. I ain't scared. We wasn't dancing. That's okay. See, y'all, right there.

That's that Margarita talking right now. All right, Lunell, always good to see you. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot. Thank you for being the voice of black America, Roland. You rock. I appreciate it, Lunell. Thanks for supporting.

You have a good one. Absolutely. Bye, everybody. All right, y'all. Cash App, Lunell. Thanks for supporting. You have a good one. Absolutely. Bye, everybody. All right, y'all. Cash App, dollar sign, HeyLunell, H-E-Y-L-U-E-N-E-L-L. Y'all, she ain't got no sense. All right, shout out to all the people

who joined our Bring the Funk fan club the last 24 hours who have given $50 or more. I told y'all you're going to get a personal shout out. Look, I'm real clear. I'm trying to get to 20,000 fans by the end of the year. Right now, we're sitting at about 5,800.

We got lots more work to do, but we got seven months to really get it done. And so joining me right now is, first of all, the folks, Alexandra Prentice, Andrea Smith, Avon, Blaine Dickinson, Constance Moore, Diva Empowered Magazine, Donna Brutus, Donna Frazier, Ebony Gully, Hope Bly, James Hollis, James Washington, Jamie Hooker,

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William Sanders, Xavier Samuels, and Zakiya Glass. All right, folks, don't forget. Again, if you want to support us at Roland Martin Unfiltered, all you got to do is you can give your cash app right here. Put it up, cash app, dollar sign RM Unfiltered, PayPal, paypal.me, forward slash RMartinUnfiltered. You can also give right there on YouTube on our YouTube channel. More than 3,000 of y'all

are watching today. Man, if all y'all support us, yo, we halfway to our goal. You, Facebook as well, y'all, this show, look, it's free. We don't charge you a subscription every single month. We don't have it behind a paywall. We want you to be able to access it, but we also need

your support to make this possible because, trust me, the cameras, the lights, these monitors, this set, give me a wide shot, Henry, all of this, our control room, our staff. Y'all, none of this stuff is free, but we want to be able to have, again, a platform that is showcasing African-Americans. Also, let me give a shout-out always,

give me a wide shot, Henry, to my man Leroy Campbell, the art piece you see down there, right there, of course, showing multiple generations of black folks voting. Leroy hooked us up with that, and so we certainly appreciate him doing so. Again, go to RolandMarkDunfieldture.com to support what we do.

We're here every single day, live, five days a week, 6 to 8 p.m. Eastern, doing something nobody else is doing. Why? Because we know we must control our voice, control our narrative, and we must always speak truth unapologetically. All right? We're going to see y'all guys tomorrow right here on Rolling Mountain Unfiltered.

Halt! We asked parents who adopted teens to share their journey. We just kind of knew from the beginning that we were family. They showcased a sense of love that I never had before. I mean, he's not only my parent, like, he's like my best friend. At the end of the day, it's all been worth it. I wouldn't change a thing about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen about our lives. Learn about adopting a teen from foster care. Visit AdoptUSKids.org to learn more. Brought to you by AdoptUSKids,

the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Ad Council. I'm Clayton English. I'm Greg Glott. And this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports. This kind of starts that a little bit, man. We met them at their homes. We met them at the recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to it. It makes it real.

It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs podcast season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes, but there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast.