The Adam Friedland Show (Cumtown) - The Lost Episodes: Don Lemon

Episode Date: July 29, 2026

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Hey guys, welcome back to the Adam Friedland show for the next four weeks. We will commence our lost episode series. This week we have Don Lemon. I think we did it last year. Is that right, Thomas? Probably around last year. I don't know why this was never posted. Oh, I think he got arrested afterwards and it was no longer relevant. I don't know. Guys, we have four big lost episodes coming up the next four weeks, followed by the season three premiere of the Adam Friedland show. Real quick, I'll be. on the road, Denver Comedy Works October 22nd and 24th, and New York, New York, New York, New York Comedy Festival, November 13th. A big ass motherfuckin' show. Guys, make sure you get tickets, Adam Friedland.com. Ladies and gentlemen, media icon Don Lemon, everybody. From Louisiana. From Mr. Thank you.

A nice hat. Thank you. You gave me your hat. Where did you get that? From you. I don't think you guys got to go out here and get the... Do you know what the website is? For what?

Lemon Party. Oh, no, it's for... Don Lemon.com. What do you know? Have you heard of the website? Have I heard of what? There's a website called Lambin Party. They talk about Lemon Party.

I've never... I don't know. I've never heard of Lemon Party. Have you never shown them? No. I mean, it's a loose show. I can... Is this a loose show?

Is this some, like, sexual? stuff. This was like a legendary website that like in high school you would like put into your friends like family computer. I mean it's it's a really it's like you've never heard of I assumed your family was never heard of it. Big lemon party. Lemon party isn't the most what is going I'm guys I'm very upset. Zachary I need help with the iPad. Can you help? Should I buy that website now? Don the fact that you don't know that I'm going to look it up. see if I can find it. You should look at it. It's, it's, I mean, can someone back me up here?

You guys are like not. Dude, it doesn't show, do you even have Wi-Fi in the studio? Yes, we do. And the password is s'-h-hound it. Well, yeah, Zach. This is, it was a website that just, yeah, can I see it? Yeah, yeah, on your phone. This is Don Lemmon.

It's a big deal. You can tell your mom. Are you big head? Which one of these is you? So it was a website that just showed this image. And it was a big prank growing up. Oh, my God. What is that?

What is that? Is Lemon Party, dude? Your family started this website. Is that three old dudes? Yeah, yeah. Oh, wow. It's really beautiful. I didn't know that thing.

They got down like that. Is that what you're into? No, it's a, guys, since fucking sixth grade, Lemon Party is like, it's the big joke. You text someone. One time I had chat Hank's on. And he was getting mad at me. That was my favorite interview with you.

Well, I did the second one where he got actually mad at me. And I mean, he's the best guy ever. But well, actually, you shouted it out, I saw. You showed love. That was my favorite interview with you. When I was starting my show, I looked at. You copied. Well, I looked to you for inspiration.

Honestly, yeah, because I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what the fuck I was doing. I had no idea what I was doing. And I, like, this is my aesthetic. Do you know what this is? This is a serend and two. knockoff. It's a knockoff. These are, we tried to match to the Dick Cavett Show and he used cheap knockoffs. So we unnecessarily spent $16,000 on four of these chairs. Did you know that I said that when I walked in? Who was your inspiration? Dick Cavett? It looks like the Dick Cavett. I don't even know that.

But I like these are like these are like, these are like, um, congratulations. And we all know these. These look like, uh, like it could be Noel. Like these were no. Yeah. These are Eames, uh, Eames lobby chairs from the Noel corporation that we unnecessarily spent for. $4,000 on each and they came from a courthouse in Pennsylvania. People probably went to the death penalty. You could have gotten these a knockoff at design within reach probably. No, but design within reach, not exactly within reach. You've been one percent for too long, my friend. So tell us about St. Bart's, how's your things? I have no idea what you're talking about. You got, who do you have? You have Katzenberg, you have Geffen, you have Sydney Sweeney. You had the guy that made Spider-Man.

Lauren Michaels. You had Lauren Michaels? Yeah, you've got every, you've got... Is you have an ambition to host a SNL? Jared Kushner. What's he like as a guy, Jared Kushner? I don't, I've never met Jared Kushner. I feel like there's just, there's, I can typically sense what a guy is like.

He feels so just like what... He's like from a video game, you walk past him and he's just on the street and he's like, He's like in, like, you know, he's just a, they call it an NPC. What are you, like, you're like 65 years old, but you look 23? I'm 85. No, I'm 50. I'm in my 50s. You're in your 50s.

Closing in. But you look incredible for 50s. Thank you. I looked a lot younger before Trump came to office. But to my knowledge, I've never met Jared Kushner. I've met Ivanka and all the other kids. She must be lovely. Yeah.

But Jared's brother, Josh, is amazing. He's a really good. real estate guy. He's a good dude. Yeah, yeah. He's married to the Carly, what's her face? Klaus. Klaus. Klaus. Klaus. Kind of a little, not a little bit. She's gorgeous. Yeah, but Klaus. It just sounds like someone that's sending you to the, to the train. We don't have to get, I get into Holocaust too early every episode. Anyway, I want to get into you because I think you're, I didn't know your backstory prior to, like, researching for this episode, but I think you have a really interesting kind of backstory. Like,

You're from the South and you kind of like you did kind of an anchorman bouncing around between affiliate stations kind of situation. And then you found yourself at the top, you know. The parallel that I thought of, like analyzing your career was like, like was Oprah Winfrey. Because she was like from the South. She worked in affiliate news stations and she kind of worked her way to the top of kind of media. I think it's one of the, who was it? Was she an inspiration for you?

Yeah, well, of course. She's the goat. She, you know, then she went the talk show route, but sort of traditional news, yes. I think it was one of the last, do you know what Ben Smith is, who's from Sunniport? Yeah. He said it had one of the last traditional sort of news careers

where people had to go to different markets and work their way up. Does the path not exist anymore? It does, but not to the same extent, because you could actually go, learn the craft before the internet make your mistakes and then by the time you got to a big market or network then you were honed and you could write you know how to do kids don't know how to write now you know you can start with this you don't have to go around and

learn and everyone thinks that they should be like a network correspondent or anchor immediately like within a year or so it's like no it doesn't it shouldn't work that way how bad were your mistakes you got someone the electric change or something? No, I mean, you know, you pronounce shit wrong, you get stuff wrong. Oh, have you been on a news blooper before? I'm sure I have. It's one of the funniest.

It's the best. I mean, what was their name? The officer that got killed? Shit. The famous one, the lady, the Megadudu. Oh, I know that one? No. What was their name?

D.D.Megu-D. A officer dead in the line of the line. dead in the line of duty. Dedey mega-doodoo. News bloopers are the absolute funniest thing on her. Yeah, I haven't been a news bloomer, but I have some pretty funny news moments. Well, yeah, once, once, it wasn't me. I was doing an interview, and the person was satellite and their chair, the air started going out of their chair, and so the chair just started going down while she was on. That was funny. And then I had funny moments because I didn't give a shit. So I had funny moments. There's a funny cheese cake moment.

What is it called? What's the Cheesecake Factory moment? And then there was a MAGA hat funny moment. I had a bunch of funny moments. What does that mean? Cheesecake MAGA hat? There was just a thing where we were talking about this, you know, a MAGA hat, this guy wearing a MAGA hat in the cheesecake factory,

someone brought it up and then everybody just sort of cracked up. That was on the news? Yeah, it was on the news. So this guy was just wearing a hat in a restaurant? Yeah. Sorry, I'm just, okay. It wasn't the guy. It wasn't the guy in the restaurant.

You have to watch it. Do you ever go to an affiliate station in a city you've never lived in before? Sure. You're like, these people are disgusting. No. Like when you were in Philly, you were like, oh, I have to cover these monsters. No, but I... You're like, I hate all this.

No, after a while, it got old, like, standing in front of, you know, a place where there was something was breaking, like, at 9 in the morning and it's 11 o'clock at night, and it's like, why are we here? It's like, you know, that got old. Or just, like, random shootings and stabbings. I just, like... What was your first kind of major lesson that you got along the way? Did you have a mentor, like someone that saw some potential in you growing up?

I never really had a mentor. I mean, folks saw potential, my first news director saw potential because I was working here at Channel 5. That was my first news job. Fox 5. Yeah. Do you know where it is? W&YW? I don't know where the building is.

Do you remember Metro Media? You're not old enough from the old Metro Media building. Yeah. Is it like this? Yeah, it's kind of like this. It's where a current affair started. Do you remember that? It's where like, tabloid TV started in that building.

Yeah. And so I worked for the 10 o'clock news. And so my first news director, one of my first news directors, I was behind, I was a field producer and a sign editor and satellite feed coordinator and all that shit and writer. And then I wanted to be on air and I put my tape together and she said, you're really good. I'll put you on. She started putting me on the air and that's how I built my tape. How did you know that you'd be good at that?

good at that. I knew when I was a kid. What'd you say? If you were uglier, it probably would have been scary. Don't come on to me. It's embarrassing. I'm not coming on to you. I'm just saying, like, when you came out of the closet on CNN, were there like women that were like, fuck you? No. You had to have had like ladies that were like, no, they were like, I don't care. He's still, or they were like disappointed. You just didn't notice them. Yeah. You definitely had gals that were like, oh my God, he's the perfect man. And then they're like, motherfucker. Yeah. Why are all the good ones they always say? Gay guys?

Yeah, like in shape and stuff. We're disgusting, slops, me and my friend. That's what you're... How long would you consider that you've been in your field? Oh, since 1991, 92? So you're, like, that is a dramatic shift in like what media is and how it's... Yeah, I've seen everything. Do you conceive of it as like you've been in the belly of a, like a decay or at least a decay of trust?

Yes, a decay of trust because it's become more corporatized over time. And that tends to peel away the trust. People don't trust because they think it's too much corporate influence. You're talking about CNN or like network news. I mean, network news, but just corporate media in general, just sort of mainstream media. It's all owned by companies who have their business to protect. And so you've got to be careful what you say on the air.

Has that ever conflicted with like you had to self-censor? Have you had to... Self-censored all the time when I was on the same. You've had to sell some bullshit crap? Or MEDC. We mean sell. Like, you know, the affiliate or the network wants you to like say like, oh yeah, like, we don't give you cancer from... No, I've never been told.

I will say when I was at CNN, I was never told what to say. I was never told that you must do something except toward the last year I was there, which was not very pleasant. Your boss was Zucker when you were there? Yeah, Jeff is awesome. Does he regret not giving Trump a better contract offer for the appurances? No, I don't think so. It's kind of a little bit of his fault. If Trump wasn't like renegotiating for the new season,

he wouldn't have done the escalator and the run for president. I think that was over. I think your timeline is off. I think he was a little bit renegotiating. He was like, Zucker, I'm going to be the president. I don't need you. And then accidentally he became the president twice. It's kind of doing it twice

is a little bit like shame on them. Yeah, I would say it's hard to say it's one person's fault because it takes a lot of people in the country. Zucker and Weiner, I think the two... Anthony Weiner? Well, he had it not been for the laptop, a week, ten days out from the election,

Comey wouldn't have written the letter. It's the most damage done by any one penis of all time. We wouldn't have had literally the end of democracy. I'm thinking about that. You might be right. It's butterfly. Honestly, you might be right. I never thought about that.

Or if they let Trump by the bills, he would have just been the team owner of the Buffalo Bills with John Bon Jovi. There's a lot of tinfoil hat moments that we've had over the last couple years. But you met your husband on election night. But it's kind of, how do you know this shit? Well, I just thought that it was, like, bizarre

that you got so horny from Donald Trump winning in 2016. I was sad. I was mourning. And you're like, I'm horned up. It's really the best story ever, honestly. Tell us the story. It's romantic. We talk about it.

I don't know if he mentioned it in his vows, but we did. Thank God, Donald Trump was the president. God is so horny. I think we mentioned it in our reception speech that there was one thing good that came out of that. But no, it's actually a really good story. Do you want to hear it? Yeah, I'd love it. So it was election night, and I'm not political.

I'm not a political reporter, so everything went to D.C. and all the folks in DC. So you were off. So I had the night off, and then Chris and I would come in the next day and like do it and then do the fun shit and analysis. And so I got invited to this party at Chippriani in Soho, or downtown. And so it was an election night watch party

given by Harvey Weinstein. Really? Really. So you were getting horded up with the wines? This is a really beautiful story. So he invited a bunch of people. I was there. I think Martha Stewart was there.

Andrew Cuomo was there. That would be the best. Miles Teller was there. Oh, of course. Yeah, the drummer. Yeah. A bunch of folks. And so we met, Tim and I met downtown

was our first date. And we walked in and he sat at a table like this and they make the table bigger so get more people around it. And when he sat, he kicked the thing and everything fell off of the table. Oh, it was like a romantic comedy. Yeah, it was like a romantic comedy.

They're neat, cute. Then when that settled down, we started seeing the numbers come in, and they were like, oh, yeah, she still got Pennsylvania, she still got Florida. I was looking at my CNN email going, oh. And then we were like, let's get out of here. And then we went to the polo bar to meet my agent, and we watched the results from there,

and then everyone's like, holy shit. Everyone was cheering probably at the Polar Bar. No. And then we said, I don't want to sleep alone tonight because this is pretty fucking scary. Really? And he ended up staying. And I lived in Harlem then.

Really? Yeah. And so the next morning, he had to ride home on the subway with a bunch of black people. And he's like, he wanted to just go, I didn't do it. So he's a racist, your husband. So you met this racist guy on the night that he voted for him. He voted for Trump, but he said, you know, because it was just a little uncomfortable people were looking at. My parents met at a gay bar, actually.

Did they? No, they didn't meet, but my dad sealed the deal at a gay bar. He had sex with her at a gay bar? No, well, I think that night. I don't know if it was at the gay bar, but they kept getting set up. up on blind dates and she kept being like this fucking guy and she was like this guy sucks and it was like three blind dates or four so what were they doing in a gay bar? My dad was at a party she shows up with her girls and he's like oh my god it's the girl

from the blind dates he's like maybe I'll try and chat her up again. Your dad was at a party at a gay bar? No this is prior to the gay bar. So they just go to a party and it's the girl that hates him from three blind dates and she's like said to her girls she's like let's get out of here like I want to want to go dancing, right? And him and his friend followed them, I guess. And they went to a gay bar, like a club.

And my dad was like, oh my god, this place is gay. So him and his friend held hands on the way in, because they thought that they get caught. They get caught for not being gay. And I guess that was the bold. What is the test for that? It's kind of cute. It's cuter than your racist husband.

I think that's a cute. It's interesting because like we're in this place in time right now where I'm kind of afforded access to I talked to the mayor. It's a little nuts isn't it? And it's just I have absolutely no right. I'm just wearing glasses. Like this grift is about to be up. But what's interesting is like you talked about how like you don't have to wait in line like you did prior like going station to station.

That whole pathway is gone. Is it a product of like the democratization of media? Is it a product of like everything is the media now? Everyone's a freaking journal now? Well, I don't think everything's a journal. Everyone's a journal, but I think there are different ways to get information. Like, I don't know if you would consider, I don't have to look at Larry King's resume, but a journalist, but he certainly gave information.

He was an interview. I don't think Johnny Carson was a journalist, but you certainly get information from shows like that. And some of the morning show folks are not journalists. There are people who are on now who are not, who didn't go to school for journalism. But yet they're, you know, maybe they took a path and, you know, for their career. But I think it's good and bad. Yeah, is it the democratization of media? Sure.

Yeah. But it's good and bad. It's bad in that there are no standards. Would it benefit from like a standardized, like, definition? It would. Right? It would. Why isn't there one?

Um, because it's hard to control everything. I mean, the internet has made everything so hard to control. I mean, before you just had to get information. You didn't have access to. information like that. You didn't have access to be able, I mean this is basically a network in your pocket. We can go live right now and people will start watching this. You want to do it? I don't, I don't, I'm scared of it. I'm exact touch the buttons. But you weren't able to do that and you know, even 20 years ago, 15 years ago. Yeah, you could have a meltdown about wearing a mask in a

Walgreens than being Congress like two years later. Like seriously it's uh, it feels a little bit like the little like the class. It used to be classier. What the media you just the country. Oh, the country used to be classier. Yeah, I agree with that. Yeah. I mean, look how we're dressed now. Before we'd do this, we'd have to wear like a suit or something. Because Federman is so hot right now. We have to, we're trying to do the thing. We're trying to like, and you know, it's just like, why can't we just be ourselves? Yeah. But it's good and bad. It's bad and again, there are no editorial rigors for the most part. And then it's good because you can actually, you know, you're not influenced by

someone else's, how they want you to tell the story. I think a lot about when there's like the Boston bombing, I think was one example of this, when there's like citizen, like people on Reddit, there's like really catastrophic events a lot of the time. Like people, like, innocent people are like kind of, like their lives are fucked with during like moments of crisis like that.

And it just feels like sometimes there should be more of a kind of a system in place to like prohibit people from like thinking that they're Batman of the media. Thinking that the dark night of the media. What do you mean? What are you talking about? Well, I'm just saying, like, you know, like, to me, what would make sense,

because I'm like a freaking pinko, you know, whatever, is like there should be just a, there should be public media that doesn't have a profit incentive. You mean media that doesn't make people crazy? Well, media that's like not trying to make money for GE or something. You're like, you know. Well, that's what I mean by the corporate media,

and that's influence. I mean, you can't fuck up a GE contract. I'm just, I'm just, typical. But I'm trying to make money for boner pills right now. Is this a better alternative? Well, yeah. Are people watching you? I think that if you have a public broadcasting system with, like, you know, safeguards that are kind of enumerated by, you know, legislation,

like it's the only way to kind of protect people at the end of the day. Well, look, I look at it differently. As long as you're not pretending to be a journalist. You're just being Adam. No, I was going to ask you because I have some headlines I want to press. then that's fine but there are people out there who pretend to be journalists and they're not and they don't you know they don't have the range yeah and I don't think you have to do that I just think there's a difference

between being an influencer a streamer and a journalist not that influencer streamer this is a long-form Jewish style YouTube talk show is very important according to the newspaper I think it's because I'm wearing glasses would you feel like I'm copying you if like I went into the middle of a hurricane and just stood there with a microphone. There are a lot of people who do that. But you're like, that's what a journalist is supposed to do to get rained on. Well, that's part of it.

That's what a reporter does if you're doing it. You were into that, though, I could tell. It was, it was interesting. I liked it. Were you the most extreme one? You're like, I'm going to go to the hardest wind. Anderson Cooper doesn't have shit on me. No.

I'm going to go the craziest. Competition like that, but it was. Why do we need a guy getting rained on? Well, you don't. Yeah, yeah. But people love it. It's so funny. It is.

It must be so fun. It is fun until, unless it's freezing, and then you're soaking wet and then you end up, you know, with pneumonia or something. Yeah, yeah. It is fun. It is fun because everybody watches and you're blowing around and it's kind of fun. They have to see a guy. And they just, until the worst of it passes, you're just standing there and you have to come up

with shit to say because they're not going to leave you. If you're aware the bad weather, hurricane or whatever, you're, you're just, you're weather, hurricane, or whatever it is, then they're on you the entire time. So you just have to talk and show shit. So coming from your background, like you're from a religious family from the south, you kind of like made it to New York City. Your family backstory is pretty interesting. Is it true that there was a second family or something like that that you discovered later on in life?

No, it wasn't a second family. Or there was a divorce? Yeah, well, my mom had divorced her first husband, which is my sister. My mom was like a teen, pregnant bride or whatever. And but then years later, my mom went to work as she was walking to college, she passed this law office that said they needed, a legal secretary needed. She applied and she got it. She went in and got the job and then my dad was an attorney and then they ended up having a relationship. Well, my dad was married, but back then divorces were not quite as easy and he didn't divorce her. her the rumor was that she was a lesbian and so they just stayed together the other

wife the other wife and sounds like your mom was a little bit being a bitch maybe no she's I heard she's less no my mom never said that it was actually the other way not really she was probably cruel yeah no she never spoke ill and she was actually very kind to the woman and I remember the woman never knew I mean I think she probably suspected that I was a dad she yeah for sure she didn't know but she didn't pry and it was like don't ask don't tell They led separate lives. So he's a lawyer, but he couldn't figure out how to get a divorce? No, he couldn't figure it out.

You just didn't do it. I think he was just being kind. Napoleonic Code. I know what you're saying. Just being kind, yeah. So he was older, is he your stepfather? He was older than my dad, my mom. Your mom.

Is he Mr. Lemon? No. No. My stepdad was woman. He was your biological father. My biological father. He was my biological father, but my sister is Lemon. Yeah.

That's her dad. My mom was married and then got a divorce, but I just took the line. last name because my parents weren't married was your stepdad you're like your father figure growing up was my everything but he died when I was seven really yeah so there was a lot of girls yeah I was nine would you say there's a lot of what girls a lot of sisters I have two sisters grandma and then a step sister my mom remarried yeah there's a lot of women they drove you nuts they did oh my God if you learn a lot when you're when it's all women when they're yelling at you what do you

do you learn to you have to deal with it how do you deal they'll yell at you but I mean my sisters did but they were also my biggest protectors one of your biggest guest is D.L. Hughley one of my biggest guests well he's always a friend yeah he's a friend he's a lot we do we do shows together and you're also DL you're Don Lemon I'm DL Don Lemon and at one point I was DL you were DL yeah is is David Letterman active in the DL community Initially. Was he?

He's an inspiration. Did you guys get that? They didn't get it. Initially. Initially. Well, next question. When you moved to New York as like a young gay guy, it must have been incredible.

Coming out of the South? In the 90s? In the 90s? It was really fun. A's was over? Right? No. No, it was like ending, right?

It was on a down slope. Well, I mean, you just, you just. didn't know it then I mean there was no cure it was actually wasn't on the down so it was pretty much like it was a height almost what did you learn about your community because like those guys that came for the decade before literally went through the Holocaust I mean like you were like the next generation up yeah the next generation up but still it was still part of it I mean in the 90s it was still age the AIDS was ravaging the community yeah and it was

scary yeah but like people's sexual habits changed did it make intimacy like scary for, like, yeah. I think a lot of people who grew up, who came out around the time, I think they have intimacy issues now. I just think about those old timers, they just, like, all of their friends died. I don't think that we respect them enough.

You think they're OGs? They've been through hell. And they also, like, just, like, got beaten up and stuff prior to that. Like, they were, like, they weren't, like, on will and grace. No, but they were, like, thought of as, like, the fringes of society.

They really took the shit. But it was fun then. I kind of liked it when... The thin mustache guys? No, I kind of liked it when being gay was like sort of special and counterculture. Yeah, yeah. Now it's just, you know, all of my friends, like everyone I know is just heteronormative. It's gay to be straight, I feel like.

It's what? I feel like gay to be straight. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like I feel like I don't have tattoos and I'm straight. I'm like, I'm punk rock basically at this point. Yeah, do you want to go to a gay wedding or a straight wedding? A gay wedding or a straight wedding?

Why would a gay guy get married? What a waste of gay. That's what I'm talking about. Married. I know. I mean, my husband is younger, so he wanted to get married. But I didn't, I mean... Were you like, this is ridiculous?

But you can't say that. You can't say that to a generation who's now used to having the same sort of rights and accessibility as everybody else. They all went to Goldman's ex. Yeah. Really? Yeah. So they all, you know, the younger folks are, they want to get married, they want to be heteronormative. Even for someone like me, it's all well and good, I can do it, but I did not necessarily need to have a wedding or get married.

I would like the rights, the same rights as everybody else, but I didn't have to do that. Do you old head them? Do you OG them? Yeah, fuck yeah. You're like, listen, young buck? Fuck yeah. Pull up your damn pants. I do.

You're a pull-up your damn pants guy? Kind of. Yeah, yeah. I saw you talking about it. What do you hate most about sagging? Well, I don't want to see the crack of someone's ass or that dirty underwear. It's gross. Because it's your community, so you want to, like, you want to be like, let's hold our,

it's like, that's not exclusive to the gay community. No, it's like how I'm like, let's not, like, cause a famine and have a baby star. You mean the black community. Yeah, yeah. That's how I'm critical of my community. It's my sagging is, um, let's just not bombard a civilian population with the, it's a dog joke. I just don't think it's, I mean, necessary. And it also comes from prison culture, like when you couldn't wear a belt.

Yeah, but so. Yeah, but so is the word punk, right? Yeah, but you're not a jailhouse punk. How often do you use that word? Punk? Yeah. Like punk rock? Yeah.

It used to mean a guy that was getting, having, people were having sex within jail, but then it became. Yeah, but that was a different thing. A punk is cool. It was punk is different than the way you say it would be P-O-N-K. Punk? Punk. I think in the 50s it was P-U-N-K. Well, that's, that's.

They were a prison punk. 50s were like, we got to look this up on the phone. Lemon Party.com. Yeah, but I am that guy. Yeah, you really are. Is it like, but is that, I mean, is that the same thing as trying to get married and stuff? Like kind of normativity, like kind of like,

put on dockers? There's kind of, no, I don't think he'd have to wear dockers. I don't think, I'm not saying you have to dress a certain kind of way. Because I grew up with a lot of Jewish guys that were dressing that way, and we thought it was the coolest. What? sagging. Yeah, of course.

Oh, I mean, your generation. My generation of Jewish guys, like, grew up on hip hop. Yeah, but it's okay. You can get away with it. Why? What are you saying? Because white guys can get away with that. Because they control the weather.

They control the media. No, not Jews. I mean, white kids. They control them. You're the one that's in the media. It's different than black kids who are, it's a different standard. So you're saying I should be allowed to sag, but not black kids? That doesn't sound fair to black kids. I'm just saying it's okay for you and it's easier for you.

The sagging thing just doesn't. It's not going to, people aren't going to look on you as some sort of thug or punk because you're doing it. I don't think sagging has been a thing for like 15 years. I still see people doing it. But yes. Who's still sagging? It hasn't been a thing for 15 years.

You're right. And so that's when I said that was 15 years ago. But you go up on the subway to a kid, you're like, you know this is from prison culture. No, I don't do that. But I see people sad. All the time. You don't see people sagging still? I don't look for it.

I don't know. I see it all the time. It's kind of, who cares? It's worse things. I don't care. But if you ask me about it, I'm going to give you my opinion. You're the one that's saying Jewish people should be allowed to do it and not black people. Okay?

I did not say that. Maybe your husband said that an election night to you. I did. Going back to the Oprah point, like, I was in an elevator with her once, right? And I used to always have this kind of like, why the hell do people care so much about this lady, like telling you to read books and stuff? And I was in an elevator, I was like, it is, there was, she's excited. She's exciting.

There's something so incredible about her, right? And like, coming from the South, going through news, and then kind of getting to the top of media, like, who are your inspirations independent of that? Like when you were like, this is what I want in my career? When I started, though, this is pre-Opray-Opra. It would be like Brian Gumbull or Max Robinson or even Peter Jennings, like those were the books that I liked.

And then there was a woman who was an inspiration in my town who they saw on television. And that kind of sealed the deal. And her name was Gene West. She was a local news. She was a local news lady. Yeah. And then I saw her and I was like, oh, well, that's like my family. It's not like, you don't know my.

Yeah. And so I was like, oh, I can do that. She wasn't like Jimmy J.J. Walker on the news? Yeah, nothing wrong with that. But that was the only representation we had. I can't imagine anyone doing that on the news. No, but I mean, you did not have. Yeah, I know.

You know, people who looked like me for a lot of people who look like me on the news. And she was, I saw her and I was like, oh, wow, she's amazing. When were black people, like, did, was that a later thing? In the 70s. 70s. Yeah, really came to prominence of, like, more so in the 80s. On the news? On the news.

On the news. What a ridiculous place we live. I know. That's like not long. It wasn't that long ago, I know. And you were like the first. No, I'm old heading. You're old head.

You were the first gay anchored, like, cable news? One of the first. Well, the first one, the first person who was really out was Rachel Maddow. But she wasn't Rachel Madd out like she is now. Sure. I mean, she was a big deal, and she was on MSNBC. And I don't know if Rachel calls herself a journalist or a writer or whatever, but anyways. She was definitely a television host, and she was out, which was admirable.

First, she sent me flowers. She did. She did. She was like one of the first people you had to reach out and say congratulations, and you're going to be great. So, yeah, and then me. And there was another guy named. It seems insane to me that, like, that's not, like, I feel like everyone's getting. I feel like the entire Republican part of you.

What's a big deal? I mean, it was a big deal back then. It's not a big deal now. Nobody cares. If you were covering, like, a figure that's, like, working to pass legislation that, like, would damage your community or take rights away from you, and you understood that they were gay?

Yeah, what is the, what is, you would out them? Yeah. Is there, like, what is the line that you towed journalistically? Like. For what, outing someone? Yeah, I mean, like, it's just like, I mean, in my imagination, it's like a lot of these fellows are like... I don't think you need to out someone if they're not a hypocrite.

Right. Right. So there's nobody's business. All of the Republicans. It's nobody's business. But if you are, you know, proposing legislation or enacting legislation that is, you know, the antithesis of what you're doing, then, of course, it should be called out. Did you ever find yourself weighing that?

What do you mean? As a journalist where you saw like someone... doing anti-gay kind of legislation or something that you need to be able to get. I mean, there are lots of figures who are in the news, but I didn't know. Look, again, I'm not a DC reporter. I did not just report on politics, so it wasn't that into it, but there certainly were rumors about people, and then you'd hear about them hitting on their interns or staffers and that kind of thing.

And then advocating for taking rights away from your community? Yeah. It's so happened. People would say the more conservative they are, the more homophobic. So would you consider pulling the trigger? The more homophobic the other gay way. I imagine because you're thinking about gay all day long. You're gay.

Which is true because if you just... If you just allowed yourself to do it, you wouldn't have to think about it all day long. To be happy and be rich? God forbid! You think if you were gay, gay makes you rich and successful? Yeah, you work harder. That's true.

Overachievers. You went into cable 2006 then. Yep. And so that was like end of Bush. When I went into cable initially, like, broadcast people look down on cable. And even some local people who, if you worked for like, if you work for a network O&O, which was a network owned and operated station, like if you worked for, you know, a WABC or WNBC

or K-NBC or whatever, and these were the stations that the networks owned, okay, that was considered prestigious. And then broadcast news was considered prestigious. And cable was like, you know, not so cool, not so prestigious. just anybody could work there. That was a perception. And they called it the Chicken Noodle Network, right, CNN. Well, that must have hurt.

But then that flipped. But actually, it flipped under Trump. Under Trump? Because people, yeah. No way. Yeah. Because it became more relevant. Not during Obama.

Fox News came up during, kind of Bush and then into Obama. I feel like that's when it was over. Yes, but I think the, the, the, the, the, the, the, Pax or whatever, or the zenith of cable news was... Maddo telling my dad that Putin's trying to kill him. No, was George Floyd, COVID, and Trump all at the same time. Yeah. And you were, you witnessed all of that as...

I saw the rise of cable news because people, it was on all day. Yeah. And so the internet started to come in and people realized I don't have to wait until 5 o'clock or 6 o'clock or 6.30 to get the news. I don't have to just get the news on the morning show and then wait all day to get an evening broadcast. And so people just started watching more cable news. It's kind of too much of the news, right? Too much of the news.

And then that's when cable became vogue in fashion. And then I just happened to be, it was just timing for me. Yeah. Did you like, um... I'd never watched CNN before I went to work there. I had no idea who the people were. Did you have like a concept of like, we're part of an institution that is losing the public and we're desperate to like keep their attention somewhat?

Wait, say again, what? Like, did you feel like, did you feel like, Because the point we're at right now is that like faith in traditional like corporate media is like the lowest it's ever been, I feel like. Like people just think it's everything's a lie and they think, you know, people watch YouTube now, right? Yeah, it's a number one network. Right.

And it's like, did you feel it while you were in corporate media, did you feel that grip loosening? I did feel it loosening but not as much as it had because I was still in a bubble and And when you're there because you are so, you know, enmeshed in it, you think that everyone is paying attention. And so I would say, oh my gosh, you know, did you hear about, I'd be covering something all day and then I'd go hang out with friends or people and I would say it's blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and they'd go, what's that?

Yeah. And so I think people, you know, and especially in cable news, they think that everyone is paying attention to everything and it's not. So partially it is, I think, you know, Fox News kind of started it. You know, Roger Ailes kind of started the... The goat. Yeah. He kind of started people to...

The distrust in news. Yeah. Because he inserted, you know, characters, right-wing characters into, you know, the primetime ecosystem. But part of it, it's partially our own fault, and I include myself as well. Do you have a regret, or is there something you look back on? Well, I can't, like, criticize... I can't criticize corporate media and thought, because I was a part of it for such a long time,

It's only been, you know, three years since I've been gone from corporate news and people still associate me with it. But there were things that, you know, I probably could have done that would have helped. But you're going to save the news? Well, I think if I could have done, honestly, and probably at the time I can't because I'm looking back now and with a 20-25 lens on, you know, 21, 22, 23 when I was there. I think if I could do in that corporate structure what I do now, it would be much more beneficial for America, the world, and the corporate structure. That's what they're missing. I think the folks in those corporate media should start hiring people like you and like me to come in and do, yeah. But yeah, but they don't have to, they don't have to promote you as a news show.

You can be a talk show on the network. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think that... Because it's hard to, you have to untrained... I'd probably get in trouble. No, you would. You would get in trouble now. The best thing of me having the show here is that I have kind of creative autonomy.

But if they allowed you to do that, then you wouldn't. They probably want it. Yeah, they wouldn't. They wouldn't. But if they did, I think it would be much better for them. Yeah. They wouldn't lose revenue in viewers. What do you think that shift is?

When you say they need people that are doing more like what you're doing right now? What have you changed? Well, they need people who are authentic. The thing that I... Yeah. That I had to untrain myself, untrained and retrain myself. Yeah. Because I used to second guess myself all the time.

Like second, third, before anything came out of my mouth, I was like, okay. But that's good. It's the news. You have to be careful. No, not always, because then people at home aren't getting what they should be getting. And you're not serving. It's not relatable because people at home aren't filtering themselves that much. You're saying the presentation has to be authentic.

The presentation has to be authentic. But sometimes when you just let it rip, you need, like, sourcing and you need to be sure. I'm not saying let it rip and lie. I'm saying have the conversations that people really have at home and, you know, that are more productive. Do you miss the Jesse Smollett story? I just miss it. The Smollett story?

It was just so nice. When you think back to it, it's like, wow, that was a great one. What was nice about that? That was nothing nice about it. He was just a liar. He's a liar. You said you, you got attached to that somehow, no? I got attached to that wrongfully.

They said that you were a hate. Because I never believed. Cohoots with Smolet. That was a lie. That was a lie. Yeah, that was a lie. You were the third, it was the African brothers and you. You were the third accessory.

No. That's what I understand. No, stop it out. No, you know what happened is he, I knew him from, we had mutual friends from Harlem. From the liar community. And I knew him, I knew it was a lie right away. Like immediately. I knew it was a lie.

How'd you know? He hates me because I called him out. So you texted me. You said, you're busted. But that's not out there in the narrative. Everyone thinks like, oh, my God. I was like, no, he's a liar. No one believed it.

In Chicago, at like 10 degrees outside that someone is looking for. With a news. With a news. With a noose and a maga hat in Chicago. How would they even know who he was? Well, because he's huge. Power is one of the biggest shows on television. It's not power.

It was Empire. Empire, yeah. So everyone was trying to get an interview with him. And I had his number. I was trying to get an interview with him. And I said, Jesse, come on. Nobody believes you. If you want to get your story out, you should come on.

The cops don't believe you. People don't believe you. Come on and tell your story. That's what any journalist should be doing. But he said, I didn't want to turn my phone over because I had text from Don Lemon there. I didn't give a fuck if they saw my text. No, he was protecting you. No, he's not protecting you.

You should say thank you to Jesse a little bit for. There's nothing in there that would have gotten me in trouble except for trying to get an interview. So you said they have you dexterized you lie. I think he was just lying. I think he was just lying because... There's something nice about a liar like that, right? You like that? Like a gay liar?

There's something charming. Like, uh, what's his name? From the Republican Congressman, uh, Santos. It's just... But here's a Santos effect. There's something kind of just like great. It's like this guy's going for it with the lies. And he can't...

And he can't last forever. It can't last forever, right? I know, but I don't know if he has to be gay. There are a lot of heterosexual liars. No, but there's something funny or funnier if it's like, because it's more. Do you think of Trump as like a campy figure or a queen? Trump is so gay.

Yeah. And it's, it's, it's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's He's marketed in terms of like machismo. But if you like, look at like, even the interior of the house, is Liberace. Look, he's, he's taking over a gay anthem, YMCA. It's incredible. It's incredible. The cruising from- I can't even enjoy it anymore.

He's at, his song is a cruising for dick song that he... Yeah. At the YMCA, in the locker room. I mean, it's a... It just must be, you really should do a right wing pivot. It must be so fun. You mean, I should become a right wing? First of all, the money's good.

Oh, I thought about, you're way. The money's good, and like, think about how much fun, this bat-shit old queen is talking about, you're about 15 years too late. A golfer's dick size for like 100 years ago? You're 15 years too late. Can you imagine if I had become, everyone thought before Trump, people thought I was a black conservative on CNN.

I still think so. Yes. I think you're a conservative in whatever, your fetter men's clothing. I have some conservative leanings. I do. What are your main conservatives, pulling up the pants? Well, that's not. Come on, you got to quit with that.

It's not nice to the kids. Oh, I'm a rich guy. I'm a rich guy, and I'm telling you that you're probably his pants? Maybe it's just a bit, maybe there was a hand-me-down pants and they're growing into it. You don't, you know, their butt cracks are holding them back in this world? Tom, he's getting a good a vape. I'm sorry. Is there any water around this, too?

Yeah, let's get water. I want to get a velo, actually. Do you have a velo? No, I'll get him water. I'm sorry. Oh shit. I was really cooking on that. This episode is brought to by eBay Live.

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Bob Dylan? I've always wondered. I feel like no Do gay guys like Bob Dylan? Yeah, yeah, it's a good question. Yeah, of course. No. What do you mean?

Like his music? Yeah. Yeah. He's not something you're going to dance to in a club. He's like Streisand for me. He's my stricent. Right? Yeah, gay men like Bob Dylan.

No, they like having fun and stuff. I like... Oh, because Bob Dylan makes you sad. No, it makes sense. I'm gonna be all weepy. No, it's about like, you know, it's just, it feels like it's, I don't know, it makes sense to me that they got- What's your Bob Dylan song? Though every single thing, I mean like you can't even, brother, you can't even start.

Is there a competition like when you're at the top? Yeah. Like there are such few spots, right? Like you were like, you were at, like, do you want back in the game or, no? No. No. one back in the game. No.

But you got the desk and stuff and the suit? Yeah, but that's all rented. Who cares? I mean, it's just, it's like a, it's a, it's kind of a, I guess as legacy media fades, there is still a press, it's like why talk shows still exist. Yeah. No one's watching fucking late night, right? But it's kind of this legacy media product that you just have to have.

It's almost like people performing for themselves. Well, I don't know. And just for it. The only one watching Fallon, but it's just kind of a thing you're supposed to have. No, but a lot of the people who are watching are like industry, kind of industry kind of people who are still attached to that kind of television, which is great. I mean, I love Jimmy Fallon. I know Jimmy, I know Kimmel.

He's a colleague. Yeah, and Seth. But great shows, and you know, even the cable news. So people still watch it. Television has a prestige. It's going to have it for a minute. But no, I get the same. I get the same thing out of doing it the way that I do it that I did when I was there

without a pretense. It's just, you could say anything on this crap. Yeah. I have to stop myself because like now comedians people think are smart. Same. Yeah. I'm one of the dumbest guys, right? And I could just say COVID transmission vaccine rate and the people would be like, it's on the,

it's on the screen. Yeah. There must be something to it, you know? But I think comedians perform a very, very, you know. form a very important role in society. I do. No, it's too much. They're making too much of it.

Well, I don't know. My friend D.L. is very important, I think. From the community. From the community. He also gives information, and he's very political, and he's in tune with the news. And I would watch him for. Don't get the news from a comedian.

Get it from the news. Do you think that you're different than me? You think you're different than someone who's on television? We're all human beings. We're multi-faceted. It's not like you're just a one-note person. No one is. I think seeing how like, you remember like when a conspiracy theorist used to be like a guy that smelled like pee at the library?

Or like your uncle? It used to just be the smelliest, like he was wearing like a Vietnam jacket and you're like, good luck with that library guy. Now it's literally nothing is real anymore. Yeah. And I feel like it's, that's really, it's, and things are happening so fast. Now that guy has a very successful podcast and makes millions of dollars a year. No, that guy is still in the library,

smelling like, he's like, I should have, I could have done this, I could have been, that guy just still smells like, pissed. Well, I mean, it's, do you find yourself, like, engaging with this as a beat? Or as like an area of focus? Do you find that, like, it affects your, like. No.

I don't engage in conspiracy theories on my show. But you're covering this. And I don't cover that. I don't cover that it was fake, but it's a lot of it, a lot of it out there and I believe you do have to have some sort of evidence or you become a conspiracy theorist. Like people think that there were anomalies with the election. And so, okay, it's okay to think that but no one is pushing it through and asking people to change votes

because of it or, you know, some investigation that's going to continue to go on and on and on forever when there's actually no evidence that happened. But people do believe it. So that's why I asked. What was it like being on the news January 6th? Um, kind of surreal because... They thought they were going to win? Yeah. They were running at the building. They thought they were going to beat the government? They thought that they had won.

What do you mean when? They were, like, smoked weed in the Capitol of return? They thought that they had won the election and therefore that they were going, you know, for just, it was justified to go over there. They kind of did like a, like, pranks when they got into the building. There's a guy who's like, I'm going to fart on Pelosi's chair. No, they did nothing. Another guy took a podium. No, they shit on stuff.

They pooped. I mean, that's kind of like. They pooped and peed on stuff. It was one of the dumbest things that we've ever seen anyone tried. Well, isn't that kind of the point? And it's probably why they were pardoned, because he realized, I think, at some level, that he co-opted those poor people

and that he manipulated them. No, because he was probably just like, fuck you. Fuck you. I'm going to get this caveman out of Gitmo. Fuck you. I'm Trump. Do you think he's ever going to get in trouble for anything? No.

It's awesome. Well, now, I mean, he's president. If he wasn't president, he might be in an orange jumps. Yeah, come on. How many times we said that? if he wasn't president. Of course. Teflon-on-on.

He gets away with... Well, he's gotten away with all of it, pretty much. He never gets in trouble. Yeah. They throw all the cases out or they put him on hold. He really defeated you guys, I think.

I was never at war with him. Well, what it is was like, the media is there to... But he actually did damage the media a lot. Trust in the media, yeah. Because the fact check never worked, right? Because his followers know he's lying, right? So it's like if they know he's lying,

but they say he's lying. lying for us. No, I don't think his followers. What is the purpose of like a, like a check on that? No, I don't think they know he's lying. I just think that they don't care. I think they know he's lying. I think they know he's lying.

I think that some of them understand that he's lying because they actually believe it. There are true believers out there. There are people who believe the economy is great and better right now. Okay, so what did you hear about that? Was it fun on the island? Like, how did you bring that way? You said you knew. you do?

What what? The island? What island? Was it like the, like, steel drums, like the Girls Gone Wild commercial? What island are you talking about? You know, the guy, the main, the, you know, the top dog. Do you say it? Who?

Mr. Epstein. Was he funny? You know you would have gotten on that plane if someone- I would have been so impressed by the wealth and then I would have gotten there and be like Dershowitz, what are you doing? It's, I mean, that's another thing where it's like, it seems like there's been a break, right? between the MAGA kind of, what is MAG at this point?

Like, if Marjorie Taylor Green is like, I'm out. Like, what is a lot? A lot of people are out. A lot of people are going to come. I think a lot of people are going to fall out. I think she's kind of leading the way as an example. And I think she's more, at least for now, I don't see that she's lost any power.

You fuck with her? No, not really. I mean, I see her for who she is, but I would sit down and talk to her. Who is she? What's her vibe? Like, as a head. She's a. Is she funny?

No. She's a bigot. She's a loudmouth. She's smarter politically than I gave her credit for. But she has all those things that she did before she started saying the right thing, before the pivot. How many times have you met the gentleman, Mr. Trump? Oh, God, a lot. Ten, maybe.

Yeah. I interviewed him many times. What do you make of him? Look, he can be charming in person, but I, I find him to be very insecure. I just don't like liars. Lying is my thing. That's the only, that's one of the only things that don't ever lie to me.

I don't lie. I don't lie. That's one of my things I will tell you that. I'd rather tell you the truth. You were on the Communist News Network. You definitely lied. Don't lie. You've never told it.

No, I have told a lie, but I don't lie. Try to think of the last lie you told. The last lie, I think I told these guys I was excited to do the show. Shut up. I guess like what's your kind of project, like moving forward? You see your careers shifted, right? Like, what is the ambition, right? And how does it, like, where does it fit in?

Where do you see yourself fitting in? Well, I would like to build my network and have some folks who are working for me, correspondence everywhere and have my own little network or a big network. Yeah. And that's it. These guys?

Yeah, they're part of it. Are you ready for on air? They've been on air. What are you guys do? What are your big hits been? The clip farmers. Yeah, we have a podcast that just went on TMZ. Oh, you got TMZ?

That's big. TMZ does. You TMZed your own guys? No. Yes, you know. Kind of. Well, I didn't put it on TN. We were also on IRL.

We went to the protest and we were interviewing people while he was in the studio. On TMZ? No. On my show. TMG clip the podcast, but we do like, we help with the live stream mailers, went to Chicago, when Chicago covered the ice raids.

He goes live in the, where do we go, Congress? Oh, we go to the Capitol, and we go live from the Capitol, the office buildings. Yeah. Are you going to send one of these guys to a hurricane? See what they're made out of it? I think they'd be great. Really?

He looks sturdier. He's from Florida. His dad actually did hurricane coverage for us. Oh, you're in Florida, you have the experience, but you look sturdier as a gentleman. You know, I think I can withstand those wins. Does he, like, bring you into a conference room and they have, like, a kind of a swamped fan?

And he kind of test you out, see if you're ready for the hurricane. Yeah. That's actually his, that's the other. You're not category four material, sir. No, you're not. Yeah. His dad is a meteorologist. He's a weatherman.

Really? So he does her, his dad does hurricane courage coverage coverage coverage coverage coverage. He was on this show? He was on this show? My show. Can we get a weather man? You should. You need one.

I really appreciate your time. I think it must be like for you to have seen such a shift in your field. I think, I guess it's like, is there a course correction that's required? I mean, that's my main kind of thing I was left wondering. This, like, you know, getting pushed out of CNN, I think was a blessing in disguise. Because I got to, like, not many people get to reinvent themselves later, and I get to reinvent myself. What about for how people consume, like, the news, though? Well, that's, well, this is where people are consuming the news.

Yeah. And so I want to be where the audience is. the audience is on social media and on streaming or digital. It's on YouTube. It's not, you know, no longer, well, it's still there at the networks, but, you know, less so every day. How do we, like, avoid, like, the lack of kind of formal editorial process that you can be exposed to? What do you mean, how do we avoid it? Like, I mean, online.

You could say anything right now. You could say Adam Friedland is, like, the fucking smartest guy in the world, and then some guy will see it's on a screen. He'll, like, believe it. Adam Friedland is the smartest guy in the world. Don loving. Thanks a lot, man. Thanks, my brother.