The Breakfast Club - Best Of Full Show: Cast Of Harlem Interview, Trump Signing Executive Orders Topic, Chloe Bailey, Derrick Johnson & Scott Mills Interview + More

Episode Date: February 17, 2025

The Breakfast Club Best Of Full Show Featuring Leon Thomas Interview, Cast Of Harlem Interview, Trump Signing Executive Orders Topic, Chloe Bailey, Derrick Johnson & Scott Mills Interview. Listen For More!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey, man, what are you into? I have the hookup. The hookup? The hookup for what? I'm solving a mystery through sex and haven't made a private dick joke until now? Poppers? Why are there so many poppers? All roads lead to... The hookup. You think it's causing people to turn aggro? I'm gonna rip your arms off and use them to... Yeah, that's a word for it.

Listen to The Hookup on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Welcome to My Legacy. I'm Martin Luther King III. And together with my wife, Andrea Waters King, and our dear friends, Mark and Craig Kilburger, we explore the personal journeys that shape extraordinary lives. Join us for heartfelt conversations with remarkable guests like David Oyelowo, Mel Robbins, Martin Sheen, Dr. Sanjay Gupta,

and Billy Porter. Listen to My Legacy on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is My Legacy. Y'all, what up? It's your girl Jess Hilarious, and I think it's time to acknowledge that I'm not just a comedian It's time to add uncertified therapists to my credentials because each and every Wednesday

I'm fixing your mess on carefully reckless on the black effect podcast network got problems in your relationship Come to me your best friend act and shady come to me thought you was the father, but you're not come to me I can't promise I won't judge you But I can guarantee that I will help you. Listen to Carefully Reckless on the Black Effect Podcast Network, IHard Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Arturo Castro, and I've been lucky enough to do stuff like Broad City and Narcos and Roadhouse.

And now I'm starting a podcast because honestly, guys, I don't feel the space is crowded enough. Get Ready for Greatest Escapes, a new comedy podcast about the wildest true escape stories in history. Each week, I'll be sitting down with some of the most hilarious actors and writers and comedians, people like Ed Helms, Diane Guerrero and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I love storytelling and I love you, so I can't wait. Listen and subscribe to Greatest Escapes on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Jess Hilarious. Jess for the world wide best. Jess don't do no lying. And Charlamagne the dog. Dog here to take you. Everybody come to the breakfast club. I call this the hot seat. Y'all alive. Y'all alive. Breakfast club. It's like being on America's front porch. Don't feel like my wrist is touching.

It's got never touched to me. Every time I go to the breakfast club I know it's gonna be like a good morning. I'm getting high. It's a new day. Is it your time to get it off your chest? Wake up. Whether you're mad or blessed. It's time to get up and get it on your chest.

It's time to get up and get it on your chest. It's time to get up and get it on your chest. It's time to get up and get it on your chest. It's time to get up and get it on your chest. It's time to get up and get it on your chest. It's time to get up and get it on your chest. It's time to get up and get it on your chest. It's time to get up and get it on your chest. day. Is it your time to get it off your chest? Wake up. Whether you're mad or blessed. It's time to get up and get something.

Call up now. 800-585-1051. We want to hear from you on the Breakfast Club. Hello, who's this? Oh my gosh, did I get through? Oh my god. Who's this? Oh my gosh, this is Amanda from Virginia.

Virginia 757. What up, Amanda?? Get off your chest. Okay, so like I just quit my teaching job. I'm trying not to cry. It was really hard for me to give up and everything after six years. And I'm scared right now because I have no idea what I'm supposed to do or anything like that. I just turned 28 and I feel like I'm failing at life. So I need some advice. You are not failing at life, man. You know, one of my affirmations this morning was embrace everything that happens to you.

And you know, being that you're 28, you'll realize this as you get older. Everything is just part of a process. You gotta trust your instincts. Your instincts told you that you didn't wanna teach teach no more Right, right So that you like I was having panic attacks and everything is just speaking is not what it used to be at all and so I love the kids. You still love the profession, but I just felt so undervalued

And I'm appreciated like it was just it was hard so right now I'm up because I'm about to go into the car hopefully I'll make a little something I feel I figured out and I think that's what you should do my mom is a public school teacher I was a public school teacher so I understand I think that y'all are very underpaid undervalued and underappreciated so thank you for your service as a teacher. But now you just gotta pray and see where God is gonna lead you next.

Because God is definitely telling you that you should be doing something else. You just gotta, you probably already know what it is. You probably just scared to do it right now. Right, yeah. You already know what it is, don't you? You said what? Can I put my cash up out there?

Maybe somebody can help me out. That's not what, that is not what God wants you. I know, I just said God said it. God told him to put the cash cash out there? That's not what that is not God for you. Tell me what else God is telling you to do before we get to the cash app One step at a time go ahead then go ahead with your cash I'd rather cash moment. Go ahead, go ahead. One step at a time. Go ahead then, go ahead. Go with your cash app. I'd rather cash app than OnlyFans. Go ahead, mama. There you go, see, see? All right, it's $9, Amanda, capital A, M-A-N-D, N-I-C, 96.

Hold on, now say it again, A-M-A-N-D-A. Yes, N-I-C, 96. N-I-C-9-6. N-I-C-9-6, oh, Amanda Nick 96. Amanda Chandler, that's you? Yes. You look like a school teacher. Aw. You gonna put something in her cash app?

Yeah, I just sent her a little something. Oh, there you go, all right. I just sent you, I love school teachers, man. I think school teachers, like I said, I think y'all are undervalued and underappreciated, and we trust our kids with y'all every day, and we live in a messed up society because y'all should be making six figures a year just because of what y'all gotta deal with to be honest with you.

So, yeah, it's hard. It's hard out here. Now, you know, I wanna go into the mental health field. I'm doing a complete career switch, so I'm hoping it all works out. I'm gonna pray on it and thank you guys. And I really appreciate you guys taking my call. I listen to you guys every morning. I appreciate it. You got what I sent you? It said it went through?

Yes, it did. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. No problem. Have a good one. Get it off your chest. 800-585-1051. If you need to vent, phone lines are wide open. It's The Breakfast Club. Good morning. The Breakfast Club. open is the Breakfast Club. Good morning. The Breakfast Club. It's your time to get it off your chest, whether you're mad or blessed. So leave it up to save energy.

We want to hear from you on the Breakfast Club. Hello, who's this? Good morning, this is Adrena. Hey Adrena, get it off your chest mama. I'm a little nervous, but I really want people to reach out to your friends and family, check on them to make sure that they're okay.

It's been almost eight months since I lost my soulmate to suicide. And when he committed suicide, we were on a break, but we were still very much in communication with each other. But I knew something was wrong, and my gut told me to go check, but my head said, no, don't do it. And had I listened to my gut, I would have known something was wrong

and could have been able to help. Also, with women and their children, when you have a man that wants to be in the lives of their kids, you shouldn't use the child as a pawn to get back because no one ever, ever thought that he would commit suicide because of what was happening with his children.

So I just want people to just be aware of those things. Yes ma'am. Well definitely sending you healing energy Queen. Yes. Thank you. Absolutely. Alright mama, have a blessed day. You guys do the same. He's very heavy this morning. Cracking a joke or something, Jeff. Okay so, you know damn carefully, you got some money? Hello, who's this? Hello, this is Blind Tommy. What's up Blind Tommy? Blind Tommy. Get it off your chest. How. Who's this? Hello? This is blind Tommy. What's up blind time and Tommy?

Yeah, I'm Come a blind book comedian Are you so see you got to pick one now? Which one you mad about being blind being broke or being a comedian all three? You should learn to see the bright side damn it Stealing your money Yeah, I think I think you might be looking at this wrong were you born blind Okay, okay, you're newly blind, okay, how'd you get blind sir So fun to get my system and they attack my optic nerves

Have you have you learned any new skills have anything has anything else crimp and How can we help you this morning brother, what can we do for you whatever what we'll see what we can do whatever it is You want a book deal yeah, I'm beyond what you're interested in the story I can't sit in act like I wouldn't want to hear more the story. What if he's talking about Braille books? Well, you want to write I'm talking about the race on Twitter. Oh. I hate this place this morning. Eddie, get my guys information. I'm interested in hearing the story. I want to see if there might be a story there.

You never know. Yeah. Hold on, Tommy, OK? All right. Hold on, Tommy. Get it off your chest. 800-585-1051. If you need the vent, hit us up now.

It's The Breakfast Club. Good morning. The Breakfast Club. Good morning, everybody. It's DJ NV, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne the Guy. We are The Breakfast Club. Morning, everybody. It's DJ NV, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne the Guy. We are The Breakfast Club. We got some special guests in the building. Yes, indeed.

We have the cast of Harlem. Yes! Yay! Raise by is Megan Good, Shaniqua Shanday. Did I say her name? Shanday. Shanday. Jerry Johnson and Tyler Leppley.

Welcome. Hi, guys. Appreciate it, y'all. How y'all feeling this morning? Time. Phenomenal. Amazing. Star-studded cast. Weley, welcome. Hiya. Appreciate it, y'all. How y'all feeling this morning? Time. Phenomenal. Amazing.

Star-studded kids. We are. I like that. I like that. A star-studded kid. A star-studded kid. How many of y'all live in L.A.? I want to make sure everybody houses good, stuff like that.

We're good, thank you. We're good. I appreciate that, bro. Thanks for asking. Okay, let's get right into it. Harlem is back January 23rd on Amazon Prime, but sadly they say this is the last season. Why? So many people watch it, so many people are into it. How do they just do it like that?

Ask Amazon Prime or Universal. We're so sad. We're really, really sad and I think like everybody's super sad because we had so much story to tell and so like if we did have more seasons this would have, the stories would have been so good but they did such an amazing job truncating it, bringing it down into this final season. I think everybody's gonna be happy. Hopefully we get a movie. Did you know it was going to be the final season when y'all started taping it? Did you know that already? Did y'all find it halfway through? No, not halfway through. I think I found out a little late, but sometimes I'm in my own

world, but I found out the day of the reading as we were reading it, now going into knowing that it was the last season. Are you saying when we were reading it? No, before I knew, but I hadn't read the last two. I thought they were saving the last two episodes, so I didn't know, you know, and then as we were reading it, I was like, oh no, this is it. But y'all been doing a lot on the side as well. Y'all been engaged. I know.

Y'all been having babies. Y'all been putting out music. Yeah. Like change books. Like y'all do this a lot. Yeah. It's true. So how were y'all doing all of that on the side

as well as taping this show? You know what's interesting is that as we've been taping this show, because we started, what year did we start? 2020. OK, 2020. And then what year did we start? 2020. Okay, 2020, and then we got like maybe three episodes in, then COVID happened, then we took a break, then we came back, then we had a year off, then we went through the strike

and all these different things. But during the duration of all these things, we were experiencing life. We were having all kinds of life changes and having conversations in between, because not only are we friends on the show, we're like sisters in real life, but also with Tracy and then same with Tyler, like that's our brother, that's our family. But each one of us were experiencing things that, you know, as

Tracy spoke to us, she was like, well, what do you think about this? What do you think about that? And I know you're on this journey and you know, do you mind if I implement this and all of that? So so much of it is actually mirrored in the show of what we were experiencing so it kind of made it seamless in that way and you know you have a specific story about that but yeah just everything it just it feels like it was a part of our actual lives. So what's your story with that? No so we were talking about this but you know how Quinn goes through her depression journey in season two I did a lot of research on depression because it wasn't something I was personally dealing with at the time but I wanted to reflect it in a very honest way

So went through that did that research and then I had the baby and then I was diagnosed with severe postpartum depression So even when I came on the show the last time I was in the depths of that Didn't really realize the impact and how that affected me until I started to kind of climb out of that, right? going through that journey with Quinn it gave me a space and a reflight. I call it my help journal, like a reflective journal to look back on and say, Oh, like this was, this was the way in which it was showing up for Quinn. I didn't realize that postpartum depression can show up as fatigue, as overwhelmed. We know about the sadness, we know about all that stuff, but these are some of the ways

the mood swings didn't know that that was a part of those things. And so being able to play that and reflect that in Quinn gave me almost like a map that I could go, okay, Grace, like this is how you can navigate this. Did work help or hurt? Did it make it worse? No, it helped because it actually gave me an enlightenment, right?

Like, oh, this is what it could look like. This is what, and so even though I was doing it for Quinn, I felt it on a different nuance level when I was actually going through it myself. Got you. How are y'all juggling the schedules though, like now? Because it's still, it's like y'all personally flourishing, in business y'all flourishing, how can y'all?

Because I know that the schedules, I mean, I know y'all said, it's been like two years since y'all did this, but now y'all all got individually a lot going on too. How can y'all still, like how y'all juggling schedules? We gonna start with Shanique on that one because she just got a single. The single. The single.

The single. Thank you. Thank you. You know, I thrive when I'm busy. Yeah. I really do. I like the structure of figuring out my schedule I become more detail oriented when I have a lot of things to focus on and I was very intentional about

Dropping feel my love my new single after ending season two with a Engagement or proposal and so I wanted to like balance that and have that come out at the same time as the show because I knew A lot of Harlem fans would be paying attention but also just to like you know maybe troll a little bit or make them question whether Angie would actually end up in this relationship because we don't get a yes or no at the end of the season too. Okay strategy. So it could be anything. You know we're trying to have a rollout. Megan you refer to them as your sisters and your brothers. Does that happen naturally? Because

a lot of times people want to keep things business. So does that just happen naturally this bond? It happened completely organically. Like from the beginning, from day one if I start with Shanique we were on FaceTime a few years prior and I had never met her before and we just spoke and we talked about like, you know what one day we're going to do a show together and we touched and agreed on the camera of the FaceTime. And then literally years later, here we are both walking in, we're both testing and we're in the bathroom and she's like, do you remember me? I was like, from where? And she told me and I was like, wait, what? And then we ended

up praying and crying in the bathroom and you know, there's that. And then literally with Tyler, it was just immediate, like just family and just easy or organic. Same thing with Jerry was like, okay, I've known her forever like you know and then with Grace I called her I was like girl I'm good she was like don't tell me you get ready to come in for a meal. We were friends yeah like for years before that so that was exciting yeah yeah yeah. Is that the norm on sex? No. It isn't always like that okay and then you also you know when it when it's gonna be for women you just never know what you're gonna get you hope that that is the experience but you know and we had talked it's going to be for women, you just never know what you're going to get. You hope that that is the experience. But you know, and we had talked about this

a few years prior, saying how it would be great if we got an opportunity to work on a show together. So when I called her and she was like, I can't believe I'm so excited. It was like you just knew that God was in it. And I have to say for me, this has been the best professional experience that I've had in my entire career. You know, you know, in a way it's the end of a chapter, but it's exciting because the way that we end the chapter, we're really, really proud of. And I think the audience is going to get everything

that they want to get. But also, I think that we got what we want to get, outside of having a movie, additionally. But it's better, I think, to move this way, where it's, you know, you didn't stay for too long, but you gave everyone exactly what they wanted and needed. And I want to give Megan her where it's, you know, you didn't stay for too long, but you gave everyone exactly what they wanted and needed. And I want to give Megan her props too, because she was a great leader in setting the culture

of our set and everybody who has come and guest star, they've had a really great time. But we learned from Megan, from Grace, like it truly is a fun time, but also we have decided, we decided early on that we were gonna stick together throughout this situation. So nobody could say, well, you know, this person was a difficult one, or this person was this one, because if there was a problem, we all have the problem.

If there was, we all have it. And we're on the Zoom calls or whatever, and you won't know where the source is because we didn't want it to be like somebody was pinpointed or somebody is- This one's personal. Yeah, right. And we promised each other that if somebody says something

to one of us about the other one, we're not just gonna take it at face value. We come into the source and saying, hey, did this really happen? That's my emote. Because people do like to separate women and pin women against each other. And so I think it was really important for us to, and this is my second show.

I mean, I was like six months out of grad school and I booked this show and first time being the lead in something and then to get to do it like this, which is for me, my manifestation and to be like, Oh wait, no, actually for me, this can be the, the norm of the experience and y'all set the tone for that. So I thank you for being a great leader. All right, we have more with the cast of Harlem here. Megan Good, Tyler Lepley, Grace Byers, Shaniqua Shandai, and Jerry Johnson. When we come back, it's The Breakfast Club.

Good morning. The Breakfast Club. Morning everybody, it's DJ NV, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne the Guy, we are the Breakfast Club. We're still kicking in with the cast of Harlem, Megan Good, Tyler Lepley, Grace Byers, Shaniqua Shandai and Jerry Johnson. Charlamagne?

Does acting allow y'all to just escape when you're dealing with all of these personal things, now you can just go be somebody else for a few hours? It allows you to way it's therapeutic. I don't know if it really allows us to escape. I get to each his own. I think escape gets a little dangerous. So do y'all allow yourselves to lose yourself in a role? You can't go there. You can't. Because that's, I think that if we think about like some of our greats that have lost themselves and then we lost them.

I was going to say that. Yeah. It's like when you go there if you don't know how to unzip that character and step out in order to go home and not have that energy in your home, it gets crazy. But also the body doesn't know the difference sometimes. So when you go when you're going deep into a character and you're not doing those things where you are separating when you get home, your body don't know the difference. So if my character is going crazy, if I'm playing the Joker and I'm really in there and I'm taking the Joker home with me, my body don't know that I'm not the Joker if I believe it enough. And so sometimes, you know, it's good to be like, all right, I'm gonna give a cap on this. Like if I really got to go there, I'm gonna go there for the six months. I gotta go there, but I'm already planning all the things I need to plan. So that day I'm done. It's already set up for me to release this, whether I'm going to the ocean, whether I'm

wherever I am, whether all of my friends come to my house to remind me of who I am. I have to have something that reality sets me back to who I am or it's not going to be, it's going to be on my spirit and it's not going to be good for me. Well then, speaking of then, Jerry, where's Ty's head at after she found out she smashed the mother and a daughter? She just got out of real life to back me up. Cause he confused me there for a second.

Cause now she got to jump back into being Ty. Yeah, talking about reality versus reality. Yes, that's crazy. That's crazy. You know what I mean? I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm she got to jump back into being Ty. Yeah, talking about reality versus... Yes, that's crazy. That's crazy.

To find out something like that is like how do you even deal with that? And I think Ty decides. Because what does Ty really want? She's poly, she's single, she's open. I think even though Jerry is poly, she agrees. She agrees. But she's open. I think even though Jerry is Polly, I think Ty was really wanting something, but

also probably in that moment being greedy because she was wanting something but having something else. And I think sometimes if my intention is commitment, then I have to go towards what that intention is. And if it's commitment towards one person and I'm letting my energy fly, of course I might end up with a daughter in America. A daughter in America. I watched things you could end up with.

I knew what was going on and I was like, oh my God, that was sick. Grace, how has motherhood changed you? I think what I did not expect was that I was fully prepared to was like, oh, that guy. Yeah, I'm sick. Grace, how has motherhood changed you? I think what I did not expect was that I was fully prepared to be like, I'm ready to learn everything I can about motherhood and my child. I did not anticipate that I was going to also go on a journey

to learn about myself. And so I had to face things about myself in order to ensure his well-being. So I had to go back to my own childhood Go back to the things that you know that I didn't realize that I was like holding on to or dealing with or like simple Things like you know like being being a recovering people pleaser. I can't do that with my child I will be so depleted. I will not show up as the mother that I need to be so how do I then? Organize in my mind like how do I prioritize myself for real for real?

Yeah, you know so like things like that that I didn't expect that are really changing my life Are these moments bittersweet knowing that you know, he's gonna be the last time y'all probably do interviews together and things of that nature Yeah, they said they they talk about movies. They manifest the movie We need a petition. And if it's not this, y'all could do something else. Yeah. Y'all are so grounded even as just outside the cast, just hearing y'all speak, like, you know,

like even from the last interview we had with you, like so much growth, like not saying that you, you know. Oh, yeah. So I was last time, right? No, you know. She said, yeah. so I was f***ed last time, right? No, yo. She said yeah. I was like, who's that? So I looked both d*** like, yo, no. She said yeah, yeah, well, not that, but.

Y'all are just, just, I don't know, it's just zenful. It's tranquility. It's just a whole bunch. Y'all are very grounded as a cast. Thank you. I appreciate that. I look forward to seeing anything else. Not even, don't have to be Harlem or just, you know, y'all can write your own movie.

I can direct it. We can just get it. Well, listen, we love you guys Here like we really appreciate And even just like, you know to all of us before you know as we saying goodbye I feel like one of the biggest You know reasons it's not a sad. Goodbye is like for a multitude of things like a we have a you know We have a great beginning middle and, and now we knew our end, we knew where we're landing at. So that's a beautiful thing. But then on the flip side, off of the script, because of the way we was able to come together

as family, I feel like this is a, a lot of times when we say goodbye to people, it's like a sad goodbye. You know what I'm saying? But it's like, I really feel like this is a, this is the opposite, it's almost like a happy goodbye. When we say goodbye, it's almost like we raising the trophy up. You know what I'm saying? So it's like when I do yes on a good note So when I think back about these times, it's not really gonna be a sad thing

You know we're able to experience together share it with the world and close the book at the right time Well Shaniqua you tell them we not leaving like that. We leaving with your single Play your record miss grace I felt the God in you this morning. We gonna say a prayer before we get up outta here. Do you want me to say the prayer? Or you wanna do the prayer? You're gonna need it. I'm gonna say it.

I'm God is good, God is great. Thank you for the food we eat. So I'm gonna let you do this prayer. There ain't no dinner on the table he do that. All right, let's do it. Let's do it. Join in. Let's do it.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this time together, Lord. We ask that you bless the Breakfast Club, Lord. We ask that you bless their minds, their hearts, their words. Your Father, thank you. Have you ever looked into the night sky and wondered who or what was flying around up there? We've seen planes, helicopters, hot air balloons, and birds.

But what if there's something else, something much more ominous that appears under the cover of night, silent, unseen, watching? They may be right above your car late one night as you cruise down the road, or look like mysterious lights hovering above your home. Drones. Or are they? We used the word drone because it was comfortable to other people. One minute it was there and one minute it wasn't. Oh that is beyond creepy. Do you feel like this drone was targeting you specifically?

Yes, absolutely. Listen to Obscurum, Invasion of the Drones on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Don't miss Real Life Amigos, Wilmer Valderrama, and Freddy Rodriguez in their new podcast, Dos Amigos. Each episode is a party where the good friends get real with each other about life, careers, and everything about everything. And you're right there with them. When I discovered acting, I've just found my calling.

But a lot of that was just because I wasn't good at anything else, you know? Join the two amigos straight from Wilmer's Speakeasy for toasted good times. Don't be surprised if some special guests and good friends drop in. And always expect lively, candid discussions, plenty of genuine moments, and lots of laughter. Remember here in this commercial, are you between the ages of 16? What's that? Oh man. Are you between the ages of 14 and 16 years old? Do you think you got it takes to what it takes to be a TV personality and commercials and you know,

morning Saturday morning shows? Listen to Dos Amigos as part of the MyCultura Podcast Network available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Why would you do that to me when I thought we were friends? We are friends. Los Angeles, 2021. A friendly neighbor appears out of nowhere

and promises to make all my dreams come true. Let's not forget that David Blum was a professional con artist, so you didn't stand a chance. But my dreams soon turned into a nightmare. Blum generally targeted people with money. And I was not alone. He took over a hundred people for over $15 million. One of the victims was his own grandmother. I was married to David for almost 10 years.

It was insane. I was barely functioning. And I just had this realization that he will not stop until he kills me. Getting a con artist to pay for their crimes isn't easy. Charge David Blum! I'm Caroline DeMore. Listen as I take down my scammer on Once Upon a Con

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Do you remember what you said the first night I came over here? How goes lower? I met Santi at a luau party in October. I'm Santi. Damien.

Oh, it was bizarre. The guy just disappeared one day. Santi has been missing ever since. The hookup. What is that? I'm solving a mystery through sex and haven't made a private dick joke until now? Like, no matter how hard I try, all roads lead to...

The hookup. You think it's causing people to turn aggro? I'm gonna rip your arms off and use them to- Yeah, that's a word for it. This is such terrible representation, I'm so sorry. Poppers? These aren't just any poppers. Mama always used to say, God gave me gumption in place of a gag reflex.

No, my psychiatrist didn't laugh at that one either. Listen to the hookup on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. For a form like this, Lord, that we're able to galvanize as one, that we're able to come together in truth and honesty and love and just celebrate amazing Black work, Lord. We are so grateful for this moment, grateful for this time, dear Father. We ask that you go before us, that you make the crooked path straight. We ask that you continue to uplift us in your spirit dear Lord. Let us always stay in your purpose and your will Lord. We thank you for your love. We thank you for your blessing. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Hey Kevin, the cast of Harlem. The Breakfast Club. Good morning. Wake up. Wake up. You're locked into the Breakfast Club.

Good morning, everybody. It's DEJ, Envy, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne the Guy. We are the Breakfast Club. Now, if you're just joining us, we're talking about the list of Trump executive orders that affected people from DEI to birthright citizenship to ICE coming and taking people. How is this affecting you? Yeah, the mass deportations, the dismantling of DEI, the potential federal hiring freeze, I mean tariffs. And so we're just opening up the phone lines to see how things have impacted people. Jess is already concerned about the price of wigs,

potentially, you're stupid. Excuse me, Mayor, no I'm not. No I'm not. Okay. It affects my mother and other people who have been in child care administration. My mom has been taking care of kids and she has a childhood preschool and has had one for 30 years coming up and a lot of her money comes from federal government. You know, like the food program she get checks to feed the kids, you know, and then all of her parents they are using vouchers or scholarship of some sort. You know what I mean? So, Or potential federal hiring freeze could shut her business down.

Absolutely. Absolutely. And it will. People are already starting to be affected by it, you know, so. And you see the dismantling of DEI programs. to be affected by it, you know, so and you see the dismantling of DEI program You see people losing jobs, you know when you got these mass deportations Like I know people who you know jobs have got ran up in you know I mean are their parents jobs have gotten ran up in you know, I know family members I know families who literally have had to leave because you know one person in the household was was Undocumented and now they gotta go and the kids gotta go it's like it's real

out here yeah yeah you know growing up in New York of course you're surrounded by immigrants right you're surrounded by people that are one here this guy crazy you say surrounded by I'm like he's not one in the person surrounding I'm not I actually was born here my parents were too but you're surrounded by immigrants that you know that the kids were born here but their parents not too, but you're surrounded by immigrants that, you know, that kids were born here, but their parents not, and now many of my friends and the people that I know, they're fearful that their parents could be, you know, taken back, and parents could be, you know,

taken by ICE, because there's no rules, there's no regulations, they just know that ICE is on the street grabbing immigrants, so people are nervous, people are scared. Are you an anchor baby? My parents were born here, sir, my grandparents were born here and I was born here sir. Prove it, let me see your birth certificate. Try standing where

ice come and snatch you up. That's gonna be crazy, I'm scared to take my daughter outside to this day. I'm like Jesus. Damn. Yes. For real they might think I'm harboring one of them. Chris is legal though right? Yeah he is but Marlee, she look like she, nah, see, she more questioned than her father. People be like, oh, where you get that baby from? And if I just got it by myself, I look like a nanny. Nice. So it's, I don't know, it's crazy. But for the people who don't know, your baby daddy is Mexican.

Yes. Yes. Half Mexican. Yes, half Mexican. His mom's straight, straight up Mexican. It's Father Blake, so. And my daughter, she looks straight Mexican like oh my god I think you should stop saying it you might get a knock for part hello

hello who's this? This is Dr. Allen. Where are you calling from? I'm from 75, but I'm in Indianapolis now. Okay, how have Trump's executive orders impacted you thus far? Absolutely. So I am a director for diversity and coaching inclusion for engineering research centers. So through the National Science Foundation, they pretty much stopped all of me, my ability to spend money. I built programs like easy programs for high school students. They told me I could not take no more students to Washington DC for, we had an upcoming conference

for them to present their research. I have about $300,000 in funding that I can no longer touch because I work in DEI. They told me literally, I couldn't spend the money because my proposal said I was working with marginalized students. And that is discrimination by another name. When you're saying that I can't work with students because they're from marginalized backgrounds, but if it was a white student, I can go ahead and continue with my work. This discrimination by another name. And so I have about I have another about five million dollars in additional funding that I have that I have sitting there for review that I can't that they just probably just gonna throw out now. And

these are this is money that's going to our students our low-income students underrepresented students to make sure that we get skills and help our students keep being grow go to college get scholarships and we can no longer touch that money. They are literally trying to prevent us from growing our community and be able to do the things that we need to do all because they don't want us to be as successful as we could be. And it is very sickening. How do we combat that? How do we combat it? How do we combat it? How can we? Well, a few things that we have to do is we have to put pressure on our elected officials.

The Democrats have to be able to stop, get off their fingers and actually do something. This should not be a process for them to be able to discriminate by another name. There should be some type of lawsuit that are letting them say, hey, you all have not developed any criteria for what is considered DEI. You all are just looking for anything that says black or brown, underrepresented, marginalized, low income, and that is discriminating. There needs to be some folks that are doing something

in the legal arena, that these three folks are doing something in the political arena, and we also need to start thinking about how do we make sure that we're not hammed from the next time one of these oligarchs or somebody comes in and wants to take over power like this? We need to be able to make sure that we're self-sufficient, sustainable,

and figure out ways in which we can do that. I totally agree, man. You know, the ill part about it is there are, you know, guardrails and tools that Democrats can use, but, you know, we just keep getting all these statements about norms and faith and institutions. Bro, them institutions are done. Okay? These people are playing by a different set of rules. They need to figure it out. Let's go to another caller. Hello, who's this? Hello, good morning.

They deported him just that fast. That's his name. Oh my God. Who's this? They're driving off with him right now. Hello, who's this? Hey, imagine. Hi, good morning, this is Erica.

Caller, phone for a lot of you. Good morning. Erica, how are you? We, good morning, this is Erica, calling from Fort Lauderdale. Good morning. Erica, how are you? We're talking about Trump's executive orders. How has it affected you at all? I mean, honestly, guys, let's be real. No matter what women want, numbers don't. America voted for Trump.

I don't understand now why did everybody go up at war about what's going on when they were killing your multiple times, over and over, providing administration, let us know about 20, 20 things, nobody didn't care. I don't know why is everybody up there now. We were warned.

Ma'am, ma'am, yeah. Ma'am, where you all number so. Ma'am, you're absolutely right. But what that got to do with his executive orders impacting people? It was expected, it was forthcoming. Yes. There's nothing, you're absolutely right. But what that got to do with his executive orders impacting people? It was accepted. It was forthcoming. Yes. There's nothing you can do about it if you voted him in office.

But have they impacted you? That's the question. You're at this point, Shama, I'm going to be honest with you. I'm going to be honest with you. Right now, it's players are going to do it. Tom 91, Tom 23, Tom 121. Kamala 21. There's all these people that you can do is print

and keep with that, it's everything that's going on right now. All right, thank you mama. What is she saying? She's basically saying that y'all did it to yourselves. That's what she said, y'all voted for him and she didn't answer the question, she basically just said that y'all did it to yourselves. What was she quoting, box churches?

Yes. She going to highway somewhere too. She's like, I ain't even understand, I'm like oh lord. And I understand what she's saying, but that's not the question we're asking. The question we're asking is how has his executive orders impacted people? Because you know, what I would like to start hearing is solutions, you know, like I would like to start hearing, you know, how we can combat some of these things. But how can we write because he's the president. He put these orders into play.

This is his house right now. Right. But how do we how right? Because he's the president, he put these orders into play. This is his house right now, right? But he's doing it, so how do we stop that? How do we defend it? How do we combat that? Is there any way something can happen locally? Because even with my mom being affected, and then the caller who just called up and said they're gonna cut her childcare benefits,

she's a full-time working mom, is there something we can do? The mayors, the governors, I know he signed these orders, but there's no way, can we tackle it locally? There's tools and guardrails that these people have at their disposal to try to slow down some of this stuff, but they gotta have the strength to use them. The Democrats are a party of cowards.

They're leaderless right now. But they are guardrails in place. All right, well, we gotta... This is gonna be a never-ending conversation, by the way. Y'all do know that, right? But that's why... It just feels weird because when you look at Biden and him being in office in the last four years

and what he's done, and then you look at Trump being so aggressive and doing everything that he wanted to do and not apologizing for it and just doing it, basically saying, I told y'all what I was gonna do if you don't like it middle finger and then you look at the last four years and look at Biden was just so nice and just trying to be the nice guy. It just really makes you upset you know. Yeah for sure.

Alright well is there a moral to the story at all? The moral to the story is this is gonna be a never ending conversation but that's what the Breakfast Club is here for. The Breakfast Club is here to have those conversations Okay And we'll bring in people who are way smarter than us to tell us what these guardrails are and what these tools are What these tools are that they can use to try to slow some of this stuff down? All right. It's the breakfast club Good morning breakfast club Morning everybody is DJ envy Jess hilarious Charlamagne the guy we are the breakfast club Lauren LaRosa's here with us this morning

And we got some special guests in the building we have Derek Johnson the president of the NAACP welcome here We have Scott mill CEO of BET good morning Thank you for having me and we have a friend to the room cousin to the room Chloe Bailey ladies and gentlemen welcome back Hello, how you feeling? How's everybody? Fantastic. All right, so we're talking about the NAACP image Awards live which goes down February 22nd And you guys have released some of the nominations and you about to tell us who's gonna be the host actually We're not yet disclosing. Okay It's hard to be both a nominee and a host. That is correct. That's a first for everything.

There you go. Why are you with them, Chloe? Why are you with them, Chloe? Why are you with them people? We're family. We are definitely family. Growing up as well, sis and I, we would go and sing a lot of times at the events in Florida several times and things like that.

And it was just really special to be a part of this today with praise this the Movie I did with Will Packer winning last year and You know, it was a surprise to me today as we were announcing some of the nominations. I got another First time you all joined us in a CPU like 11 12 Well, I think it's important for you to be here with them especially put your voice on it because I think there first time you all joined us in ACP you were like 11, 12? Yeah, babies, babies. Oh yeah. Well I think it's important for you to be here with them, especially putting your voice on it because I think there's always a conversation around like the award shows that we have and whether people and what level of celebrities support it or not.

So I think you being here and you know being kind of like a face of it helps that. Are you at all like working with the NAACP in these image awards? Are you at all getting out there for other award shows and just kind of being a champion of that like in calling your friends and being like hey y'all need to make sure y'all show up like which celebrities are you like hey make sure you show up particularly Beyonce. Beyonce came to the NAACP award before her and I know we getting there. Yeah I think this one is really especially important because it is honoring us and all of our blackness and sometimes it's hard in this world and society today to not feel valued or

Feel worthy enough, but definitely in this space at the image Awards You know we are celebrating one another for not only our skin tone But also the incredible art that we put into the world Yeah, how do we bring award shows back to where it used to be? Right? I remember as a kid. Money. Money. Money. Because growing up as a kid, that's what we look, we expired to watch.

We expired to, we wanted to see the NAACP awards. We wanted to see the BET awards. And some of our biggest moments culturally came from those events. Soul Train as well. How do we get back to that? Now you say money. What does that money mean? I mean, the large marketing houses actually put an emphasis on black culture in a way

in which it's not exploitive for their product line, but that's supportive for the culture sake. What we have seen over time is a devaluing of shows like Soul Train, which loves Soul Train, but escalation of resources for the Grammys or the Oscars or the Emmys, while their viewership has been going down, they're still investing in it. But then they say your viewership is down, yeah you don't invest. But if you invest, people want to see black entertainment. People want to appreciate the culture and it's not just in the US, it's globally. I agree with that but you know there are some black people who think white ice is cold.

There absolutely are. I mean, I think one of the things that was interesting post, you know, that very brief moment of racial renaissance we had in this country post murder of George Floyd. The black squares. Right, right. At that moment.

Post that, when we were preparing to do the image awards with the NAACP, I would get these calls from journalists and they'd say, is there still a need for the image awards? Haven't we beyond that? And I said- How come you're so white? Right, right.

And I said, you know, first of all, I think that suggestion means you really don't understand why the image awards exist. It is not, it doesn't exist because we were excluded from other places. First and foremost, it is about that our community values being recognized and celebrated by our community. And that has absolute value. But the second thing is, what

we understand about this country is it's terribly fickle, right? So today, oh, yes, we're wonderfully popular and you want to include us in all of your award shows, but you know, this is not going to sustain. And what the NAACP and the partnership with BET, we have a consistent commitment to celebrating excellence in our community. And that's really what our partnership for the Image Awards is all about. Question for you guys, because even in planning the show, right? So BET works with the NAACP to have the awards, the program on the network. People always give you guys a lot of flack for what's on the network and what's not, saying that you need better shows or whatever the case may be. But the awards show, the Image Awards, it's always a good show in my opinion.

How much do you get tired of the conversation of BET doesn't have good stuff to watch, that's why we don't watch it? Well, it's fascinating. I think there are always going to be people who are critical. That's the reality. The situation is really fun. This morning before coming over, I listened to your best of clip that you guys have online. And one of your featured guests was Miss Pat and it was through Lee Daniels reaching out to BET to say I have this series that only BET can create. The only platform in the world that can actually put this this series out there is BET. It scares everyone

else off. It's an important message. So we looked at it. We love Lee Daniels. We greenlit the series right and it actually secured BET's first primetime Emmy nomination because it was a really breakthrough show. And now everybody knows who Miss Pat is and she's going on. We're actually in the fifth season of that show. And whether it's that or the nominations that we've received for D'Arra from Detroit. I love that show.

Fantastic show. D'Arra, Kilpatrick is an amazing talent. And the show is great fun. And the amazing work we do with Tyler Perry. The reality is we have the biggest investment in black focused content than any platform in the country and even with that you're never going to be able to satisfy every single audience. And so we recognize that there are going to be things that people love, there are going to be things that people wish for, there are going to be things that people keep on saying,

bring back music video shows. Music video shows don't work on linear television. That's just the reality of it. So what we focus on is what are the things that actually our audiences are really consuming and enjoying. So Tyler Perry's Sisters, we're going into the eighth season. It is the single most watched show among black people on all of television, not all of cable, all of television. That's a fact.

So more than anything on broadcast television. So people say, oh, you know, there'll be some people who complain about BET, but the fact that we have the single most watched show in black households. So that is a long way of saying, we're always striving to be more inclusive. So we created our streaming platform, BET+, to be able to create even more content, speak

to diverse audiences. We think our tent poles, like the NAACP Image Awards, like the BET Awards, which this year is going to celebrate its 25th anniversary, if you can believe that. We think our tent poles are those to their name. They are the things that allow us to bring a huge cross section of the community together to come and celebrate what's really important to us as a community. One of the things this year, over 3 million folks tuned in, sorry, as over 3 million folks moved in, sorry, tuned in to the BET awards

in 2024. And if you think about that, it means it's the single largest gathering of black people for a black event in the country. Right? There's nothing else that 3 million black folks show up for that is a specifically black event. And so you still have this opportunity to catalyze, mobilize and engage our community. And you just have to be very thoughtful and have great partners like the NAACP. All right, we have more with Chloe Bailey the president of the NAACP Derek Johnson and the president and CEO of BET Scott Mills. So don't move. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning. Morning everybody. It's DJNV Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne the guy We are the Breakfast Club. Lauren LaRosa is in on this interview as well We're kicking it with Chloe Bailey the president of the NAACP

Rosa is in on this interview as well. We're kicking it with Chloe Bailey, the president of the NAACP, Derek Johnson, and the president and CEO of BET, Scott Mills. The NAACP Image Awards will air on February 22nd. Now Charlamagne? What does BET mean to your generation, Chloe? Because you're 26. Yes. I think, you know, for me growing up, you know, I'm a music lover. I grew up loving 106 and Park. Like, I think I could speak for everyone in my generation, you know, I'm a music lover. I grew up loving 106 and park Like I think I could speak for everyone in my generation, you know I know certain things go into a lot But that was like the show for me to be inspired to get excited Like that was it like I'd run home from school and that's what I'd put on

So I was used to seeing people who looked like me who were succeeding in a field that I wanted to succeed in one day so people who looked like me who were succeeding in a field that I wanted to succeed in one day. So, BET has always had a special place in my heart, especially think of all the groundbreaking performances, like, you know, when Beyonce had her incredible performance on there. Yeah. You know, I'm so grateful that I got to be on that stage two, three times. One of my favorite performances that I did on there was on BET.

It was like this surprise treat me mashup. So it's like, I feel like BET gives a platform for all black artists, whether they are at the top of their game, whether they're rising. And I think it's really special to have that support. So when you hear that, Scott, what do you think? So first, so I love it. And one of the things that we focus on is we understand people love 106 and park, right? And so the fact that it doesn't work as a linear television show doesn't mean 106 and Park is over because we can bring 106 and Park back as a podcast. We can bring 106 and Park back as a digital experience.

And we are evolving what 106 and Park will look like in 2025 because it does have that very important role. So y'all are bringing 106 and Park back. Does it happen? I've heard that you guys are trying to figure out a show like that. Yes, and we've got a number of really exciting executions because it's also, we're approaching the 25th anniversary

of 106 and Park as well. So we will get a little bit AD and free on that 25 year. You know, we will, there'll be some things that you guys will be really excited about and we look forward to coming back and talk to you about 106 and Park. With AJ and free? There you go, noted. We're AJ and Free?

There you go, noted. So, but I think the other thing that Chloe shared that is so important is we at BET exist to be in service of our community and our culture. That's what we exist for and we understand that there's a broad ecosystem of different institutions and individuals that make up our community and our culture. And we are part of that broader landscape and that broader ecosystem. And we play a supporting, complementary role to our community and our ecosystem. And whether that's celebrating black excellence, whether that's mobilizing our community around important events, whether that's coming to the aid of our community post, you know, in the face of COVID. But to Chloe's very specific point, one of the things that our team loves

is to be a platform that both celebrates our most successful artists who are absolutely at the pinnacle of their careers and simultaneously to identify and support those emerging artists, to give them the platform, because we were so many artists, very first time to be on television, right?

So many artists, very first time to be on television, right? So many artists very first time to perform. The number of managers and label executives who come up and say, you know, we are so appreciative to be back at the BET Awards because this is where our talent XYZ got their very first break that really resonates with our team. Can you tell us some of the performance that you guys have planned for the NAACP Awards? We will be revealing performers as we get closer. We're doing a rollout now and it's very intentional because we're trying to build the audience. The platforms by which people consume information is shifting every month. You know as you know we grew up listening to

Tom Jordan's morning show. Breakfast Club took it over. Well quite frankly that's going to be a podcast to take over Breakfast Club. And so we're 160. First of all, Breakfast Club did not take over Tom Joyner. Tom Joyner retired on his own accord. No, no, no, no. I'm just an audience. Tom Joyner was urban adult contemporary. He catered to the 2554 demo. We came around 18 to 24. And the Breakfast Club is a podcast,

not just a podcast, we're the number one black podcast in the world and have been for eight, nine years. You're doing everything perfect with somebody gonna do it better later. Is that gonna be next month they come up or is it gonna be next year? You're doing everything perfect.

Why do we do that as black people? I don't know, you started that. You just asked him to start shitting. Why do we need something to replace something? Why all of these things can't coexist? I'm not gonna start shitting around. You started this one. I'm buying this away. I need something to replace something. Thank you sister. Why all of these things can't coexist as one? It can coexist, but I'm responding to the tone.

And the tone is we have legacy organizations. We have media companies that have been a flagpole to our community. We have a show we're on now where the podcast has been excellent. We had other shows at Sunset. It is a part of the ecosystem of who we are as a community and we should meet people where they are. Who's replaced the NAACP there? That's a good question. Are they ready? Oh no man! That's what I mean when I say that. Like why do we do that as a people? Like oh just replace that. Like no everything can coexist.

You know we absolutely agree, but the tone set was something differently, right? So if she is 26 and she can appreciate 106 in part, they're someone who's an ACP, but if an ACP is not the right vehicle or voice for them, I support them choosing the right vehicle or voice, because in the social justice movement, it's not a competition, it's an opportunity for our voices to be heard. In an entertainment community, it's not a competition, it's an opportunity for our voices, our culture to be experienced and that's how we should be approaching all of this. And so where BET right now is in an industry that's shrinking overall, what Scott is doing is trying to figure out, okay, how do we continue to advance our culture and our voice? Where in ACP, we are in a political dynamic that has shift. It is our job being

the largest organization in 47 states to continue to evolve with that. We're not going anywhere. I don't want the Breakfast Club to go anywhere. BET shouldn't go anywhere. We should all be leaning to our culture, our opportunity, and our voice. Well, I agree.

These institutions shouldn't go anywhere, but I do think they do have to evolve. Like, I doubt I'll always be here as a host. I doubt Envie will always be here as a host. People like Lauren, the Jessers will take over and everything. But when it comes to the NAACP or any of these institutions, whose job is it to tell our own stories? Us.

It's our job, right? And that's why when we took over, we saw the partnership with BTV on Paramount. We have a joint venture with Paramount TV. We will have a soap opera aired next month on the 22nd on CBS daytime We're working. We're about to launch our podcast is we have to evolve that I revenue Streams have to evolve how we approach is organization should not be driven by personality It should be driven by mission and strategy. So we all have to evolve Let me ask you a question sports doesn't work Well on BET does sports sports works well on linear television

The challenge is sports rights have gotten insanely expensive because I look at all these HBC you write a DJ The Howard Hampton game is on CBS the other day and I'm watching a lot of these college games on TV And I always talk to myself with all the HBC use and how it's been a spurs HBC use everybody supporting HBC use Which is always weird to me why BET didn't put their arm around and be like, I need all those games here, where people actually come there. It's a great question. And in fact, when BET started, BET used to air HBCU games. I'm told that there's footage of Bob Johnson running along the sidelines doing live commentary of HBCU games, so I'm trying to look for it. But the reality is, because of the evolution

of college football and because of the evolution of college football and because of the proliferation of access to sports across all these platforms, the demand, the viewership interest in HBCU sports right now isn't high enough to kind of support the investment. Having said that, the entry point that we think is really exciting, that we're really focused on, is you now have a bunch of brothers who went off and played in the NFL have said, we want to remedy this dynamic where top black athletes feel like they have to go to other schools to be competitive. We want to remedy that dynamic. Right. So you saw, you know, you saw the recent announcements about the brothers, right. Right. Right. And okay, there you go. And so mater. Okay, there you go. And so now. University.

Right, there you go. So, and that's, so now the opportunity is we take our footprint, our platform, our relationships, and then we bring them to these luminaries who are going back to these HBCUs and building those teams. And then we focus on the stories and the people and the journey. And we get a broader community to be excited about this. And we actually use it to build interest in HBCU football and that we think is the way to actually elevate interest in HBCU football which will then allow us to bring more games to the network.

We have more with Chloe Bailey, the president of the NAACP, Derrick Johnson and the president of BET Scott Mills when we come back as the Breakfast Club. Good morning everybody. It's EJNV Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne the guy. We are the Breakfast Club. Lauren LaRosa is in on this interview as well. Chloe Bailey is here, the president of the NAACP and the president and the CEO of BET is joining us this morning.

Lauren. Now Chloe, I got to ask you. Yes. You bringing a date to the NAACP Awards? My god mom and my manager. Okay, so we ain't gonna see no more Burner Boy? You'll have to ask him. You're here, he's not.

Uh oh. No, no, no. Burner nominated? No, Burner's not nominated now. He's not nominated, but you look at these sheets, he not on. Have you ever looked into the night sky and wondered who or what was flying around up

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on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Don't miss Real Life Amigos, Wilmer Valderrama, and Freddy Rodriguez in their new podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. I've just found my calling. But a lot of that was just because I wasn't good at anything else, you know? Join the two amigos straight from Wilmer's Speak Easy for toasted good times. Don't be surprised if some special guests and good friends drop in. And always expect lively candid discussions, plenty of genuine moments, and lots of laughter. Remember here in this commercial, are you between the ages of 16? What is it? Oh man. Are you between the ages of 16? What is it? Oh man.

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Los Angeles, 2021. A friendly neighbor appears out of nowhere and promises to make all my dreams come true. Let's not forget that David Blum was a professional con artist, so you didn't stand a chance. But my dreams soon turned into a nightmare. Bloom generally targeted people with money. And I was not alone. He took over a hundred people for over $15 million. One of the victims was his own grandmother. I was married to David for almost 10 years.

It was insane. I was barely functioning and I just had this realization that he will not stop until he kills me. Getting a con artist to pay for their crimes isn't easy. Charge David Blum! I'm Caroline DeMore. Listen as I take down my scammer on Once Upon a Con on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Do you remember what you said the first night I came over here? How? Goes lower?

I met Santi at a luau party in October. I'm Santi. Damien. Oh, it was bizarre. The guy just disappeared one day. Santi has been missing ever since. The hookup. What is that? I'm solving a mystery through sex and haven't made a private dick joke until now? Like, no matter how hard I try, all roads lead to... The hookup. You think it's causing people to turn aggro?

I'm gonna rip your arms off and use them to f- Yeah, that's a word for it. This is such terrible representation, I'm so sorry. Poppers? These aren't just any poppers mama always used to say God gave me gumption in place of a gag reflex no not my psychiatrist didn't laugh at that one either listen to the hookup on the iHeart radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you

listen to your favorite shows there Chloe's on there. But I'm speaking of support and you know, we were seeing you out with him in Nigeria. So is that a new thing or? Nigeria was so beautiful. What about the nightlife? We saw you in the club with Berna. Yes, the nightlife. It was so many lights, so many cameras. I know. So everything with you we Mean now is burner boy. We want to know is that your boo is this the thing y'all together Do y'all go together real bad y'all just having fun. What is it? Well, I'm a grown woman

So, you know, I had a great time in Nigeria. I Really did So I guess I'm not gonna get an answer on if you cared about the, when you left, there was the video people were like, Oh my God, the Chloe time is over. Now he's out with this random other girl. I didn't see that. Burn a boy. Burn a boy.

Yeah. He was out with a random other girl. Because I didn't even see that. All over the internet. All over the internet. But it's because we all were so heavily together. We were like, Oh shoot, we don't see her do this much Yeah, and then yeah, so he's a grown man. It's like I'm a grown woman

You know, I could imagine dating at 20 something and being put on the air by being so famous Expecting the minute that you see her on that carpet they're gonna be looking like cuz Anybody anybody that she's with is always a thing anybody she's with like she could have been going to Bible study You was in there studying the Bible I would have been like you know what God is good okay all the time you can study anytime I have the questions that I'd be wanting to know because yeah no I don't know God momma gave you that look keep it up twice no me and God momma he's got my mother. He's got my mother. He got me before. So I love her. So she's gonna let you know that. But no, honestly, I don't mind. I mean, I hate to say this, but it's my life. I mean, it's what I sign up for. So I can only expect it is just about how I handle it. Yeah, handle myself. So I don't think it should ever be pissiness towards the people who ask me.

And I think as a woman watching you navigate it, I'm always interested in how you deal with that because for instance, you're here about the NAACP Image Awards, but it's like, we wanna know that, so we have to ask. And being a person who's now learning how to be in the light of everything, I'm like, how do you deal with that?

Plus her love life is very slow, Chloe, like very slow. I don't believe that. No, very slow. I don't believe that. No, very slow. I don't believe that. She is dealing with you. I know you got a roster. I don't know. No, she don't. Roster?

No, she don't. I don't even know. I don't even got a school roster. You like, boom. Her phone is dry. Dry as heck. One thing I learned about getting on the radio. They're intimidated.

It's very dry. I am just, I am a wife. All I do is stay home. I just want to cook. But you got a husband. She's not a wife. She got a husband. I mean, just I am a wife. All I do is stay home. I just want to cook This radio has made me be quiet Ready for that. I know it's preparing you for that. No, it's not a person. I appreciate it now back to the end of Lacey Chicken now, how are these nominees chosen? How do you guys choose the nominees and how do you guys go to who's winning?

And how do y'all expand the categories every year? Because you know things change, right? You got social media personality in now, podcasts, like how do you expand the category? So start with the last question. We recognize that the industry is changing so we try to keep up. We add categories, digital content categories, fashion design. There's a panel of close to 500 people, half industry, half non-industry that's been selected across the country and those are the individuals that review the materials and they nominate.

Oftentimes, I don't even know what's been nominated until I finally get it. And then once nominated, some of the categories are voted on by the public. And so it's by popular vote in some areas and then in other areas is by those who are critics in the space to ensure fairness in the outcome. So there is a mix that we try to balance those two things out. I also want to ask about comedy as well. You see Netflix is heavy in the comedy. You see a lot of they're giving comedy deals to damn every comedian. Has BET ever wanted to jump

back into that space because BET was one of the huge originators, especially of black comedy? That's right with Comic View. Did Deon Cole put you up to this question? Because he's been beating you up about this. No, but he's been up here recently but now he hasn't. So the reality is we're always looking for the way back into places, right? And and we did a quick partnership with Kevin Hart and Heartbeat, where we did a test run of bringing back Comic View. And part of the thing is that really understanding how our community wants to consume content, right?

And also understanding some people will use certain content as a loss leader for other things. And I'm not saying who would be using it as a loss leader, but there are other platforms that are paying, using content as a loss leader for other things. And I'm not saying who would be using it as a loss leader, but there are other platforms that are paying, using content as a loss leader for other things. So we're working with Dion right now to do a really fun thing in stand up comedy. He'll be thrilled that you put me on the spot and ask the question. But we think comedy clearly works, right?

We see it working with the Miss Pat Show. The series we have with Dion Average Joe is a thriller that has a comedic line through it. We really see that our audience loves comedy Miss Pat in addition to her Miss Pat Show. We do Miss Pat Settles It, which is her doing a crazy court show. And so our audience is loving it. We think in 2025, given the way the world has changed, people need to laugh even more. And so there'll be an even greater demand for comedy.

So we're leaning into it in a big way. Have there been conversations Derek about changing the name of the NAACP since some people think colored people is a slur? No. As we said we got all the colors drawn and disabled only. No we have not. I mean we get caught up in semantics we lose focus and there's no need to go to the semantics. We are an organization that's been around 116 years. That's significant. When you talk about this concept of a surplus mindset that what we can do, we can stick together, we can work together, we can prosper together. Often times we say what black folks won't do, what we can't do,

we haven't done. We got to get away from that and not get caught up in semantics. At the end of the day are we being effective with our mission? Making democracy work for all and to ensure an opportunity for our community. That's our focus. The semantics go out the door. Yeah I asked that and I think it was was it last year? It was one of the presidents I forgot from which chapter of NAACP. They were upset because somebody used the word colored people somewhere. I have no idea. I don't see me wonder every time I run across him he asks the question because he's been saying y'all need to change the name. He's been saying that since like 1982. What does he see about the name?

Shut up. I haven't been. The lack of subtlety. At the end of the day the Image Awards is the crown jewel of shows for African-Americans. It gives us an opportunity for all of us to come together and appreciate the culture we bring to the table. And we do that intergenerational across all of the platforms. That's right. And you can, the voting is now open to the public at NAACPImageAwards.net. That's right. We appreciate you guys for joining us this morning. Yes, it stopped dragging Chloe around for no reason. She's busy She got things you can be doing

Okay, that's right If you were not says the host I think would make so much sense cuz you out here outside Wow, we don't know what y'all planned. I wouldn't press on it. They might have another host You just effing it. She says you want a host to If I don't host I y'all plan to do. They might have another host. You just effing. And she says she want a host too? Wow. Or if I don't host I could sing a little song. Listen, we've been rolling. Then we announce the host.

Everybody gonna say, oh that is a great choice, good decision. The host gonna come on with Sky and they're gonna talk about why that person is the host. And y'all gonna say this is the best thing that could have happened. Absolutely. Collaboration be done. Chloe and the best thing that could have happened. Absolutely. Collaboration would be dope. Chloe and Bernadette Boyd hosting the NAACP. That would be a great collaboration. And you all can take credit for it.

He brought that back up, I did. All right, well it's Chloe Bailey, Derrick Johnson, Scott Mills. We appreciate you for joining us. Check out the NAACP, the 56 NAACP Image Awards, February 22nd at 8 p.m. And it's the Breakfast Club. Good morning. The Breakfast Club. Your mornings will never be the same. Don't be out here acting like a donkey.

Tee-haw, bitch. Tee-haw. It's time for Donkey of the Day. I'm a big boy, I can take it. If you feel I deserve it, it ain't no big deal. I know Charlamagne got some funny sweet s*** out his mouth. If you say something you may not agree with, doesn't mean I'm mean. Who's getting that donkey? That donkey, that donkey, that donkey, donkey, donkey.

Donkey of the day right there. It's at the Breakfast Club, bitches. You can call me the donkey of the day, but like, I mean no harm. Donkey of the day goes to 22-year-old Malaysia Lee. Malaysia is from Charlotte, North Carolina. Salute to the 704. Drop on the Clues bombs for Charlotte man. One of the reasons that I have chosen to be a mental health advocate is because I want us as humans to learn how to control our emotions.

Easier said than done I know, but today's donkey is a prime example of it's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters. That's why going to do that internal work on yourself matters. Okay, because you can get to that place where you realize you don't have to match energies, baby. And you realize you don't have to take everything personally because as Don Miguel Ruiz says in one of my favorite books, The Four Agreements,

whatever happens around you, don't take it personally. Nothing other people do is because of you it is because of themselves Malaysia could have used that advice see she could have used that second agreement because Malaysia was an employee at Wendy's in the 704 And according to store managers a 31 year old homeless man named Alondra Ala is it Alondra? Yeah, Alan Alondra Romero Santos came in the restaurant requesting free food. Okay, the news report said he was homeless. So clearly he wasn't having the best day. After the manager provided him with a cup of water, Santos allegedly used the cup to fill it up with soda instead. Pepsi, Coke, Sprite, Fanta. I don't know what his soda choice was, but when Santos went

to the restroom, the manager threw the cup away. Why? Okay I don't know let the man have his cup if he wants you know to get free refills who cares in fact give him some of those hot fries and a cheeseburger and tell him keep it moving the man was homeless now granted you can't make a habit of that because you will have people coming to the store doing that all the time but if you see someone in need at least attempt to help in this case you didn't help in fact you clearly hurt because when Santos came out the bathroom He got mad. He got upset because the manager threw the cup away. So he went to the parking lot

Found another cup and returned to the store to fill it with soda once again Now, of course the manager didn't like that You went outside and found a cup in the parking lot to fill it back up with soda. By the way, that's nasty Okay, that is disgusting. All right, that's how you know desperate times call for desperate measures. Somebody might have have spit-flim in that cup, okay, and tossed it before they left the parking lot. Might have been rolling a blunt, you know how it is sometime when you out somewhere and you sit in the car rolling up, you know, you got a little cup from a fast food restaurant, you put the blunt guts in

that cup, spit in it, you know, toss it. That's why using a cup he found in the parking lot is gross. But according to this article he's also homeless so I'm not judging. But Santos got mad at the manager so then Santos threw the soda at Malaysia who was sitting in the restaurant with the manager. Now when I heard this story I said to myself I think that's assault. I'm not the highest grade of weed in the dispensary knowing I'm a legal expert, but that feels like an assault. It's not a punch, a slap, a push, but it is an attack. Okay, there is a reason Sprite rhymes with fight.

Okay, that is a man throwing a drink on a woman. So I did some research and by research, I mean I asked ChatGPT, is throwing a drink on a woman considered assault? And ChatGPT said, yes, throwing a drink on someone, including a woman is generally considered assault or battery under the law, depending on the jurisdiction. Well, we need to lock up everyone on reality TV.

Okay, from Love and Hip Hop to Real Housewives, round them all up. All right, yes, Malaysia was assaulted. And Malaysia did what a lot of people do in the Carolinas, North or South, okay, when they get assaulted. She went to her car. Okay, she didn't have an honor, she went and got her pistol. Now, I don't know why the dude, Santos, stood there

and waited for her to come back, but I guess he didn't expect this young lady to have a pistol, but she did. And Malaysia came back in the store, chased Alondra outside, and shot at him three times, hit him once in the head while he was driving. Yes, this homeless man had a car, okay. And Malaysia shot the car up and hit him in the head and she was charged with assault with a deadly

weapon with intent to kill and discharging the firearm into occupied property and she is in custody at the Mecklenburg County Jail under a quarter million dollar bond. Now I tell you folks all the time, you cannot tell someone how to react. Okay, I might push you and your response might be to pull out a gun and pop me. Well guess what I shouldn't have pushed you. There is cause and effect to everything but your uncle Sharla also tells you that when faced with certain situations you have to start doing jail math in your head. Okay you literally have to calculate how much time you could possibly get if you do said crime. You have to calculate in your head if you can afford to do what it is

you're about to do. See Malaysia I'm not mad at you for going to get your pistol. You was assaulted. I feel like owning a legal firearm in this country and knowing how to use it is a form of self care. But here's my issue and why you getting the biggest hee haw. It's because you didn't do your jail math. Malaysia, you had plenty of time to think about your choice.

I understand this man threw soda on you and I'm glad you were able to go to your car to get your gun, but the gun should have been there to protect you from the situation escalating further or maybe even the whole demand while the cops come. I'm not expecting you to be a vigilante hero in this situation but I just wanted you to move with a little less emotion. Okay you got to be strategic. I understand you were upset because he threw a drink on you and who knows what else you know what's going on in his life or even in your life but you went and got

that pistol he saw you coming he hauled ass got this car and you let off shots I can even understand that to a certain extent because he might have been going in his car to get his weapon but in this case according to reports he was driving off let him go I know hindsight is 20 20 and it's easy for me to say because I wasn't in the situation but let him go hell you could even let one off in the air just to let him know you will bust your gun but But shooting in his car, three shots, gunshot wound to the head while he's driving off. You should have started doing that jail math in your head, man. Luckily, he's not deceased. But now you sitting in the county with a quarter million dollar bail.

I'm not counting your pockets, but you're 22 and working Wendy's. I doubt you got a quarter million or the 25,000 because most bonds are 10%. I doubt you have either but that's why jail math works and you have to calculate these scenarios in your head before you make decisions. Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division. How long will I be gone if I do this? How much money will it cost me if I do this? Subtract your emotion from things and ask yourself is it worth it if I do this the answer is no You are in jail right now simply because a man wanted a free soda. Let him have it It is not worth ending up in jail over a free soda and free fast food. I mean come on

Hey, like who who who would go to jail for a free soda and free fast food? Wow play a steam music Who would go to jail for a free soda and free fast food? Wow Okay, guys here Mid-size Mac is here How are you how are you miss I'm back hungry What Mac I know I knew soon as I said something about food you walk in here This is I don't understand how I keep telling y'all that the big backs are biting back. Nothing is worth any of this and not even just because like you said the jail math.

Every black person knows we all have the same mantra at work. I don't get paid enough for this. I agree. Yeah, I'm with you. Them faux-faux-fauxs. I'm with you. Defending that. I don't get paid enough for this. You want to steal Defending that, I don't get paid enough for this.

You want to steal from Home Depot? I don't get paid enough for this. You just got to tell yourself in the back of your mind constantly because that will prevent you from having to do the jail math. So even if they throw the food on you or the soda on you, you still like... Well, I'm the wrong person to ask that. Somebody throw food at me. It's a party. It's a game. What else you got? You still like well, I'm the wrong person asked that somebody throw food at me Please give Malaysia Lee the biggest he huh Somebody throw it at him what else you got? God dang. Vinny Hanna is an Afro-digiette. I hate this show so much. I'm an open mind man. Don't threaten me with a party. Vinny Hanna being your foreplay is crazy bro.

That's how you know there ain't no HR here. They probably like look I don't get paid enough for this. Alright. Thank you Glizzy Catcher. Charlamagne. Thank you for that doggy today. Yes indeed. Breakfast Club. Morning everybody, it's DEJ, Envy, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne the Guy, we are the Breakfast Club, Laurel and Rosa filling in for Jess today. We got a special guest in the building. Yes indeed. We have the brother, Leon Thomas.

Welcome bro. What's good, what's good? How y'all feeling? How you feeling? Bless Black and Holly favorite. Leon, you are by far the greatest new male R&B singer doing it today. Man, thank you so much. That shouldn't even be up for debate.

Man, man, I really appreciate that, man. How do you receive that? I mean, to be honest, I try to just take it one step at a time. I try to stay humble with everything, but I'm glad to be a new voice in R&B. It's a genre that I love. I'm trying to bring back live musicianship, real songs, know writing with the team that I have has been in a an amazing pleasure And you know just bring in like that that organic feeling back to the live stage is like a big thing for me

You know for people that don't know Leon Thomas, you know, you started on Broadway Tell everybody how you got your start and your way into being this is R&B star. Well, listen, I grew up in New York Started on Broadway out here. I did three Broadway plays from Lion King, The Carolina Chains, The Color Purple. You were Simba in Lion King? Yeah, yeah, I was Simba in Lion King. And then I started booking movies and TV shows.

Before I would slow that, but how was that? I just took my kids to see that. Oh no, it was insane. So how was that training? Because it's a lot of shows, a lot of people, and it's live, so you can't mess up. No, no, no, you can't mess up. It's you can't mess up it's eight shows a week I was ten years old when I did my first Broadway play shout out to my mom and my family

for you know supporting me through that whole journey and yeah man I went from being a regular kid to starring on Broadway in a matter of months you know Now how was that because it's not the typical thing New York kids do right so you're singing you're dancing you're doing that So how do you get into that part of the thing? No, because you don't go to Broadway. I don't know anybody that went to Broadway. So it's very different. New York kids that go on Broadway. I don't.

I mean, I don't know. I had a couple homies who ended up in different plays, but for the most part, yeah, yeah, it was definitely like a bit of an anomaly for my neighborhood in Brooklyn. It was kind of weird explaining it to my homies at school. Like, yeah, I was just doing a show last night. They're like, what, what's going on? Well, maybe kids from a certain area. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's not kids from New York.

Oh, from New York. Well, not from New York, from the hoods of New York. Okay. Yeah. All right. Word, but no, it was definitely a real pleasure, but from there I ended up doing a lot of TV and film. I shot my first movie out here with Robin Williams and Terrence Howard called August

Rush which was an amazing pleasure and that kind of brought me into a lot of TV after that with Nickelodeon. He was on Victoria. Yeah, Victorious. Yeah, yeah, yeah. With Ariana Grande and that was a big journey. That was the number one show on the network at the time. We were beating out American Idol and it was a way for the rest of the world to kind of really tap into who I am as a creative

but it took years of really honing in on who I am as an artist to get to this point producing and writing for a bunch of different artists winning a Grammy working with SZA and Babyface, Drake a bunch of different people it's been a you wrote for Drake? I actually produced for, but but you know shout out to him Yeah, allegedly man, but you know I'm gonna round it I don't think there's anything wrong with it either But it was a blessing to I mean it's interesting because I'm an artist and people see me as a singer They kind of forget that I also produced a lot of big records. You know my production game is pretty tight so

You know my production game is pretty tight so You sound like a rap b**** though Yeah on purpose Your lyrics are like that of a rap but that's why when I see Freddie Gibbs on your records It makes so much sense to me You still keep in touch with anybody from Victorious? Absolutely man, you know I chop it up with Ari, Avon Jogia is a really good friend of mine You know Matt Bennett, a lot of the cast we all hang out and do lunch It's kinda like my last two years of high school were with them, so that's like my graduating class,

essentially, we were all in school together. So we filmed, but we also went to school, so those are my really good friends. Loved Victoria and her mom, I did a host of the New Year's Eve special with them. Oh, for real? Oh, that's dope, that's dope, yeah. You ever wrote for Ariana?

Yeah, actually, I worked with her on her first album. That was my first time going number one with an album. I did about four songs on her first album. That was my first time going on number one with an album I did about like four songs on her first album yours truly so that was a real a real pleasure Yeah, did you know you always wanted to be an R&B singer like it was that the goal as a kid growing up? I was always wanted to be an actor like and when did you pivot when he was like? I this is what I want to do listen I feel like I did this role with Katherine Bigelow She's a Oscar-Ward-winning director, but I had to cut my dreads for it and that was kind of like my last straw in acting

You know, I did this role for Detroit and I felt like you know I need to kind of tap back into who I am as an artist, you know Grew my dreads back really got into my internal self meditating really like tapping into who I am as a human being And a lot of great music came out of that. You know I always knew I wanted to be a singer but I knew for a fact I needed to really present myself as who I truly was. It's so easy to play a character when you're always acting, you know, I needed to come to the world as my true self. When you were on the sets, even with Victorious and stuff like that

What was your mom and like your parents there often? Oh, yeah, my mom I talked a lot about that too. Like how y'all parents were close. No, they were there. They were there Um, you know, my mom was never like a momager like over my over my shoulder kind of mom but she was also very protective of my piece and Mental health and making sure that I'm just in a good space while I'm trying to create something timeless. And shout out to her for just always creating safe spaces for me throughout that journey.

Probably kept you from getting slimed. Yeah. Being quiet on set, Doc. Yeah. Now, I was definitely nuts, definitely nuts, seeing how everything went down. You said definitely nuts. It was definitely, definitely insane, you know seeing seeing how It's definitely definitely insane

Don't say that definitely nuts after that I know I know, you know, it's crazy. It's crazy cuz you know, I just saw the doc not too long ago It's definitely eye-opening and a lot of my castmates we we hopped on a zoom call We all wanted to talk about it and luckily during during our seasons, it was very wholesome and chill. But shout out to anybody who dealt with anything bad. My heart definitely goes out to them. The thing I love about your music, too, is number one, I can tell you've got a sense of freedom. Yeah.

So does that come with money, or does that come with just how you came up with your mom doing music so you always felt free as an artist? Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, I think the greatest thing about being an artist is that it's a great representation of being a free black man. You know, like being able to wear what I want, you know, say what I want on record is really important to me. You know, I try to stay as grounded and as real to who I am as I can

be. I mean, I think it's really easy to want to be an artist and play a character who you think people want you to be. But I'm doing my best to just like, kind of just say what I want, do what I want, you know? When you come up with songs, but like, I like feelings on silent. I love Wale, but songs like that, like when I listen to it it each time I get something different from it So the first time I listened I was like, oh, this is like guys Just being like we keep our feelings to ourself and then the second time I listen I'm like, this is the trauma that they deal with because like he mentions PTSD and a bunch of other things like how do you?

First of all sitting back you wrote that yeah. Yeah, I'm sitting back and writing it with him How do you be like, okay Here's all the things that we want people to get when they hear this or do you guys just write and whatever people get they get like were you dealing with something yourself then or you know, the way I wrote that record was really interesting I was in I was in Italy actually I was working with yay and Todd dollar sign on the vultures one project and I just had some lyrics kind of you know Bubbling up in my head, but I think it was one of those moments that it was just kind of stream of consciousness I didn't really think too hard on my sections

I was like my second take that you're hearing there wasn't like me like kind of really punching in a bunch of different ideas It was just kind of flowing and when while a heard it That was probably the hardest verse to get because we did probably We did like five sessions to get that one But yo, he's so talented and seeing how we crafted his verse I mean he would do like five bars at a time and he really cared about the poetry of it all And and it's why I really respect him as an artist. He's just a true lyricist All right, we got more with Leon Thomas when we come back don't move. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning Good morning, everybody is DJ envy chess hilarious Charlamagne the guy we are the Breakfast Club Lauren LaRosa joined us for this Leon Thomas interview

Of course Leon Thomas is singer songwriter producer and actor his album mutt is out right now and we got to congratulate you Cuz you got a Grammy for your record with scissor We tell everybody that we helped with that because we played snooze every morning four times a day. 6 a.m. You wrote snooze. I produced on snooze man. First of all, let's clear this up. Shout out to SZA for writing that record. We were producing in a separate room and she heard the instrumental and was like, what is that?

And you know there is something that I do where I like take my voice and I chop it up like a sample because clearing samples is really expensive and cuts into the publishing. So rather than like actually doing a sample I'll just you know sing a little something right. So she really liked that and then took it into the other room and wrote an amazing song and being a part of the production on that with Babyface, the legendary Babyface was a true pleasure man. I mean it was a real journey to see that song go from like a crowd favorite to a Grammy Award winning R&B song man That that was that was definitely life-changing for me. You got a production team, right? Yeah. Yeah, the rascals me

Me and Chris times man. We've been working together since we were like 18 So it's really cool to to see the growth I mean we started off, you know a little shaky when it came to production But it's nice to see us, you know really develop into the producers. I mean, we started off a little shaky when it came to production, but it's nice to see us really develop into the producers we are now. We had great mentors, man. You have such big moments, like even before that and during that. But it's like, I don't know, like when do you feel like things started to click finally

where people were like, oh shoot, Leon, like we get it now. It's really interesting. I like to call it the Drake effect. When I was working with Drake, all of a sudden label executives who have known me for years. Have you ever looked into the night sky and wondered who or what was flying around up there? We've seen planes, helicopters, hot air balloons and birds. But what if there's something else, something much more ominous

that appears under the cover of night, silent, unseen, watching? They may be right above your car late one night as you cruise down the road, or look like mysterious lights hovering above your home. Drones. Or are they? We used the word drone because it was comfortable to other people. One minute it was there, one minute it wasn't. Oh, that is beyond creepy. Do you feel like this drone was targeting you specifically? Yes, absolutely.

Listen to Obscurum, Invasion of the Drones, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or, and everything about everything. And you're right there with them. When I discovered acting, I just found my calling. But a lot of that was just because I wasn't good at anything else, you know? Join the two amigos straight from Wilmer's Speak Easy for toasted good times. Don't be surprised if some special guests and good friends drop in. And always expect lively candid discussions

Plenty of genuine moments and lots of laughter Remember here in this commercial. Are you between the ages of 16? I was a oh man. Are you between the 14? Yeah, I think you got it takes to what it takes to to be a TV personality and commercials Yeah Morning Saturday morning shows listen to those amigos as part of the MyCultura podcast network available on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Why would you do that to me when I thought we were friends? We are friends. Los Angeles, 2021. A friendly neighbor appears out of nowhere and promises to make all my dreams come true. Let's not forget that David Blum was a professional con artist, so you didn't stand a chance. But my dreams soon turned into a nightmare. Blum generally targeted people with money.

And I was not alone. He took over a hundred people for over $15 dollars. One of the victims was his own grandmother. I was married to David for almost 10 years. It was insane. I was barely functioning and I just had this realization that he will not stop until he kills me. Getting a con artist to pay for their crimes isn't easy. I'm Blum! I'm Caroline DeMore. Listen as I take down my scammer on Once Upon a Con on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Do you remember what you said the first night I came over here? How? Goes lower? I met Santi at a luau party in October. I'm Santi. Damien. Oh, it was bizarre. The guy just disappeared one day. Santi has been missing ever since.

The Hook Up. What is that? I'm solving a mystery through sex and haven't made a private dick joke until now? Like no matter how hard I try, all roads lead to... The Hook Up. You think it's causing people to turn aggro? I'm gonna rip your arms off and use them to f- Yeah, that's a word for it. This is such terrible representation, I'm so sorry.

Poppers? These aren't just any poppers. Mama always used to say, God gave me gumption in place of a gag reflex. No. My psychiatrist didn't laugh at that one either. No, my psychiatrist didn't laugh at that one either. Listen to the hookup on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. The tears were like, hey, I think you could be an artist, you know? And I was like, all right.

Okay, so I kind of peeped that and I said, okay, well, let's start kind of building this out. But I knew I wanted that that same formula that Drake had with Lil Wayne and working with Todd Dollason was a really smart move. Not only because he's just an amazing artist, but because it was just nice to have a mentor who had done it already. So he's just like, kind of like, yo, try this, make sure the look has this or, you know, even when it came to the music, like here's how you really format an album and I'm definitely doing a lot of studying you know shout out to Todd Dallis on for sure he definitely you know saw something in me that a lot

of label executives were not sure about and it's cool to see it developing how did you tell us on me I was actually working on his album as a producer on featuring Todd Dallis on I was like one of, I think nine producers on a song with Kanye and Thundercat and a bunch of other people. Nine producers on one record? Yeah, because it's like, when it's like.5, like I was just there at a this or that vocal and like some bass or something. But he had everybody play like their unreleased records and I played him some of my first album as like demos and Todd was

like yo you really you're really tight you know as an artist he was like man and he was originally trying to record one of the songs that I had but I was like nah I want you to feature on it and over the years we became really good friends I was working with him a lot and just kind of developed into a into a whole situation with Sean Barron. Sean Barron is the guy who officially like put it all together with EZ Money and Motown. Is it tough navigating because people are getting to know you now and everybody's falling in love with your music now and like you have such a close association with Drake.

You have to like pick and choose where you go musically and what you do musically with who? You know, honestly- She's asking, can you work with Kendrick Lamar if you wanted to? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know that's what she's asking. I mean, the way I really look at it is just like on a political level, I make R&B, you know, obviously I make hip hop too, but I'm really focused on my artist journey. So I mean, Kendrick is such a huge artist.

I don't really foresee us working together in the near future. And even with Drake, you know, I still want to take my steps to really build on my own two feet as an artist. So I'm doing what I have to do right now to really like grow my own business touring is a big thing for me I'm really focused on that I'm hitting the road all this year and uh working on more records so I mean shout out to everybody but but I'm I'm definitely focused on me. How old were you when you realized vibes don't lie? One of my favorite records. Thanks man. How old were you when you first realized vibes don't lie one of my favorite records When you first realized vibes don't lie. Oh, I Think that was that was definitely early 20s. I think

LA is is filled with facades and people who are pretending to be something they aren't People who move from their hometown and create a whole new persona So I think for me just really studying folks, especially a lot of the women you deal with out there You know, it's really important to study their actions and not their words. I love the fact that you are encouraging women to keep their p*** healthy. Yes, I am.

Okay. Did you ever want to be a gynecologist? No, no. Who's talking about triple p***y health? No, no, no, no, I wasn't on the list. I just listened, man. Yeah, I just listened, I just listened, man. They tell you, like, hey, my p***

is not feeling the best today. No, I mean, I just listen man. So they tell you like hey my feeling the best today? No, I mean I just think pH balance is a conversation and you know I just listen man. Smell something. Smell something. That's what it was. Smell something. That's what it was because you was very, very specific. You said she only drink water, she keep that healthy.

They said on Twitter you be talking crazy like that but you sing it so people can't be mad about it. You had that conversation in real life with your homegirl. I'm just big on shock value. I think songs, especially R&B songs have gotten a bit, not boring, but I think we've kind of already hit the golden era of R&B. So I'm just finding new ways to make people's ears perk up and their minds move. I think social media and podcasts are really interesting to me.

These phone mics bring out so many conversations. I think as an R&B artist, I want to find ways to let that live on the record. It doesn't always have to be verbatim of what I'm going through in real life. I think it's important to create the drama. I kind of see music, script and a score. So sometimes the records are just like really good dramatizations of like what I'm seeing. In the world.

You've been counting some unhealthy vaginas, don't lie. I was gonna say, so you never had that conversation. I mean, I think everybody, yeah. But like how, but like, how does that go for you? Like now? I mean, I don't think, I don't think it's really. Now, or like women expecting you to be like, all right, here's the check.

Like, how do you, cause you got the songs, like they're there. Yeah, yeah, you know, I don't think it's really. Now, are women expecting you to be like, all right, here's the check, like how do you, cause you got the songs, like they're there. Yeah, yeah, you know, I definitely got the songs, but I think it's just important to be honest with your partner, you know, communicate, but I think it's a pretty interesting conversation I try to stay out of if I don't have to, you know what I'm saying? You ever did the ear wax test?

No, I don't even know what that is, man. You putting me on right now, what's an ear wax test? Digging your ear a little bit, there's a little wax on it, put a little pinky, put the pinky inside of it. Know what that is There's a little wax on it a little pinky put the pinky inside of hold on what is your she got something First off, anybody who's like, you do that is nuts. That's what South Carolina's back row thing that they do. It doesn't, I do not try that. No, that's why. Ginger ale works. That doesn't.

Your mom never told you that you got stomach ache, go drink ginger ale? We ain't talking about stomach aches. We talking about pain balance. I'm just saying, a lot of people think ginger ale cure everything, not earwax. Don't listen to him. Yo, this is the last thing I thought Jackie told them about. Your mom ain't talking about ginger ale. I have never heard that.

Put ginger ale on your vagina. That's why you single. Anybody on several, y'all never heard that. That's why you single. I don't know how y'all do it. I don't know how y'all do it. I don't know how y'all ever was. My grandma used to be like, go get some ginger ale and lay down. Wow. About everything. Yeah. Nah, nah, nah. We love ginger ale around here. Did your therapist really tell you that you're too detached? Or is that just something you tell women so you don't commit? Nah, I think, you know, that bar for me, I have a co-writer, but I don't know if I

have a co-writer. I don't know if I have a co-writer. I don't know if I have a co-writer. I don't know if I have a co-writer. I don't know if I have a co-writer. I don't know if I have a co-writer. I don't know if I have a co-writer. I don't know if I have a co-writer.

I don't know if I have a co-writer. I don't know if I have a co-writer. I don't know if I have a co-writer. I don't know if I have a co-writer. I don't know if I have a co-writer. I don't know if I have a co-writer. I don't know if I have a co-writer. I don't know if I have a co-writer. I don't know if I have a co-writer. I don't? Nah, I think, you know, that bar for me, I have a co-writer, Bizzy Kruk, and he lives in Miami, great rapper. That was a bar that came from him. He's very deep into therapy, but I'm glad that we

talked about it on record because, I mean, it's something that I definitely did try out over the pandemic, and it's something that I actually really respect you a lot for a championing, you know But but but yeah, that was a that was a bar from busy, but I thought it was important to add in there You know, don't try to blame busy now. No, I mean Yo, that's my co-writer Like we write a lot of our songs together and I really respect a lot of the perspectives He brings to a lot of my poignant records, you know, yes some great bars Can we get into a song of that what you records, you know, he has some great bars.

Can we get into a song of that? What you want to hear? That would be amazing. Yo, let's play Yes It Is. That would be really cool. All right, well, let's get into the record right now is Yes It Is. And we got more with Leon Thomas when we come back. It's the Breakfast Club.

Good morning, everybody. It's DJ NB, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne the Guy. We are the Breakfast Club. Lauren LaRosa is joining us on this interview. And we're still kicking it with Leon Thomas. Lauren? On, um, for Dancing with the, when I listen to Dancing with the Demons. Yeah, do you ever get like Miguel references sometimes? Absolutely. I'm like, oh my gosh, like I wonder if like that like are y'all do you know him? Yeah, yeah, that's like my big bro. We actually did a movie together

He was in Detroit when I had to cut my hair for he he was a he was an amazing the one I had to cut my hair for. He was an amazing mentor for me for some years. You know, that bridge between R&B and rock and roll, he's traveled across that bridge many a time. I definitely look up to him when it comes to that. And you know, for me, because I play multiple instruments, I definitely try to just embody a lot of that energy. But I think we both have the same influences as well. I agree with Lauren on that. Miguel, to me, before you was the last great R&B, male R&B singer. To me, I'm just talking about the new guys. I'm not talking about the OG legends. He was the last one to me. And I felt the same way when I heard Dancing with the Demons. I feel like you're talking to yourself on that record, though. You said you can't seem

to save yourself, never learn to ask for help, going out all night searching for a feeling. So have you learned to ask for help? It's a one, but I thought, cause I took it as like, it wasn't talking about a woman. Nah. Well, I mean, it's interesting for me.

Like that record, when I wrote it, I wrote it in two different days. The first day I was, you know, microdosing on shrooms, so it was a bit of a haze. The next day I listened to it and I was like, man, this is really poignant stuff. I mean, it's just really talking about being up all night and searching for a feeling and it's trying to fill voids. I feel like as, you know, when you're in your single journey, you can try to fill a void with a stranger and that's not always very healthy.

What's fun? It could be fun. It could be fun for sure. You can you can try to fill a void with a with a stranger and that's not always very healthy And it could be fun. It could be fun for sure But but but um and then especially when you're when you're in the limelight the second verse is more so talking about being in the limelight and trying to fill voice nobody really talks about the darkness that comes with the flash and lights and Yeah, that that record was very deep and very personal for me. I'm glad that people resonate with it. Now you talk about microdosing on shrooms. Where does that put your mind and do you always do that to produce and write? Nah, nah.

I mean, I think for this album it was an interesting opportunity to kind of unplug. I mean, I wasn't doing as many shows around that time too, so it was really helpful to kind of just get into my own head and try to figure out who I am. I definitely did a lot of manifesting, a lot of just writing down who I wanted to be as a human being around that time, a lot of journaling, and looking back at that season in my life, it was a journey for me to evolve into who I am right now. I wouldn't suggest people just go super crazy on shrooms or anything, but I think microdosing,

a small amount could be healthy if you're trying to just find yourself. And at that time I was trying to find myself. Yeah, I've microdosed, I've macrodosed too. You said you were trying to find yourself, did you find yourself? Yeah, but I mean I feel like that's a constant journey. That's like the whole part of finding yourself.

You realize it never stops because we're always evolving. But it's great that I was able to do it through music that that was like a version of musical therapy for me and I'm glad the people are resonating with it you know I love how you're normalizing dogs on but not not I'm not a dog anymore there is a young unhealed version of me that would have really appreciated that that right record you make it sound so fun. And it's almost like women are just gonna bring you in, like, oh, come in you straight dog. Let me domesticate you. Nah, I mean, I was really just documenting what I saw.

But nah, nah, nah. It's definitely part to me. It's definitely part to me. Now you document what you saw, it's okay. We identify with the music because it's you. It was definitely part to me post-breakup, where I just had to figure it out. But I think that's all a part of living. You get nervous though.

This was a post-breakup album. This was a post-breakup album. So this is me documenting, finding myself. First off, you're kind of broken after that. And then you gotta put the pieces back together. Her fault, yes. No, pieces back together her fault. Yes So that's not her fault. It's our fault It's her fault that you ended up being a dog you went through your

I think it's very commendable to that on the song a safe place. You let the person you're dealing with No, this isn't a safe place. Yeah. Yeah, what inspired that? I mean, I think knowing that I wasn't necessarily ready to settle down I think that conversation definitely came up a lot during I guess you would call him my face You know just understand it like yo, I'm not trying to settle down. This is a this is a fun place You know, this is a time period where I'm just figuring me out work is crazy It's hectic, you know And I think having that conversation was important to like like you said, just avoid people not understanding

what it was at the time. That was who you were. You were honest in person though, because you're honest in music. But it's difficult to be face to face with somebody and be like, they say the same place. It's very difficult. I really try my best to be as honest as I can. But yeah, those are hard conversations, man. I can't sit here and say I've always done it right or I'm perfect or anything, but I

try. I try to be real real, you know, I try to explain myself, but even when you explain yourself, sometimes wires get crossed, you know, so unpacking it and communicating, you know, is an important thing later on. Yeah, and don't no woman wanna hear that after she just let you hit rock?

Yeah, it's not, yeah, it's not. Has a woman ever said that to you when you were trying to like create like a, all right, maybe this is like a thing and she's like, yo, I like you, but I don't wanna do that to you. Yeah actually yeah yeah in my in my early 20s I was talking to this amazing artist and yeah she was just like listen baby this ain't safe place kind of thing. Anybody mean no now? She's like nah nah nah I don't think you guys know for me. You're glad it was a fall for you. You're saying it's all fall for you. You're not gonna believe it.

Nah, but yeah, it was definitely a realization for me. I was like, oh, it can happen on that side too. I was like 20, maybe 21. You cried in the car. Yeah, so I was like real young and kinda green, like, oh, okay, all right, cool. So you all looking for a relationship now, if the right person? Yeah, I'm definitely in that mode right now. Would you date other artists, celebrities, or do you, like, how does that work?

It's just hectic, I mean, you're kind of inviting the media into your life, like the one safe place you have. But, I mean, who knows? If I really catch a vibe with somebody who happens to be fan- I mean, I don't really care about that side of things, you know, I've been in the game a long time. I've met some beautiful women who are amazing artists but it's just about the human being and it can be tough to really build something if both of your schedules are super hectic. So I don't know.

I don't want to ask a question too about another record on Farfetch'd. You said, cause we was having a big conversation this week about tricking cause you know Skip Bayless allegedly offered somebody 1.5 million And you say paid for my mistakes in Benz's and diamonds 250 fronted like you was my artist 5g's just across the Atlantic We sat in silence for almost two hours. Yeah quarter million dollars. Yeah Benz's and diamonds. Well, listen, um when I wrote that record it was not for me That was not a joint that I was originally going to use for me. It was for somebody really famous and really rich.

But I just love the way it sounded. And I was like, you know what? I love to speak in a world where I can actually afford that. Why not? Let's manifest that. In Lucid Dreams, you talk about just significant other leaving things behind. Yeah, that was that was a fun record with Masego after a breakup. Why do you think that topic is taboo? I don't really consider it taboo necessarily, but I think it's just like it's just funny because for me I was

living with my ex for like a couple years so she just had like a closet filled with clothes at my crib and it had been like a year and a half since we were broken up so we were in the studio talking about different things. The guitarist and producer on that song Freaky Rob his girl left a flat screen at the house that he had to use to watch Netflix He was like man When is she gonna take this flat screen and uh, you know Masago also had a similar situation like that at his crib with the couch So we were all just kind of using all of our different experiences putting it into a song and you know

Just locking it in it's different when it's closed Yeah, did you clear you cleared out the car? Yeah, definitely clears out. Yeah. Yeah, clear out the closet Did you move out of the apartment or you just cleared out the closet? You know, I'm still at the crib You know me so the crib, you know, there's definitely a certain interior design choices. I'm gonna switch up soon, but Recent yeah The album is out right now. Make sure you pick it up and we appreciate you for joining us. Thank you so much for having me man. It's a big opportunity. Thank you so much. It's Leon Thomas. The album is out now and it's the Breakfast Club. Good

morning. Good morning everybody. It's DJ N.V. Jess Hilarious. Charlamagne the guy. We are the Breakfast Club. It's Black History Month. What we doing today Charlamagne? Yes, you know every day during Black History Month my guy B.Dot puts out a podcast called I Didn't Know Maybe You Didn't Either on the Black Effect I Heart Radio podcast network and today he's gonna tell you about Marion Sims once held as the father of modern gynecology he built his legacy on exploiting enslaved black women without anesthesia turning medical progress into a horrifying practice let's listen. I didn't know, I didn't know, I didn't know. Jay Marion Sims.

He developed life saving medical techniques back in the 1800s, but the way he did it, wild. He experimented on enslaved black women without anesthesia. Like, hey, I'm about to cut you open, all right? But don't worry, you'll be fine, cause you blacks don't feel pain quite like I do. That's literally what he believed. And people let him get away with it.

Three women have been documented, Anarka, Lucy and Betsy. And these three women went through hell. Anarka alone had over 30 surgeries. 30 with no anesthesia. And Sam's called it science. And you know what he got for it? A statue in Central Park. Like imagine going for a jog and seeing a dude being honored

for torturing black women. That was a reality before 2018. Because in 2018 activists showed up in bloody hospital gowns so that you could visualize these atrocities and pretty much said, nah, this statue's got to go. And guess what? They won. The statue got moved to a cemetery and quite honestly that's where it belongs right beside J Marion Sims is dead ethics now here's where it gets

real you think this is just some old-school nonsense right nah those same racist ideas are still here lurking in hospitals like bad Wi-Fi. Studies show doctors today still think black women feel less pain. That's why black women are three times more likely to die from childbirth complications. Three times! Meanwhile, Karen over there getting extra Tylenol for a paper cut. Make it make sense. So what do we do? First, stop giving shady people statues. But more importantly, we gotta listen. When people say they're in pain or need help, we need to believe them. Because if Anarka, Lucy and Betsy could survive all that, the least we can do is make sure that nobody else has to. And I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either. Thank you

for that information B.Dot. Make sure you subscribe to I Didn't Know, Maybe You Didn't Neither on the Black Effect iHeartRadio podcast network available everywhere you listen to podcasts. Go back and listen to the past couple of seasons too. You're guaranteed to learn something. All right, when we come back,

we got the positive notice to Breakfast Club, good morning. Morning everybody, it's DJ NV Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne the guy, we are the Breakfast Club. It's time to get up out of here, Charlamagne. You got a positive note? Unity is strength. It is. All right, when there is teamwork and collaboration,

wonderful things can be achieved. That is actually my positive note of the day, okay? Breakfast Club, bitches! You all finished or y'all done? Hey man, what are you into? I have the hookup. The hookup? The hookup for what?

I'm solving a mystery through sex and haven't made a private dick joke until now? Poppers? Why are there so many poppers? All roads lead to... The hookup. You think it's causing people to turn aggro? I'm gonna rip your arms off and use them to...

Yeah, that's a word for it. ["The Hookup Theme Song"] Listen to The Hookup on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to the hookup on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Welcome to My Legacy. I'm Martin Luther King III,

and together with my wife, Andrea Waters King, and our dear friends, Mark and Craig Kilburger, we explore the personal journeys that shape extraordinary lives. Join us for heartfelt conversations with remarkable guests like David Oyelowo, Mel Robbins, Martin Sheen, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and Billy Porter.

Listen to My Legacy on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is My Legacy. Hi, I'm Arturo Castro, and I've been lucky enough to do stuff like Broad City and Narcos and Roadhouse. And now I'm starting a podcast because honestly guys, I don't feel the space is crowded enough. Get Ready for Greatest Escapes, a new comedy podcast about the wildest true escape stories in history.

Each week I'll be sitting down with some of the most hilarious actors and writers and comedians people like Ed Helms, Diane Guerrero and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I love storytelling and I love you, so I can't wait. Listen and subscribe to Greatest Escapes on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Yo, what up? It's your girl Jess Hilarious, and I think it's time to acknowledge that I'm not just a comedian.

It's time to add uncertified therapists to my credentials, because each and every Wednesday I'm fixing your mess on carefully reckless on the Black Effect Podcast Network. Got problems in your relationship? Come to me. Your best friend acting shady? Come to me. Thought you was the father but you not? Come to me. I can't promise I won't judge you but I can guarantee that I will help you. Listen to Carefully Reckless on the Black Effect Podcast Network. iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.