The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: Debbie Allen Talks Her New Barbie Tribute Doll, DA Dance Academy, 'Fame', Mariah Carey, Kobe + More

Episode Date: October 22, 2025

Today on The Breakfast Club, Debbie Allen Talks Her New Barbie Tribute Doll, DA Dance Academy, 'Fame', Mariah Carey, Kobe. Listen For More!YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee... omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 This is an I-Heart podcast. The Big Take podcast from Bloomberg News keeps you on top of the biggest stories of the day. My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day. Stories that move markets. Chair Powell opened the door to this first interest rate cut. Impact politics, change businesses. This is a really stunning development for the AI world and how you think about your bottom line. Listen to the big take from Bloomberg News.
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Starting point is 00:01:11 but one of them will end up dead and the other tried for murder three times. It starts with a dream, a nature reserve, and a spectacular new home. But little by little, they lose it. They actually lose it. They sort of went nuts. Until one night, everything spins out of control. Listen to Hell in Heaven on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Cal Penn, and on my new podcast, here we go again. We'll take today's trends and headlines and ask, why does history keep repeating itself?
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Starting point is 00:02:12 again with Cal Penn on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hold on. Every day I wake up. Wake your ass up. The Breakfast Club. We're all finished or y'all done. Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy. Just hilarious. Shalameen de Guy. We are the Breakfast
Starting point is 00:02:29 Club. Long the Roses here as well. And we got a special guest in the building. A legendary, iconic guest. Okay, some guests are special, some are legendary and iconic. That's right. And we have the iconic, the legendary Miss Debbie Allen. Welcome. Good morning. Thank you. Good morning.
Starting point is 00:02:46 How are you feeling? I feel really good. I'm on New York time. I'm on New York air. I'm feeling good to be in New York. I like, I miss the city. Every time I come, there's so much happening. Saturday morning. and I woke up and there was this big protest outside. I heard all this noise and I looked down
Starting point is 00:03:05 and there was like half a million people in Times Square. And then I went to new restaurants and saw new shows, saw two new shows. I love New York. Absolutely. Yeah. Condolences too on the
Starting point is 00:03:21 loss of your mother. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. Absolutely. I appreciate that. Absolutely. And I was thinking about you when you was coming in, man, because you know, you built such the legacy, you know, Broadway, television, and film. When you think about the word legacy now, does it mean what you've done or who you've helped do it after you? Oh.
Starting point is 00:03:42 Well, you know what I would have to say who I'm helping? Because that's real legacy. You know, I have so many hundreds of kids that I'm educating at the dance school and across around the world with the, you know, the Internet has. allowed us to be international in the blink of a, you know, we can have these IG classes. Yeah, legacy, I think, has to do with the future and what seed your planning, what path you have lit that helps people find their way.
Starting point is 00:04:15 When you started dancing and you got into drama, did you know that that was going to be your career? Did you know that was that? Because even to this day, you know, I have kids. I was telling you that dance. And I always think to myself, well, what does dance take them to? But then when I look at your career, I'm like, there's no, there's so many possibilities. Did you ever think that that was going to be a career?
Starting point is 00:04:36 I was determined that four years old that that was going to be my career because we were watching television and we would watch musicals who come on every Saturday morning. And I so wanted to replace that Shirley Temple, honey. I wanted that to be me going up and down those steps with Bill Robinson and all those glorious musical films. I saw myself in that world and then it was a challenge to get the training
Starting point is 00:05:02 in the segregated south where I grew up. But mom was always very resourceful and she found ways and yeah, I think children can see themselves and this is why you have to make it possible for them by letting them see other things.
Starting point is 00:05:19 I remember when mom wouldn't let me go to the circus because she wanted me to go and see this East Indian Dance Company And I was kicking and screaming. I wanted to see those clowns and those lions. But when I saw that dance company, I saw a whole other language of dance
Starting point is 00:05:34 that I didn't know. I had not seen. I was probably eight years old. But this is why we have to expose our children to more, which is why right now we need more, more and more education, more cultural programs for children, art programs, and just take them on those field trips.
Starting point is 00:05:55 Yeah. to take them to see art exhibits, take them to see dance concerts or music concerts or, you know, little plays at the Y. Anything that is outside of the box of the... TikTok of it all and television. Mom used to make us think that the television was broke. So we would take our butts outside.
Starting point is 00:06:19 That's what makes it so important to Debbie Allen Dance Academy, right? 25 years, congratulations. Yes, this is. It's quite a landmark. Let's talk about what that means, because as I was saying, when I'm out there on a row with my daughters, a lot of times we don't see too many people that look like us. Yeah. And a lot of that is not because we can't dance is because we can't afford it. The traveling, the costumes, the privates.
Starting point is 00:06:43 It's a lot. And I didn't realize until I jumped in there. My wife said, like, we need another check. I'm like, another check. I know. But it's so expensive. So talk about the importance of opening their school. Will, the Debbie Allen Dance Academy is in cultural.
Starting point is 00:06:55 oases that now has a middle school, has programs for boys, elders, cancer patients. But for young people, it is designed to be an open door for whoever it is that has the spirit of the dance can come through that door and find the class and I will get a program for you. I basically said no to competitions. I've been asked year after year after year. And I don't do them because I want children to compete with themselves. I want them to be in the classroom. I want them to be in the dance studio and see where are, where am I?
Starting point is 00:07:32 Did I do that turn? Can I balance? Can I do the passe? Can I, you know, what is it that I'm learning? Can I do that tap break? And I think it's great, like you say, the competition world is a great experience. It teaches children performance and a lot of things and does cost a lot of money.
Starting point is 00:07:52 And so it would be not possible for so many of us. It's just not possible. So where I'm living, I am raising money every minute of my waking life to give more opportunity to the kids. I mean, right now it's very difficult with all the foolishness is going on in Washington. The foolishness is going on with the nonprofit world. I mean, you can't even write a grant now and say you're, you know, focused on Brown and black children.
Starting point is 00:08:23 You can't even say that. You can't say you're dealing with disabled. You can't, I mean, there's so many, this is ridiculous. So it means that we're going to just become more grassroots the way we were in the 50s, honey, because that's what it was. It was, you have to get your community together, and there's a big community of diverse people who want to see the arts prevail and programs prevail, because that's the future.
Starting point is 00:08:48 The creativity that it takes to create a ballet-like revelations is the same creativity that will cure cancer. It's the same part of your brain that we are developing. Creativity, you have to think outside the box to figure these things out and to come to some, you know, understanding or level of accomplishment. And to me, creativity is the closest you can be to God. is to be creative. So the Debbie Alton Dance Academy is a real purpose in my life
Starting point is 00:09:23 and my husband Norman Nixon's life, my daughter's life, my son, the whole community. We have a community of parents and people who love us and nationwide because we have to, you know, throw that 10 cup out there everywhere. I mean, if I could say a million people just send me $2, it would help us get through a whole year. of programming and opportunity.
Starting point is 00:09:49 We have a program called we have a program called Sons of Dada and that's for the boys. I have more boys in my school than any school I bet in America. I don't make them wear the tights. They can come to ballet class in their shorts or the sweatpants, but they
Starting point is 00:10:08 are there. I mean, I got 30 boys. And there's a program, Sons of Dada, that offers a scholarship for them. If all they have to do is say, I want, raise their hand, I want to come. Wow. And then they're there. David Cobran has been very supportive of this program, but it needs to expand.
Starting point is 00:10:28 Yeah. I just, I just don't have enough hours in the day to do all that I know I could do. And I just have to keep working and I have a great team that is helping me. And while we're here, just tell them how they can donate because people listen right now and you're talking about the school. If somebody wants to donate, that $2, like you said, a million people, But how can they donate? Well, if you go on the Debbie Allen Danceacademy.com, you'll see there's a program called Rhythm of Giving. Or you can just see how to get in touch with Dina Bartella or just how to drop through, you know, PayPal or what you might want to do.
Starting point is 00:11:04 You know, it's interesting because you've been directing and choreographing for decades. How do you keep your art evolving when the culture itself always keeps shifting so fast? Well, that's what's exciting because I'm with. these young people all the time and there's a new language every you know a couple of years that you have to you know I mean the afro beat right now is everything I was I I have been Mariah Carey's creative director many times and last year when I worked with Jenna Tompkins to do her show I introduced the style of dance the afro beat into the choreography and it was amazing to do joy to the world
Starting point is 00:11:49 with that style of dance. The dancers were on a respirated child with the first number because that Afro beat is serious. Fast. Yeah. It's fast, but it takes a lot of energy to do it.
Starting point is 00:12:02 And they loved it. So that's what's beautiful. The nature of the universe has changed. And anybody that doesn't understand that, well, sorry. Tell them again. What do you teach, or how do you teach the artist you work with?
Starting point is 00:12:16 like a Mariah Carey or even like a Shanty. You've been working with her for some time too about longevity and as things change because things will change. Like how do you teach them how to, you know, relevance and impact, like, what the career you have? Well, I don't think I have to teach Maraicari anything about longevity.
Starting point is 00:12:33 I mean, she's been the songbird for so long and she's got a new album out and she is one of these creative geniuses who writes her music and I've known never gone into a production where she didn't have an idea about what she thinks it is. I mean, so I don't know if that's, I mean, you're asking me about. I guess it's like the mentorship because even the way that like people look at you and how you handle just anything you deal with and throughout your career, there's a lot coming
Starting point is 00:13:04 your way because of who you are. Mariah Carey has a lot coming her way every day. I guess I'm asking what the mentorship between you and these women or men that you're working with that are these big stars. What does that look like? It's very personal. It's very personal. I think part of what I bring wherever I'm working is a motherhood, embrace, push, knowledge, idea. I mean, I just said a lot of things that, I don't know if you got all that,
Starting point is 00:13:36 but when people work with me, they know that I come with a huge experience. in many things and sometimes it's very intimidating to people. I've had some battles that you would be surprised and I think it has a lot to do with my expertise and
Starting point is 00:13:59 ability. I'm an executive producing director of Gray's Anatomy. We're in season 22. We you know, Shonda Rhymes put me there to be an integral part of keeping that show energetic and
Starting point is 00:14:14 moving and I hire all the directors. I hire new directors. Alicia Rashar just became a director on Grey's Anatica. You heard about her. You're going to become a director? Yeah, she's a new one. Yeah, we kind of like her. But there to work with incredible showrunner,
Starting point is 00:14:34 Marinas, who, you know, I read every outline. I'm part of the casting. You know, and I've worked with DP. who are brilliant. I produced the movie Amistad with Steven Spielberg, which will always be a big, big accomplishment for all of us. It's not just me, for all of us to get that movie made. You'd be hard pressed to do it today, the way things are going. But I have such a wealth of experience. That is a big thing that I bring. So I see things very quickly. I can make decisions very quickly. You know, I'm here doing auditions for Joe Turner's come and gone
Starting point is 00:15:16 and I'm seeing such wonderful new talent that I had not known before but even in that process I can see immediately this one has the potential this one is talented but not right for this part I mean it's just experience I love people who got an intention
Starting point is 00:15:36 you know you said at four years old you knew you wanted to do dance yeah how did that lead to something like fame Well, because I stayed the course And I went and studied and did the work I've been taking dance class my whole life I was here at the New York School of Ballet Richard Thomas John Boy on the Waltons
Starting point is 00:15:57 His dad and mom had the best ballet school here in New York The New York School of Ballet And I was like a little You know, urchin trucking around the streets And bought my dance card And in my class I'd look up in Rudolph Nureyev would be in the class. Or Mikhail Baryshnikov would be in the class.
Starting point is 00:16:20 Margot Fontaine. These are icons in the world of ballet. And then right across town there's Alvin Aitle. Wow. Alvin Aitle, you know, you, I don't know. I think my effort has proven successful because I've always done the work. When you come up in the dance world, it's like being an athlete. That's why Kobe Bryant and I were friends
Starting point is 00:16:45 He loved dance And we had a very good relationship You train, train, train, train, train You can't shoot enough You can't practice enough You know jump shots Whatever they're practically You know
Starting point is 00:17:00 Those drills that they do to stay in shape You have to do the work And this is something young people Really need right now To understand That you don't get to get there and stay if you haven't done the work. Misty Copeland, oh my God.
Starting point is 00:17:17 Misty Copeland, you know, she's retiring tomorrow night from the American Ballet Theater. Wow. I will be on stage with her. Wow. She invited me to be on stage with her. But this is not an ending, but a beginning of what else she's going to do.
Starting point is 00:17:33 Yeah. But she trained, train, train, train, train, train. You know, I've had parents come in. You, your daughters and dance, and I've had parents say, well, my daughter, you know, She just, Ms. Allen, she just feels like, you know, she's doing the same thing all the time. I said, because she needs to. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:17:50 She has to learn how to point that foot. Turn out. Passet. Damn it. You said you and Kobe were friends. How did y'all get tight? How did y'all get so cool? Well, Kobe actually grew up in Italy.
Starting point is 00:18:06 Fame was one of the biggest shows internationally. Italy, I still can't walk down the street. it was that popular so I came to a Laker game and he was on the court and he looked at me and he was like and I was like I'm looking at him like oh wow come and then
Starting point is 00:18:24 that admiration was there and then years later he actually was interested in learning how to tap dance really? Did you teach him? Well we didn't get to that but we were going to get to that and it was Michael Jackson's death that really
Starting point is 00:18:41 kind of brought us closer because Michael was somebody that I was very close to and I was talking about Michael on television and saying he was he practiced practice I said he was like Kobe Bryant I said that in an interview and then Kobe called me said Debbie Michael and I were friends I said say what he and Michael had become friends and so we started talking and he was right writing these incredible books and we were making plans to turn one of his books into the most incredible Broadway show
Starting point is 00:19:19 we were making plans. He had a whole in the new podcast Hell in Heaven, two young Americans moved to the Costa Rican jungle to start over but one will end up dead
Starting point is 00:19:35 the other tried for murder not once people went wild Not twice. Stunned. But three times. John and Ann Bender are rich and attractive, and they're devoted to each other.
Starting point is 00:19:51 They create a nature reserve and build a spectacular circular home high on the top of a hill. But little by little, their dream starts to crumble, and our couple retreat from reality. They lose it. They actually lose it. They sort of went nuts. until one night
Starting point is 00:20:12 everything spins out of control listen to hell in heaven on the I-heart radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts The forces shaping the world's economies and financial markets can be hard to spot Even though they are such a powerful player in finance You wouldn't really know that you are interacting with them
Starting point is 00:20:35 And even harder to understand Donald Trump's trade war, 2.0, is only accelerating the process of de-dollarization, which in a way is jargon for people turning away from the dollar. That is where the big take from Bloomberg podcast comes in, to connect the dots. How unusual is a deal like this? Unprecedented. Every weekday afternoon, we dive deep into one big global business story. The biggest story of the reaction of the oil market to the conflict in the Middle East is one of what has not happened. Katie, you told me that ETFs are your favorite thing.
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Starting point is 00:21:35 Hey, I'm Kelpen. and on my new podcast, Here We Go Again. We'll take today's trends and headlines and ask, why does history keep repeating itself? You may know me as the second hottest actor from the Harold and Kumar movies, but I'm also an author, a White House staffer, and as of like 15 seconds ago, a podcast host.
Starting point is 00:21:54 Along the way, I've made some friends who are experts in science, politics, and pop culture. And each week, one of them will be joining me to answer my burning questions. Like, are we heading towards another, financial crash like in 08? Is non-monogamy back in style? And how come there's never a gate ready for your flight when it lands like two minutes early? We've got guests like Pete Buttigieg, Stacey Abrams, Lily Singh and Bill Nye. When you start weaponizing outer space, things can
Starting point is 00:22:23 potentially go really wrong. Look, the world can seem pretty scary right now, because it is. But my goal here is for you to listen and feel a little better about the future. Listen and subscribe to Here We Go Again with Cal Penn on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Crying Wolf Podcast is the story of two men bound by injustice, of a city haunted by its secrets, and the quest for redemption, no matter the price. White victim, female, pretty, wealthy, black defendant. Chicago, a white woman's murder, a black man behind bars. crime he didn't commit. I got 90 years for killing
Starting point is 00:23:08 somebody I have never seen. He says the police are his friends and then that's it. They turn on it. A corrupt detective. How he was interrogated the techniques. That's crazy. A snitch and a life stolen. They got the wrong guy. But on the inside, Lee Harris
Starting point is 00:23:25 finds an ally in his Selly, Robert, who swears to tell the truth about what happened to Lee and free his friend. If you're with me, your goal to I'll take care of you. I'm going to be with you. You stuck with me for life.
Starting point is 00:23:39 Listen to the Crying Wolf podcast, starting on October 22nd, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The universe that he was creating with animators and composers, and he brought me in because he respected what I do and what we could do together. And when we were building the day, Debbie Allen Dance Academy, which is now the Rhymes Performing Arts Center, because Shonda Rimes gifted us the building, which was amazing, amazing. But we had to raise a lot of money to build it. And so we took a meeting, and Kobe was the first one. He put a million dollars
Starting point is 00:24:25 towards building the Debbie Allen Dance Academy. And now we have a wall called the Kobe Bryant Wall and Light that has all the donors. and his name at the top of that. And so we had a lot of plans, and he loved dance. You know, being an athlete to be a dancer, so. Toby Bryant, Wallace Annenberg, Barry Gordy, Shonda Rhymes, the Ford Foundation, they've been our big angels. Outside of the discipline that you just talked about
Starting point is 00:24:59 in doing the work, what else did your role as Lydia in fame teach you? that, like, served you so well for the rest of your career? Well, I actually got an opportunity to create these dances. And as a child, I was watching them in the movies. I was watching the movie. Now I was able to be in charge of what the camera was doing. And I had all of these ideas from when I was four years old. And so on Fame, I worked with one of the old Jacks, Bill Spencer.
Starting point is 00:25:31 He had been the A-camera operator on all those big MJ. and musicals, and he used to say, oh, kid, we can't do this, we can't do that. I said, why, Bill? And then if he couldn't give me an answer, then he would go figure it out. So we became friends. So fame was like going to graduate school. It was like getting a Ph.D. in directing because it was new. Nobody was there to tell us or to tell me how to make this work week to week.
Starting point is 00:26:02 I had to figure it out. And then one day he took me in the archives of MGM because I used to write dance notes so people would understand what it would say the music, how long it is, what the action was, what the choreat, what the camera shot is. He took me in the archives of the MGM musicals from back in the day and showed me that's what they did to.
Starting point is 00:26:26 And nobody taught me. It was just a way to communicate. So fame really set me up to do everything that I'm doing right now all the way. I've heard you say dance is storytelling with the body. Yeah. Hey, I'm expound on that a little bit. Well, you know, in the dance where you don't have words, you're not singing, you're through your physical being expressing what is the story.
Starting point is 00:26:54 You're expressing love, you're expressing joy, anger. it's I think the most ancient of all art forms is dance because when you look at ancient civilizations before they could write or could know the language they were stamping on the ground for rain for harvest birth movement that proclaiming your existence on this earth
Starting point is 00:27:27 that dance and it goes back to Mother Africa where we were stamping on that ground I mean that's the beginning that's the beginning that's the one that's what Jason Samuel Smith is the one
Starting point is 00:27:42 yeah so is it about the movement or the perfection stop please I feel they all the time I got no ribbon but I didn't do it do it again you know what is it is the movement
Starting point is 00:27:53 or perfection what is it all of that But it's that spirit. See, the spirit in you is what makes you move like that. That is something that's in your blood memory. That's your DNA speaking. That's the universe telling you what you already know.
Starting point is 00:28:12 It's that call and response. Yeah. It's there. We all have it. We all have it. Who was the most difficult person to teach how to dance that was like they just don't have it? Now, you know I can't say people's names. You know that would be.
Starting point is 00:28:27 so wrong. Okay, well, let's change it. Who was the hardest to teach because they just were so good and needed to be pushed to the next level then? Oh, I've had students some that you might not know. Are you talking about people that I work with professionally? Yes. Well, let me put it this way. I worked with Sammy Davis, Jr. He did a special with me. I've never seen anybody like him. I could show him something one time, and he did. he was incredible so it was difficult to do
Starting point is 00:29:05 much because he'd be like okay kid what else you got all right Sammy I'm done now I think I'm good it was a challenge for me to work with him he don't get disgust enough I don't feel like Sammy gets disgust enough you know there's an effort to do plays and movies about him
Starting point is 00:29:22 I know Lena Waith has one she's working on and I'm excited that she's thinking about making it into a show. I did a, we were working on a Broadway show called Sammy with the original people that did all his music and everything. And I did a workshop of this years ago. This might have been, oh my God, it had to be almost 20 years ago.
Starting point is 00:29:47 And in that workshop, everybody came because it was about Sammy. We raised a million dollars that day to do the show and it didn't go forward because, the people that were in charge of the script just couldn't understand that we needed to whittle it down. It was, you know, when you have a life story that's that full, I mean, Josephine Baker, it was a mini-series. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:30:11 Or either you have to figure out what part of their life are you going to tell. Because I worked with Bob Fossey and Sweet Charity, and he told me, and I believed him, and I learned that from him, kid, if anything over three hours, is too long. too long baby you know but Sammy is someone that he's one of the most legendary
Starting point is 00:30:33 and incredible artists to ever step on a stage as a child you could look at that film of him when he's five it exists he was a dear man who had quite a struggle quite a struggle
Starting point is 00:30:52 in his lifetime Barbie is honoring you with your own tribute doll? What went through your mind when you first got that call? I'm assuming that you're getting your own Barbie dog. I know. It was like getting the Oscar. It was like, you know, because I grew up in Texas.
Starting point is 00:31:10 And we didn't have any dolls that looked like us at all. And I was big on playing with my dolls. And I knew about the Barbie tribute collection. And I was so excited when they made Sean, the rhymes of Barbie doll. And I was just loving that in Misty Copeland. But then when they called to say they wanted to make me one, I just was so touched because I knew this had more to do with young people than anybody. Although all of my older friends are buying them up, child. That's what buying them up. But the kids, I showed this doll to some of the students in my school. I actually
Starting point is 00:31:51 videotaped it. It was so precious. They were so proud of. it they all wanted it it looks like them somebody that looks like them that is dancing that's you know and so we worked on what she was going to look like and how she was going to dress and i i said let's dress her like fame because that's your idea yeah amazing let's do fame and i used to wear these pants uh designer giamani diomona i don't know where he is now but um i had those pants in every color. I went around the world and I'm just excited about it and everybody's excited about this. Congratulations. Yeah. It puts me in a one more realm of history that is very humbling. Another image of black excellence, really? That's right. Yeah. You've created a lot of them. I'll be
Starting point is 00:32:51 wondering what's your measure for authentic representation? today. You know, I don't know if I ever measure it. I experience it and it speaks to me or it doesn't. I mean, that movie centers.
Starting point is 00:33:05 Ooh. Absolutely. Ooh. Ooh. It said so many things. But when Ryan Kugler took that dance floor and went in and out of time,
Starting point is 00:33:18 you know I wanted to go and be that boy's mama for a moment. I want to go over there and just hug him and say, get over here, come over here. He honored all of us doing that. That was breathtaking. So it's coming in different ways.
Starting point is 00:33:38 Or when I see the artwork of the kids that I see or, you know, black excellence is something that's on the rise and it's just going to get stronger now. The challenges we have is going to make us stronger. You're not going to shut us down. I agree. I have a strange sense of optimism about all this. I do.
Starting point is 00:34:00 I really do. Yeah, I think you're right. That you're here, that you all are here, and you are speaking every day. You have millions of people, millions of people's attention. You have a platform to plow through a lot of BS, and you do on a daily basis. And so we are grateful that you're here.
Starting point is 00:34:21 and you're going to be here. I got to ask, you know, this week coming up is Homecoming Week, right? A different world was the reason why I went to HBCU. I got to see it. I seen what it was, so I have to ask. She is not going to teach you a one-two-one-two to go do at the homecoming. A different world was based off of what college. Based off of what college.
Starting point is 00:34:42 Every HBCU talks about it. Okay. So let me say this. A different world existed for a year before I got there. And I was brought in by the creative, the executives to come and see what was wrong and fix it. And I did because I had that HBCU experience, which none of the people there had. I went to Howard University. Sorry.
Starting point is 00:35:07 And Howard University. I'm sorry for both of y'all because the university is where it's that. Sorry. I'm Hampton. We're HBCU, Greg. Well, Hampton is great. I'm just messing with you. He's messing with you.
Starting point is 00:35:17 But, you know, Howard, we were the school, the first school to take over the A-building school because we were demanding black studies. We pulled up the gate and threw it on the dean's desk. Ewert Brown led us. I had my big Afro child, and I was all up in there, all up in it. Two months later, you know, we didn't think about dying and nothing like that. The parents were sending us orange juice and boiled eggs and begging us to come out.
Starting point is 00:35:52 We're going to come out when we get where we were. Then what? How many months later? Kent State did that and four kids were killed by the National Guard. What the hell? We knew, say it loud, Black and I'm Proud was our anthem. We had Mary McKeever coming.
Starting point is 00:36:09 We had Stokely Carmichael named them. They all came to Howard. We were in Washington, D.C. wow so coming into a different world we could no longer do shows about people walking around holding eggs we had to do shows that were culturally relevant socially responsible and still a lot of fun and we did that and so susan fails hill she is one of the most incredible writers on this planet she was the show runner with a real book of all of it when we did
Starting point is 00:36:50 LA riots, Mammy Dearest, all those shows that are so memorable. It starts with the writing. And Susan and who else was in that writing room? Gina Prince Bythwood. Reggie Bythwood?
Starting point is 00:37:06 Gina Prince is getting rid. Child, y'all getting rid of... Woman King was one thing, honey. Yes. She is the director of the children of blood and bone. this book, I don't know if you know about it, but actually Kobe Bryant gave me this book. Before he died, he said,
Starting point is 00:37:22 Debbie, you've got to read this. They were all in the writer's room, along with Yvette Lee Browser, who, you know, she is. There was so much talent and energy, and she, together, we just engaged. And I was always in the principal's office, I say. I was always called into the network.
Starting point is 00:37:44 Really? Oh, God. Oh, my God. y'all have no idea what I had to go through and still and still what were there upsets why were they calling you in oh because you took it from a sitcom to a social movement yeah you know because we did the first show about AIDS whoopi Goldberg we I knew whoop was going to win that Oscar she's been my friend forever I said whoopee would you come Debbie you know I'm there she came I had her they didn't care I said AIDS is killing our people your people everybody we need to do this and they were going to strike that show down Bill Cosby stood up and said all right we might not have advertisers but you're going to get to do the show wow he stood up single handedly and made it happen so doing shows of a date rape you know I was just always called into the office why do we have to do why did I said child we
Starting point is 00:38:46 can't just talk about, you know, somebody bumping in the corner. We're going to do some of that, too. We'll give you the courage to continue to make those changes. A lot of people would conform, right? A lot of people would see the networks complain and saying you're going to lose sponsors and be like, okay, I'll have them dancing. You know what I mean? Yeah, but I had an army at my back.
Starting point is 00:39:07 Susan Fells was right there ahead, writing. I had the cast. we you know I gave them a voice that was part of what I did because sometimes in Hollywood when I was first starting the writers were like gods and the actors were like okay you just do what I tell you and that has changed because actors have to have a voice that's you know Gary David Goldberg who did family ties
Starting point is 00:39:34 wanted me to take a big seat at that show when I chose a different world but I had worked with him and Michael J. Fox and what I loved about Gary David Goldberg after every table reading he opened the floor to the actors with them sitting there with the writers
Starting point is 00:39:54 what did you think? What are your ideas? That's a real collaboration. That was not happening and we made it happen and God bless the whole staff crew, actors
Starting point is 00:40:10 writers it was it's not just me it was all of us so what's your process for I guess telling hard truths you know without losing I guess the entertainment value because I know you're directing the reboot too I think I saw yeah I've been working with the reboot on Netflix and there's some changes there
Starting point is 00:40:30 that we're trying to make and see what it goes well what is your question like how do you tell the hard truths how do you tell hard truths and still keep it entertaining because that's the way the way world is. In the middle of all this, you'll find something to laugh about. In the middle of this, you'll see somebody you want to kiss.
Starting point is 00:40:49 Yeah, that ride is happening, but, ooh, baby, look at that boy over there. Who is that? Real life doesn't stop because of, it will stop you, it makes you think and have to talk and address, but it goes on.
Starting point is 00:41:07 Miss Debbie Allen has to leave as well, too, guys. Yes, she does. You got a last one? Yeah, I do have a last one. You know what I mean? Like fame showed what art could be, right? And a different world showed what education could be. How do you think your work has shaped how young people now see the intersection between art and intellect and activity?
Starting point is 00:41:26 You know, there's such a good question, and I appreciate that question because Netflix just rebooted a different world, the original. And a lot of people are talking to me and asking me. But the mind of young people, the curiosity is what you want. You want them to be curious. And I think when they see these shows, when they see me and I make myself accessible, they feel like they could do something too. That is really, that's what it's about. They could do something to.
Starting point is 00:42:00 I'm still learning. I'm still at this ripe old age, I'm getting ready to direct August Wilson's, Joe Turner's come and gone on Broadway in the spring And I am in school Because you can't come up there It's like you can't direct Shakespeare If you don't understand the language, the period
Starting point is 00:42:18 I am up in the August Wilson School of Thought deep Deep, deep, deep So by the time we open in April That show's going to be amazing But I can't wait It's going to be a child ticks to go on sale November 5th I have to say that out loud
Starting point is 00:42:34 Brian Morland, who actually produced Othello, Denzel's Othello, is our producer. Amazing. But I'm just saying, I'm still in school. So I'm putting together a whole packet of information about 1911. What was happening? What was the music?
Starting point is 00:42:54 Who was president? What was happening in Europe? You've got to know all of these things. What was happening in Pittsburgh? Where were we with the Great Migration? where are we with emancipation where are we legally
Starting point is 00:43:07 with civil rights you gotta do the work and I am still doing the work yes Debbie Allen have you ever taught a proper twerk I just want to know I don't know
Starting point is 00:43:22 through all your lessons no you need help through all your lessons I just want to know like have you ever twerkage ever I love that
Starting point is 00:43:32 Well, you know, I don't know if I've taught it, but my husband is always on me to stop doing it. That's all I guess. Oh, so you're trying. You'd be twirking. Yes, I know that's right. That's why you've been married so long. Okay.
Starting point is 00:43:45 That was the secret. You got to tell them. Stop. I know that's right. He doesn't want me to do it in public. I can do it in the bedroom. I can do it at home, but not out of the house. Yes, ma'am.
Starting point is 00:43:57 Okay. That's all I am. I love me. We appreciate you for joining us. If you're out and about, make sure you pick up her Barbie doll. Also, also. Donate to the school. Yes.
Starting point is 00:44:04 And thank you so much. And please don't be a stranger. Anytime you in the city, pull up on us. I'll be coming back here to direct that player. I come and visit y'all. Yes, man. I love her always. I would definitely be there to see that.
Starting point is 00:44:14 Me too. As Ms. Debbie Allen, it's the breakfast club. Good morning. Every day I wake up. Wake your ass up. The breakfast club. You're all finished or y'all done. The Big Tick podcast from Bloomberg News
Starting point is 00:44:29 keeps you on top of the biggest stories of the day. My fellow American. This is Liberation Day. Stories that move markets. Chair Powell opened the door to this first interest rate cut. Impact politics, change businesses. This is a really stunning development for the AI world and how you think about your bottom line.
Starting point is 00:44:50 Listen to the big take from Bloomberg News every weekday afternoon on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, America's sweetheart Johnny Knoxville here. want to tell you about my new true crime podcast, Crimeless, Hillbilly Heist, from smartless media, Campside Media, and Big Money Players. It's a wild tell about a gang of high-functioning nitwits who somehow pulled off America's third largest cash heist. Kind of like Robin Hood, except for the part where he steals from rich and gives to the poor. I'm not that generous. It's a damn near inspiring true story for anyone out there who's ever.
Starting point is 00:45:32 shot for the moon, then just totally muffed up the landing. They stole $17 million and had not bought a ticket to help him escape. So we're saying, like, oh God, what do we do? What do we do? That was dumb. People do not follow my example. Listen to Crimless, Hillbilly Heist on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Two rich young Americans move to the Costa Rican jungle to start over. but one of them will end up dead and the other tried for murder
Starting point is 00:46:06 three times. It starts with a dream, a nature reserve and a spectacular new home. But little by little, they lose it. They actually lose it. They sort of went nuts. Until one night, everything spins out of control. Listen to Hell in Heaven
Starting point is 00:46:26 on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Cal Penn, and on my new podcast, here we go again, we'll take today's trends and headlines and ask, why does history keep repeating itself? Each week, I'm calling up my friends, like Bill Nye, Lily Singh, and Pete Buttigieg, to talk about everything from the space race to movie remakes to psychedelics. Put another way, are you high? Look, the world can seem pretty scary right now.
Starting point is 00:46:58 But my goal here is for you to listen and feel a little better about the future. Listen and subscribe to here we go again with Cal Penn on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.

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