The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: Zuri Hall On Covering The Met Gala, Finding Her Voice In Media + More

Episode Date: May 5, 2026

Today on The Breakfast Club, Zuri Hall On Covering The Met Gala, Finding Her Voice In Media. Listen For More!  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. I mean, it was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people.

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We are the Breakfast Club. Law and the Rose is here as well. We have Zuri Hall in the building. She covered the 2026 Met Gala red carpet last night for E. I know she got to be tired. And also, Zurie, big up yourself. That's right. Tell about the stuff you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. It was corsitted. I've got the scars. to prove it now. The necklace was so high. It's painful, but

beauty is pain. How long does your prep take? Like, how long are you, like, outskirts, like, looking for your dress throughout the year? Yeah, you got to be there at 2 o'clock, so you start at 9 in the morning. Do you hear me? The glam, genuinely, I think they pulled up to my hotel room around 8.30 a.m. We were in the chair by 8.45, and then, yeah, I was on my way to the Met by, you know,

we do the rounds, we do the glam bot, do all the pictures, all that stuff. But, yeah, 2 o'clock. We're in position at the Met. How long it takes me? Lorne, you'd be surprised how last minute the glam is. is for us. Because, like, really, the fashion is important, but I'm also super focused on just, like, the job and, like, who's coming?

What do I need to know? What do I need to ask them? My dress, this was the longest out I'd ever prepped. I think a week and a half, two weeks out. But sometimes I've had gowns that are getting the final touches like the day before, two days before. Last year, I wore an incredible designer, Bishmi, Kramardi for the super fine. Black Taylor, he's incredible.

He's incredible. It was on Project Runway out of Baltimore, so talented. And he did a custom look. So that was him just working up until those final few days. So every year's different. You've been doing this for like a decade, Zora. How has social media changed what celebrities are willing to say to you on the record? I love that question.

It has changed a lot because that's part of the reason people didn't stop last night, I think. It's just there's such a risk of things being taken out of context. We live in a clip economy at this point, right? It is not often that people are like, wow, that was an interesting 60s. I have an idea about that, but I think I'm going to go watch the full hour-long conversation first before I post a hot take, right? And so I think people have become more cautious. They've become more savvy. And I think that's also why we're seeing more public figures and celebrities who traditionally would not be behind a mic in the way that we are getting behind the mics or going to their friends to have the conversations behind the mics because they really need to trust that they have what they believe is a safe space. Some might also argue a softball space, right? Like you're not going to get asked the hard hitting questions if it's your bestie who's doing the podcast conversation with you. But that's just the world, the media landscape that I think we live in.

And I'm sure y'all see it often, hear it often, probably experience it often with your interviews. But it definitely changes the level of transparency, you know. But I will say after 11 years of doing this, you start to build the trust, right? where I take pride in people coming to me, like The Rock last night. Dwayne was not really doing a ton of press to start. Not Dwayne. Not first name basis. No, Dwayne the Rock Johnson, Mr. Johnson.

He stopped and we've got a great interview history. He met my dad in Maui when I cover the Mawana 2 carpet. So over the years, you start to get that feeling of, okay, I can go to her. I can trust her. She's going to ask me smart questions. They're going to be fair. but I'm not going to, you know, pull a gotcha or anything like that. Yeah.

What would some of your favorite outfits for people that are listening to driving in work right now? Maybe they didn't see the Met Gala. What were some of your favorite outfits and why for last night? Men and women. I mean, I loved, it's so obvious. It's so on the, but Rihanna and ASAP, like, they're always worth the way. I love how, you know, they are always doing their own thing and yet somehow feel very cohesive. I believe Rihanna was in Mason Margella.

I loved seeing Dampson Idris. I loved the hair. I loved the pop of red. I thought it was understated. Outside of... Was that diamonds, Beyonce was wearing? Was that all diamonds? I've seen a report that said it was all diamonds.

I can't imagine it be anything less. I mean, Sorosky Crystal, perhaps? I don't know. But they said diamonds. I'm like, that's about $20 million worth of diamond. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, she looked incredible. I mean, she was shining a head to toe.

Blue Ivy was a vibe. For that to be her first Met Gala carpet, I mean, she's so cool. She's so cool. She's got such a presence, and you can tell that she, like, I'm so excited to see her evolution. Like, her star power that she oozes is so effortless. The shades, it was so sweet when I asked Beyonce, like, how are you feeling tonight? And she said, I feel so good.

My baby's here. She pointed to Blue. And it was like, Blue was just doing her thing solo on the carpet. Jay is watching like a proud dad. And it's like, we've all kind of watched her grow up. So to see her in a moment like that, completely cool underpresent. She was really fun to see. One of the Jenner girls had like a body suit.

It was like a dress off of a body suit. Did I see something? I thought I seen the people. Kylie? I don't know the names. She had blonde eyebrows. Yes. You're talking about Kylie.

Wait, wait, wait, who? What? With the body? Is she like a body suit? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was Kylie Jenner. I don't know what design that was. She didn't stop and talk.

And honestly, so much of my job, like in the moment, if I am not getting the information directly from them, I don't know until later, right? Because in my ear, they're mostly like so-and-so's on the carpet, try to get them, and we're talking about the moment, and then our guys in the studio are covering the actual fashion details. So I'm getting the, how are you feeling? Who are you with?

What was the prep like? Talk to me about the road to the gala, and then we'll toss back to the studio, and they've actually got the details being fed to them in real time. So unless someone comes up to me and says, I'm with Michael Coors and I'm wearing Michael Coors, I'm finding out honestly a lot of the time like the rest of y'all like right after

and my mom. Skipperle. Skoparelli. Yeah. Oh, that looks Scaparelli too. I mean, so structural. Yeah, she was gorgeous. I want to ask about you, Zuri. What's a moment in your career where you felt underestimated? And how did you flip that? I think you know this one, Charlemagne.

I think in New York. Like when I was, and I don't know if it was underestimated so much as underutilized through no fault of like the networks, you know, I was at MTV. I had signed this overall deal. I was super excited about it. I thought this is like my big break.

I've actually been talking about it on my Instagram, like this plot twist series because there's some changes coming my way with my career soon, too, that I'm actually excited about. But I felt underestimated because it's like put me in coach. Like I know what I can do if I'm just given the right opportunities. And I just think it was a lack of opportunity. It wasn't a time where there was a ton of development. You were a blessing.

right, those opportunities with MTV and MTV2 with everything that you had going on really helped shape me in that moment and sort of give me a confidence that I was kind of losing in that moment, quite frankly. But I think I've always been kind of underestimated. I'm traditionally I've been shyer than people expect. And so growing up, the most you would hear me talk is if I was on stage or on screen. I think that's probably why I pursued this career. It was kind of like permission to take up space. And so because of that, when I were coming to a room, I would always be under the rest of me.

I'm going to talk now. What's you going to say? What's the mic? Come on. I never understood that, though, because I never understood why MTV just didn't use you the way he was using you. You could have been doing the same thing, the red carpets. That's true.

But, you know, did we have shows like that at MTV at the time? Because I know the MTV that I, you know, we all grew up winning. That's true. That's true. At the music awards, the movie awards. Yeah. They had plenty of awards shows. I know.

The irony is as soon as I moved to us. LA and got the job at E-News. I got flown to New York to go cover the MTV movie. Do what I'm saying? There was some irony there. But it all works out how it was supposed to work out, you know. How do you handle rejection in an industry where everything is so public-facing, I guess?

I think I have always been so used to know. Like, I just don't know is not yet for me. My senior year of high school, you know, one of our English teachers gave everybody a word. And mine was tenacious, tenacity. I don't even think I knew it. I had to Google it later. Like, wait, what makes me tenacious? Tenacious?

I don't even say it. But then I was like, yeah, no, that checks out. I think I've just always been someone who was raised with this almost, like, a healthy delusion, right? My dad is always like, you can do whatever you want. You can be whatever you want. And not in like a generic cliche way. Like, that man really had me thinking if I woke up at 18 a ramp or president, like, they can figure it out.

They move some things around. You know? Absolutely. Exactly. Exactly. And he spoke that sort of life into me at such an early age that no is something I never took personally. I'm like, oh, they just don't know me yet. They don't see me yet.

So I never took that personally. It's you just haven't been able to experience what it is. I know I can show you if you give me the opportunity. So does it suck? That it's a no. Yeah. But I'm going to go get it somewhere else, make it a guess somewhere else. How do you feel now because I know Access Hollywood just got cancer?

Yeah. So how do you take that? You know, it's bittersweet. It's the end of it. era. I think it's the changing landscape, right? Like, it's been 30 years that Access Hollywood has been on the air. The syndication studio is shutting down. So that's

affecting all of the shows that traditionally have relied on syndication. Karamo, the Steve Wilco show, etc. I think I don't want to say the writing was on the wall with this show specifically. I think just with that model. Bell Pure Fiber

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Wait a minute, Dakota. How bad did it get? Well, it got bad enough that her son-in-law had to eventually arrest her himself. She moved in for two weeks, lasted for five. She left nail clippings in the bathtub, candy stuck to the furniture, and then she pressed her ear against the bedroom door and burst in screaming. She did not burst in while they were... She did. They kicked her out and paid for hotel, and they thought, it's finally over. Days later, she called her son-in-law at work, claiming that his partner had been in some kind of freak accident and had been rushed to the

hospital in an ambulance. He called every hospital in the city, and his partner was making coffee the entire time. She faked a medical emergency just to test, whether or not he loved her son? Yeah. And she sat in the hospital parking lot, waiting for him to see if he would show up. When that didn't work, she walked into the son-in-loss police station

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We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield. And in this new season of the girlfriends, Oh my God, this is the same man. a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care.

So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I am hopeful that, you know, there will be some new iteration of the brand.

I think a lot of things are just moving to digital. But I am also excited about what's next for me. And there's still so many other opportunities. I still work with E, right? When I'm on these big awards show red carpets, when I'm in those hosting positions, that's live for me. When I'm doing Fandango, big ticket interviews, one-on-one exclusives, that's an entirely different property.

American Ninja Warriors coming back this summer on NBC. So, yeah, we've still got that. stuff but I'm excited to have more time to actually build and focus on IP and ownership. You know, I launched my show Not About Sports earlier this year and I'm just excited to embrace the changes. I always roll with the punches. I love it. Honestly, the only thing constant is changed so you just got to rock with it. I know you interviewed the devil words, the devil words proud of the cast right for the second movie. Yeah, and in the second movie, it's very reminiscent about I feel like what you talk a lot about in your plot twist series,

about how things have to move and adapt and change. Yeah. What has been your decision to share as those things are happening intentionally, right? Like, we read about you, but you're deciding to give us your voice on it as it happens. Yeah. I think it's because of that. Like, people may read about it or they may experience me as a host. Yeah.

I think I got so comfortable being seen without really being seen, right? Showing up, hosting the show, being impressive and focusing on accomplishment only. Like that's always been kind of a safe space to exist. Like when I'm struggling or when I'm confused or when I'm not sure, it's easier to like be in hiding for that and then pop back out when I have something impressive and interesting to say. And the older I get, the more comfortable and confident I get with just who I am and like where I am in any given moment, the more I am willing to embrace vulnerability publicly. And I think we're all in a really interesting time.

You know, there are a lot of women, especially in transition. black women particularly in the workforce right now who at a disproportionate rate are losing their jobs, right? It's tough right now for everyone, but I think especially for us. And as I see the comments and I talk with my followers, I was like, this is honestly a blessing in disguise because if I'm willing to be vulnerable about my show going away

and I'm willing to do it in real time and be like I'm not figuring it out totally yet, but I've been here before. I've had to ride the waves before. had to navigate the plot twist before. I've always come out on the other side. And the reason that I can do this in a steady way is because of what I've learned. So let me share that with you. Let me share why my life didn't collapse. Let me share why I'm excited about a not entirely known future. Like that came through a lot of work, a lot of therapy, a lot of figuring out who I am

and what my identity is outside of my job. So when I lose a job, I don't, I don't lose myself. Because I've done a lot of work to figure out who Zuri Hall is when she's. She's not on air. And so being transparent with the plot twist series is just something that I wanted to share in case it helped anybody else who's also like, what am I doing with my life? This is not what I saw for myself. This is not what I expected. I did everything right and still. And the feedback's been great.

So I'm going to just keep telling my business in small doses. What's something you had to unlearn to grow in this business? Something I had to unlearn. Ooh, that's a good one, Char. something that I had to unlearn in this business was, yeah, that opportunity sometimes and success and or lack thereof is not directly tied to my worth. Truly. Because as someone who growing up, my career, my ambitions, my accomplishments was my identity. when I was passed over for something, when it was, okay, maybe next time, but not now.

I really, I used to take it personally sometimes, just in small moments. And I've realized there's such a political game to a lot of this, you know. And so often the reason that it's someone else versus you has nothing to do with you. And there's also something beautiful about being able to say that is for them. Like what is for them is for them, what's for me is for me. And I'm not going to tell myself a lie about who I am or what I deserve just because someone else in this moment thought that that wasn't who I was or what I deserved. And so, yeah, just embracing my worth outside of my job and who decided that I deserved an opportunity. Yeah, I just had to unlearn my worthiness being attached to my output.

my creation, my achievement. Can I ask? We don't got time for one more. I just want to ask what point in your career did that come in? Did that really set in? Like you actually lived that every day? I would say

when I was at e-news every day, right? Like I'm accessed Hollywood in the day to day now. But I would say halfway through the original e-news experience all those years ago, I had to figure out how to unlearn that for my sanity, for my mental, like, wellness, because it was, there was a really rough patch, you know, where I think I was asked, a lot of folks were being asked,

this is an entirely different regime, and I've talked about this publicly before. They're not there anymore, and they were lovely and great, but, you know, sometimes the tide's turned. It's like, okay, this is the trend now, or this is what we expect now, this is what we want. And I wasn't willing to meet that moment in a way that felt out of my integrity, just how I report, how I host, how I show up. Not saying there was anything wrong with it. It just wasn't how I wanted to show up on air. And so I was not on air as much, you know?

And so to be willing to sit with that and sit in that silence and sit with the work that I was doing, it was a whole lot of therapy going on at that point. Because I have much else to do. I think that's when I first really, like, started to live that. And it's been about four or five years of really living in that truth. And it's still a journey. Don't get me wrong. I have not, I do not have it all figured out. And I still have moments of, like, second guessing myself or am I doing this right?

Or could I be doing something differently? But overwhelmingly, I think the more I've built up the other pillars of my life, my family, my friends, my community, hobbies. I'm riding horses for the heck of it. Like, there's just such a full life that has nothing to do with my career. And I think ironically, the moment that I kind of released the need to have this all work out one way, the opportunity started flowing more. It's like you can't chase. It will run, whatever it is. It could be a man.

It could be a job. Like you cannot be in constant pursuit because energetically, you're saying, I don't have this thing. I'm trying to get this thing. But when I stay grounded and planted and it's like, I am here, I am enough. And these things come to me. I know it sounds woo-woo. but the minute I just fell back even when it was because I was just too tired to chase anymore

it came it's like oh well if you're just going to sit there calmly and like open up to what will be let me just go ahead and slowly you know work my way to you with this opportunity and that's when I knew that things were supposed to be there because sometimes I was chasing things that weren't supposed to be mine that would have ended up being more of a curse than a blessing

what was his name? Wow we got a few of those days which way you would have Appreciate it. Well, Zori, we appreciate you for joining us this morning. No, I love Zori. I don't think y'all...

I've seen the grow from the beginning. So it's just whenever I see Zori on these red carpets, I'm like, that is so dope. Because I remember, you know, 10 years ago when they did not know what to do with Zuri Hall at MTV and she was just, you know, up there every day, you know? And I'm just like, yeah, she's just doing what she should be doing. Thank you.

Thank you for joining us this morning. Thank you for having me, y'all. I appreciate it. And then, you know, like I said, I'm going to put you in touch. Like, if you need an intern for next year's red carpet. Somebody carry your bag, you know some way. Okay. He's really good at carrying things.

He used to do it for DJ Clue. Really? That was a good stab. That was a good stab. I like that. That was crazy. We love a quick. That was crazy.

Zero y'all is the Reminders Club. Go ahead. Every day I wake up. Wake your ass up. The Breakfast Club. Do you all finish or y'all's done? When a group of women discover their friends. all dated the same prolific con artist.

They take matters into their own hands. I vowed. I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A win is a win. A win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Cliford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

So let's get to it. Listen to The Cliford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast. Podcast Network on TikTok. On The Look Back at it podcast. For 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me.

I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. It was a wild year.

I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or where it's a wild year. you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hardway with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences,

having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to. Listen to learn the hard way on the AHA radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.