The Breakfast Club - Larry Hoover Jr. Speaks On His Father's Commuted Sentence & Responds To The Backlash + More

Episode Date: May 29, 2025

Today on The Breakfast Club, Larry Hoover Jr. Speaks On His Father's Commuted Sentence & Responds To The Backlash. Listen For More!YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. I was dead for 11.5 minutes. And returned. It's a miracle I was brought back. Alive Again, a podcast about the strength of the human spirit. Listen to Alive Again on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers. But we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself.

Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. Hey, I'm Dr. Maya Shankar. I host a podcast called A Slight Change of Plans that combines behavioral science and storytelling to help us navigate the big changes in our lives.

I get so choked up because I feel like your show and the conversations are what the world needs, encouraging, empowering, counter-programming that acts like a lighthouse when the world feels dark. Listen to a slight change of plans on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And it's gonna take us to heal us.

It's Mental Health Awareness Month, and on a recent episode of Just Heal with Dr. J, the incomparable Taraji P. Henson stopped by to discuss how she's discovered peace on her journey. I never let that little girl inside of me die. To hear this and more things on the journey of healing, you can listen to Just Heal with Dr. J from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the I heart radio app apple

Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast AT&T connecting changes everything So yesterday Larry Hoover was commuted on a federal level by President Donald Trump for people who don't understand what that means that means that Basically, and we talked about this in front page news this morning. His charges on a federal level will be like excused or overlooked. But anything else you're still dealing with you still have to deal with and Larry Hoover is very much so still dealing with a 200 years sentence for murder on the state level state level.

Right? Yes state level. So he's not free. No, he's not people would say welcome home and all that. He is not free. He is not coming home. He is not walking out. Ain't no welcome home Larry Hoover parties. I didn't know what it meant. That's why I text you on the group line. What is commutation or what is commute? Yes. Yeah, it was moving from one person to the other. I didn't know.

Chance the Rapper was one of the people who actually posted online. He didn't understand what was happening. Let's take a listen. Hey, before I let y'all politicize this or memeify this, I just got to say I am glad that Larry Hoover's home and I gotta remind y'all politicize this or memeify this, I just gotta say I am glad that Larry Hoover's home. And I gotta remind y'all that he was a political prisoner that was set up by the federal government, that he created the, what was it, Chicago votes. He did so many things to really mobilize our people, and he was really targeted for that.

And so before I get to Kuhn and I do whatever they finna do with this information, I just want to say I'm so glad that he's home and God bless his family. And yeah, thank God. Chance hurt my feelings because he, that's just spreading such misinformation and Chance is way smarter than that. Yeah.

You know, if you just read a little bit more of Chance, you would know he's not coming home, but that just lets me know all Chance did was read the headlines. Or saw J Prince's post. J Prince of Laugh-a-Lot over in Houston. Laugh-a-Lot, Laugh-a-Lot. Sorry, Laugh-a-Lot.

This has to stop. He don't even laugh. This is great. Laugh-a-Lot. He said Laugh-a-Lot. Now this is disgusting. This is crazy. No, no, this is great.

Laugh-a-Lot. You gotta grow up. Laugh-a-Lot. Laugh-a-Lot. Sorry, y'all. OK, my bad. Oh. Okay, my bad. Oh, geez, my bad. Oh, geez.

Rap-a-Lot posted yesterday, and when he posted his caption, literally said, Larry Hoover has been pardoned by Donald Trump. So even when I posted it and people were upset, I posted it exactly with what Jay Prince said, because I knew people were gonna be upset about it, because it doesn't mean that he's walking out of-

That's not even accurate. Anywhere to there tomorrow. He wasn't a pardon. He was commuted. So to explain a bit really quick, to be upset about it because it doesn't mean that he's walking out of anywhere today or tomorrow. He was commuted. So to explain a bit really quick who Larry Hoover was, he was the co-founder of the Gangster Disciples, which was a Chicago based gang that according to police engaged in drug trafficking, extortion and murder, which is why he's going through everything he's going through right now.

Right now we talked to Larry Hoover's son because I was trying to get clarification for you guys on what this actually means and what the state level looks like for Larry Hoover right now. There was so much misinformation going around with a lot of people thinking that, you know, what we saw yesterday with Trump and everything that was announced with Larry Hoover meant that your dad was going to walk out of federal prison and be clear of everything today, like right now? Right. So I've been speaking on this anytime I was interviewed and I was trying to let people know that he was being held under jurisdiction, which is he's been held under state law and he has been held under federal law at the same time.

So he still had two, two cases to fight. So he had to fight the federal case and he still had to fight the state case. So now he's dealing with the state case. I don't really know the law on it. They, I heard that it was illegal to hold a person under dual jurisdiction, which they don't usually do. But they never uplift the state case when they took him in a federal custody. So now we're dealing with state law now.

So I know that you guys have like this movement that you're trying to do where when it comes to the state things you guys are asking for, like local leadership that would actually be able to do anything. So is it like lessen the sentence or what are you asking for, like local leadership that would actually be able to do anything. So is it like less than the sentence or what are you asking for on a state level? Okay. So my father is actually a C number and C numbers were because, you know, people have a misunderstanding. Everything is going on.

People are talking about the narrative of who they say my father is and what he has done. talking about the narrative of who they say my father is and what he has done. We're going back to his state case and he was sentenced as a seat number. Seat number were men that were sentenced in the seventies and they gave him indeterminacy. So his sentence was to be at least 200 years and he has to go to the parole board every, um, it was supposed to be every year. And when we went to court last,

they wanted to make it five years, but the lawyers fought and they made it three years. So the seat numbers go to the parole board. They don't have a determined amount of time. They go to the parole board and it's up to them to decide whether they deserve to be paroled. And when my father went to be paroled last time, they said that he didn't do what they needed him to do,

even though he was in the ADX and it was no way possible for him to do the things that they needed him to do. They're saying like, oh, you didn't take classes. You didn't do this to try to show that you was thankful and that you regret what you did. But at the same time, he's locked in a closet underground in Colorado. And then when I posted it online, I knew that the natural pushback would be, but this man is responsible for, you know, the, like I mentioned, there is alleged drug traffic and extortion and murder. So I asked his son, like, this is how people feel.

They feel like we're glorifying someone who caused all of these things in the community. What do you say to that? And here's what he said. People that say that, they don't understand who he is. They listen to the narrative of people that don't know what they're talking about. Can they tell you people that he is caused to be killed

or that he has said kill or kill himself. He's been in prison all of this time. Right now we're fighting up. We're fighting a state case that happened when he was 22 years old when he was a baby and they said that he gave the call for somebody to be murdered and his rap on the case said that he did the murder and he was released. That's what we're fighting with right now, right? The stuff that those people are talking about are hearsay, rumors. I'm not saying that my father wasn't in leadership at one point and wasn't involved in the streets, but he's had transformation.

He was an illiterate, dyslexic child when he went to jail. He taught himself how to read. He taught himself how to become a man. He educated himself. He went to college. He became a paramedic. You know, he taught classes, but he went in as a dyslexic. You know, he taught classes, but he went in as a dyslexic kid.

He couldn't read. And he taught himself. Nobody taught him. Like, people are speaking of who they think he is and what the rumors of him are. They don't know who he is. They need to look for some, they need to hear real information

instead of listening to rumors that have been passed around the city. know who he is. They need to look for some, they need to hear real information instead of listening to rumors that have been passed around the city. See, we fighting the monster, the picture that they painted, but we not, they don't know anything about Larry Hoover. If it was, if they know about Larry Hoover, they would understand that he wants the same thing that these people want. He's, he's not for kids dying in the streets. He's not for ladies being raped and harmed. He's not for, man, he's a peaceful streets. He's not for ladies being raped and harmed. He's not for man. He's a peaceful individual. He's for everything for black people. Well, I appreciate that. Thank you so much for joining us. And what so what's your call

to action? What do you I saw something on the live yesterday you guys were tagging. Who was the who's the person you guys are tagging? Is it the governor mayor? Oh yeah, it's at Governor Pritzker. That's his Instagram. And then his Gmail is governor at illinoise.gov. We want to reach out to Governor Pritzker to tell him, to ask him to sign the paper to give my father a second chance at life. We're fighting a case from when he was 22 years old and which is Brad P said that he committed the crime

and he was released. We're not fighting, we shouldn't be fighting the rumors. We should be fighting what the real situation is. That was the problem in the first place. If the law applied, he would have been released because of the law. Everybody that was on his case with him, they was released because of the First Step Act. Because the time didn't amount for the time that they gave him. And all of his wrappies were released.

But because he was Larry Hoover, they didn't agree with the law. And I had to thank Donald Trump for going above the law to give my father an opportunity. And now as far as the state case is concerned, can we please follow the law? We're supposed to believe in justice and if we're supposed to believe in justice and follow the law, the law needs to work for us. And our governor says he believes in transformation. He believes in rehabilitation. He believes in rehabilitation. He believes in redemption. And my father has rehabilitated himself. He has transformed from the young man that he once was. And he deserves redemption. He's folk. I mean, he's been there. Imagine living in a closet

for 30 years. Close your eyes and go in your closet and stay there. Can you stay there for 30 years? You don't think he's regretful for what he did? Do you think he would be interested in coming back to the world and being a part of criminology? He's a senior. He's an elderly man. This picture behind me is not who he is right now. Larry Hoover is not. There's no welcome home Larry Hoover parties today or tomorrow, it's not happening. They're trying to get things handled on a state level,

but even if so, what I think, and what they're trying to do is they want less. They know that he, there's no way that he's gonna walk free 100%, but they want less. They feel like it's over-assessive, and as you heard the sensei, they feel like he's a changed person now, he should be looked at as that. Okay.

Yeah, 200 years in prison is crazy. But I can't see it happening only because of who the governor is. The governor is, what is it, JB Pritchard? He's a Democrat. Yeah, they trying to put some, I guess, pressure on him, get the public to start writing letters and things like that, but.

JB don't give a damn. They were online yesterday on Instagram Live. I was on there. They was on there for about an hour, getting people to tag him and saying call his office. And I'm like, I don't know if that's gonna work because Larry Hoover was such a big name the case was such a big thing like I don't know if he cares and then yeah okay so that's it. That is the latest with Lauren

you heading to court now? Yes. All right all right well she'll give us an update later on to what happened in the DD trial everybody else let's get to the mix the people's choice mix it's the Diddy Trial. Everybody else, let's get to the mix, the people's choice mix. It's The Breakfast Club. Good morning. Wake that ass up. Early in the morning. The Breakfast Club. What happens when we come face to face with death? My truck was blown up by a 20 pound anti-tank mine. My parachute did not deploy. I was kidnapped by a drug cartel. When we step beyond the edge of what we know. I clinically died. The heart stopped beating.

Which I was dead for 11.5 minutes. And returned. It's a miracle I was brought back. Alive Again, a podcast about the strength of the human spirit. Listen to Alive Again on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Sometimes as dads, I think we're too hard on ourselves. We get down on ourselves on not being able to, you know, we're the providers.

But we also have to learn to take care of ourselves. A wrap-away, you got to pray for yourself as well as for everybody else, but never forget yourself. Self-love made me a better dad because I realized my worth. Never stop being a dad. That's dedication. Find out more at fatherhood.gov, brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council.

Hey, I'm Dr. Maya Shankar. I host a podcast called A Slight Change of Plans that combines behavioral science and storytelling to help us navigate the big changes in our lives. I get so choked up because I feel like your show and the conversations are what the world needs encouraging, empowering, counter programming that acts like a lighthouse when the world feels dark. Listen to a slight change of plans on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever

you get your podcasts. And it's going to take us to heal us. It's mental health awareness month. And on a recent episode of Just Heal with Dr. J, the incomparable Taraji P. Henson stopped by to discuss how she's discovered peace on her journey. I never let that little girl inside of me die. To hear this and more things on the journey of healing, you can listen to Just Heal with Dr. J

from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. AT&T, connecting changes everything. This is an iHeart Podcast.