The Breakfast Club - More Than a Rom-Com: Why You, Me & Tuscany Is Being Watched So Closely

Episode Date: April 13, 2026

Loren LoRosa is back from Italy and bringing all the vibes—from Naples to Capri to the Amalfi Coast—sharing what the trip really felt like beyond the Instagram filters. But it’s not just travel talk… she dives into the bigger conversation around You, Me & Tuscany and why this film carries more weight than just being a feel-good rom-com. From the beauty of Italy to the harsh realities of Hollywood, Loren breaks down the pressure Black films face at the box office, the viral tweet that sparked industry-wide debate, and what this moment means for future Black creators trying to get their stories told.YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. When a group of women discover they've 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. you get your podcast. I'm Lori Siegel, and this is Mostly Human, a tech podcast through a human lens. This week, an interview with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. I think society is going to decide that creators of AI products bear a tremendous amount of responsibility to the products we put out in the world.

An in-depth conversation with a man who's shaping our future. My highest order bit is to not destroy the world with AI. Listen to Mostly Human on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Hey, it's Nora Jones, and my podcast playing along is back with more of my favorite musicians. Check out my newest episode with Josh Grobin. You related to the Phantom at that point. Yeah, I was definitely the Phantom in that.

That's so funny. Share each day with me each night, each morning. Listen to Nora Jones is playing along on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jay Shetty, host of the On Purpose podcast. My latest episode is with Noah Kahn, the singer-songwriter behind the multi-platinum global hit stick season and one of the biggest voices in music today. Talking about the mental illness stuff,

it used to be this thing that I was ashamed of. Getting the talk about this is not common for me. Right now I need it more than ever. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey y'all, it's Lauren Mar Rosa with the latest with Lauren LaRosa on Black Effect. And I cannot wait to see you guys at the fourth annual Black Effect podcast festival. We are coming back to Atlanta, Georgia on Saturday, April 25th at Palmer Yards.

And it's hosted by me alongside DJ Envy and Charlemagne Naguette. We got drink chance with Noriega and DJ AFN. We got Keep It Positive, Sweetie, with my girl, Crystal Renee Haislett. We got reality with the king with my guide and my brother, Carlos, Carlos. King and y'all know he does reality commentary like nobody can now we also have don't call me right girl the podcast I love Mona

and Club 520 podcast along with the grits and eggs podcast so this lineup stack baby you're also going to want to check out the panels that we have lined up too featuring kev on stage Tika Sumter and John Hope Bryant just to name a few of course

it's way bigger than podcast we're bringing the Black Effect Marketplace with black on businesses bus the food truck court to keep you fed while you visit us, okay? Listen, you don't want to miss this. Tap in and grab your ticket now at black effect.com slash podcast festival.

I'm a homegirl that knows a little bit about everything and everybody. You know if you're going to lie about that, right? Lauren came in hot. Hey, y'all, what's up? It's Lauren LaRosa, and this is another episode of the latest with Lauren LaRosa. This is you daily dig on all things

pop culture, entertainment news, and all of the conversations that shake the room, baby. So we are back. Fresh week. I've been in Italy for the last five to six days. And, okay, let's check in behind the scenes of the ground. Because I am so excited to tell you guys just a little bit about my trip. If you're listening to this and you want to see my trip,

I posted a vlog to my YouTube channel, showing you guys everywhere. I went, everything I ate, it was beautiful. We did the Amafi Coast and we did the coast. So when I arrived to Italy, we arrived in Napoleon or Naples, which is where the big airport is, which is like the city. Definitely looked a lot different than I expected it to look. Okay. It just wasn't like what you see like on Instagram and TikTok and, you know, YouTube of the Amafi coast and how pretty and vibrant it looks. Naples, Nepali, is not really that at all. It is very much the city, a lot of graffiti.

It's like the difference between New York or downtown Los Angeles and Napa Valley, where you go for all the wine tasting. Like, just very different. A lot of places we went to in Naples because we stayed there for the first day or two of our trip. I want my boyfriend for his birthday. It was his birthday gift. And then we stayed there the last day of the trip. People were like, uh-uh, take your watches off, your jewelry, anything valuable, put it up if you want to be in April's. And this is like not tourist people. Like, this is, like we went to a really famous pizza spot. I'm going to get the name of the pizza spot.

We went to a really famous pizza spot. The pizza spot was called Pateria. de Michelle. So this pizza spot, like people wait in line for hours to try their pizza. We were lucky. We got there kind of early. And we didn't wait for hours. We waited for about 20 minutes.

And then we went in, tried the pizza. The pizza was amazing. But as we were leaving this pizza spot, there was like the street that was like playing music. And you know, all these things. Now this is the Naples. This is our last day there. Just to kind of give you an example of what I'm talking about.

So we walk up the street. We're in like this small, it's like a like side street, like a hill, but there's like a smaller restaurant and there's seating outside. And, you know, there's a bunch of people out there. Everyone's doing the sprits, the April Sprits. That's like the signature drink there, of course. So we sit down just have a drink and just enjoy the last night. We've been chilling like that last like 24 to 48 hours because we had done so much by that point. and when we went inside of the store to pay for our stuff before we left just to go back to our hotel to just relax and get ready for a flight

literally everybody in the store like the owner of the store or the restaurant got up closed the door it was like three to four people they were like uh-uh like they were telling my boyfriend like take your watch off they were like um i'd had like a small bag or like keep your back on you, you know, anything in your pockets, take it out of your pockets. Our taxi drivers were also telling us that when we were in Naples in the train station. So Naples was just a lot different than what we expected.

But we still had a great time there. Nothing bad happened to us. Thank God. Had a great time. But we leave Naples the first day that we stayed there. Like I said, and we ended up there the last couple nights. First day we stayed there, we leave. We head on over to Capri.

Now, Capri, beautiful. But Capri is a bit like, you know, there's a lot of the luxury shopping there. And there's like all these, like, boutiques. Like, you know, I clothing is my thing. I love fashion. But I really love to see, like, handmade pieces. So there were a lot of, like, small boutiques and local boutiques and local leather shops. And, oh, my God, it was just amazing to see all of the, like, artistry through, like, you know, the different, like, mumoos and jackets.

And, you know, just all of the different designs that we saw. And they were everywhere. Everywhere you walked in Capri was another beautiful shop, a ceramic shop, a jewelry shop. And of course, they had all of the luxury stores as well, too. We ate in Capri at another really popular restaurant. We had a travel guy. We had two travel guides. You know, one of my friends, her name on Instagram or her traveling Instagram.

name like she travels all throughout various countries uh the traveling chucks and she put together a lot of our itinerary and then i also had a secondary um itinerary done by like a luxury travel planner that i met um so they hooked us up with a restaurant reservation and capri and also helped set up like some of the shopping um that we did so that was the first day was beautiful we also did like a taxi like you know, rooftop car ride, you know, throughout the coast of Capri, which was so beautiful. We got to see the water. The weather there was not as warm as you would think that it is. The weather was very much like New York.

It's like springtime, like, but just getting into it, right? So it's like warm a bit during the day. You definitely need like a hoodie or something on your arms, cooler at night. But from what I was told, this is like the beginning of their season. like, you know, as it gets warmer, people begin to travel. Things open up. There's a lot more to do on the coast. We left Capri and then we went to Rome.

Rome was amazing. In Rome, we got to see the Coliseum. We got to see, we were trying to make it over to, what we did, we rode throughout the Vatican City. We did like a big bus tour. So we got to see a lot of like just various artifacts throughout Rome. just Rome itself, the city of Rome, was also very beautiful. One of the things that I noticed the most about Rome was all of the, like, the graffiti there

was like so political. Like there were a lot of like, because, you know, there's, you know, there's places where like, you know, the Pope, you know, various things went down with the Pope. And just very religious grounds and in cathedrals and different places that we would stop at. And every time I would look around, I would see these. political messages on the walls like, you know, harmed people deserve to harm people, or I would see free Gaza, I would see free Palestine, everywhere. Like that was one of the things that stood out most of me about Rome, but also the architecture

of the buildings. And just, I don't know, like, everywhere we went, I was trying to get a feel for the people and just like, you know, like how they were different than people in other cities that we were experiencing. But all in all, Rome was beautiful as well. We actually decided last minute to spend a night in Rome and then woke back up, got back on the train and went back to Naples to then take a car ride up the coast of Amafi to Amafi. So on the Amafi coast, there is a small town called Amafi. We stayed there and we actually stayed on like a countryside. Like we drove for about an hour into the mountains, which was so beautiful, and it was very different than any city

we had been into because it wasn't a city. It was literally like countryside. So we were at this little like, I would almost call it, not a bed and breakfast, but I would call it that, but it was, it was like luxury. Like it was very homey, small staff. The rooms were made, literally like made up for you as they know that you were coming. Small balcony that overlooked the place. in this place where we stayed they specialized in like ceramic making so the floors the ceilings the towel and the bathroom everything was just so beautiful like everywhere we went i don't care if it was naples if it was rome everywhere we went there was so much attention to detail and all of the architecture and you know the way things were put together and the the decorations and the flooring and the walls and the

ceilings, even the shapes of the windows at the restaurants and the hotels that you were saying, like, oh, my God, it was just, it was like something out of, like, a picture book. Like, everything just didn't look real. Everything looked like it does when you see, like, pictures of Rome on, like, a computer or, you know, like, in a history book or something like that. Or Rome, Naples, Capri, like, they just, it just didn't look real. It was so beautiful to experience. And so we spent an evening there.

which was so relaxing and it was just very different than anything else we've ever experienced. But it was so fire because I think it was good to see the city life, the various entities of the city life, Rome, which, you know, there was so much history there that we got to learn and see in real life. And then now we're on the countryside where like literally they grow everything themselves. So all of the food that we were eating, the vegetables, there was like a lemon farm, you know, right there. Like when you walked out your balcony, there was a lemon farm as well. too. Everything was just fresh and everything was amazing. And then we got up, headed back to Naples where we ended our trip. One of the biggest feelings while in Italy is the feeling of love. Like, it was just so positive. And a lot of times we were the only black people, the majority of

places where we were going? And I was, I was asking, I'm like, where is black culture here? Like, this is that, like, where are we here in this atmosphere of like, you know, all these different cities, especially when we were on the tour and I'm like, I'm seeing on this beautiful architecture. I'm like, I don't know we come in a mix from here because this is what we do. But even though we were the only black people, it didn't, not that it didn't feel like it, but we weren't treated that way. And when I went to Paris, it was a completely different experience just in general, just the way that we were received, you know, how nice people were or lack thereof and lack thereof more than how nice they were.

It was just a completely different experience. But yeah, the trip was amazing. And I was so excited while in Italy because I knew that I wanted to go see you and me in Tuscany, which came out in theaters on April 10th. And I knew that the background of the movie was Italy. Even though it's Tuscany, a different part of Italy, I just knew that it was Italy. So I was excited to actually get the experience Italy and then go watch this film. So we're going to get on into the latest because

I want to have a conversation about the movie, You Me and Tuscany, a black-led rom-com featuring Holly Bailey and Reggie Jean-Page. And you guys know, I mean, you know Holly Bailey because, I mean, she is an amazing singer. She also played The Little Mermaid and the Disney Recreation recently, you know,

her and Chloe Bailey all over the place. And then Regéjean page, you guys know him, Bridgeting. I'm Cynthia Lloyd. And I'm Josie Dye. And we're done pretending we have it all figured out. Each week we laugh, cry, and talk our way through life's messiest moments. The things you think about but would never say out loud.

The questions you are always too shy to ask. Relationships, regrets, awkward moments, and the stuff no one warns you about. It's honest, it's funny, and sometimes it gets a little uncomfortable. But that's kind of the point. This is Cynthia and Josie's Unmentionables. Listen on the free IHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl.

You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either. 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. Hey, I'm Nora Jones, and I love playing music with people so much that my podcast called Playing Along is back. I sit down with musicians from all musical styles to play songs together in an intimate setting. Every episode's a little different, but it all involves music and conversation with some of my

favorite musicians. Over the past two seasons, I've had special guests like Dave Grohl, Leve, Mavis Staples, Remy Wolfe, Jeff Tweedy, really too many to name. And this season, I've sat down with Alessia Kara, Sarah McLaughlin, John Legend, and more. Check out my new episode with Josh Grobin. You related to the Phantom at that point. Yeah, I was definitely the phantom in that. That's so funny.

Share each day with me, each night, each morning. Say you love me. You know I... So come hang out with us in the studio and listen to playing along on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jay Shetty, host of the On Purpose podcast. My latest episode is with Noah Kohn, the singer-songwriter behind the multi-platinum global hit Stick Season

and one of the biggest voices in music today. Noah opens up about the pressure that followed his rapid success, his struggles with mental health and body image, and the fear of starting again after such a defining moment in his career. It's easy to look at somebody and be like, your life must be so sick. Man, you have no clue. Talking about the mental illness stuff,

it used to be this thing that I was ashamed of. I'm just now trying to unwind this idea that I have to be unhoused. healthy physically or in pain in some emotional way in my life to create good music. If someone says that I did a good job, I'm like, yeah, I'm good. Someone says that I suck. I'm like, I suck. Getting to talk about this is not common for me. Right now I need it more than ever.

Listen to On Purpose with Jay Chetty on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Now, these two as actors are not without. a little diversity pushback. You know, Haley went through it when it was announced that she would be the new little mermaid and there were tons of people who felt like the little mermaid shouldn't be black. And Reggie Jermpage went through it because he played a male lead in Bridgeton. And there was conversation around, you know, just him and that role and how hysterically that wasn't a thing.

But Shonda Rimes, you know, she, Shana Rhyms is going to make it do what to do for us. and she does a melting pot in all of her shows. But, you know, I wouldn't say that there is pushback when it comes to the movie, you, me and Tuscany, and I did go and see it. But there is conversation that happened. And this conversation, to be honest with you guys, wasn't even on purpose. But it's one of those things that, like, even if the, you know, even if the conversation had not have happened the way that it went down and we're going to talk about it,

it was being had anyway. Like it was literally being had anyway or going to be had anyway. So Variety did an article and the article is titled Why the Box Office for You Me and Tuscany matters. It says audiences have the power to dictate what gets made in Hollywood, says producer Will Packer.

Will Packer, who was on a girl's trip and a ton of other amazing movies along with the team and Shayla Cohen and all of the brilliant minds over there world power will packer productions um you know are or are some of the driving forces behind this movie now i went and saw the movie the movie was amazing um you know like i said i actually was excited to experience the film because being fresh out of an italy trip you really understand the essence of the culture there a bit um you know the feeling the people the food um a lot of the things you'll visually see like

the sunsets and sunrises in the countryside. It's just, like I said, Italy is just literally, it looks like something from out of a book. Like something, it doesn't even look real. And the film captured that. Even in the film, I went to go see it with a friend who had never been in Italy and just some of the shots in the film and the way that it was colored. You know, his first question to me was, oh my God, this looks like something out of a book. Is that how it is?

And I'm like, yes, in real life. but it was amazing that he was feeling that through a movie screen because a lot of times movies don't capture the real essence of the actual place and culture where they're being shot. So they did an amazing job at that. But the storyline is basically Haley Bailey's character goes through some hard times in life and family. I'm not going to get the movie away, just the log line, and ends up squatting in this house in Italy after meeting this guy who is from Italy.

and the love, the romance, and the funny unfolds from there. And it was just that you fell in love with Hallie Bailey in her role. You fell in love with who she fell in love with. You went on the twist and turns of, oh, my God, what's going to happen next? You went on the twist and turns of, oh, my God, is this all about to be over for them? And then the feeling of, wow, I'm so happy. It is the essence of a rom-com. It was such a warm storyline.

But also, too, it was just good to see her and reggae Jean, like to see them just glowing and happy in this film. Even through like the ups and downs that they took you through, they were, it was like watching them experience life and experience the things that they, and it's so hard to talk about it, but I'll give them a film away. And the way that they do it, it's so jovial, it's so abete. It's just a feel-good film. Like, it just makes you feel good to go see it. From the setting of Italy to the food to the cooking, you know, family was a big element. Grief was a big element. And you still felt good throughout all of that.

You felt hope. The film did what it needed to do. Y'all need to go see you. Hi-Hard Radio wants to send you and a friend to experience Luke Cones. When the sky is blue. Live in Montreal. With a thousand dollars. Cash, backstage passes, and his new album on final to get you ready for the show.

Flights and two nights from TripCentral.ca, the smarter way to book travel. Download the free IHeartRadio app. Listen to Pure Country for 10 minutes. And win your way to Montreal to see Luke Combs. Every day you listen is another chance to win. The new album, The Way I Am, is available now. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl.

You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either. 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. Hey, I'm Nora Jones, and I love playing music with people so much that my podcast called Playing Along is back. I sit down with musicians from all musical styles to play songs together in an intimate setting. Every episode's a little different, but it all involves music and conversation with some of my favorite musicians. Over the past two seasons, I've had special guests like Dave Grohl, Levei, Mavis Staples, Remy Wolf, Jeff Tweedy, really too many to name.

And this season, I've sat down with Alessia Cara, Sarah McLaughlin, John Legend, and more. Check out my new episode with Josh Grobin. You related to the Phantom at that point. Yeah, I was definitely the Phantom in that. That's so funny. Each day with me, each night, each morning. Say you love me. You know I...

So come hang out with us in the studio and listen to Playing Along on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jay Shetty, host of the On Purpose podcast. My latest episode is with Noah Kahn, the singer-songwriter behind the multi-platinum global hit Stick Season, and one of the biggest voices in music today. Noah opens up about the pressure that followed his rapid success, his struggles with mental health and body image,

and the fear of starting again after such a defining moment in his career. It's easy to look at somebody and be like, your life must be so sick. Man, you have no clue. Talking about the mental illness stuff, it used to be this thing that I was ashamed of. I'm just now trying to unwind this idea that I have to be unhealthy physically or in pain in some emotional way in my life to create.

good music. If someone says that I did a good job, I'm like, yeah, I'm good. Someone says that I suck. I'm like, I suck. Getting to talk about this is not common for me. Right now, I need it more than ever. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Chetty on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Now, the conversation that is, you know, has been sparked by this is how important this film is in the box office for other black creators. Now there was a director, her name is Nina Lee, and there was a tweet that was posted by another person, Jasmine Sinclair, and she tweeted,

the studios are going to watch us during the opening weekend of Yumi and Tuscany. They want to see if an original screenplay does well. They want to see if a black rom-com does well. I know we can show up and support this movie. This is the movie that we have been waiting for. So Nina Lee retweeted, please go see this film on March 25th, right? So last week sometime, a few weeks ago. She then tweeted and said, Nina Lee, she says, number one, I met with a studio about my already

shot rom-com and they won't buy it until they see you, me, and Tuscanine. On the rom-com that she is referring to is a rom-com that she had already shot, that she had already been pitching and it features Coco Jones music artist Coco Jones and comedian country Wayne and she says you know that it was already shot that it was stuck in limbo of post-production and they told her that they won't buy it until they see you me and tuscany and see how it does then she says number two she met when an exec about a romance script that she has they won't buy it until they see how you me and tuscany does and number three she reminds people to go see this film. Now, the irony of this is that Nina, who is a filmmaker, was actually about to go and speak

to a room for the high school students in Atlanta, and she was going to be advising them on how to navigate Hollywood. And this is the, this is like the thing that gets it for me. It's like the duality that we have to have as black people, right? Because it's like, we always have to be not careful how we speak about things because like I feel like you should be honest but it's like you don't want to you don't want to speak to your people in a way that's going to discourage someone from maybe becoming the next spikely or becoming the next ninaly right but at the same time you are sitting in this world that is like okay your art is good some days sometimes but not right now Well, maybe tomorrow, once we see how something similar to it does because, oh, all of you guys are the same.

And in one movie and one storyline and one feel good hug movie does well, all the rest of yous are going to be okay. Which is not realistic. Even when Yumi and Tuscan Me does well, that movie, it doesn't speak for every black person and how every black person wants to be shown on a big screen. But if you're needing to lead, you're now stuck in this position where you're headed to go speak to these students. You want to inspire them because we, I mean, look, the world needs storytellers, good ones, you know, because we need plumbers, electricians, and doctors and all that too. But good storytellers, the world does need them, especially in terms like this where a lot of us are being taken out of these positions, a lot of our black, you know, etters and chiefs or writers or arms of these. big magazines that focus directly on black things are being taken out of here. So as the new era of creators arise and, you know, we are going to start seeing that happen

without the majors, without the platforms and people doing it on their own, somebody got inspired to people. So you're headed out to go speak to these kids. But internally, you're in this limbo because the same industry that you've always wanted to be a part of, that you've had success in because she has had some. success with other things, right? It's telling you, not right now. I don't care about the bills you got to pay.

I don't care about the fact that, you know, black people aren't a monolith. Just not right now. Canadian women are looking for more. More to themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world are at them. And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast. I'm Jennifer Stewart.

And I'm Catherine Clark. And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women. entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey. So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us. Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on I Heart Radio or wherever you listen to your podcasts. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes.

And rule two, never mess with her friends either. 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, on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Hey, I'm Nora Jones, and I love playing music with people so much that my podcast called Playing Along is back. I sit down with musicians from all musical styles to play songs together in an intimate setting. Every episode's a little different, but it all involves music and conversation with some of my favorite musicians. Over the past two seasons, I've had special guests like Dave Grohl, Lave, Mavis Staples, Remy Wolf, Jeff Tweedy, really too many to name. And this season, I've sat down with Alessia Cara, Sarah McLaughlin, John Legend, and more. Check out my new episode with Josh Grobin.

You related to the Phantom at that point. Yeah, I was definitely the Phantom in that. That's so funny. Share each day with me each night, each morning. Say you love me. You know. So come hang out with us in the studio and listen to Playing Along on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jay Shetty, host of the On Purpose podcast. My latest episode is with Noah Kahn, the singer-songwriter behind the multi-platinum global hit stick season, and one of the biggest voices in music today.

Noah opens up about the pressure that followed his rapid success, his struggles with mental health and body image, and the fear of starting again after such a defining moment in his career. It's easy to look at somebody and be like, your life must be so sick. Man, you have no clue. Talking about the mental illness stuff, it used to be this thing that I was ashamed of. I'm just now trying to unwind this idea that I have to be unhealthy physically or in pain in some emotional way in my life to create good music. If someone says that I did a good job, I'm like, yeah, I'm good. Someone says that I suck.

I'm like, I suck. Getting to talk about this is not common for me. Right now I need it more than ever. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Chetty on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Now, you, me, and Tuscany is projected to do more than $10 million to start, which is a solid start for them because I'm in with the $18 million budget, according to variety. But at the same time, I mean, if the conversation that happens, because this conversation happens every single time something black is headed to the theater, but especially a rom-com, because in recent years, studios have kind of like got away from rom-coms right um but especially black led ones but there have been studies that have kind of pointed at the fact that like Hollywood is not really paying attention to

their own information so there was a study that was done um that a lot of you know these articles that are having this discussion are pointing to and i went and took a look at the study and i'm like it's so crazy because basically what this study is saying is that the goalpost keeps movement, which we already know, but until you have numbers, nothing matters. Like, even Will Packer, he was speaking to Variety. He had no issue with Nina Lee's tweets. He said, what they're going to do with you, me and Tuscany and what they need to do is going to help creators like her, right? So Will Packer spoke to Rariati about the tweet, and he says, and about the movie, you, me and Tuscany, and he says, when it comes to you, me and Tuscany, predicting the future for

films like it, if the dollars don't make sense, if the dollars make sense, then you'll see more of it. And if Hollywood and Hollywood will change and adjust. So I'm trying to do my part to be successful in a language that Hollywood understands, which is really not the language of social justice. It's the language of economics, the numbers. And that's so I'm like, it's crazy to me that, you know, Hollywood is such a numbers business.

And I get it because it's all about giving tick. It's all about the investment and the return. But there was a report done in 2025 by, by a university I'm sorry, by Dr. Anna Christina Ramon. She's one of the co-authors of UCLA Hollywood's Diversity Report. Now, in this report from 2025, they point out the fact that it's not the issue of

if black movie goers will go support a black-led movie because numbers show that we do. And this has been proven time and time and time again, right? So according to her report, Bipic men unambiguously made up the largest audience share for 10 of these films.

So they're looking at a list of 23 theatrical films from 2024. So 23 actual films from 2024 is the list. Of those 20 films, 10 of these films,

right? So that's half of the list. Black indigenous or people of color Us Okay us some of us Men made up the largest audience share for 10 of those films right And then by pick women Black indigenous people of color Women accounted for the largest audience shares for another six of the film

So that's 16 that's the majority of the list That we show up for White women and white men each made up the largest audience share for just one of these top 20 films. According to the study, if audiences are aware that a black led movie exists, they will go see it, which presents the first hurdle for black led films to overcome, which is why, as much as people want to say, well, you could put things straight to streaming or you put things straight to Amazon or, you know, I mean, Amazon is streaming, but you can put things

straight to wherever, right? The reason why people, like these filmmakers, want to get studios behind them because when you get studios behind them, you get budgets. You get dollars. In order for you to really see a return, people have to know to want to come out. Budgets and dollars go into production costs, marketing costs, distribution, density, all of these things that help to push a movie. And the more that people know about it, the more that people will come out. Listen, we want to stay locked in and see how the numbers work with you, me and Tuscany,

to see the impact that it has. But if I were a studio after seeing what sinners just did with getting people back to the box office, I'm betting on everything black if I'm a studio. But again, again, even when the numbers make sense, the goalpost moves. I hope that you, me, and Tuscany does exactly what it's supposed to do. And it is a great film. I'm not just saying that because of this conversation. It is actually a great film. I suggest everyone goes out and see it.

But when it does what it's supposed to do, what I hope we see is other people getting a shot. But we always hope this. Issa Rae said this years ago, I'm rooting for everybody black. And a lot of us have always been rooting for everybody black. Some of us are new. You know what I mean? To the coming on over here. And I huff and puff and I say that because it's sad to have to say that.

But all skin folk and kinfolk, and we know that. But some of us are new over here. But when you see what movies like sinners just did, this. last year, if I'm a studio, I am itching for not just the next black sinners. And even that, we're going to see if that happens again. Because in this conversation, I saw there were some tweets from one of the, there was a director who had, you know, shot his shot for like an Asian, like, rom-com type of movie. And he was responding to Nina because basically when Nina lived,

that director tweeted that tweet and put her phone away and went and spoke to that class. She went so viral because, like, movie fan sites like Pop Crave and stuff picked it up. So people started having conversations about, you know, directors and producers about what they were experiencing, fans, commentators. Like, it went crazy viral, right? So there was a Asian director who basically said that he had shot his shot for film and was kind of the same thing, but the Asian version, like, oh, well, you know this was some years ago like oh we want to see how crazy rich Asian does and then we're a

circle back and then when it did well he went back to the studio and the studio was like oh well that was basically an anomaly like that won't happen again and I feel like that's what they're going to try and do and say about sinners as well too like the more we push because with Jordan peel and a lot of the things that Jordan Pill was doing and how well you know those movies were doing no matter where you went and saw them I feel like they still try to make it see seemed like it was like a one-off and couldn't be done. And then, I mean, even with Ryan Coochler, like, I think what Ryan Cooleur did with Black Panther, you would have thought that studio is really understood where and how we should

be positioned from that. And then, you know, he comes back and does what he does with sinners. And there are people still having conversations about how amazing this is. And it's like, did he ain't knew to this? Hallie Bailey actually commented on Nina Lee's tweet as well and talked about how unfair all of this pressure on black films in theaters is. Let's take a listen. There was this writer-director named Nina Lee who basically shared online that she had this rom-com already shot and went to go like pitch it in Hollywood to its sex and they basically

told her that they were going to wait on it until they saw the performance of Yumi and Tuscany. Did you see this news? I did see this. How did that make you feel being the star of this film? I think it's amazing to be a black creator and I think Nina is. doing something so wonderful in the art that she's creating. And I feel like it almost isn't fair for us to have to like, you know, oh, well, we're going to watch how this one does.

And then we'll green light you. Like, it shouldn't be like that at all. But I do think that we are known for breaking barriers and not letting anything stop us as a community. And I think that even when the goalposts may be moved every single time, we still will persevere no matter. So we'll see what happens. I'll keep you guys posted for sure.

I know that the talent from the movie have been out during a bunch of interviews, so we'll stay abreast to that as well, too. Please go see the film. Let me know how you guys feel about the film. I'm Lauren La Rosa everywhere. I want to hear from you. Join the conversation. Get out in the streets and the tweets.

That's L-O-R-E-N-L-R-O-S-A. I'm Lauren LaRosa. This has been another episode of the latest with Lauren the Rosa. This is your daily dig on all things pop culture, entertainment news, and all of the conversations that shake the room. My lowriders, I appreciate you guys every single time you're here to talk with me about all the things.

I'll see you in my next episode. When a group of women discover they've 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 IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Lori Siegel, and this is mostly human, a tech podcast through a human lens. This week, an interview with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. I think society is going to decide that creators of AI products bear a tremendous amount of responsibility to the products we put out in the world. An in-depth conversation with a man who's shaping our future. My highest order bit is to not destroy the world with AI.

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