The Breakfast Club - The people vs. Essence Festival— their responsibility vs. ours

Episode Date: July 8, 2025

Loren is in for a conversation talking about the Essence Festival fallout and how we can collectively criticize in a constructive way. Let’s not forget the history of this family reunion style event and this magazine .. that has done so much for us.YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart podcast. Let's get to it. Time to do it. I'm the homegirl that knows a little bit about everything in every body. You hear that exclusive? You know she don't lie about that right? Lauren came in hot. Hey guys, it's Lauren LaRosa and this is the latest with Lauren LaRosa.

Your daily digest and breakdown of all things pop culture, entertainment news, trending topics and the conversations that shake the room, baby. Now today, behind the scenes of the grind. Back on the grind. Checking in, if y'all can't feel my energy through the podcast, through the audio, through the visual, however you're seeing me, however you're hearing me,

it's very refreshed. I told you guys in my last episode, a weekend at home with the family, does the body, the the mind the spirit good So excited to be back at work. We are back at the Breakfast Club today I did not show up here and was here by myself because no one else was at work Which is what happened to me on the episode previous to this one Go back and take a listen to that if you want to laugh at me

But I came back to work off of the vacation too early and then boom I was here by myself So I'm feeling good and I've been you know, just digesting a lot of there was so much that happened over the weekend Like I've been you know, just digesting and kind of you know catching up This was probably one of the first weekends where I told myself that I was going to intentionally just disconnect Because I've been working so much prior to that and baby Did I do it? But one of the things that I was seeing a lot of and you know, we normally get into the latest here This is the latest though because this is news it made headlines all over from CNN to Essence themselves

To you know everywhere you can think of But it's also been a big conversation just across social media and everywhere I've went, following the Essence Festival that happened over the July 4th weekend. The conversation that people are having right now is about everything that went wrong at Essence Festival. People are pointing out the time that Lauryn Hill

went on stage, which Essence Festival has come out and already said, hey, that was not her fault, that was our fault. People are talking about there were suites set up that the year prior to this were not just VIP suites for people to attend, but this year, they were kept as VIP suites, and Essence Festival came out and said, hey, look, we had some last minute changes.

Was that our fault? Yes. Essence has come out and said, Hey, look, we have some last minute changes. Was that our fault? Yes. Essence has come out and take a kind of took accountability for a lot of, you know, what it seems like to be logistical mishaps that took place. I've also been seeing people have conversations about the fact that there just weren't a lot of people at Essence Festival this year. I went to Essence Festival probably about like five years ago now, and you could barely walk through the convention center,

which is where like a lot of the, it's like the dome area, which is where a lot of the events and the concerts and stuff were taking place that year. I don't know how they had it set up this year, but it was so many people there that, you know, luckily we stayed in a hotel close to where all the main events were because you couldn't even get in an Uber to go around the corner.

You'd be waiting in an Uber, like literally in your Uber sitting still for like an hour, just trying to make it a block or two because that's how many people Essence Festival brings to New Orleans every year. And people were talking about the fact that that was different this year. Again, we know times are hard right now. Finances are hard on people right now. Things are expensive right now. So there's a lot that I want to get into because I ran I came across this clip and

I thought that this clip was very powerful because The clip talked a lot about just Where we should be at my statewide when we talk about things that belong to us, especially when we talk about it publicly Let's take a listen. I just got back from Essence Fest and I've seen a lot of the online commentary and I think that there's one important distinction that we need to make early and often, and that is the distinction between feedback and fellowship. Some of you just seem to be in love with the idea of providing negative feedback.

I've even seen feedback from people who weren't actually even at the event. I will remind us it is important for us to protect our stuff. Now look, nothing is perfect and there are always opportunities to improve, but the spirit in which we do that is super important. Feedback often is about just critiquing the product. Fellowship protects the product. Feedback is transactional, where fellowship is transformational. These sort of distinctions are the things that I deeply encourage us to be thinking about as we're talking about one of the very important institutions

that we have in our community. Now that clip was actually a gentleman by the name of Ryan Wilson. Shout out to Ryan Wilson. He is the CEO and co-founder of a space called The Gathering Spot. Now The Gathering Spot is for us by us. They've been through their own things.

We won't get into that. We can only focus on one conversation at a time, but The Gathering Spot is, people equate it to that of a Soho house, which is you pay to be a member of a community. You're able to come, eat, drink, fellowship, do events, work, throw events yourself. It's all about community. But it's very focused on black people, people of color, but black people.

So he attended Essence Festival and, you know, he had also saw some of the fallout following the weekend and he made those comments. Now, I've been seeing the fallout and I didn't really know how to feel about it. I normally don't like to talk about things if I didn't experience it or go there myself. But when I saw Ryan's video, I was like, you know what? I do wanna talk about it because I appreciated the angle that Ryan took on this.

I wanna give you guys some history. So for anyone who is not familiar with Essence Festival, Essence Festival is an extension of Essence Magazine. Essence Magazine, I'm hoping you guys would know, but if you do not, Essence Magazine is a cultural staple for black narrative, black conversation, black women, black fashion, just black, black, black, black, all things

us. When Essence magazine was created, it was actually created with the vision to solely focus on black women and our stories, our narratives, again, our fashion and just give us a place that was ours and an ally in the media space because there was nothing like that. It was actually, you know, from very on site, it was deemed, you know, by onlookers to, you know, as something that wouldn't be successful because at the time black women were, you know, censored. Like people love to talk about black women and what we've accomplished now and, you know, how much of the buyer and consumer market we take up and, you know, how educated we are and all those things are great.

But that has not always been the focus of media and of you know these entities in the media and even now people will argue that the focus is there for us but People don't always enjoy what the angle is on the focus like, you know They don't like the fact that you talk about trauma when we talk about black women and all these things It's not always just positive but essence magazine set out very early on to reshape that and to gain control of that. And they did. They've dominated for over 50 years. And in 1996, they decided to create the Essence Festival, which was an in-person experience that was an arm of the magazine. So all things black, very central

and focused on black women and what fills our mind, body and spirit. And you know, black men and everybody else are there able to come. But if you ever gone, I went to Essence Festival some years ago, it feels like a family reunion. Oh my God, I mean, I've never seen so many black people, not even just women,

because it's grown bigger than just black women. Everybody comes to Essence Festival, even though we are the focus. I've never seen so many black people in t-shirts, and they're at their family reunions, and dressed alike, and generations of families there experiencing all of the concerts, and all of the learning, and the live conversations, and the food, and just all the things. It's a very beautiful experience if you've never been.

So when I saw all the breakdowns this year online on TikTok and all these places and all the articles written, it kind of broke my heart. But again, I wanted to be neutral and just kind of see do people have a point? And what I think, right, when I'm talking about Essence Festival and the reason I'm talking about the history

is that I agree with Ryan wholeheartedly. I feel like we have to really, there's nothing wrong with criticism and critique. I think that we should be able to criticize and critique. I think that brands and businesses alike, whether you're black, white or yellow, should hear that from people that are spending their money, especially during a time where they don't have the money to spend. But I do think that, you know, some of the commentary that I've been seeing

has been unfairly placed, unfairly targeted, and it seems very like I'm throwing this away. Like I'm done with Essence. I'm done with Essence Festival. So let's break down, number one, some of the critiques. So, you know, logistics seemed like it was an issue this year at Essence Festival. Fans were pissed off because Lauryn Hill was a part of the live performances

along with Lucky Day, Coco Jones, Glorilla, Nas, Ari Lennox, Tamar Braxton, the Isley brothers. There was a waiting to hell tribute because Adam Blackstone and Keith Sweat are celebrating, you know, so many years of the soundtrack. But Lauryn Hill got on stage and baby, it was late, okay? And when I say late, I don't mean her performance was late, like it wasn't a good performance. I mean, the time that she got on stage was late.

She did not finish her performance until 3.40 a.m. She got on stage after midnight and she performed, you she performed a few songs. Once this happened, fans got online, and they, even in the Essence comments, when Essence posted Lauryn Hill's performance video and some of her photos online, the fans were quick to get in the comments and say,

I enjoyed everything up until this point because we waited hours, and it was too late, I left, up until this point because we waited hours and, you know, it was too late, I left and, you know, things of that nature. And the headline that quickly spread because of our reaction, just from misunderstanding, right? It's not our fault if we don't know. But I'm saying this to make a point.

So when you Google Essence Festival, the first few headlines you see, People.com, Lauryn Hill played to a nearly empty Superdome until 3.37 a.m. in New Orleans. CNN, Lauryn Hill took the Essence Festival stage super late and organizers want you to know it wasn't her fault. That's a very fair headline. Variety, Essence Festival defends Lauryn Hill's

delayed 2 a.m. performance. Essence Festival actually came out and posted a statement because of all the coverage that picked up because of people's reactions to the time that Lauryn Hill got on stage. And they said in the caption, family is family and around here we protect our own no matter what the people have to say. Let's be clear we don't play about Ms. Lauryn Hill not for clicks not for headlines. She arrived on schedule, stepped on that stage, and delivered the kind of performance only a legend can. The delay, dot, dot, dot, not hers, and we'll take that.

The moment, one for the books. The legacy, still unmatched. Put some respect on her name. Keep the takes, but keep her out of them. They also ended up responding to the notion that no one showed up to Essence Festival this year. They posted a video of what the Superdome looked like when Nas performed and they said basically like, now who said what? Excuse us, was the caption that they get. That's what the caption gave.

I know there were people upset that Essence decided to work with Target because of all the Target rollbacks and you know the DEI things that have been a conversation. I saw Tameka Mallory and she talked about her decision to skip Essence Festival. You know, with Tameka Mallory, when we talk about having critique and criticism, but making it something that a brand or a business, like an Essence magazine,

in the Essence the company can hear and take from, I think I like the way that she responded. So she talked about, you know, she's been going to Essence Festival for over 20 years. She talked about it's more than an event. I told y'all it's a spiritual recharge, a celebration of everything that makes being a Black woman powerful, complex, and so beautiful.

So not being this year is heavy. I'll miss my friends and that good food. But stepping away from something I love is never easy. But as leaders, we are often called to do what's uncomfortable in service of what is necessary. They joined the boycott against Target. And it wasn't just about boycotting the one corporation, but she said that there had been a rollback of respect for black people, our progress, and our black political power and economic power.

And she says that, you know, it hasn't gotten enough coverage about, you know, what they're doing and why they're doing it. But she says, you know, go ahead, family, enjoy Essence Festival, dance, connect, celebrate the fullness of black experience. But when you see that red bullseye keep walking, don't take or post any of the swag. Don't let the brand co-opt our culture while betraying our people. The fight is bigger than one brand or one booth. It's about standing on business, standing for justice, and standing to the right side of history. We can love Essence and still take the stand. So remember, when you see the Red Bulls,

I walk by with the spirit of our ancestors, our power to the people. So her whole point was, I'm not going to tear Essence down because this is a festival in a institution that I love, but I'm going to tell y'all what y'all should do in spite of that, right? And whether that actually was successful or not, I thought that it was constructive

because she didn't tear us down. Like one of the things I watched this docu-series about Essence Magazine and the Essence brand in general and its inception and why it was created and what it stood for. And some of the times that Essence has had to stand next to us and really take a stand. And I think that's why, you know,

a lot of people are outraged at the way that people's responses has been to the Essence Festival experience. Although, you know, some of them may be warranted. I can't imagine, you know, you're, you're waiting for hours and, you know, all these things and things are not being explained to you. Um, but I think it's the, do we throw away Essence Festival conversation that a lot of people are upset about because, you know, Essence at one point in time was it was what we had and all we had. I learned about when Vanessa Williams, you know, was the first black

Miss America and there were some nude photos of her that made it onto a magazine that she did not approve of. And because of that, she had to resign her title. And Essence was the magazine that she used to help to reclaim her narrative and recharge her brand and her career. And they stood beside her regardless of how other people were viewing her because of those photos and the fact that she had to step away from Miss America. Being able to have a home in the media like that is so important. And for this media brand to be able to do something like an Essence Festival where,

you know, they're employing all these people. They're bringing together all this money in the sake of black people and black things. We can argue all day long about what you think they could do better and not do better, but I think it's important that when you do argue, you understand that like people hear us and I'm speaking to us because I'm speaking to the black people listening. I know I it's a million of y'all low-riders out there. So it may not just be black people, but I'm speaking to us when I say I've had to learn a lot about when you get on the microphone,

when you get on a social media platform, wherever you have a voice, making that something that like, when you say these things and when you put these things out there, there's always a responsibility for us. We don't have a choice. There is always a responsibility for us. We don't have a choice. There is always a responsibility for us. So making it something that, you know, makes sense. If Essence is an active real time owning up

and being accountable for where they messed up and wanting to fix and rectify, I think we begin to have conversations about that. Okay, here's where you could rectify. Here's what I didn't appreciate and here's what I think you could do better versus just saying, this is why I can't support nothing black here's what I think you could do better. Versus just saying, this is why I can't support nothing black.

There was a super dumb, not super dumb, but there was a sweet experience that people complained a lot about too. And I began to see that on TikTok in essence addressed it. They use our social media to address it. And they said, look, this experience used to be this way. It is now this other way. Did we get it correct?

No, we did not. Are we open to being accountable and changing? Yes, we are. We need more brands like that because who else y'all know, hearing y'all, hearing us and caring about us enough to want to make sure that the catered experience is that which it has always been

where it feels like a family reunion and it feels like home. The whole point in all of this is to encourage you guys to, you know, if you are one of the people that attended Essence Festival this past weekend and did not enjoy your experience and you're online talking about it, I don't think you've got to cower your experience. I think your experience is yours and I think it's important if you feel like it's important for the right reasons to get online and express it. But I think we also have to really ask ourselves a question when you decide to, and this is

something I had to learn in this and I'm still a question when you decide to, and this is something I had to learn in this, and I'm still learning. When you decide to get on the mic and you decide to use your voice, is it to help or is it to hurt? And if it is to hurt, why do you wanna do that to someone that looks like you, that is building a company that stands for you? And regardless who the partners are, right?

We don't always have to agree with those things, but it takes money to make money so we can cater how the money's been given who it's from who we're involved with what the experience is like if we can open our mouths to adjust that and polish that I would take that over us just having nothing we need Essence magazine we need Essence Festival these are places for us these are are experiences for us. I know I've been going for a minute y'all but I mean I don't know I guess it could qualify as in the streets in the tweets.

We outside, we outside, we outside, outside in the tweets. Every other page are gold. When I say it was so loud over the weekend I was like man they ain't come to Essence. No breaks. I would love to hear from some of you guys, some of the low riders who may have been at Essence Festival. I did not attend this year. I chose to be with family. Um, but shout out to Essence though, the team there, they did reach out for me to

attend and that's not why I did this whole spill. I did it because I truly felt this way. Um, let me know, how did you guys feel? What did you experience? I know I saw Nas perform. I saw so many different people performing. So y'all had to have fun somewhere. Let me know how y'all felt about it.

We'd love to hear from you guys. This has been The Latest with Lauren LaRosa, a dedicated episode to Essence Magazine because without them, you wouldn't have me. Hello, writers. I tell y'all at the end of every episode, at the end of the day, there's always a lot to talk about. Y'all can talk about that anywhere with anybody.

But y'all are right here with me every single episode, and I appreciate you guys for that. I will see you guys in my next one. This is an iHeart podcast.