The Breakfast Club - The Verdict, The L.A. Review, and Serena's Return

Episode Date: June 3, 2026

Mimi Brown breaks down the day. A South Carolina jury has acquitted a store owner of murder in the killing of 14-year-old Cyrus Carmack-Belton over four water bottles. Los Angeles prosecutors are now reviewing a new sexual assault case against Sean "Diddy" Combs. And Serena Williams is coming out of retirement to play in London. Plus,  The Underplayed. The 105th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre just passed without national coverage. From the Black Effect Podcast Network.YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Number one hits, millions of records sold, awards, sold out tours. You think that Jonas Brothers are satisfied? Nope, it's podcast time. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Hey Jonas is available now, and their first guest is a big one. Paul Rudd. You know, Steve Carell is a great singer. Can you tell you not to audition at the office or something?

I told him. Whoa. We were filming Anchorman. Clearly, I was the idiot. Thank God he didn't listen to him, right? Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast, Point Game, the playoffs.

We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was harmed. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming to. He's like, you know, I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Here's something that should not be as complicated as it is, getting a racist statue removed. And here's something that should be a whole lot easier than it is, getting a new one put up in its place. I'm Akila Hughes, and Rebel Spirit Season 2 is about both of those things.

As I was watching these statues come down, I was thinking about what it meant that I grew up in a majority black city in which there were more homages to enslavers than there were to enslave people. Listen to Rebel Spirit Season 2 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. For years, the Unhoused have been presented as a monolith in mainstream media. Whedian House is a podcast that's changing the narrative. I'm Theo Henderson, and I created the show why I was Unhoused on the streets of Los Angeles. We've grown into a two-time Webby Award-winning podcast, the only podcast that shares Un-House stories and news from the unhoused perspective. Listen to Weythian House on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

get your podcast. A South Carolina jury has acquitted a store owner of murder in the shooting death of a 14-year-old black boy over four water bottles. This makes us feel as if our children don't matter and they do. And Los Angeles prosecutors are now reviewing a sexual assault case against Sean Diddy Combs. We're going to peel. We think we're right. And Serena Williams is coming back to tennis. I'm just so grateful to every single person. It's Wednesday, June 3rd. From the Black Effect Podcast Network, I'm Mimi Brown. This is front page, and here are the day's biggest stories. Plus, today on the underplayed, the anniversary that just passed without national news coverage, and what that silence is telling us. Stay with me. A South Carolina jury has found a convenience

store owner not guilty in the shooting death of 14-year-old Cyrus McCarmic Belton, a case that's drawn national attention ever since it happened nearly three years ago. Rick Chow, the owner of a gas station convenience store in Columbia, South Carolina, was acquitted Monday night after being charged with murder. This case goes back to Memorial Day weekend in 2023. According to investigators, Cyrus walked into Chow's convenience store with friends. Employees believe the 14-year-old had taken four bottles of water without paying. Cyrus then left the store and started running down the street.

That's when prosecutors say Rick Chow and his adult son chased after. him outside. During that chase, Chow pulled out a gun and fired. Cyrus was struck in the lower back and died at the scene. The shooting shocked the community immediately, especially after Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott publicly addressed the case and said even if the teenager had stolen water bottles, quote,

that's not something you shoot anybody over, much less a 14-year-old. But Child's defense attorneys argued self-defense, saying Chow believed his son was in danger during the confrontation outside the store. The defense claimed Cyrus pointed a gun during the encounter. But the prosecution led by South Carolina solicitor Byron Gibson argued the opposite. He pointed out that multiple witnesses testified they never saw anything in Cyrus' hands

while he was running from the store. No gun, nothing. The jury came back Monday with the verdict. Not guilty. Here is Todd Rutherford, the attorney for the Belton family. I've been practicing law for almost 30 years. I've never seen anything like this. I don't understand it. I'm at a loss to explain it to his father, Troy, standing beside me. I've been a loss to explain it to his mother who couldn't take it and had to leave. I'm in a loss to explain it to his family because I too don't understand it. He ran away and he got shot in the back. It should not happen. Shouldn't have happened. And unfortunately, we're going to have to deal with the end results of it. The family says they will now pursue a civil lawsuit. Sean Diddy Combs is now facing. a new criminal review in Los Angeles while already serving time in federal prison.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office confirmed this week that prosecutors are reviewing a sexual assault investigation connected to Combs. This is separate from the federal case that already sent him to prison. Right now, Combs is serving a 50-month sentence at a federal prison in New Jersey after a New York jury convicted him last year

on prostitution-related charges involving transportation across state lines. I mean, the jury's verdict was resoundingly clear. There was no sex trafficking. There was no racketeering. Everything was consensual. Everything was adult, which is why he was convicted only of the prostitution offense. Combs is currently appealing that conviction.

But now a second legal battle may be developing on the West Coast. According to reports, both the Los Angeles Police Department and the L.A. County Sheriff Department spent the last year investigating allegations from a music producer and publicist. named Jonathan Hay. Investigators later turned their findings over to the Los Angeles County DA's office for review. This week, the office confirmed prosecutors are actively looking at the case. Hay alleges there were two separate incidents involving Combs, one in Los Angeles in 2020 and another in Florida in 2021. The Los Angeles allegation includes claims of sexual battering. Now, Combs' legal team, they have denied the allegations. One of his attorneys previously called the claims false and defamatory and said Combs denies sexually abusing anyone. At this point,

prosecutors have not announced charges and there's no timeline for when a decision could come. But if Los Angeles prosecutors do move forward, it could mean additional prison time for Combs, on top of the sentence he's already serving federally. Every Wednesday on front page, this is what we do, one story that didn't get the coverage it deserved this week. because some of the most important news in the country right now is happening on page 8. Today's pick, Sunday and Monday, May 31st and June 1st, marked the 150th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre. If you have not heard about the anniversary this week, that is the story. May 31st through June 1st, 1921, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

A white mob, deputized by local police, descended on a black neighborhood called Green. Greenwood. Greenwood was at the time the wealthiest black community in America. People called it Black Wall Street. Over the course of about 16 hours, the mob destroyed it all. They burnt every black owned business. They burnt every black owned home. Over 35 city block. They machine gunned residents from the ground. They dropped fire bombs from private planes. They arrested almost every survivor. Estimates of the dead range from 150 to 300 black Americans. Most are being buried in unmarked graves. Tulsa has been excavating mass burial sites for the last several years. Not a single white attacker was ever charged. Survivors and their families were never compensated.

In 2020, a lawsuit was filed in Oklahoma State Court. Two of the last known survivors, Viola Fletcher and Leslie Benningfield Randall were the lead plaintiffs. Both were over 100 years old. They asked for a public nuisance ruling, acknowledgement, and reparations. In June, of 2024, the Oklahoma Supreme Court dismissed the case. The state's argument, the harm was too old. The legal claim was barred and the court agreed. Mother Randall passed away last year. Mother Fletcher is, as of this anniversary, 112 years old. The number of confirmed survivors of the Tulsa Race massacre is now extremely small. The anniversary just passed. There were no major network specials. No White House proclamation, no federal recognition, no reparations bill

moving in Washington. If you miss the anniversary this week, most American newsrooms did too. For context, when we remember other American tragedies, we remember them every year. The country grinds to a stop. We name the dead. We hold ceremonies. We do not forget. But for the Tulsa race massacre, most Americans went 100 years not knowing about it at all. The story was actively kept out of textbooks, out of news coverage, out of memory. The HBO show Watchmen taught more Americans about Tulsa in 2019 than every American history class combined in the previous century. That is the legacy. And the 150th anniversary just came and went. So if you have kids, tell them about Greenwood. If you have a community, talk to them about it. If you have a platform, use it.

Because the last living survivor of one of the worst racial massacres in American history is sitting in Tulsa right now in the country is not paying attention. That is the underplay. And finally, Serena Williams is officially stepping back onto the tennis court. The tennis icon announced this week that she'll compete in the HSBC Championships in London beginning June. 8th, marking her first competitive tournament since retiring nearly four years ago. And for tennis fans, this is a pretty big moment. Serena is now 44 years old and has spent the last several years focus on her life off the court, raising her daughters, building businesses, producing projects, and running her venture capital

company. But now she's returning to competition as a wild card entry in the doubles tournament on the grass courts and Queens Club in London. I'm just so grateful to every single person that's ever said, go Serena in their life. I'm just so grateful because, yeah, you got me here. And this tournament matters because it's one of the major warm-up events leading into Wimbledon later this month. So naturally, the tennis world is already buzzing about whether this is just a one-time appearance or the beginning of a bigger Serena return heading into Wimbledon.

So far, Serena isn't saying. That's your front page. I'm Mimi Brown. This podcast was brought to you by the Black Effect Podcast Network. Number one hits, millions of records sold. Awards, sold out tours. You think that Jonas Brothers are satisfied? Nope, it's podcast time.

We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Hey, Jonas is available now, and their first guest is a big one. Paul Rudd. You know, Steve Carell is a great singer. Can you tell you not to audition at the office or something? I told him. Whoa. We were filming.

I was the idiot. Thank God he didn't listen to me, right? Listen to Hey Jonas on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was crying. You just understood.

That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis came to him. He's like, you know I love you. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every family has its secrets.

But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man. Is everyone lying to me about who they are? I felt such desperation. I felt it was what I had to do. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Here's something that should not be as complicated as it is, getting a racist statue removed. And here's something that should be a whole lot easier than it is, getting a new one put up in its place.

I'm Akela Hughes, and Rebel Spirit Season 2 is about both of those things. As I was watching these statues come down, I was thinking about what it meant that I grew up in a majority black city in which there were more homages to enslave. than there were to enslave people. Listen to Rebel Spirit Season 2 on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.