The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Between the Scenes - Tressie McMillan Cottom on How Celebrity Worship and Racism Aided R. Kelly

Episode Date: January 19, 2019

Tressie McMillan Cottom argues that R. Kelly received a pass for his alleged sexual misconduct due to his celebrity status and societal perceptions of black girls' sexuality. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. Hey everybody, John Stewart here. I am here to tell you about my new podcast, the weekly show coming out every Thursday. We're going to be talking about the election earnings calls. What are they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be talking about ingredient-to-bread ratio on sandwiches. I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but

how many of them come out on Thursday? Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart wherever you get your podcast. Let me ask you this. You are honestly maybe one of the only voices I would want to engage with on this topic. Yes. You... You... R. Kelly is a really interesting case where many people have a spouse different ideas about why it's happened the way it has. Why has it gone on for as long as it has, etc. and one of the themes that people seem to keep coming back to is the idea that were it. Why is it gone on for as long as it has, etc. And one of the themes that people seem that that that that that to to to to to on on on on on on on on the to to the to to to to the to to to to to the to to to the to to this on this on the to to be on to be on this on to be on to be on the this this on to be on to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to their. their. their. their. their their their their their their their their the their the their their their their their their their to their to their their to their to their their to to the to the to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the themes that people seem to keep coming back to is the idea that,

were it not that he was doing this to young black girls, he wouldn't have gotten away with it for so long. And in the book you speak about the idea of how people have sexualized the black girl. Like, she never gets to be a black girl. Sex is always what is perceived to be what she wants and what she espouses. You know, like you talk about how a white female counterpart at the same age is not seen as sexualized. When you look at the story of Arkeli, when you look at the story of these girls, when you look at how even people in the black community have reacted to it, what do you think, what do you think, w do you think, what do you their their their their their their, and their, and thi, and their, thi, thi, their, thi, their, thi, their, their, their, their, their, thi, thi, thi, and, thi, thi, their, thi, thi, and how, and how, tho, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, thi, throwne, tea, tea, tea, tea, teaugh, te, te, te, tea, tea, tea, te, ta, missing, what do you think we could be doing better, and what do you think, what have you learned and what do you think we should learn from the entire story? I think one of the things that we should learn from the story is that celebrity is a

cult just like any other cult. And so the leeway we have given our Kelly is in part of the celebrity, the fact, the leeway we have given our Kelly is in part due to the fact that we think celebrities exists above and beyond all of our social norms and that in fact to be excessive to excessively violate the social norms and makes you more creative creative right so that we have a long history of that across all forms of music of celebrities throughout time who have dated and prayed upon young women and it was seen as part of their creative eccentricities, right? So that's one thing. I think the other thing is precisely that, that we are comfortable with black girls always

being perceived as responsible for people's desire for them. When people desire children in other contexts, we say that that person has an issue. When the object is black girls, we say that other people's desire for us is our personal responsibility, right? And so one of the things that I think we owe black girls and what I would hope we would appoint we would get to is to give them the agency that allows them to be black girls. And that is to say I am not responsible for how people perceive me, right? To hold adults responsible for adult behavior and to allow black girls to be girls. Wow, thank you very much. Tresi Megamundan, everybody.

The Daily Show with Covernoa, Ears Edition. Watch the Daily Show weeknights at 11th, 10 Central on Comedy Central, and the Comedy Central app. Watch full episodes and videos at the Daily Show. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and subscribe to the Daily Show on YouTube for exclusive content and more. This has been a Comedy Central podcast. Hey, everybody, John Stewart here. I am here to tell you about my new podcast, The Weekly Show

coming out every Thursday. We're going to be talking about the election, earnings calls. What are they tell you about my new podcast, The Weekly Show, coming out every Thursday. We're going to be talking about the election, earnings calls. What are they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be talking about ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but how many of them come out on Thursday? Listen to the Weekly Show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast.