The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Going Vegan to Save the Earth & Calls to Boycott Equinox and SoulCycle | Meek Mill

Episode Date: August 9, 2019

Climate scientists urge people to stop eating meat, billionaire Stephen Ross faces backlash for planning a fundraiser for President Trump, and Meek Mill discusses “Free Meek.” Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. John Stewart here. John Stewart here. Unbelievably exciting news. My new podcast, The Weekly Show. We're going to be talking about the election, economics, ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast.

August 8, 2019. From Comedy Central's World News Headquarters in New York, this is the Daily Show, everybody. Thank you so much for shooting in. Thank you for coming out. Oh yeah, oh, I can feel it. I'm Trevor Noah. Our guest tonight is here to talk about the new Amazon docuse series, free meek.

Meek Mill is joining us everybody. So exciting. Also on tonight's show, we meet a president who's come back from the dead. If you send emoges, it means you're in a gang, and Donald Trump is a Harry Potter expert. So let's catch up on today's headlines. Let's begin with climate change. to the climate change. It's the gradual disaster that will eventually wipe us out if we don't take it seriously. Think of it like oatmeal. You know, you wash your

bowl right away, no problem. But if you leave it in the sink, by the time you come home you'll have a new roommate. And if the world does end, there's one group you cannot blame scientists because they keep warning us every single day to wash out our bowl. Chilling warnings out in a new report that says, if we want to save the planet, we need to change what we put on the table and how we produce food. But about a quarter of greenhouse gases in the last decade came from food, farming, and land use. Well think about it this way, half a pound of beef causes as much greenhouse gas to be to to to to to to to to to to to to their, to, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, thia, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, and, and, and, their, and, their, and, their, and, their, their, their, their, their, thiiiiii.a, the.a, th.a.a.auu.au.au.au.au.au.au.au.a.a. Ande. Ande. And, tha. And, their?a. Well, think about it this way, half a pound of beef causes as much greenhouse gas to be

emitted as driving 55 of these cars for one mile. Some good news possibly, if we get rid of red meats and our diet, if we move towards vegan lifestyles, if we change how we're using the land, we might be able to reverse that damage, but the clock is ticking. So, either the world ends, or we all become the world the world the world the world the world the world the world the world ends, or we all become vegan. I mean, we've had a good run. Let's be honest. We've done this earth thing. I mean, yeah, it's good. We're done. What more is there to see? And like, don't get me wrong.

I think we should all be eating less red meat if it'll save the planet. But at the same time, if we turn into a planet full of vegans, that's not a dream scenario. The hot air emerging from people bragging about how good they are, will heat up the planet even faster. Just be like 7 billion people like, hey guys, the ice caps are melting and I only use ham. Pah! Also, it's mind-blowing to learn that producing half a pound of beef puts out the same greenhouse gas as driving 55 cars for a mile.

That is insane. I guess the only solution is that we have to drive cows. Yeah, yeah, think about it. Then we get to eat them when we get to our destination. Two birds, one stone. Yes, instead of valet parking, we can have filet parking. Eh? How do you like the car?

Medium rare, please. In other news, emoges. A few years ago, they were a cute way to end your relationship. But now, we use them toto say we're going on vacation. You can tell someone that you're busy at work. And of course, everyone's favorite, that you've found human remains in your backyard. Well, now the emoges are so next level they can even help you get into a gang. The New York Post reports gang members are using seemingly harmless symbols to recruit in order for people to carry out crimes.

These cute little symbols can take on sinister meaning. The gas pump, for example, is a universal symbol for gang. So if you post this gas pump, that means you're going into gang mode. Two thumbs up with the knuckles facing each other is a sign of the crips and their rivals their their their rivals, they're a sign of the blood signal their affiliation with the magician's top hat and if they really want to taunt their rivals, they'll live stream video from their opponent's turf on Snapchat. That practice is known as cyber banging. Cyberbanging. You can see when he said cyber banging.

The first thing that came to his mind wasn't a top hat emoji. He was like, cyber banging, uh, banging. Yeah. So this is the new world. Gangs are using emoges. The top hat emoji means bloods. That is crazy. Because it means Abraham Lincoln was in the blood. And Mr. Peanut, how deep does this go? Also just a random question, why does the gas pump symbolize gang mode? Like, aren't you in a gang full-time? But what does that mean gang mode? What does it like part-time gang members? Just like, yeah, man, I picked up a couple extra shifts with the Crips this weekend.

Got to pay off this student debt? Like, what does that mean? I also wonder if gang members ever get confused, right? When they're texting each other, do they send someone a text? And then the other guy's like, you got some beef that's heating up and you want me to wipe them off the planet? Other guys like, nah, man, I'm saying we need to eat less meat or global warming will destroy the environment, man. I take this shit seriously. And finally, speaking of criminals, former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich is back in

the news. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison for trying to sell a vacant Senate seat. But fortunately for him, Donald Trump likes him and is thinking about giving him a presidential pardon because he said he was treated unfairly. And you know what, this might explain why Trump is so into criminal justice reform. All of his friends are locked up. He's just like, I want them back, I miss them. And now, you might be wondering, how does Donald Trump even know this corrupt politician Rod Blagojevich?

Well, was he helping him set up secret Russian meetings? Or did he help Trump with some tax evasion scheme? No, it turns out they were both on the same reality show. I just want to ask this one question. Your Harry Potter facts were not accurate. Who did the research? I feel like I knew the product. In fact, I wrote a lot of the text, slithering and it's huff-puff and it's raven cloth. So are you responsible?

I think, I think we did not win. Rod, you fired. I think, I think we did not win. Rod, you're fired. Wow. You know, I don't know why, but after everything, I think the thing that would actually freak me out the most about Trump is if he was actually an expert on Harry Potter. That would like break my mind. I wouldn't be able to accept that. If he just came out one day and he was like, I say, send her back, expelioramus.

I'd be like, no, I'm not willing to accept that. I just wouldn't. All right, that's it for the headlines. But before we go into our main story, all of this week, everyone has been asking, what can to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to do to do to do to be to do, to be to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a to bea, to bea, tooome, to bea, everyone has been asking, what can we do to try and end gun violence? And for a lot of politicians, the solution has been to do something about video games. Because they've said that violent video games have the power to influence people to commit murder. And that got us thinking, if video games are so persuasive, maybe video games could even inspire politicians to do something to end gun violence.

That's why the Daily Show made a new online game called the Legislator. We made it one day. License to bill. Right. And it's all about trying to get gun control through Congress. And Mitch McConnell's the final boss, right? So lawmakers and everybody else, go check it out at Daily Show Legislator.com. You can play with your friends or if you're Ted Cruz by yourself.

Who knows? Maybe it'll even inspire people in Congress to go out there and actually write some laws. All right, let's move on to our main story. Let's talk about fundraising. It's as integral a part of American politics as low voter turnout and terrorizing babies. Now historically, rich people have hosted fundraisers in America for political candidates. And this happened regularly, and it didn't garner much attention. But in the age of Trump, all of that has changed, as one billionaire just found out. Calls are growing for members of Equinox and Soul Cycle to boycott those popular fitness

clubs after it was revealed that the chairman of their parent company will hold a big dollar fundraiser for the president. According to the invite, tickets are up to a quarter of a million dollars. Many customers, including celebrities, taking to social media, criticizing and threatening to boycott the gym and its spinning studio, Soul Cycle. Comedian Billy Eichner going further, saying he is canceling his membership. Chrissy Teegan, tweeting everyone who can't cancels their Equinox and Soul Cycle memberships, meet me at the library. What, Chrissy, what are you doing? You can't just work out in their their their their. In their. In the library. Bring weights. What, Chrissy, what are you doing?

You can't just work out in the library. People are masturbating in there. Show some respect. Come on, Chrissy. But that's right. The owner of Equinox and Soul Cycle is throwing a fundraiser for Donald Trump at a house in the Hamptons. So now there are growing calls for people to boycott Equinox and Soul Cycle. And to all those people cancelling their

memberships, I say, good luck. Have you ever tried to get out of a gym membership? It is impossible. People don't know this, but the real reason Harriet Tubman fled the South was to escape her planet fitness contract. A lot of people don't know that. She was like, I heard in the North, they let you pay month to month. And in the wake of this backlash, the Equinox owner, Stephen Ross, released a statement defending himself. But I'll be honest, I think it only made things worse. Ross defended his relationship with Trump, saying, in part,

I have known Donald Trump for 40 years and while we agree on some issues, we strongly disagree on many others. I started my business with nothing and a reason for my engagement with our leaders is my deep concern for creating jobs and growing our country's economy. I have been and will continue to be an outspoken champion of racial equality, inclusion, diversity, public education, and environmental stability. Okay, let's get something straight. If you're hosting a fundraiser for Donald Trump, I don't know if you can call yourself a champion of racial equality and inclusion. You're not a champion. You can call yourself a contender of racial equality.

You can call yourself a part-time participant of racial equality. You can call yourself a Dabla of racial equality, you know? Not a champion. You're call yourself a dabla of racial equality, you know? Not a champion. You're not a champion. Like if racial equality was a sport, you'd be playing pickup games. That's basically what this is. Because you see, like, Ross has come out and basically what he's saying is that he supports the business side of Donald Trump, but he doesn't support the racism side of Donald Trump. But you realize if you actually listen, you analyze what he's saying, you analyze what he's the the the the the the the he's the the he's he's the the the he's he's the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th the th. You're the the ch cha the cha' thian the cha' the cha' the cha' the cha' the cha' the cha' the champ, you're the cha' the cha' the champion the cha the cha' the ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch ch the he doesn't support the racism side of Donald Trump. But you realize if you actually listen, you analyze what he's saying, what he's actually saying without realizing it is that he can afford to

support Trump's business side because Trump's racism side doesn't affect him. That's what he said. And here's the thing. Here's the thing. Here's the thing. Soul Cycle and Equinox both have very liberal diverse members. But when the news asked these members how they would participate in the boycott, their feelings were mixed. I'm really bummed to hear that the owner of Equinox is involved in Trump's campaign. I don't like President Trump, but I'm not gonna go canceling my membership over there. Yeah, I'll cancel. There's a gym right down the street.

If he goes through with this fundraiser, I'm probably gonna be out. I'm not gonna cancel, no. I'd rather have planter facietis without treatment than having to support in any way, anything affiliate with Trump Trump Trump Trump Trump Trump Trump Trump tre tre tre tre tre tr having to support in any way anything affiliate with Trump supporters. That was so specific. You know normally people give you a general thing? He was like, I'd rather have plant surfaceitis in my left leg, right? Hell than they, than to support. But that's right. Some people are torn, but many people say, if this happens, they're out.

And you know what? I'm joining them. In fact, I haven't gone to the gym in the last three months. In preparation for this moment. That's right. That's right. We'll be right back. 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 day of the show. My guest tonight is a hip-hop artist and criminal justice reform advocate who has a new documentary series called Free Meek. Please welcome, Meek Mill! Welcome back to the show. Yeah, welcome back to the show. Yeah, thanks for having me, man.

It's great to have you here and congratulations, I guess, as part of this documentary that you are now officially off probation. Yeah, definitely. That's exciting. That really is exciting. Yeah. Good to live my life. You know, for many people, they might see you and go like, meet me. I mean, I saw you out there living your life already. Has being off probation actually changed your life? Yeah, actually, you know, for my whole adult life, I'm 32 years old, now I'm 19 when I got 19 when I th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thee, thee, thee, thee, thee, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi thi thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, thi, thvel when I wanted to. So like tomorrow, get a day off,

I want to take my son to Disney World, I go to Disney World, I go to Disney World tomorrow. You know, before you couldn't really do that because you would have to plan probably 30 days ahead to do it, like nothing can be surprised about your life. So, you know, of of, of, just, just, just, tho, the, tho, tho, the, tho, tho, tho, tho, thi, thi, thi, thi, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, I, their, I'm, to, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, t, t, t, t, t, t, t, t, t, t... t. ttttto, tto, to, to, t t t to. t to. to. to.a.a. to. to. to. to. to. to. the. you, um, I've seen you smiling a bit more, you know, since all of this happened, it feels like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders. I've also noticed that you started changing how you see yourself living life, which is really interesting, you know.

Meek Mill used to just be about rap. But now I see Meek Mill investing in lids, youures with Jay-Z. I see Meek-Mill the criminal justice advocate, which I don't think you may have ever seen yourself as. Yeah. You're not on probation anymore. Why are you still fighting so hard to change things? You know, me, my situation, you know, I had a lot of backing with mine. You know, I had people like powerful in America behind me and speaking

up for me. And you know, I wanted to speak up for the people who don't have a voice, you know, even as you've seen on the clip, people marching for me and standing up for me, social media, world posting free meat. When I came home, I wanted to dedicate it myself to helping those people and helping that family members are, however they may have been affected. Now, some people out there, you know, because they either have not had an encounter with the justice system, come from a privileged background, may not truly understand what probation is all about.

Some may even say, Meek, if somebody commits a crime and they get out and they're on probation, they're lucky to be on probation. Why do you think America should limit how long people stay on probation? It's just simple, like your son or daughter could be in school and they can get into like a small fight or something like that and get charged with a crime. And you know you get four years of probation on your fourth year of probation your kid decides to smoke marijuana, I'm taking a mistake, make a mistake not to commit a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime a crime, not to commit a crime, not a crime, not to commit a crime, not to make a crime, not commit, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you. I I, you're not to make. I, you're not, you're not, you. I, you. I, you. I, you. I, you. I, you. I, make, make a mistake not to commit a crime. You know, your kid don't belong in a state penitentiary for actually making a mistake on probation. You know, if you commit crime, then you land where you lay.

That's a part of that life. But, you know, people actually going to jail for making honest mistakes and people who come out of the system, trying to build their lives up and move forward in life and a small mistake could set you back for years. You know, 30 days, doing 30 days in prison, you can lose your house, you can lose your job, you can lose a lot of things. So, you know, when you got people working to do better and try to change that lot of something mistakes shouldn't be able to hold you back your whole life like it me myself. Right. It was a fight. I overcame it and you know I had, their, their, their, their, it, it, it, it, th. th. th. th. their, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi, thi, that, that, that, that, their, their, thi, thi, their, their, you, you, you, you, you, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, thi. And, thi. I'm, thi. I'm, thi. I'm, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thirty, thirty thirty thirty thirty thirty th had the resources to overcome it and the drive and ambition To make it out of that, but you know It's not everybody don't have that driving, you know

I just wanted to make awareness and this free mick documentary. We'll kind of get awareness to the world About what takes police and probation so you know I wanted to What what do you hope people learn from this documentary? Because it's a five-part documentary, and it talks about everything, it talks about your story, but it also talks about the problems in, you know, a police system where we've seen, you know, additional stories come out, where you see the Philadelphia Police Department. You see police departments around America, fabricating evidence, you see an unfair system. What do you hope people will take away from the documentary?

I want people to awareness, you know, basically, it's a lot of things that have been going on in the justice system for many, many years. And I don't think we ever been to the season that where we are now, where we have, like, we have data, we have social media. We have social media. This is just another source of media and me telling it through my story and exposing the corruption that a young black male like me faces on a deli base. You know, you might, I got friends who don't come from my world.

They think that 99% of the people that's in prison, supposed to be in prison. No, that's not really the case it's probably about 50% 50 and 50 50 people who don't right 50% of people who don't belong there because of a technical violation I don't know if you know a technical violation is not a crime you can be on probation and just come in contact with a police officer and you can have your probation revoke and send back to prison so you know I wanted to give a bird-eye view on my life since I happen to be in a situation and I am a public figure. A lot of people know me. I wanted to give them a bird's-eye view of with the average American go through just

to survive and get a fair shot in the world. So you know I use my platform. It's a great thing that you've done, my friend. Free Meek. Premieres, August 9th on Amazon Prime Video. He's back on the road again, check him out. Meek-Mill everybody. The Daily Show with Cover Noa, Ears Edition. Watch the Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central and the 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.com. 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. 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 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, but how many of them come out on Thursday? Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast.