The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Russell Westbrook on the Why Not? Foundation

Episode Date: May 30, 2021

From February 2021, NBA star Russell Westbrook discusses self-expression through fashion, his docuseries about the Tulsa race massacre and nurturing young lives with the Why Not? Foundation. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. You're rolling. But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes a second look on Apple podcasts starting September 17. Russell Westbrook. Welcome to the Daily Social Distancing Show. Thank you man. Thank you man. I appreciate it man. You are easily one of the most electric NBA players of all time. You run a new team now and you're living in a new city.

I would love to know two things. One, what is it like moving to a new city during COVID? And two, do you ever get used to living in new places? Well, you know, the first thing is moving during COVID has been crazy. Unfortunately, you know, I'll probably say my wife probably has to take more to responsibility of getting the kids and getting everything acclimated, find a new place to stay, making sure obviously we're traveling safely and making sure we're doing on the right things. Right. It can be a little crazy because the kids don't make it easy, sleep schedule and getting everything. That is the main concern is Pecki the kids and the family family family family family th family family th. th. th. th. th. th. It th. It th. It th. It th. It th. It's th. It's th. It's th. It's th. It's th. It's th. It's th. It's th. It's th. It's thi. It's thi. It's thi. It's, I th. I ti. I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I'll, 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, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, th. th. th. th. th. ti. ti, ti. ttte. te. te. te. te. te. tte. te. te. te. tha. tha. tha, t main, that's my main concern is Pegasure.

The kids and the family are doing great and that's the most difficult part. I can kind of manage and figure it out, but right, right, right. The kids, it's the most important part. And for you, do you ever get used to just living in a new city? You know what? It's crazy because the last three, two years for me has been very different in the past. I was in Oklahoma for 11 years, 11 years, and then I went to Houston for a year and then COVID hit and I went back to LA and then got traded to D.C. and it's been very different for me. In the past, it's different for kind of everybody around me because everybody knows I'm very a routine type of person and

kind of wants to be in the same place all the time and it's been difficult for me at times but I'm happy that I got my family here it makes it easy for me to transition easy and the team and the organization has been amazing and the people has been great so DCUS. That's sook, that's that's to talk a little bit about that is what Russell Westbrook is going to wear before a game. You are literally a walking fashion ramp or it's like Paris Fashion Week all the time. Who is dressing you and how do you stay ahead of the trends the way you do because like it's never like boring it's never like my own Russell Westbrook is like no no

no he's always ahead of the curve. Well, you know, I'm dressing myself number one. Trevor, I think that's the, to me, that's the most unique thing about it is that I wake up and I just go for what I feel. Fashion is something that I, you know, personally love to do and embrace the ability to be, express myself through clothes. I think that's the best part of fashion. I wake up, I can't, I want to wear wear the the the be the be the be the be the be the be the be the be the be the be the be the be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be the the the to be, I want to wear yellow, or I want to wear pink, I want to wear green, I want to wear baggy clothes, I want to wear a suit. That's the best part about it, and I just go with it. I think that's part of what makes Russell Westbrook such an interesting character,

is that like, you it's the love of fashion, whether it's the love of your community, like you talked about Oklahoma for instance, 11 years in Oklahoma and what I appreciated was you loved Oklahoma, Oklahoma loved you, you know you learned about the city, you ingratiated yourself to the people and now you've taken that a step further and you're going to be creating a film of a to create a to be creating a film a film a film a film a film a film a film a film a film a film a film a film a film to be creating a film a film a film to be creating a film a film a film a film a film a film a film to be a film to be a film to be a film, the story of what happened in Tulsa, the burning of Tulsa. Talk me through a little bit about that and then why you felt it was so important

for you to get involved in telling that story. Yeah, man, it's crazy because I've been in Oklahoma, like you mentioned, for 11 years. So I was able to kind of connect with the people, and obviously connect with the history of the community. And to me to me to me to me to me th th th th th th th th th th th th th the the thi thi thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the, thi, thi, the, thi, the, tho, thi, the, thi, thi, the, the, the, the, tho, tho, tho, thi, thi, thi, thi, the, the, thi, the, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, and, thi, and, and, they, and, they, thi, thi, and, thea.augh, and, thi, they, they, and, they, they, they, they, they, the,. And to me, that's the most important part. And been able to travel to Tulsa kind of up and back through my years there. And I didn't know anything about the Tulsa Massacre Black Wall Street until I got there.

And then once I heard about it, I was in shock, because I was surprised that nobody, and especially our African American communities people that have black-owned businesses don't understand and didn't understand the impact that the massacre had on the world and how it can, you know, change our future. And instantly, you know, I was lucky enough to be able to connect with Steli and be able to create, and obviously now with history, create this docue series to be able to not just show everybody what happened, but educate ourselves to be able to now in the

future find ways to be able to help impact our communities, especially our black-owned businesses and kind of uplifting. You've definitely done that with your own foundation. My favorite foundation name, the Why Not Foundation, I love it. Because it's just about why not, why not? Why can't we do it? Why not do these things? You've always believed in going into communities, finding youth that have been left behind, finding youth that don't have opportunities, educating them. And

what you're doing now with the foundation is you're working really hard to get kids involved in tech and computer literacy, which is a slightly new direction for you. Yeah, I think the biggest part, their, their, their, their, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thrush, thr, thr, thr, thrush, thi, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, th, th, th, thi, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thean, thin, thin, thin, thean, thean, thin, thean, thin, theeean, the, ththink the biggest part, especially with the foundation, we kind of started in 2012, and I wanted to start an education and making sure our youth was educated and having books and resources. And as I've gotten older and been able to kind of see what's important the way that our warden our society is kind of moving.

I want to find ways to be able to enhance the foundation to find different avenues. And moving forward now, we've been, like you mentioned, working in tech and working in workforce development, working on the mental health and mental wellness side as well. You know, foundation is, to me, it's very, very important because a lot of people can, you know, you can write a check, you can do anything and just go a much but if you're a kid from the inner city and you don't actually feel that impact or that But if you're a kid from the inner city and you don't actually feel that impact or that inspiration, it doesn't really change your life. And I know that personally because I lived it. And to me, I want to make sure that I can be the voice, I can be the person that those kids,

our youth can look to and say, you know, he came back to our community, he helped us, he gave us, he gave us the ability to be able to be able to be able to be able to to to change to change to change to change, to change, to change, the ability, to be able, to change, to be able, to be able, to be able, to be able, the ability, to be able, the ability, to be able, the ability, the ability, the ability, the ability, the ability, the ability, the ability, the ability, their, their, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I, I, I, I, I, I, I............................................... And, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm a, I'm a, to, to, to, to, to, to, to to to to to to to to to to to to to, I'm to, I'm the the, I live in. So. One of the saddest stories of professional sports, sometimes even the entertainment industry, so many black people or even people from just, you know, poorer communities get a lot of money in a little bit of time. And then a few years after their career ends, it's all gone and they're broke. And then the cycle continues and you're like man what happened there was an opportunity there that is lost. Now that happens on a on a smaller level as well just every day in communities

as you know managing money learning how to create money learning how to grow money is something that not everybody is taught. You're passionate about that and you're teaming up with Varo right now to work on that. Just walk me through what you're going to be doing and why this was what you wanted to get in. Yeah, man, you know, honestly, I'm so grateful for Varro because we've, as a team internally been trying to figure out, you know, the right partners to be able to get and understand financial literacy, understand the financial gap in our society, understanding the systemic financial inequality that we face, you know, today, and especially, and the their their their, the, their their, thi, their, their thi, thi, their thi, thi, their thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thiolomeomeomeomea, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the, the, the, the, thi, thi, thi, as a thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, as thi, as thi, as thi, as thi, as thi, as thi, as thi, as thi, as a thi, thi, thi, theeeean, thi, theean, theeeeeean, thi, as a theeeeeeeeeeeee, as a thi,, you know, today and especially in the finance world. And VARALs man is unbelievable partner being the first all digital bank with a national charter, which is important because it allows them to be able to help everybody, not just one particular area and people, but it allows them to be able to help people about check-chakings and give them about their savings, and understand about credit car, but educate them on exactly what is happening. their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their all. their all. their all. their all. thi. thi. thi and thi. And their is, thia. And thi. And thi. And thi. And thi. And, their. And, their. And, their. And, their, their... And, their, their, their, their, their... And, their, their. And, their. And, their. And, their. And, their. And, their is, and, thi. And, and their is, te. And, te. And, te. And, tea. And, tea. And, tea. And, tea. And, tea. And, te. And, te. And educate them on exactly what is happening. Because as we know, and as you mentioned, our underserved communities

and our communities of color have struggled with that over many, many years and that have plagued us. And to me, I want to make sure that I can be the person to step into that space and partner with an unbelievable partner like Varro that has the same mission in minds to help our underserve and help our unbank communities and to me I think it's an unbelievable opportunity and I'm very very excited about it so. You know it's it's funny I was chatting to a friend of mine about all the things that you do you know I was like oh yeah Russell Westbrook's gonna be on the show and he's like oh he's like oh yeah you're the Russell West w w's gonna Russell was was gonna th Russell was gonna gonna gonna gonna gonna gonna gonna gonna gonna gonna gonna gonna gonna gonna gonna gonna the the the th I I I I I I I I I was. I was a th. I's a th. I's a th. I's a th. I'm. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the the th. th. th. th. th. th. I'm gonna. I'm gonna. I'm th. I'm th. I'm the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. I's th. I's th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th.things. And my friend said the funniest thing ever. He was like, wow, he's that I thought Russell Westbrook was an asshole. He's a really dope guy. Oh my goodness. And I was just like, do you ever have to have that? And I was just like, do you ever have to get that? Trevor, it's crazy you mentioned. I get that every day.

Honestly, that's the biggest challenge on my life. You know, it's crazy. It's honestly the biggest challenge of my life because I play the game with so much passion and aggression and want to do great. I want to be the best of the game. But at the same time, I want to be the best off the floor in helping this and helping people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people and helping people and many people is possible and being impactful. I don't want to just talk about it and say, oh, doing this, doing that, but I want to be the one to change our world in many directions that we've talked about in finances and education, mental health, workforce development. I want to put my hands in everything. There's nothing that I feel like I can't do. And that's obviously the why not mentality comes from. But every day, it's a challenge man for me to be able to change that, change the narrative.

Like, listen, hey guys, I'm a human being. I'm normal. I want to help. I want to do the right thing. And you know, to me, my main job, Trevor, honestly, just to make sure that I'm to stay people as possible. And I'm gonna find ways to be able to do that with every avenue that I can. As long as God has blessed me with this opportunity, I'm gonna make sure that I continue to help and impact as many people as possible.

That's why my friend you are an MVP both on and off the court. I appreciate you taking the time. Russell Westbrook, takeights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central, and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives.

But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes, a second look, starting September 17, wherever you get your podcasts.